As always with these HP's, if you plan to upgrade, get a new Power Supply first of all.

Got one at a higher price (of course) a few weeks ago. Working fine--only complaint is it takes for freaking ever to start up. Curser flashing in corner for minutes before it loads anything--THAT is very annoying!

@capguncowboy:

You can easily get by on a quality 400w psu and pick a lower powered gpu like a radeon 6850/70 or 7850.

Quality is about just as important as wattage when it comes to psu's.

the memory configuration gets brought up every time. it's 2x4GB in dual channel and a spare stick of 2GB.

Wish this was in a few more weeks, I need/want a new PC and this would be a good starting point to add on an SSD...

So, I'm interesting in purchasing this thing and using it as a gaming pc. Would I be wise in doing that? If not, what would I need to change and what recommendations could you guys give?

@bearxshark: Depends on your budget. From what everyone says the Power supply needs to be upgraded. A liquid cooling system is a must if you want to overclock it. Otherwise it should run games ok. Beyond that a high spec power supply, vid card, ssd harddrive and max memory.

@bearxshark: Here is the motherboard link: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c03117539&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=5192450#N356

And the desktop link: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&dlc=en&docname=c03154290&lc=en&product=5192450#N1291

I haven't built a gaming rig in years but these links should help somewhat.

From what I read it uses a 12volt ATX power supply. Only one PCIx16 so you would need to replace the original vid card if you want something faster.

@darksoul13: Well, it's Windows 7, and you can run VMWare on a windows 7 OS...so....yes?

@nosty: I should have been more specific. The ESX version (aka Bare Metal)

I'm looking to...
- Make home movies in Windows Live Movie Maker from my HD video camcorder.
- Burn DVD's of the movies.
- Capture video/convert from an old HI-8 digital tape camcorder.
- Use as DVR to record television programs (using my external usb tuner).
Would this HP be good for those things? Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone.

@bearxshark: You can use this for gaming. I would upgrade to a Solid State Hard Drive or "SSD" for gaming. Make sure to install your OS and any games to the SSD and everything else will go to the larger hard drive that it comes with. A 120gb SSD drive should do it.

If you really wanted to squeeze more power out of it after the SSD upgrade; you can upgrade the RAM using a 16GB Dual Channel Kit; which will come with 2 sticks of 8GB memory. Leave the third slot empty.

I would go to newegg.com for both items.

Will most of the computers sold with Win7 like this one be eligible for the inexpensive upgrade to Win8? Or would it be ineligible because it is a refurb?

Also, I already have a decent gaming rig, but without replacing the PS/vid card would this be a good machine for just 'net surfing, downloads, watching streaming vids, etc.?

Thanks

@capguncowboy: "yeah.... I don't see how 300W can really run all of that efficiently. I'd suggest a 500W minimum, and at least 650W if you ever plan on doing more than surfing the internet."

Dang. How many watts will I need to watch a DVD on this then? Is 1,000W enough?

For some reason, the links didn't post. These are all from NewEgg. Also, if I could save any money without sacrificing a lot of performance, that would be awesome. Thanks guys.

@bearxshark: idk what you're wanting to run, but I upgraded the video card to an nvidia 560 ti, of course you're gonna need a better power supply too, i'm running black widow's. tight squeeze for your case but once you pull the disc tray out it's a lot easier to cram all the wires in there

It will always be cheaper to build your own, and it's really not that difficult. The problem with these kinds of systems is it seems they always throw together mismatched and outdated parts. I will still never understand why they choose these memory configurations, only 8 gigs of the 10 will be effective (if it is 4x4x2). The hard drive is awful, you should never use anything slower than 7200 rpm for your os.
Basically, if you want to spend this much on a computer for browsing, making documents, and very light gaming and don't want to build your own, you'd be better off getting a laptop in this price range.

I am actually quite a hardcore gamer, but the games I play are quite old (Arma 2, Red Orchestra, BF2+mods, etc.).

I plan on getting a 550 or 560 GTX so I would need to upgrade the PSU.

Does anybody know what kind of warranty comes with this PC? I do not see any reference to an optional Square Trade extended warranty.