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[aaaaa0]

This is a cool deal guys just be aware that HP skimped on the motherboard features bigtime, so just be sure your ok with never upgrading this system.

This is what the motherboard looks like:

There's only one x16 PCIe slot. That means no SLI, ever.

And only one x1 PCIe slot, so if you happen to need more USB ports or more hard disks, or whatever, you can only put one additional card in.

There's also exactly two USB 3.0 ports on the front, and two USB 3.0 ports on the back. (No idea if the ports are compatible with Oculus, someone else must have already checked that.) So you will be totally filled up if you want to use Oculus Touch and a second tracking camera.

Only 5 SATA ports. So your hard drive expansion options will be limited too, and with only one 1x PCIe slot, additional storage controller options will be limited.

Even so, I couldn't resist picking one of these up as a second VR machine.

 

[btrboyev]

where is the warranty info? all I see is a 30-day return notification, surely that's not it?

1 year

 

[cr_blah_blah]

Is the HP.com preferred option not working for anyone else? I click Continue and it scrolls down and nothing happens. I have ad-block off and tried Safari and Chrome, same thing.

 

[SlaughterX]

It also uses a smaller laptop sized disc drive, and only has room for a single optical drive. I guess this is the main reason why it's so much smaller than my full sized tower XPS. How hard is it to replace the disc drive in this thing? I'm keeping my fingers crossed for UHD BD support in the future...

 

[SlaughterX]

Is the HP.com preferred option not working for anyone else? I click Continue and it scrolls down and nothing happens. I have ad-block off and tried Safari and Chrome, same thing.

Call them and have thdm forward you to their credit department tomorrow you probably have some type of fraud alert flag stopping it until you call in (happened to me).

 

[Unknown Soldier]

This is a cool deal guys just be aware that HP skimped on the motherboard features bigtime, so just be sure your ok with never upgrading this system.

This is what the motherboard looks like:

There's only one x16 PCIe slot. That means no SLI, ever.

And only one x1 PCIe slot, so if you happen to need more USB ports or more hard disks, or whatever, you can only put one additional card in.

There's also exactly two USB 3.0 ports on the front, and two USB 3.0 ports on the back. (No idea if the ports are compatible with Oculus, someone else must have already checked that.) So you will be totally filled up if you want to use Oculus Touch and a second tracking camera.

Only 5 SATA ports. So your hard drive expansion options will be limited too, and with only one 1x PCIe slot, additional storage controller options will be limited.

Even so, I couldn't resist picking one of these up as a second VR machine.

For comparison:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128874
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132573

It looks like a pretty standard micro-ATX motherboard. Those things physically are too small to fit a whole lot. I doubt anyone will attempt SLI on a micro-ATX, ITX, or mini-ITX build but who knows.

Cut down to only 2 slots is pretty bad, but the most slots you can have is 4 on micro-ATX. I'm running a machine with an ATX motherboard that stacks 3x PCI-e x16 slots and 3x PCI-e x4 slots. Exactly one slot is actually occupied by my single 980 Ti. You just don't need a lot of slots these days with most stuff like audio integrated into the chipset.

Only 5 SATA connectors isn't that important in a small micro-ATX case, you can't physically fit more hard drives in it anyways.

The small number of USB ports is pretty sad though, it's not hard to stack a bunch of USB ports on the back panel of a motherboard. That is something I can condemn. The rest of the motherboard is fine though.

 

[DealWithIt]

For comparison:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128874
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132573

It looks like a pretty standard micro-ATX motherboard. Those things physically are too small to fit a whole lot. I doubt anyone will attempt SLI on a micro-ATX, ITX, or mini-ITX build but who knows.

Cut down to only 2 slots is pretty bad, but the most slots you can have is 4 on micro-ATX. I'm running a machine with an ATX motherboard that stacks 3x PCI-e x16 slots and 3x PCI-e x4 slots. Exactly one slot is actually occupied by my single 980 Ti. You just don't need a lot of slots these days with most stuff like audio integrated into the chipset.

Only 5 SATA connectors isn't that important in a small micro-ATX case, you can't physically fit more hard drives in it anyways.

The small number of USB ports is pretty sad though, it's not hard to stack a bunch of USB ports on the back panel of a motherboard. That is something I can condemn. The rest of the motherboard is fine though.

There are 10 USB ports. Though there are just 4 USB 3. If that makes a difference.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

There are 10 USB ports. Though there are just 4 USB 3. If that makes a difference.

That's plenty then. You're getting a lot of machine for $1127 + the cost of an SSD.

If I was in the market for a prebuilt gaming PC I could just plug in and start playing, I would be all over this. It's way cheaper than those Alienwares that's for sure.

 

[aaaaa0]

It looks like a pretty standard micro-ATX motherboard. Those things physically are too small to fit a whole lot. I doubt anyone will attempt SLI on a micro-ATX, ITX, or mini-ITX build but who knows.

Just saying, if I were building a gaming rig that I intended to keep for a while, I'd go with a setup with a little more expansion possibility. I'd go mid/full tower, full ATX or eATX board, with the full complement of slots.

But like I said, this is a great deal for what it is -- I couldn't resist getting one myself.

 

[Rentahamster]

Given my recent PC building history, I've always waited long enough to the point where I'd have to get a while new motherboard anyway. I don't really concern myself with the upgradability potential of motherboards anymore.

 

[Felix Lighter]

never mind misread. Too early.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

The second x1 slot on the bottom is what you would use for a USB 3.0 card.

that's what i did. I added a 4-port usb 3.0 pci-e card. just pulled the one out of my old pc and dropped it in this one. had to buy a sata --> molex adapter, though. $5.

 

[CollectedDust]

For those wondering this pc does pass the Oculus test as well, USB ports were fine (ran it a couple days ago).

Edit: I'm referring to the executable you can download from the Oculus website. I havent actually tried running anything on it, so I suppose their test could be wrong.

 

[hawkeyye293]

So just confirming, this would have the 4 needed usb ports for Ocullus as well as enough ports for Ocullus touch and my mouse and keyboard, printer, etc? Not sure exactly how many Ocullus plus O. Touch take up....?

 

[Shake Appeal]

I've had this computer a week now and have zero complaints so far. Just don't expect to upgrade it much without gutting the thing. And I wouldn't overclock anything either.

So just confirming, this would have the 4 needed usb ports for Ocullus as well as enough ports for Ocullus touch and my mouse and keyboard, printer, etc? Not sure exactly how many Ocullus plus O. Touch take up....?

It has enough ports for Oculus. They're not placed in the most friendly way (two USB 2.0, two USB 3.0 on the top of the thing, the rest on the back), but it won't be a problem. I have mouse/keyboard in two USB ports on the back, Xbox controller (which is one of the Oculus ports, I believe) in one of the 2.0 ports on top. That leaves enough on top for Oculus without Touch. You can plug Touch in the back, I guess.

 

[hawkeyye293]

I've had this computer a week now and have zero complaints so far. Just don't expect to upgrade it much without gutting the thing. And I wouldn't overclock anything either.


It has enough ports for Oculus. They're not placed in the most friendly way (two USB 2.0, two USB 3.0 on the top of the thing, the rest on the back), but it won't be a problem.

How is the fan noise? Any heating issues?

 

[Shake Appeal]

How is the fan noise? Any heating issues?

I can't really speak to noise, because I'm coming for an old, noisy laptop and this is very quiet by comparison: I don't notice any sound at all when it's idle, and I wear headphones for gaming, so it's not been an issue for me at all. Someone else in the previous thread said their fan made a weird clicking noise, though.

I wouldn't say heating "issues," but it runs hot under load: CPU sometimes spikes above 60C, and I saw the GPU go north of 80C until I set a custom fan curve to keep it at around 75C or below at all times. So it's fine, but I wouldn't want to overclock anything or otherwise push my luck.

Edit: Just ran XCOM 2 (max settings except for MSAA and bokeh DoF) at 1440p for a little while and watched the results. CPU is trucking around 50C in-mission (max. of 68C while loading the map), GPU is pretty much locked at 70C with the fan at 70%. Fan noise is noticeable with headphones off, but not what I would call "loud."

 

[Padinn]

Does the mobo allow overclocking? I could put these components in my current system....

 

[longdi]

For the adventurous, you can try to use Intel XTU to undervolt the CPU and at the same time overclock the core speed! That's right, many pre-built PC have conservative voltages (ie. set too high), and depend on your luck with the chip, one can push it to faster speed at lower voltage/temp!

That's what i did with my XPS15 laptop, i got a cool -100mv stable undervolt and load temps went down 5-8 degree celsius.

With the 6700K, i guess you can change the multiplier upwards with XTU unlike my laptop 6700HQ.

Don't waste that -K in the 6700! The worst you encounter is a few BSOD reboot, but i will turn off BSOD log dump files or change to a minidump log before i proceed, as it will protect the HDD/Windows corruption and speed up boot recovery.

 

[Hubble]

A friend of mine purchased this, and he is very happy with it. Plays games well. I prefer built PC's but I thought, you are going to need to upgrade your computer anyway in 4 years. This will last that easy especially with current PC trends. I was also impressed by the size of the case compared to the large midtower cases. Looks sleek.

 

[CollectedDust]

So I took DealWithIt's advice and installed MSI Afterburner to set a custom fan curve. I reran the SteamVR test and the results improved more than I thought they would from such a simple tweak.

For those curious, my prior results are posted here.

Moral of the story, proper cooling makes a pretty big difference, and the way HP has it setup seems to favor quiet operating over cooling/performance.

 

[Felix Lighter]

I believe GTX 980tis start throttling at 83C. That I believe is the magic number you want to stay under if you can.

 

[KatamariOnTheRocks]

Moral of the story, proper cooling makes a pretty big difference, and the way HP has it setup seems to favor quiet operating over cooling/performance.

Do you think swapping into a larger case is worthwhile from a performance standpoint?

I wouldn't mind the cost of a better ventilated case if it would have meaningful gains.

 

[newsguy]

Well, I cancelled my order. I can't wait till July to play in VR, and the 970 Asus bundle is my only hope of seeing it in April. I know, it's not a great decision, but I'm probably going to be traveling alot later this year and I would like to get some VR time in while I can.

 

[usctrojan]

Well, I cancelled my order. I can't wait till July to play in VR, and the 970 Asus bundle is my only hope of seeing it in April. I know, it's not a great decision, but I'm probably going to be traveling alot later this year and I would like to get some VR time in while I can.

Aren't shipping dates in April, though?

Edit: Oh I see. Waiting for VR to ship.

 

[newsguy]

Aren't shipping dates in April, though?

Edit: Oh I see. Waiting for VR to ship.

Yeah, unfortunately OR has no solid plans to send out headsets thru retail channels anytime soon. I spoke to a rep who said I had to do it thru their site, which is back up thru July at least.

 

[Reddline]

Thanks for the thread OP! Was able to jump in on this.

 

[IJoel]

I believe GTX 980tis start throttling at 83C. That I believe is the magic number you want to stay under if you can.

This. Which can also be tweaked in Afterburner. But there's no need. One just needs to set up proper fan response and the temps shouldn't get anywhere near that hot.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

posting mine in the event someone finds it helpful.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

So I took DealWithIt's advice and installed MSI Afterburner to set a custom fan curve. I reran the SteamVR test and the results improved more than I thought they would from such a simple tweak.



For those curious, my prior results are posted here.

Moral of the story, proper cooling makes a pretty big difference, and the way HP has it setup seems to favor quiet operating over cooling/performance.

HP didn't set anything. The default fan curve on 980 Ti reference coolers strongly favors less noise, at the expense of thermal throttling when it is running all out. This is a problem with all reference 980 Tis because the cooler is just not adequate to sustain boost clocks at a reasonable fan speed, you either set it to 100% which is hairdryer to prevent throttling or you live with card throttling to reference clocks.

Custom cooler 980 Tis can sustain very high boost clocks, anywhere from 30-40% higher than reference clocks, but custom coolers do not run like the reference blowers which push air out of the case. They dump all the hot air into the case and that's why you need adequate ventilation on a custom PC build which has a custom cooler 980 Ti.

 

[dallow_bg]

Does Win 8 Home or Pro matter?
And if you're upgrading to 10 later on, does it matter then?

Someone mentioned using eBates gives you 3% cash back.
BeFrugal will give you 5% cash back as well.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

HP didn't set anything. The default fan curve on 980 Ti reference coolers strongly favors less noise, at the expense of thermal throttling when it is running all out. This is a problem with all reference 980 Tis because the cooler is just not adequate to sustain boost clocks at a reasonable fan speed, you either set it to 100% which is hairdryer to prevent throttling or you live with card throttling to reference clocks.

Custom cooler 980 Tis can sustain very high boost clocks, anywhere from 30-40% higher than reference clocks, but custom coolers do not run like the reference blowers which push air out of the case. They dump all the hot air into the case and that's why you need adequate ventilation on a custom PC build which has a custom cooler 980 Ti.

yep this.

 

[Kibbles]

I have a SSD Windows 10 install on my SSD right now can I just plop it in this if I buy it and have all my stuff still?

 

[Dreams-Visions]

I have a SSD Windows 10 install on my SSD right now can I just plop it in this if I buy it and have all my stuff still?

No. You'll need to do stuff. I had the same situation recently. Basically I installed every app and game I intended to use on the new PC, configured everything. Copied my files from the old PC over and backed them up to an external. Then I made an image of the new, configured PC and dropped the image on the old SSD.

You can't "plop", no. It won't work.

 

[pestul]

I have a SSD Windows 10 install on my SSD right now can I just plop it in this if I buy it and have all my stuff still?

Probably not a great idea if Windows was set up with another PC / Motherboard and the license doesn't work that way anyway. It really begs for a clean Windows 10 install.

 

[GodlyTwins]

I was planning on building a pc, but I instantly ordered this when I saw the thread pop up. Thanks, OP! The 980ti is gonna be a big step up from my 7770 lol

 

[wildfire]

Is this some one-off HP deal? I mean, i never seen other makers go so low. When Pascal 1080Ti comes about, should we expect a revised version at the same low balling prices from HP?

Thanks for posting internal pictures. I was really curious about the layout.

To answer your question I was confused as well until I really thought about it.

GPU prices have been fairly stagnant with modest discounts in the past year and a half.

When you look back at how GPU prices used to fall before a new architecture was released Nvidia and AMD could still make a profit because the ability to manufacture their aging gpus has matured.


Instead of passing off the savings directly to us in individual GPUs Nvidia has opted to make a deal with OEMs. That still doesn't explain the entire price drop but the CPU and GPU are the biggest contributors by far of any other component.

 

[dsk1210]

Out of interest, what type of 980ti is it? Zotac?

I was planning on building a pc, but I instantly ordered this when I saw the thread pop up. Thanks, OP! The 980ti is gonna be a big step up from my 7770 lol

That will be a nice jump for you.

 

[B.K.]

Does anyone know how hard it is to add an extra hard drive? If I get one, I want a second drive for programs and storage, but I'm not paying HP $70 for 1TB. That's a bit expensive.

 

[jaaz]

Super easy. There are many empty bays. I just got a SATA 3 cable, plugged it into my SSD and then to the SATA 3 connector on the MOBO, connected the power cable that was just hanging there, formatted the drive in Windows and I was done. Do buy a hard drive caddy (I got mine from Amazon), because it didn't include an extra one.

 

[jaaz]

Out of interest, what type of 980ti is it? Zotac?

It's an Nvidia reference card.

 

[dsk1210]

It's an Nvidia reference card.

Should be decent then. Good.

I recently built the same build myself, cost me a lot more.

£1,500

It did include a few little extras, but I think this is a steal for anybody who does not want to spend the time building a PC, the specs for the price are hard to ignore.

 

[Mr Fahrenheit]

Bit the bullet. Figure I can decide if I actually want it come April when it gets here, if I do then great if not then I'll just hit up that 30 day return.

I just wish I could sell my laptop and make some of the money back, but I still need it.

 

[Justin]

Oops! I just looked over my email receipt and noticed I selected the 3.4 GHz processor and not the 4GHz one. Is it really going to be that big of a deal? Should I cancel and reorder? I am assuming it will ok for the Rift since the Amazon bundle comes with a 2.7.

 

[Felix Lighter]

Oops! I just looked over my email receipt and noticed I selected the 3.4 GHz processor and not the 4GHz one. Is it really going to be that big of a deal? Should I cancel and reorder? I am assuming it will ok for the Rift since the Amazon bundle comes with a 2.7.

It's not a huge deal. Just a bonus bit of CPU performance which is worth considering because CPU's can potentially last a very long time in a build (the i7 920 from 2008 is still a very viable CPU for gaming today) and getting a bit of a bump can be nice over the life of the machine. The i7 6700 is still more than enough for any game right now and for many years to come.

 

[SlaughterX]

Does Win 8 Home or Pro matter?
And if you're upgrading to 10 later on, does it matter then?

Someone mentioned using eBates gives you 3% cash back.
BeFrugal will give you 5% cash back as well.

Well if you get 8 pro then you can upgrade to 10 pro for free, but is it worth an extra 50? Probably not

 

[BruceCLea]

Hey guys, got the computer and I'm loving it. However, I'm a PC novice to the utmost degree and I'm having some issues. It's screen tearing. I'm trying to play the Witcher 3 and the framerate is in the 90s-100s. Also, older games like Dishonored are way above the 100s but I still get screen tearing. It's quite awful. I've done some research and I know that V-Sync isn't the answer, it just locks everything to 30 fps.

I'm using my Samsung 4K TV as my monitor from 2015 its 240CMR (basically I think that's 120Hz). Here's the TV

Is it my TV that can't keep up with my PC? Is it the TV's refresh rate that's causing this mess?

Should I get a real PC monitor? Would that resolve the issue? thanks

 

[night13x]

Hey guys, got the computer and I'm loving it. However, I'm a PC novice to the utmost degree and I'm having some issues. It's screen tearing. I'm trying to play the Witcher 3 and the framerate is in the 90s-100s. Also, older games like Dishonored are way above the 100s but I still get screen tearing. It's quite awful. I've done some research and I know that V-Sync isn't the answer, it just locks everything to 30 fps.

I'm using my Samsung 4K TV as my monitor from 2015 its 240CMR (basically I think that's 120Hz). Here's the TV

Is it my TV that can't keep up with my PC? Is it the TV's refresh rate that's causing this mess?

Should I get a real PC monitor? Would that resolve the issue? thanks

Just Fyi if this helps. In W3 for vsync settings, you can choose, 30, 60, or variable for framerate settings in the option menu if I remember correctly. It may be labeled something slightly different than that in terms of verbage, but it is essentially what it is. See if you can set it to 60 and see if that helps you out any.

 

[Felix Lighter]

Hey guys, got the computer and I'm loving it. However, I'm a PC novice to the utmost degree and I'm having some issues. It's screen tearing. I'm trying to play the Witcher 3 and the framerate is in the 90s-100s. Also, older games like Dishonored are way above the 100s but I still get screen tearing. It's quite awful. I've done some research and I know that V-Sync isn't the answer, it just locks everything to 30 fps.

I'm using my Samsung 4K TV as my monitor from 2015 its 240CMR (basically I think that's 120Hz). Here's the TV

Is it my TV that can't keep up with my PC? Is it the TV's refresh rate that's causing this mess?

Should I get a real PC monitor? Would that resolve the issue? thanks

I wonder if your resolution is set to 4K @30hz. Vsync is the answer but it will cap to the refresh rate of your display. Check that in the Nvidia Control Panel under Display->Change Resolution. Check the refresh rate.

 

[gofreak]

Are there ever deals remotely like this in Europe/UK? :/