Strong system with a little upgrade
Pros:
Good Hardware for price 64 bit OS
Cons:
No available PCIe slots or room for a double slot graphics card
The Bottom Line:
You could do a lot worse in an out of the box system. Lots of HD space and RAM future looking 64 bit OS
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
Out of the box this system performed well. I edit video and do a lot of work with pictures. The included memory at 6 Gigs is welcome for this kind of work. The windows default score was 5.6. The graphics card that comes with the machine is very capable for general tasks, but heavy gaming or editing show it's faults. I replaced the Nvidia 9500 GS with an ATI HD4850 which was one of the most powerful single slot PCIe cards available. The wireless network adapter is in the PCIe slot just next to the graphics card, so there is no room to put in a graphics card that requires two slots (not SLI or Crossfire, but rather a card with a form factor that needs two expansion slots on the back of your computer...this system has only one PCIe 16x, so it is incapable of running multiple GPU's.) In case you were thinking you could mod the case to make it work, the audio jacks are in the way, so it would be more trouble that it is worth.
After the upgrade windows score went to 5.7, but it was limited by the memory, all other scores were 5.9. I could run Crysis at full settings (1920 x 1280) all effects set to high with smooth operation. I can not be sure, but I think that the graphics card upgrade also helped the way that the TV tuner displayed my cable signal, smoothing it out a bit...
The machine is quiet, even with the graphics upgrade.
I did not like that it only had 4 USB ports on the back, but luckily the HP w2408h 24" LCD i use with this has four expansion USB slots.
The integrated audio sounds good, but lacks any customization options. I am running a 5.1 setup but can not calibrate the speakers, just get it to use it's included matrix settings. (I have subsequently disabled those and use my Creative speaker's hardware settings instead)
Overall I am happy with the purchase. It has been a very stable system and with the GPU upgrade a very capable budget gaming system. If you do not plan on adding any PCIe expansion products then this is the system for you...on a side note the one legacy PCI slot has a modem in it, so it is easily sacrificed if you are not going to utilize fax or phone features."
