Well what you have is an APU from AMD. So it is a CPU/GPU combo. This unit (the 6 core) would require a dedicated GPU.
This is what I would do. AMD just announced the new APU lineup.
Those new APU’s will fit in the motherboard you currently have in the computer you bought. The APU you have requires a FM2 socket motherboard and the news ones coming out are FM2. So all you would need is the new APU and some thermal paste.
I would buy the top of the line new APU AMD is releasing that is 65W (your current computer has the A10-5700 which is 65W) which would be the A10-6700. Then replace the APU you have with that one. That would run you under $150.
I bought this in May when previously offered. Refurbished. Worked perfectly out of the box and continues to work perfectly. I’m not a gamer or heavy into video or photo work, so no comment on that. For all general PC work, a great choice.
With computers units as a whole, like this, I don’t worry much about refurbished.
If a unit ships from the company and is returned for ANY reason it has to be resold as a refurbished unit. For those units that did have something malfunction…it is rarely repaired. A brand new component/part is installed in place of the defective one. They recheck it as they would a brand new unit going out.
Every desktop and laptop I’ve bought in the last decade was refurbed. Never had a problem related to being refurbished. At worse, there were a few scratches on the case but they functioned just fine. Generally speaking, solid state devices aren’t affected that much by use – especially short term use. Most refurbed devices were used for only a short time before being returned for refurbishing. In most cases, this would be within the Warranty Period. In some cases, it could be as short as a week to 30 days, the refund period of most sellers. In fact, many items aren’t even defective, and were returned simply because the buyer changed his/her mind. These still have to be returned to be checked out, however, and marked “refurbished.”
Computers are solid state devices, with very few moving parts. You need only worry about the hard drive, and to a much lesser extent, the fans. And of course, there are also hinges, doors, and jacks which can loosen. Any problems with the drive, fans, hinges, etc should be obvious within the 90 day Refurb Warranty period. The fact that it was refurbed by the manufacturer, HP, is always a plus. Sometimes, outside companies do the refurbishing, and may not be as reliable.
If you’re concerned, simply buy a Square Trade warranty for further coverage. There should be a link in the description.
ps - Woot has a page explaining what being refurbed means. They point out that many refurbished items were never even used.
Sorry Woot but the Newegg deal is significanly cheaper because it has FREE shipping and they don’t collect sales tax [yet]. That means the Woot total is $469 + $5 s/h + $42.16 tax = $516.16 (for us New Yorkers). Newegg is $57.16 cheaper at $459.
Interestingly, Woot limits customers to 1 computer while Newegg’s limit is 15 computers.
Dude, Win8 is almost the same as Win7 except it’s in a different wrapper. In fact it runs and loads faster.
Just get a third party app that will give you your classic shell back, and since MS is developing Windows 8.1, it won’t belong till you get an upgrade, probably free.
Bought one of these in May. It’s a great deal. Tons of RAM, processor is hardly tasked with anything that I’ve run so far. Was a little worried about the video card, but has run Minecraft, Tank Commander, Civ V, SimCity 5 all with no problems.
If better gaming is what you want, then concentrate on the graphics card. You will need a better PS to support a better graphics card. make sure this will fit before you order it total $121 after rebates.
This will get you an G3D score of 2149 compared to your current graphics which is 825. This should be good to play most games at higher settings.
The start is the least of my worries. It’s missing mediacenter and you have the UEFI thing that can be a hassle if you’re upgrading hardware or adding linux (not impossible- just a hassle compared to Windows 7. I don’t hate 8 (nice rhyme), just prefer 7 on non touch.
The biggest beef I’ve got with this setup is the paucity of USB 3 connections. Of 8 total connections, only 2 are USB 3, the rest are USB 2. And the USB 3s are on the top of the computer facing backwards. Who the hell plugs stuff in there?
This is an odd arrangement that I’ve only seen on HP, having no USB 3s on the back where you would traditionally use them.
Why bother having USB 3 if there’s going to be so few of them and stuck in a place that makes your computer look like Medusa.
I had a problem with mine as well. Ordered 5/13, received 5/17. Worked well for a few hours, and then had problems booting. No POST, no signal being sent to monitor, but fans were running and power light was on.
Called HP on 5/19 and support was very helpful and walked me through checks of the RAM, video card, and motherboard itself (I had already checked the RAM- I know a bit about hardware but not much).
Determined it was a faulty mobo and by 5/21 I had received a box with packing materials and prepaid postage to send to HP to have them install a new one (not sure if sending me one to install was an option- I would have preferred it). By 5/28 it was back with me working fine, no problems since.
Overall it doesn’t help my impression of HP as having poor hardware, but the good support with free 1-day shipping more than makes up for it. I’m still very happy with it- good power for the money.
6/7/13- I wouldn’t worry much about having a problem like mine. Most comments I’ve read say their PC hasn’t had a problem. The video card isn’t great, but if you aren’t looking to max out new games I think it’s fine. I’m using it to catch up on years of games that I’ve missed (Civ V, FEAR 2 & 3, Arkham City, Sleeping Dogs) and its worked well, mid-high settings on all. Incredibly fast for all processing and RAM intensive tasks. Windows 8 is fine, I think hate for it is greatly overstated. If you hate the metro interface that much, there are several free programs to bypass it altogether, as well as Microsoft’s upcoming free update Windows 8.1 which will allow it natively. Besides the UI, though, 8 has been shown to be faster than 7 in several areas.
Don’t listen to all the bad press about Windows 8. Like all versions before it, it’s not perfect. It is, however, a good step forward for Microsoft.
I, too, was very skeptical. I partitioned a drive and loaded win 8 as a dual boot to try it out.
Not only have I since switched over completely, I haven’t even thought about going back.
The speed alone is worth it. But I stayed for the speed at first, and now I love the customization options. While I’m not as comfortable on the backend of it as I have been with past windows versions, the pros outweigh the cons.
As for the touchscreen - it certainly lends itself to touchscreens, but it’s still great for desktops - just takes getting used to.
Unless you’re a programmer, or have other very technical uses for your desktop, I’d highly recommend giving Windows 8 a shot - or at least don’t question buying a nice machine like this because it’s got Win 8 on it.
So, is it much better or worse than a Geforce GTX 460? I am able to do Ultra graphics on Sc2 with only 4 gb memory and a Dual core proc with this card.
