The highly rated HP Pavilion Slimline PC thread

My understanding is the 9500gt uses less power and performs at least as well as the 8600gt.

They both *should* work, but you won't find any guarantees.

*oh, and you scored post # 2000..... here's a cookie!
 
I have multiple questions after reading alot of this forum.
I want to get a custom HP Slimline 3600(t or z depending on the below question). I would like it for home entertainment and gaming(I am not a die hard gamer but play games like Black and White 2, or C&C and other games). My wife would play games on it to, but once again not too intense. So I since I don't have one I wanted to ask you guys a couple of these below questions

I am looking at a custom 3600 and since I haven't been able to find as much as I would like regardin the Processor's I was wondering the way to go. Since I heard that some of the units no matter the processor type are 160W, I was wondering if yall would recommend the Intel Core 2 Duo E4700 (2.6GHz) or the AMD E4700 (2.6GHz) being that the cost difference is $100.00 more for the Core 2 Duo.

2nd The Graphics card. Would the 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9500GS, DVI-I, HDMI, VGA adapter do fine with the above gaming requirements or do you recommend saving the $90 and going for one of the Graphics cards you have mentioned above? If so without changing anything but it and keep it running safe. Also is there one with HDMI? Would the Wireless card option cause any heat problems and if so should I just go USB wireless.

With the following options it is $429.00 (Good Price?)
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
• AMD Athlon(TM) 64 X2 4850e dual-core (2.5GHz)
• FREE UPGRADE! To 3GB DDR2-800MHz SDRAM (1x2048,1x1024) from 2GB
• Integrated NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE, VGA
• FREE UPGRADE to 500GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive from 320GB
• LAN port on system board (10/100Base-T), no wireles LAN
• LightScribe 16X max. DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive
• 15-in-1 memory card reader, 2 USB, headphone port
• Integrated 5.1 channel sound with front audio ports

Sorry this is so long I am an IT guy and used to build my own PCs but am hectic busy and trying to play catch up.
Thanks ahead of time
 
I would say it is a good price. I ended up getting my s3600t for around $450 and the only things that were upgraded were the GHz to 2.6 and the wireless G card. It was supposedly part of some Thanksgiving sale HP was having. Not to mention all the benefits they tossed in with the deal, including free upgrades. According to HPs site on the s3600t, if you look under the Specs tab, it says it comes with a 180W supply. I don't know about the other one.

As for playing games like Black and White, I wouldn't worry "too" much about the video card. I have played that game on systems that were over 2 years old and the game worked fine.
 
On HP's Website I saw that the Intel comes with the 180 and the AMD the 160, so sorry for saying they were the same, I just ran across a comment about that.

Also I can get 5% cashback through live so I can futher decrease the price about to about $400. So I still have the previous question regarding comparing the CPUs, the Wireless card(USB or Card(due to heat problems)), as well as the graphics card(I am seeing the XFX 9600T seems pretty nice(Will my Power supply be fine with the 160W and 180W depending on which one I goto. Also does that one require a bracket?

Blaire, thanks for the comments. I would like this beast to last for awhile, plus I may want to purchase a bluray player in the future if that actually turns out to last. So I want a good Card.
 
So I went ahead and got the specs I mentioned above and have listed below. Without wireless card and with the integrated Graphics card. I went ahead because their cybermonday deal ends today

Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
• AMD Athlon(TM) 64 X2 4850e dual-core (2.5GHz)
• FREE UPGRADE! To 3GB DDR2-800MHz SDRAM (1x2048,1x1024) from 2GB
• Integrated NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE, VGA
• FREE UPGRADE to 500GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive from 320GB
• LAN port on system board (10/100Base-T), no wireles LAN
• LightScribe 16X max. DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive
• 15-in-1 memory card reader, 2 USB, headphone port
• Integrated 5.1 channel sound with front audio ports

It has the instant rebate of 150 plus I added the coupon of SV2132 for $30.00 more off. I believe the Coupon will cancel the Live Cashback of 5% but we'll see later, gotta have hop :). It came out too $399 and free shipping.

If someone could answer my question regarding the Video card that would be great. That is my last question.

Ohh and I checked HP's 3600t(Intel) and 3600z(AMD) not the s3620f so I wonder if it's hit and miss with the intel if you don't get their custom one, also what's your CPU? Just curious. Thanks for all your comments in the thread to everyone they have been helping.
 
tsmorty, mine is the "old" Pentium Dual Core E5200 on 45nm @ 2.5Ghz and do yourself a favor: buy a 9500GT instead of the 9600GT. Your PSU (160W or 180W) will appreciate that...
 
oops yeah, not the 9600. If I go the XFX 9500GT does it require brackets or come with them.
Thanks again
 
Since ubid.com seems to have run dry of HP Slimlines, I guess the best current option in terms of bang-for-the-buck is to buy directly from HP's Web site? :confused:

OldScotch said:
My understanding is the 9500gt uses less power and performs at least as well as the 8600gt.

They both *should* work, but you won't find any guarantees.

*oh, and you scored post # 2000..... here's a cookie!
Click to expand...

Woohoo, I didn't even realize I got post #2000 until you mentioned it. :cool:
 
beowulf7 said:
Since ubid.com seems to have run dry of HP Slimlines, I guess the best current option in terms of bang-for-the-buck is to buy directly from HP's Web site? :confused:
Click to expand...

Well, I found this one on this random website, lol
Still not sure about the brackets though. And I've seen the inside of one of these slimline's and they definitely don't include them. Here's the one I found one. Still working on the brackets though :/

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10009176

Er..there isn't too much listed on the compatibility of that card in regards to a good bracket for it. I found this and it seems to be able to fit many low-profile video cards. I don't know much about it, but I found this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814998301
 
The XFX 9500gt from Ncix.com does not come with the brackets. Selecting the same card at Newegg however automatically adds the brackets to your card IME.
 
Best deal right now seems to be Ebay with the cash back (or HP if Microsoft ever makes good on the promise to redo the 40% day)
 
So now that the machine is coming, thanks for letting me know about UBID, I am fine paying a little more since I am new to this unit the extra 100 or so for 1 year warranty will give me some peace of mind for now. I may have to get a spare though :).

Now onto the most important part the video card. I went to XFX to get the specifics on their 9500Ts that are low profile. They have 3. Below are the part numbers and info
PV-T95G-YALG - DDR2(1GB) - 800MHZ
PV-T95G-YHL - DDR3(512MB) - 1.6GHZ
PV-T95G-YAL - DDR2(512MB) - 800MHZ
PV-T95G-UAL - DDR3(256MB) - 1.6GHZ
I know a couple of you already have the XFX what models do you have? I would prefer the 512 Versions but was not sure if the DDR3 version would cause problems with my Factory Powersupply. So if I went with the DDR2 512MB, it runs 49.99 at newegg with the bracket kit for free, with 6.99 shipping I know I could go GiG, but I am not a killer gamer, but the 512MB and I like the price range of the 512MB. Would that work fine with my normal PS? I know that some of you have the XFX already from reading the forums. Which versions do you have? Opinions would be great.
Thanks
Todd
 
I have been having this same video card debate in another thread in this forum and I have come to the conclusion that a lot of people...think a 180W power supply can support a 512MB insane-card-that-requires-much-more from your PSU! You will pay top dollar for a card like this and not get all of it's features if your PSU can't support it! As it was explained to me today, it would be like trying to fit a gallon of water into a cup...and a very small cup at that considering the 180W stock PSU that seems to come standard with the newer Slimline models.

This card was recommended to me and honestly it seems to fit with what the computer has to offer: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16814162011

It's cheap and it's about as good as it's going to get as far as the HP Slimline models go. They are not made for extreme gaming, but it would work great with this kind of video card. From my, close to 5 days of research on this now (lol), this is what I've gathered. Take it for what you will. I know people say one thing and then you look up actual information on a product website and it doesn't match up at all. This card and it's requirements just make sense to me though.
 
512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9500GS is the options you could go since it is included as an option for the Slimline. The only questions is finding it. Not sure who makes one, but they must exist since HP includes them if you pick it. I am thinking though that I might still try the 9500GT since if it can handle a 9500 GS, and they do have extra slots for this thing, they expect you to put another card in I should have some lee way. Not sure if I am going with the XFX for sure though any comments of anyone else with a 9500 GT?
 
I'd probably get something closer to this:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...&cm_mmc_o=TBBTkwCjCVyBpAgf mwzygtCjCVRqCjCVRq

1. It's from Tiger Direct, a trusted site :)
2. Look at the minimum power supply - it's 300W. MUCH more manageable :)
3. It's a little bit more than the $20 version, but "meh," it's from XFX which makes video cards just for the purpose of gaming...usually

The power supplies for those two cards you listed are still 400W. I talked to a rep from HP today and he told me that the 8400GS (512MB on board) models were supported.
 
Hey I know all about paying a little more to get it from someone you trust.

So after doing some more reasearch, mainly on the full size 9500 GT(not much to find for Low Profile reviews) I think that the 9500GT would be okay power consumption wise. Reason being is that when they say the minimum PowerSuppy, they are including a total of all the items inside the PC and usually that being a full size PSU(since they are gaming Cards them gaming compenents to be used as well). Also at this link http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-9500-gt-review/3 with a full size pc, killer CPU and nice HD. The Wattage usage was as Wattage (PC total) average 168 - peak 212. 2 other things to note was this was the DDR3 version so the DDR2 would require less power. The 9500 (and I am assuming the rest of the 9 series) is using 65nm fab, which reduces power consumption, vs the 8600 size.(Maybe the whole 8 series, not sure though)

Also this review http://www.legitreviews.com/article/760/13/ shows it using a peak of 154 for a unit, with powerful components. So my thought would that if you go with the 9500GT DDR2 512MB you should be ok. I have an email into them asking about the PV-T95G-YAL's power usuage.

So if that's not a problem then maybe the heating would be under some severe gaming??? If so anythough on placement inside or anything else?
I am not doing this to argue, It just helps if I bounce my info off some knowlegable heads. Hopefully the info will be helpful


P.S. If you try this and it fries not my fault. Shouldn't but I don't want someone trying to blame me.
 
I feel slightly idiotic. I come to this thread for advice and hardly read the 1st damn post!
This is from the first page and I didn't even notice it:

[*]The Slimlines support any low profile half height card that works within the 160 and 180 watt PSU limitations. .(known documented working examples include Nvidia 7300GS, 7300GT, 7350LE, 7600gt, 8400GS, 8500GT, and 8600GT as well as a few ATI cards - namely the HD 3450 Recently a few of our ranks have placed 9500 and 9600 cards in the slimline, but for these cards a PSU replacement is necessary. Typically you need to limit your GPU upgrade to a card that draws less than 40 watts if you want to stay within the stock PSU capabilities.


The 8600GT DDR3 from Galaxy is a bit noisy, but is the fastest low profile 'gaming' card currently available that supports HDCP and works with the stock PSU. For strict HTPC useI would recommend a fanless 8400GS or 8500GT.

Example upgrades might be

2GB or 4GB of RAM - The slimline motherboards only have two RAM slots so you'll discard or replace your old memory.

Upgraded video card - I recommend a minimum of 8400GS for Hi-Def media playback.

XFX low profile/half-height bracket set from compusabusiness.com for $8 shipped ($13 everywhere else including newegg)

At this point the system will run solid as a HTPC or daily use machine, the 8400 GS and above is capable of 1080p media decoding, and light gaming duty. The 8500gt and 8600GT are both capable of playing newer games at 1600x1200 type resolutions on medium/high quality at about 30FPS.

According to this, I think I would be more inclined to get the 8500GT since it works well with gaming and it has been tried with these 180W PSU. I was reluctant, but if people have actually done it, then I'm willing to take a chance on it too :)

Oh, and someone posted this link a few pages back that I thought was very useful. It has about every damn card in existence and a wattage requirement for them:

http://archive.atomicmpc.com.au/forums.asp?s=2&c=7&t=9354&p=0
 
On my recent build, the 9500 was offered as an option, so I can't say how people would think it draws too much power. Maybe HP has a special version that uses less? I dunno. I got the 9300 because I only wanted it for the HDMI port and it was the lowest card that had it.

I ordered the machine on the day before Thanksgiving and FedEx showed up for the first time on Tuesday to deliver it, not bad.

The first thing I did was run memtest on it for a few hours off of an Ubuntu CD. Which showed the first flaw, when you pressed the button to open to door, the BD-Rom did not open!!! I finally pried back the bezel and pressed the button on the drive itself, the door opened fine.

Nice quality control, HP...

Later that evening, I got home and looked at it again. It appeared that the drive itself just wasn't pressed forward far enough to make contact with the button pusher on the bezel. So I thought about it for a while, then I opened the box, which I really wasn't wanting to do on a brand new computer that is set to be a gift. But I did anyways, and I was wondering how to get the thing out of there and move the screws into different holes. I finally realized though that there were no screws at all, so I just pushed the drive forward a bit and it snapped right into place at the proper location. Now the bezel opening button works. Crisis averted. But I shouldn't have had to mess with that. Someone less computer savvy would have had to probably send it back for service or an exchange.

One thing I regret is not ordering the wireless. Apparently at least one of the options comes with onboard wireless, and you just screw the antennae on the back. It was depicted in the installation instructions. That would have definitely been worth $30. Oh well. I'm not going to send it back at this point, I just don't want to hassle with it, and everything appears to be working great now that I have resolved the BD-Rom drive orientation issue.

I have to say that all the HP crapware is pretty annoying. I am uninstalling some of it.

On a plus note, I booted the computer into an Ubuntu 8.10 Live CD environment and everything worked great! So if any of you are Linux geeks or want to dual boot Vista with Ubuntu, I had no problems, everything had a driver as far as I could tell.

Right now I've got it sitting at home burning in. The Memtest did a couple of passes with no problems found. Now it's running SP2004 Orthos nonstop for about the last 12 hours, since I went to bed yesterday, and so far so good. Looks like the hardware is rock solid out of the box.
 
neverforget187 said:
I just recently bought

http://www.ubid.com/Actn/Cls/getArchPage.asp?AuctionID=11301459

Not as cheap as my first, but still a better deal than straight from HP.
Now I have two slimlines, one as a guinea pig :)
Click to expand...

You paid probably close to $300 with shipping, yes?

I could get a new machine with slightly different specs (3GB RAM, 250GB 7200 RPM, s3600z) but otherwise very similar for $319 with free shipping right now with my EPP. The $20 or $25 extra is worth having one factory new with a 1 year warranty.

Of course, I optioned mine up a bit with a 4850e, 64 bit Vista, a GeForce 9300 with HDMI out and a BD-ROM drive. And got 90 days no payments with my HP Home and Home Office credit card.

The EPP does save me 8% over normal web base prices, but then, I see from this thread there's a coupon code that I wasn't aware of, so that would be about a wash for someone who didn't have EPP.

Anyways, if you are thinking about a Slimline, with the 150 instant off they're running, it's worth it to buy direct through HP rather than the uBid machines. Or at least, be aware in your bidding what a new one through HP would cost.
 
KysoMyral said:
I've been reading bits and pieces from this thread all day, as I seem to run into it on Google any time I try to find information on my problem. I was trying to install a better video card into my HP s3400t, and hit a snag at the power supply. Specifically, I want a GeForce 9600GT 512mb low profile card. I never could find a power supply that was appropriate, though I likely could with enough looking.

Instead, I've decided to rebuild the computer, almost completely. I plan to salvage what I can from the Slimline, but I'm replacing my motherboard, video card, and case. Thus the reason I decided to sign up and post. Money's not going to be a huge issue, as I'm a university student and getting plenty of financial aid. The issue is that I'd rather not waste money. So I decided to come here and ask about some things so that I could better prepare myself for the coming purchases.

The case I'm looking at is an Athena Power case, specifically this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811192088

The motherboard I'm considering is a uATX nVidia card, found here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131348

The best deal I could find on a low profile 512 GeForce 9600 GT was at buy.com: http://www.buy.com/prod/kfa2-by-gal...e-2-0-directx-10-low/q/loc/101/208448447.html

I have one really big question about the configuration I'm looking at. Mainly, I need to know whether or not anyone knows a good store online to purchase internal power supply cable adapters. I like to buy things all together, and I can't find any one place to pick up more than one or two types. I think the biggest ones I need are two 4-pin molex to 15-pin SATA adapters for the DVD and HDD from the Slimline, and one 4-pin molex to 6-pin PCI-E for the 9600 GT.

It seems I'll also have to replace my copy of Vista. It's gonna hurt my pocket book, but I can get a student discount so I should be alright.

Also, I would just like any advice or commentary on everything I've selected. This will be my first PC and any help or advice would be more than appreciated. About the uATX motherboard and the small case, I know I could build a full size computer, but I live in a fairly small home with more than a few people. Space is an issue, so the computer staying small is a prime concern. It's why I bought the Slimline in the first place. :)

Sorry it's so long, but I've been milling over this literally all day. It's kind of nerve-wracking. The worst part is that I don't get any more Fin Aid until January, and I kinda went hog-wild this semester and blew what I had, so I won't be able to start until then. The bright side is that this gives me more time to figure out what I need to do. Anyway, thanks in advance for whatever help is given.
Click to expand...

Hey if you do this, and want to sell your old Slimline case and PS let me know. I have a Mini-ITX board in a mid tower case running FreeNAS and I'd like to find it a more compact home. It only uses about 38-40 watts total so the HP PS should be fine.
 
tsmorty and Blaire, you both should read the entire thread as many of your questions had been answered before... In the meantime... I'm using a 160W PSU Intel Slimline, I bought the low profile XFX 9500GT 1Gb DDR2 model PV-T95G-ZAFG and it didn't come with brackets! From Tiger Direct retail store. Its NOT true that DDR2 consumes less power than DDR3, so, this one is a better option! AND if your Slimline can run with a 8600GT, surely it can do it better with a 9500GT which consumes less power thanks to its small GPU size.
 
Hey brons, do what I did (if you feel like it) and roll it back to XP. My S3500T is working so much better that way. And with the recovery partition I COULD go back to Vista if I wanted to. I also swapped the BD drive for an LG BD/HD-DVD combo drive. Only thing I'm not liking is how difficult it is to get HDMI audio to work.
 
brons2 said:
You paid probably close to $300 with shipping, yes?

I could get a new machine with slightly different specs (3GB RAM, 250GB 7200 RPM, s3600z) but otherwise very similar for $319 with free shipping right now with my EPP. The $20 or $25 extra is worth having one factory new with a 1 year warranty.

Of course, I optioned mine up a bit with a 4850e, 64 bit Vista, a GeForce 9300 with HDMI out and a BD-ROM drive. And got 90 days no payments with my HP Home and Home Office credit card.

The EPP does save me 8% over normal web base prices, but then, I see from this thread there's a coupon code that I wasn't aware of, so that would be about a wash for someone who didn't have EPP.

Anyways, if you are thinking about a Slimline, with the 150 instant off they're running, it's worth it to buy direct through HP rather than the uBid machines. Or at least, be aware in your bidding what a new one through HP would cost.
Click to expand...

Just note that many people the HP Slimlines instead of a Dell b/c of their very small form factor. :cool:

Cool, I wonder how long hp.com will run that $150 off discount for. :confused:
 
drpenicilin said:
tsmorty and Blaire, you both should read the entire thread as many of your questions had been answered before... In the meantime... I'm using a 160W PSU Intel Slimline, I bought the low profile XFX 9500GT 1Gb DDR2 model PV-T95G-ZAFG and it didn't come with brackets! From Tiger Direct retail store. Its NOT true that DDR2 consumes less power than DDR3, so, this one is a better option! AND if your Slimline can run with a 8600GT, surely it can do it better with a 9500GT which consumes less power thanks to its small GPU size.
Click to expand...

Sorry that for awhile I was asking some basic questions, but I was afraid that HP's Cyber Monday would runout(now it is still going), I have still ran through alot of the thread since then. Mainly 90-now, as well as some of the first pages. Sadly the varying opinions weren't totally clear.

Regarding the GDDR2 being hotter or more power consuming the GDDR3, I apologize(still used to everything requiring more. Ran across a site actually showing that GDDR3 requires less power and due to this causes less heat. http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/168. I think If there was a DDR3 version that wasn't to expensive I would go that route. But for now probably will go with the XFX 512MB DDR2.
 
Yeah, I agree with morty on this. There are more conflicting sources than you think, and if you're like me and you don't know the first thing about computers and you're mostly relying on what other people are telling you..other people who have no idea about your budget and what you're really doing with your computer...it's seldom good advice to follow.

My leading factors for choosing a card have pretty much reduced to cost and efficiency. I think I've just decided to wait until I actually GET my slimline for Christmas and then see what the integrated card is capable of. If it's a complete PoC, I'll go ahead and upgrade. So far it's looking like either a Galaxy 8400GS or a XFX 8400GS will be the best bet since I do like a lot of the modern games and it is a low power card. It has good ratings and good reviews. Everything I've read about it checks out and it runs well with a low PSU. That and it's cheap. So even if I don't know what I'm doing, it won't matter, since it's cheap! You see! lol
 
madpoet said:
Hey brons, do what I did (if you feel like it) and roll it back to XP. My S3500T is working so much better that way. And with the recovery partition I COULD go back to Vista if I wanted to. I also swapped the BD drive for an LG BD/HD-DVD combo drive. Only thing I'm not liking is how difficult it is to get HDMI audio to work.
Click to expand...

Why? I like Vista a lot. And it seems to run pretty good on this box. It doesn't seem to run Vista any worse that my machine at work, which is an HP7800 SFF with a C2D 2.333 E6550.

Not seeing a $150 instant discount?
Click to expand...

Yea, seems like they pulled back on that. It's now only a $70 instant rebate. The exact same build I did right before thanksgiving is now $40 more with the exact same options. Oh well, the economy sucks, it'll be back.
 
You were complaining about all the HP bloatware, that's why I was saying roll it back to XP.
 
Well everyone,

I have had a lot of fun with my s3400t and in the discussions. Some of you might recall my failed Q9300 upgrade, complete with the nuclear mushroom cloud picture from Archaea :D

My slimline had served me well, and I love the form factor, but in the end I just had enough of its limitations. For me the most serious limitation is the CPU lock: HP sells slimlines with the Q9300 CPU, but if you bought one with another processor and upgrade it to Q9300, boot fails with "unsupported CPU" BIOS message. The lack of a processor upgrade path is truly disappointing.

I am working on a parallel programming project and need a quad-core computer, so I bought a new PC and sold my slimline this morning. I thought about buying a Q9300 slimline, but I have lost faith in HP support. Instead I got a Dell Studio Slim: it is a bit bigger (still slim), but also much more flexible.

  • 250W PSU
  • 3x 3.5" drive bays (1 external 2 internal)
  • HDMI w/ HDCP (G45 HD video acceleration)
  • 4 DIMMs (dual channel, up to 8GB)
  • 1x PCI-e x16, 2x PCI-e x1, 1x PCI
  • Gigabit ethernet

While I always feel I am bumping against a wall with the slimline, I am quite confident that the Studio Slim will easily last me a few years. Getting back on topic, I hope increased competition in this niche will force HP to make some major updates. The s3300t platform, which remains essentially unchanged all the way to s3600t, is getting long in tooth. If people are interested, I can give a mini review in a separate thread when I get the machine sometime next week.
 
chklin - Cool to hear you got the Dell Studio Slim, I would have if it had been a little more in my price range. It's going to be quite nice though. I have got to see one and I like how they are built. I would like to hear a review on the unit.

Where I work now we are an all Dell City and my previous job an all HP school district. They have strengths and weaknesses depending on the particular line. I have not favorite. Looking forward to this unit.
 
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