expirediconian | Staff posted Oct 28, 2022 05:49 PM
Item 1 of 5
Item 1 of 5
expirediconian | Staff posted Oct 28, 2022 05:49 PM
HP Pavilion Desktop: Ryzen 5 5600G, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, RX5500, Win 11
+ Free Shipping$449
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so if you're going with OP's and after upgrading the memory and storage, you're looking at $520-$530. You are better off going with my parts list with 1tb ssd and a killer card 6600.
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5500 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($99.00 @ GameStop)
Motherboard: ASRock B550M PG RIPTIDE Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Silicon Power GAMING 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($43.97 @ Amazon)
Storage: Silicon Power A60 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($57.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 6600 MECH 2X 8G Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Video Card ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox Q300L MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($42.00 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Smart 600 W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($41.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $574.92
so if you're going with OP's and after upgrading the memory and storage, you're looking at $520-$530. You are better off going with my parts list with 1tb ssd and a killer card 6600.
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5500 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($99.00 @ GameStop)
Motherboard: ASRock B550M PG RIPTIDE Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Silicon Power GAMING 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($43.97 @ Amazon)
Storage: Silicon Power A60 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($57.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 6600 MECH 2X 8G Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Video Card ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox Q300L MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($42.00 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Smart 600 W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($41.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $574.92
My hero, you did all the work for us.
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The motherboard has a VGA but it's permanently capped off and if you open the case it has a sticker saying not to remove the cap.
so if you're going with OP's and after upgrading the memory and storage, you're looking at $520-$530. You are better off going with my parts list with 1tb ssd and a killer card 6600.
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5500 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($99.00 @ GameStop)
Motherboard: ASRock B550M PG RIPTIDE Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Silicon Power GAMING 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($43.97 @ Amazon)
Storage: Silicon Power A60 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($57.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 6600 MECH 2X 8G Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Video Card ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox Q300L MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($42.00 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Smart 600 W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($41.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $574.92
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Thoughts:
Early ones came with Nvidia 1650s. Newer ones came with AMD RX6500s. Interesting that they list 1650 Supers. Probably a parts shortage thing.
Adding a second 8GB stick of RAM and a 2.5" SSD is a sub-5 minute operation that anyone can do. Highly recommended. You could go 32GB and swap out the m.2 drive with something larger, but then you're defeating the point of a budget PC.
There is a second m.2 port that will fit a compact m.2 drive. This is supposed to have a wifi/bluetooth adapter installed, but my refurb was missing it. Wifi/bluetooth wasn't listed on the Walmart spec sheet, so no partial refund for me and I was too impatient to wait for a replacement.
Some of the refurbs had Ryzen 5s swapped out with Ryzen 3s, so if you go the refurb route, make sure to double check everything. I doubt they refurbish anything and just buy in bulk and sell the ones that power on. So if you're going the refurb route, understand you are playing Russian roulette. For people that aren't tech nerds, $50-70 more for a factory new model with a warranty doesn't seem unreasonable. For people who are tech nerds, that's your second 8GB stick and some additional storage.
There is an additional PCIe x1 slot that can be used for additional storage, USB ports, etc. Speeds suck because x1, but if you have a spare m.2 drive lying around - might as well use it. Or run some low bandwidth USB peripherals off of it so you aren't wasting the USB3 ports for... a keyboard. Or you can add an Optane drive and dedicate it as a swap file drive for under $20. For whatever reason, people tend to never utilize the PCIe x1 slot.
The power supply is proprietary, and this is probably the biggest limiting factor on this PC. You could probably upgrade the GPU to something like an RX 6600 and get away with it, but don't expect to be able to upgrade the PSU or run a beefier GPU down the line (unless you are willing to splice some wires). At least, not with modern GPUs. Next gen might have some power optimizations that can get more performance/watt. But the PC was designed to run a ~100W GPU. I'd be very cautious trying to run something above that as your options are incredibly limited/difficult to replace the PSU. And if you do up the GPU's power consumption, be cautious adding additional power-using upgrades like an additional SSD, etc.
The CPU can be upgraded. But, again, budget PC. Zero reason to do it now, but in a few years when used Ryzen 7s are cheap because the new stuff is available, that's certainly an option to get a little more life out of the PC before having to upgrade. Hopefully, used 2 x 16GB sticks will also be cheap then to further limp old tech along.
This PC is VR ready out of the box, but it is on the very low end for VR capable. Mostly GPU limited, which again upgrade options are limited by the PSU. But it's nice to know you can do VR.
so if you're going with OP's and after upgrading the memory and storage, you're looking at $520-$530. You are better off going with my parts list with 1tb ssd and a killer card 6600.
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5500 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($99.00 @ GameStop)
Motherboard: ASRock B550M PG RIPTIDE Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Silicon Power GAMING 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($43.97 @ Amazon)
Storage: Silicon Power A60 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($57.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 6600 MECH 2X 8G Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Video Card ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox Q300L MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($42.00 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Smart 600 W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($41.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $574.92
But this is still a solid deal for people that just want to plug in a power cable, TV/monitor, keyboard, and mouse and be done with it.
My real gaming rig is still inoperable (due mostly to laziness on my part). I had one bent pin on the motherboard's CPU socket. Spent probably 2 hours figuring that out. Then there was no replacement motherboard available. I did get a refund. But then I had to spec out what I wanted as a replacement. Wait for that. Think about how I want to handle the cooling. Deal with cables that always seem to be 1" too short or 6" too long. Mess with a bunch of LED lighting I give zero effs about...
Or I could have spent that time gaming. Respect for those that are passionately curious about tech, but understand the "I put the gas in the gas hole, turn the key and the car drives" crowd.
Thanks
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