HP PC Comparison - need help

[jc_gamer]

Hi everyone, I have a question and was hoping for some input. I'm in the market of buying a new PC and I've come across two HP PCs. One is an Intel processor (which I've always used) and the other is AMD. The Intel i7 processor's price runs pretty high while the AMD Phenom II is a little better. I was wondering what is the main difference in the performance of thos processors and which one would seem like the better choice. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

HP - Pavilion Elite Desktop / AMD Phenom II Processor / 8GB Memory / 1TB Hard Drive
Model: HPE-400y
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Pav...ustomerreviews

HP - Pavilion Elite Desktop / Intel Core i7 Processor / 8GB Memory / 1TB Hard Drive
Model: HPE-270f
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Pav...ustomerreviews

[PrivatePixel]

Originally Posted by jc_gamer

I was wondering what is the main difference in the performance of thos processors and which one would seem like the better choice. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

HP - Pavilion Elite Desktop / AMD Phenom II Processor / 8GB Memory / 1TB Hard Drive
Model: HPE-400y

HP - Pavilion Elite Desktop / Intel Core i7 Processor / 8GB Memory / 1TB Hard Drive
Model: HPE-270f

Unless you're a hardcore PC gamer and/or do heavy photo-editing tasks, the average user doesn't really need a Core i7-based system (personally, I think it's overkill for web surfing or watching Blu-ray content). An i5 or i3-based system is better suited (and easier on the wallet) for casual users, and even those that dabble in some PC gaming.

The HPE-270f uses a Core i7 930 (a fairly high-end CPU), while the HPE-400y adopts an AMD Phenom II X4 945 (a higher-end midrange CPU). Both are more-than-capable performers for everyday tasks.

I assume that, if you're posing this question in the PC Gaming forum, that you're planning to do some gaming on the eventual machine. If you have ever tinkered with computers in the past (including upgrading components), I would recommend building your own, rather than buying a pre-built rig. Having looked at the specs of both machines, HP decided to cut corners on the power supply and the video card, and pre-installed both with heaps of bloatware (which can be a real hassle to remove cleanly and permanently).

Still, HP is a decent brand with good customer service support, so if you're in the market for a new PC, either one should fit the bill. If you're a bit more adventurous and want the best bang for your buck, building your own is the only way to go.

[OG Pooh]

I'm going to be honest... My last two desktops & my Wife's laptop have all been HP. One of my best friends, who is a computer tech also has an HP laptop. Between my personal experience & his comments, I wouldn't buy another HP (neither will he). Not that there's anything particularly wrong with them... But none of them have ever run the way they should have. They were all just way slower than any of their specs would have had you think. I would try to run games that had requirements way lower than the PC's specs, and they would barely run even at the lowest settings and with all background tasks shut down. When I bought my new PC, the salesman had commented that they get a lot of similar complaints regarding HPs. He also said that they seemed to be making improvements, so maybe now, it might be worth taking a chance on one (given the right deal comes along). I just know that I personally won't be the one taking the chance.

As far as building your own goes... Mmmm, It works for some. The problem is that if you get a good deal on a reputable brand, you're not really going to save that much, if anything. I know because I was going to go that route with my current PC. When you add up the tower, motherboard, video card, power supply, etc, etc, etc, you don't really come out ahead. You also don't get anyone standing behind the completed PC. What you do get is a list of manufacturers of different components that you may have to deal with and who may or may not work with you. When you buy a prebuilt, from a good company, you get a machine that's pretested and who's individual components all work properly together. You also get (like I said) a company to go to when it doesn't work properly.

[Offender_Mullet]

jc_gamer, I'm going to give you the obligatory "duuuuude just build your own pc" line Please do not waste $800-$1,200 of your hard-earned money on a pre-built HP system. The listed specs for both machines are not anything special, if not a bit out-dated (the video cards).

However, it all boils down to if you're comfortable building your own computer or not. The usual warranty for hardware is 3 years (motherboard, video card) but most memory manufacturers give a lifetime warranty.

[ryoohki]

What do you want to do.. Gaming?, Office WOrk?

If it's office work it's easy to built one for about 600$ and less

if it's gaming.. at 1200$ you can have a SLI 460 system (with 4gb ram witch is plently bty)

I just put a system together for 1176$

I5 750, 4gb high performance ram, HAF 922 case, 700W PSU, 460 1gb in SLI, 1tb Black drive, Blu Ray Reader/ DVD Writer.. add 99$ for a legal
copy of windows 7 64bit and you're set, with this you have a killer system that litterally destroy anything a console can offer, you can even plug it in on you're TV if you have a TV with HDMI and play on this (that's what i do)

To built a system it's easy, you need a Phillips Screw Driver, some logic and well follow the installation of the CPU from the CPU and Motherboard manual, connect the SATA drives (HDD and DVD) power and data cable, connect the case fan on the motherboard (using the manual off course), connect all power cables (24 pin and 4 pin) on the motherboard. Do a little Cable management with tie wrap..

The most difficult this is to connect the Button (Power, Reset, HDD Light) because it's small and well you have almost no choice of using the manual or be in a well lit environnement to read off the motherboard

Imho if you can put together a IKEA or any furniture with a manual you can put a computer together. You can't plug stuff the wrong side anymore (you could 15 years ago)..

[OG Pooh]

Like I said, you're not going to save much, if anything building your own. I paid just a hair over $1,000 ($1,034), and I got an i7 processor with 8-gigs of high performance RAM, an HD graphics card with a gig of dedicated memory, 1tb HDD, 7.1 surround sound, 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium, etc, etc. The only thing I didn't get that the above poster did is the Blu-ray, which I could have added for less than $100. Besides getting a better processor & paying less than him, I also get a manufacturer to go to if things go wrong.

Again, I have nothing against building your own. You can build a truly killer machine (that will be killer for at least 6-months) by building your own. I just really don't see the advantage when you can get a machine as good or better for less. So what if you have to uninstall some bloatware. That beats choosing every single component, assembling the thing, then hoping & praying it all works together properly (considering there's no defective components). As far as destroying a console goes... There are far less issues with consoles. All games made for consoles work on the console for which it was designed. There are zero compatibility issues and zero requirements (other than you actually own the console). Your copy of a game will run exactly the way it was created to. Little Johnny down the block's copy will not look or run better because his PC is better than yours. You don't have to set things like resolution, lighting, draw distance, etc, etc, etc. Besides, consoles aren't running a billion things in the background, like anti-virus software, start-up programs, etc, etc. Consoles do one thing for which they are specialized. Becasue of that, they can be less powerful and still run circles around all but the most hi-end, up to date PCs. And with consoles, there's someone overseeing what goes on (Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo). With PCs, you are on your own.

[Leopold BUTTERS]

Build your own! It is super easy. if you would like to build one send me a PM and I can help you with parts and how to do it. I have built many computers, it's a lot of fun!

[ryoohki]

Originally Posted by OG Pooh

Like I said, you're not going to save much, if anything building your own. I paid just a hair over $1,000 ($1,034), and I got an i7 processor with 8-gigs of high performance RAM, an HD graphics card with a gig of dedicated memory, 1tb HDD, 7.1 surround sound, 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium, etc, etc. The only thing I didn't get that the above poster did is the Blu-ray, which I could have added for less than $100. Besides getting a better processor & paying less than him, I also get a manufacturer to go to if things go wrong.

Again, I have nothing against building your own. You can build a truly killer machine (that will be killer for at least 6-months) by building your own. I just really don't see the advantage when you can get a machine as good or better for less. So what if you have to uninstall some bloatware. That beats choosing every single component, assembling the thing, then hoping & praying it all works together properly (considering there's no defective components). As far as destroying a console goes... There are far less issues with consoles. All games made for consoles work on the console for which it was designed. There are zero compatibility issues and zero requirements (other than you actually own the console). Your copy of a game will run exactly the way it was created to. Little Johnny down the block's copy will not look or run better because his PC is better than yours. You don't have to set things like resolution, lighting, draw distance, etc, etc, etc. Besides, consoles aren't running a billion things in the background, like anti-virus software, start-up programs, etc, etc. Consoles do one thing for which they are specialized. Becasue of that, they can be less powerful and still run circles around all but the most hi-end, up to date PCs. And with consoles, there's someone overseeing what goes on (Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo). With PCs, you are on your own.

Btw my system include SLI 460 GTX 1gb.. SLI.. two graphics card.

Off course if you don't know what you're doing you'll be praying. I assembled at least 30 system for friends and family. One once i had a problem with the RAM module.

Destroying meaning that all game or most of the game will run at 40-60fps at 1080p. PS3 and Xbox game run bettween 900x500 and 1280x720 (between 25fps and 60fps), 900x500 isn't even HD.

[OG Pooh]

Originally Posted by ryoohki

Btw my system include SLI 460 GTX 1gb.. SLI.. two graphics card.

Off course if you don't know what you're doing you'll be praying. I assembled at least 30 system for friends and family. One once i had a problem with the RAM module.

Destroying meaning that all game or most of the game will run at 40-60fps at 1080p. PS3 and Xbox game run bettween 900x500 and 1280x720 (between 25fps and 60fps), 900x500 isn't even HD.

Actually, one of my friends is a licensed computer tech. I know a little, but I wouldn't build one completely by myself. My friend & I sat down on a few occasions, checking prices to build my new PC from scratch. By the time all was said & done, we couldn't really do better than what I ended up paying for the prebuilt (I have absolutely zero use for a second graphics card as I'm not really into PC gaming). As for the not needing to pray if you know what you're doing... That is pure B.S.. I had purchased several components in the past to upgrade my computers. Quite often, the parts were defective straight out of the box. I can't imagine dealing with an entire PC's worth of components that may or may not work. I would much, much rather have one single manufacturer or dealer to be able to go to than a custom PC that frankly will need upgrading within a year anyway.

I don't know where you get your numbers, but most 360 & pretty much all PS3 titles run at 1080p. Where do you get 900x500? Even that wouldn't account for system requirement issues, the almost constant need for upgrading, etc, etc. Not to mention the dwindling number of forthcoming PC titles. I actually read an article about a year ago (I forget the source) that predicts PC gaming will be all but dead within 5 years (save for the diehards & stragglers). Sorry, but I'm not putting the time, money or devotion into what basically amounts to The B-Team.

[Leopold BUTTERS]

Originally Posted by OG Pooh

Actually, one of my friends is a licensed computer tech. I know a little, but I wouldn't build one completely by myself. My friend & I sat down on a few occasions, checking prices to build my new PC from scratch. By the time all was said & done, we couldn't really do better than what I ended up paying for the prebuilt (I have absolutely zero use for a second graphics card as I'm not really into PC gaming). As for the not needing to pray if you know what you're doing... That is pure B.S.. I had purchased several components in the past to upgrade my computers. Quite often, the parts were defective straight out of the box. I can't imagine dealing with an entire PC's worth of components that may or may not work. I would much, much rather have one single manufacturer or dealer to be able to go to than a custom PC that frankly will need upgrading within a year anyway.

I don't know where you get your numbers, but most 360 & pretty much all PS3 titles run at 1080p. Where do you get 900x500? Even that wouldn't account for system requirement issues, the almost constant need for upgrading, etc, etc. Not to mention the dwindling number of forthcoming PC titles. I actually read an article about a year ago (I forget the source) that predicts PC gaming will be all but dead within 5 years (save for the diehards & stragglers). Sorry, but I'm not putting the time, money or devotion into what basically amounts to The B-Team.

I am sorry but this is a terrible post. I'll start with the upgrading every year statement. First of all, you do not need to upgrade every year, you can go years without upgrading. Games such as COD, Devil May Cry, Fall out, mass effect, ect. All come out on the PC and the consoles. All those games can be played with very old PCs. Now those games are made for consoles so running them on PCs are very easy. Granted there are some PC games that are optimized for PC but that doesn't mean an old PC won't run them. Just saying that a PC needs upgrading every year is very ignorant.

Secondly saying that "quite often" you had parts that were defective staright out of the box, which may be true in your case, you are in the very low percentile of people who that happens to. I have built many PCs and have so far, only had 1 defective part. yet I have had 3 xboxs break on me. I am not saying they are terrible, but it happens with all electronics.

thirdly very few games actully run in 1080p natively on the ps3 or xbox. Mostly just PSN titles that are less demanding on the system. Games such as Halo 3 and COD MW actually run at a resolution less than 720p to keep the frame rate up but are upscaled to 720p or 1080p LINK TO SOURCE

lastly the entire "PC is dying" has been around for years now, and you know what, nothing has come of it. The sims 3 has sold millions of copies, and had 1.4 million at launch. LINK TO SOURCE another game, world of warcraft, has over 10,000,000 users. Starcraft 2 has sold over 1.5 million copies in the first 48hours LINK TO SOURCE These are not small numbers. If the PC is dying with numbers like that than gaming must be dying every where.

So next time you decide to come into a thread and share your knowledge with every one, please let us know where you got it from. Thanks

[Gempulse]

Originally Posted by jc_gamer

Hi everyone, I have a question and was hoping for some input. I'm in the market of buying a new PC and I've come across two HP PCs. One is an Intel processor (which I've always used) and the other is AMD. The Intel i7 processor's price runs pretty high while the AMD Phenom II is a little better. I was wondering what is the main difference in the performance of thos processors and which one would seem like the better choice. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

HP - Pavilion Elite Desktop / AMD Phenom II Processor / 8GB Memory / 1TB Hard Drive
Model: HPE-400y
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Pav...ustomerreviews

HP - Pavilion Elite Desktop / Intel Core i7 Processor / 8GB Memory / 1TB Hard Drive
Model: HPE-270f
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Pav...ustomerreviews

Never, EVER buy an HP.