Which HP Pavilion to buy?

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busta_cap

Limp Gawd
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A friend recently purchased a nice refurbished HP Pavilion a6720f (AMD Phenom X4 9550) from Tigerdirect, and had me upgrade the PSU and add a 9800GT video card for him. After setting it up and installing some software for him, I was impressed with the fit and finish of the package. So I am considering buying a similar system for my younger sister, who is a bit of a mid-level gamer, as combination birthday.Xmas present.

My question is, which of the following refurbed HP Pavilions -- with a PSU and decent video card upgrade -- would you recommend for a non-bleeding-edge gamer?


I suppose what I'm basically looking at here is cores vs GHZ: which gives the best gaming performance for the buck?

I'm trying to keep the cost as low as possible and still have a good mid-level gaming machine, so I'm looking at maybe a 9500-9600 GT or a Radeon 4670 video card, but I'm open to other suggestions in the same price range. I don;t want to build a system from scratch, though, because these have the operating system included and are all pretty much configured to go from the first boot-up.
 
Do you have an os and potentially anything else? I could do better for $450.

If i had to choose one it would be the a6530f Phenom 8450 - but I would sell the X3 in favor of a Regor 250 or 545 processor.
 
As far as OS goes, they all come with Vista Home Premium 64. And in the interest of expediency, I want to keep the standard equipment CPU versus the Frankenstein's monster technique of taking a piece from here and a piece from there.

Just to clarify, though, you recommend the 2.1 ghz Phenom x3, even though it has the lowest ghz rating of all of the listed systems?
 
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You listed:
Pavilion A6650f - AMD Phenom X4 9550 2.2GHz, 6GB DDR2, 500GB HDD

twice, but that is my best bet.
HP stock systems aren't beast, but the PSU they come with will handle any card that doesn't need a pcie 6pin.

Higher end HP 'Elite' systems can provide enough power to cover a 6pin (highest I have seen so far is a 9800gt).
 
I chose that one because it probably has the fastest hardrive in there. (based on revelant info). Plus most games only one or two cores. an X4 would be wasted.
 
jeremyshaw said:
You listed:
Pavilion A6650f - AMD Phenom X4 9550 2.2GHz, 6GB DDR2, 500GB HDD

twice, but that is my best bet.
Click to expand...

D'oh. I had intended to post another Pavilion refurb, but your honor, I plead 'beer.'

Thanks for the opinion, though; it has merit. I see from your sig that you are quite familiar with the HP line. You have the 4350 in yourts, correct? What are the limitations of your card? What games does it refuse to play? Can it do L4D well (which my sister wants badly)?
 
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busta_cap said:
D'oh. I had intended to post another Pavilion refurb, but your honor, I plead 'beer.'

Thanks for the opinion, though; it has merit. I see from your sig that you are quite familiar with the HP line. You have the 4350 in yourts, correct? What are the limitations of your card? What games does it refuse to play? Can it do L4D well (which my sister wants badly)?
Click to expand...

I have a 17" LCD @ 1280x1024. I don't game (anymore, but it runs CoD4/5 at near max settings, though 5's singleplayer needed lower settings).

It won't refuse to play any game, at all. All games, short of tech demo's shorted to only work on one platform, will work on this. Heck, even the Crysis Demo worked on this, though at lower settings.

It is a nice, very low power consumption card that doesn't require anything extra to run. Most HP units ship with these as 'gaming' cards in their systems. It's faster, cooler than the new nvidia G210, so...

I'd recommend you to do a custom build, as I built my folding machine for a little under 170USD. (though I got that 9600GSO for a really good price).
 
Heh, the E7500 in the Dell Vostro would perform better than all of the HP's Phenoms, but that particular config is lacking this week. The deal changes from week to week, but this is one of the lower end deals since it has: no burner instead of a DVDRW, is only vista basic instead of premium, 18.5" monitor instead of 20 or 22, 2GB instead of 3GB, and DDR2 prices suck now -- the rest of the config is about the same as previous deals (320gb, e7500, etc).

I wouldn't buy any of those HPs because they're refurbs and are Phenom I CPUs, which lack performance due to their starved L3 cache. If I HAD to choose between them, it would be the X4 9550, since its only $50 more.

I'd wait for a better deal. Black Friday/Cyber Monday is coming up, as well as Christmas. Though, last year, there were equal sales in the weeks leading up to BF/CM (which led to disappointing BF/CM sale prices). Still, for $450, I think you get a better deal from the better Vostro/Optiplex deals.
 
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