Benchmark Setup
Readers always want to know how a system performs, so naturally, we ran some benchmarks. Let us preface the benchmark segment by simply saying that this is not the most important aspect of this system. There are very few tasks that really need this much computing power, and those that do will probably need a better graphics card. If you're running Word and other office applications, the biggest bottleneck is going to be user input.
That said, we ran several configurations of the HP system through some benchmarks, and we compared the results with a similar custom built system. We expect the custom system to come out ahead by a slight margin, but its purpose is more to show that the HP doesn't have any serious issues. Here are the system specifications for both HP and the custom system.
As you can see, besides the change in motherboard, we also used CL2 RAM. Almost no one who purchases their own memory is going to buy CL3 RAM. HP could easily have installed CL2 instead of CL3 RAM, but reliability and cost savings are the name of the game, and CL3 memory will rarely cause instabilities. (At least their command rate is still 1T.) This is not intended to be an apples-to-apples comparison, and we used an Athlon 64 3800+ Venice core in our comparison system. As we mentioned before, we think upgrading to an X2 processor would be a good idea - for either configuration. You can get an X2 3800+ system as a Smart Buy for less money, though the HDD and optical drive are unfortunately downgraded in the process.
One area that is clearly lacking is the graphics card department. Even if you choose to pay the extra money to customize the system (Smart Buys don't allow customization of the components), you can only select an X300SE with 64MB or 128MB. Both are only slightly faster than the Xpress 200 IGP, and the cost is more than what we would pay for such anemic hardware. To test how the DX5150 performs as a family (gaming) system, we installed three different graphics cards to show what's really possible.
First, we have a stock GeForce 6600 card from Gigabyte, which can be had for $100 and will easily outperform the IGP or either X300SE. Moving to the $200 range, we have an X800 Pro 256MB (which is relatively similar in performance to the X800 XL and GTO cards, though the GTO will often overclock better). Finally, we used an XFX 7800 GTX 256MB, which most buyers of the HP business systems would never even consider. This was mostly used to highlight the system bottleneck (slower RAM and a tuned for stability BIOS), as well as to verify that the 250W PSU could handle such a card. The benefit is that you get to see how two "moderate" systems perform in a variety of benchmarks - we frequently see requests for such benchmarks from our readers.
The charts are colored according to which graphics card is in use. To be fair, you should only compare similarly colored results. We ran most benchmarks on every configuration, but there are a few cases where the graphics card has absolutely no impact on performance.
Readers always want to know how a system performs, so naturally, we ran some benchmarks. Let us preface the benchmark segment by simply saying that this is not the most important aspect of this system. There are very few tasks that really need this much computing power, and those that do will probably need a better graphics card. If you're running Word and other office applications, the biggest bottleneck is going to be user input.
That said, we ran several configurations of the HP system through some benchmarks, and we compared the results with a similar custom built system. We expect the custom system to come out ahead by a slight margin, but its purpose is more to show that the HP doesn't have any serious issues. Here are the system specifications for both HP and the custom system.
| HP DX5150 Configuration | |
| Motherboard: | HP DX5150 (ATI Xpress 200 chipset) |
| Processor: | AMD Athlon 64 4000+ (ClawHammer) |
| RAM: | 2 x 512MB Samsung PC3200 (3-3-3-8-1T) |
| Hard Drive: | Samsung 160GB SP1614C SATA |
| Video Cards: | Xpress 200 IGP Gigabyte GeForce 6600 PowerColor X800 Pro PCIe VIVO XFX GeForce 7800 GTX 256MB (450/1250 clocks) |
| Chipset/Video Drivers: | ATI Catalyst 5.12 IGP CCC ATI Catalyst 5.11 CCC NVIDIA ForceWare 81.95 |
| Operating System: | Windows XP Professional SP2 |
| Custom System Configuration | |
| Motherboard: | ASUS A8N-VM CSM (NVIDIA 6150 plus 430 chipset) |
| Processor: | AMD Athlon 64 3800+ (Venice) |
| RAM: | 2 x 512MB OCZ PC4800 EL Platinum (2-2-2-7-1T DDR400) |
| Hard Drive: | Hitachi 250GB T7K250 SATA-2 |
| Chipset Drivers: | NVIDIA nForce4 AMD 6.70 |
| Video Cards: | GeForce 6150 IGP Gigabyte GeForce 6600 PowerColor X800 Pro PCIe VIVO XFX GeForce 7800 GTX 256MB (450/1250 clocks) |
| Video Drivers: | nForce4 430/410 8.22 ATI Catalyst 5.11 CCC NVIDIA ForceWare 81.95 |
| Power Supply: | Thermaltake Silent PurePower W0031 ATX 410W |
| Operating System(s): | Windows XP Professional SP2 |
As you can see, besides the change in motherboard, we also used CL2 RAM. Almost no one who purchases their own memory is going to buy CL3 RAM. HP could easily have installed CL2 instead of CL3 RAM, but reliability and cost savings are the name of the game, and CL3 memory will rarely cause instabilities. (At least their command rate is still 1T.) This is not intended to be an apples-to-apples comparison, and we used an Athlon 64 3800+ Venice core in our comparison system. As we mentioned before, we think upgrading to an X2 processor would be a good idea - for either configuration. You can get an X2 3800+ system as a Smart Buy for less money, though the HDD and optical drive are unfortunately downgraded in the process.
One area that is clearly lacking is the graphics card department. Even if you choose to pay the extra money to customize the system (Smart Buys don't allow customization of the components), you can only select an X300SE with 64MB or 128MB. Both are only slightly faster than the Xpress 200 IGP, and the cost is more than what we would pay for such anemic hardware. To test how the DX5150 performs as a family (gaming) system, we installed three different graphics cards to show what's really possible.
First, we have a stock GeForce 6600 card from Gigabyte, which can be had for $100 and will easily outperform the IGP or either X300SE. Moving to the $200 range, we have an X800 Pro 256MB (which is relatively similar in performance to the X800 XL and GTO cards, though the GTO will often overclock better). Finally, we used an XFX 7800 GTX 256MB, which most buyers of the HP business systems would never even consider. This was mostly used to highlight the system bottleneck (slower RAM and a tuned for stability BIOS), as well as to verify that the 250W PSU could handle such a card. The benefit is that you get to see how two "moderate" systems perform in a variety of benchmarks - we frequently see requests for such benchmarks from our readers.
The charts are colored according to which graphics card is in use. To be fair, you should only compare similarly colored results. We ran most benchmarks on every configuration, but there are a few cases where the graphics card has absolutely no impact on performance.
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falcc - Thursday, December 15, 2005 - link
Thanks for providing this review. I would love to see more reviews like this but with comparisions to similarly specced options from DELL, Lenovo etc. No one seems to do reviews like that.We have 100 of the SFF 5150's on order. If we are happy with them we will be ordering another 700 or so next year.
I would have liked to of seen some testing on Windows Vista beta. Most corporates lease, and any machines leased now for 3 years could easily be running Windows Vista in a couple of years time when the company updates their SOE.
sprockkets - Thursday, December 15, 2005 - link
I remember when HP used Delta power supplies. Who makes that one inside the computer? HP? Sure. Dell has been using low quality power supplies and their systems fail to properly turn on all the time, and for what, $5-10 dollars savings on a system?Better to get an AMD system. Use any application that requires the cpu in a prescott based system to go 100% and the cpu fan turns on full blast. I found out that can happen just by scrolling up and down a pdf document (Acrobat's fault). Out of say 100 Dell prescott systems at work, 3 of them have their cpu fan stuck on full speed, which is extremely annoying to other workers. Well, these are the small factor pc's though. But since they are so cheap they are not going to pay $500 for their own internal IT staff to fix them (different accounts within the business).
WackyDan - Thursday, December 15, 2005 - link
What a lot of people miss when comparing OEM systems to DIY for business use is what to do with the systems 3 or 4 years down the road.You just can't throw them in dumpster anymore, and most of the time you can't donate or you don't want to sell to employee's as if they dispose of them improperly, you can still be one the one getting fined by the EPA.
Buying OEM systems allows you the opportunity to lease, at very attractive rates, and if you don't lease, every OEM has a decent asset recovery/disposal service. You'll get a higher return at end of lifecycle with OEM boxes every time.
MrEMan - Monday, December 19, 2005 - link
Are you sure that the disposal rules apply to low quantity home DIY PCs?And what is to keep you from various parts in with your normal trash and letting the scavengers take the case if you don't plan to reuse it (I actually reused 2 Zeos desktop cases to build 4 different PCs over the years until Baby AT, Super Socket 7 boards were phased out)? Most likely the LCD display will be transferred to a new PC anyway or can be sold or give away.
Jellodyne - Thursday, December 15, 2005 - link
We OEM our own corporate systems at work. I think that some of the specs in the DIY system were overdone, especially when compared to the HP. First, using a 4000+ in this type of system is unbalanced, and a waste of money. The processer outclasses the rest of the system. A 3200+ or 3400+ gets you most of the performance for a lot less money. Also, a 250 GB hard drive is great if you're ripping movies and mp3s and installing games, but most corporate users never need more than 20GB. 80 GB drives are more than enough, and a huge cost savings. Premium memory is also a waste. As you say, CL3 memory is somewhat more reliable, and significantly cheaper, if a bit dowdy, but we use it for those reasons, just like HP. Finally, the case and power supply is the hardest part of the equation, but we finally settled on an awesome Chenbro case with a 380 watt PS, which we were able to buy in pallet quantities for about $45. Each of these things saves a little money but the end result is a lot.Last years build was as follows:
$80 MSI RS480M2-IL Radeon Xpress 200 board
$160 Socket 939 3000+ (Retail) (This was months ago, would be a 3200+ now)
$90 2x512 Kingston PC3200 (CL3)
$70 WD 80 GB SATA HDD (this would be 160GB now for same price)
$18 DVD-ROM
$45 Chenbro MicroATX 380 watt case
$9 FDD (Some people still need 'em)
_____________________________________
Total < $500
No warranty, that's in house. Most of the parts come with a warranty. If you can build 'em you can support 'em. Furthermore, once your staff has built 'em they are better at supporting them then if they hadn't. Assembly is a pain, but we come in on a couple of Saturdays to get it done 1 person can easilly assemble 4 an hour so even at overtime rates, total cost is still under $500. We assemble 80-100 once a year and roll out most of them ASAP, and keep some on hand for spares and growth needs. No OS either, but we license Windows through an entrprise agreement. If you don't have this you need to include an OEM copy of Windows.
I think you would find it tough to beat this system for anywhere near this price -- it has 80-90% of your $1100 system performance at less than half your cost. Shop the $500 price point anywhere and you're not getting a gig of memory, and you're getting Celeron doggy CPUs. And it also has the capability of accepting A64x2 CPUs -- in fact we're starting to use this motherboard with A64x2s in a rackmount case for low end servers.
gdtaylor - Sunday, December 18, 2005 - link
I hope Microsoft or BSAA never audits your company. You CANNOT use the Enterprise Agreement upgrade licences for Windows on machines purchased without an OEM version of Windows.
Questions & Answers
Q: What if a volume licensing customer purchases new machines that do not have an operating system pre-installed (“naked” PC)?
A: Customers should request that their new machines come with a desktop operating system pre-installed (i.e., Microsoft Windows XP Professional, OS/2, etc.). Microsoft’s Volume Licensing programs only offer upgrade licenses for the Windows desktop license. A customer will not be legally licensed for Microsoft desktop operating system software if they acquire a PC that does not have a full desktop operating system license preinstalled and then use the Windows upgrade license media acquired through a Volume Licensing program to install a full operating system license.
http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/4/4/14441...">Microsoft Operating System Licence Requirements
Wellsoul2 - Friday, December 16, 2005 - link
I would agree the 4000+ is kind of a waste for an office system though the dual 3800+might be useful.
You can't beat the 3000+/3200+ Compaq versions (1610NX I beleive)
of these - I've bought four over the last month -
3200+ (939skt)
256MB @ 400MHZ
DVD Rom/CDRW
80 GB HD
Radeon 200 graphics
We paid $380 US after the rebate...no way you can beat that.
We picked up 512K extra memory for $37 after rebate.
This computer is so much better than the usual crappy Celerons I am priced into buying
for my company.
razor2025 - Thursday, December 15, 2005 - link
IMO, the pre-built OEM systems are the best way to go for business. Sure, having in-house built system could save you money, but you lose one key element of business-computing. CTO. By doing it in-house, you have to be able to provide the same support/service as an OEM without the cost benefit of being an OEM. HP can store their spare parts much more efficiently than almost any IT department. However, since I've never done IT support for business, I'm not too sure on how the cost/benefit in service turn-around "time" is for prebuilt vs in-house.OEM systems like these are also great for enthusiast. I.E. I just bought a Dell E510 desktop off Dell outlet for mere $310 shipped/taxed. It had P4 3ghz/ 1x256 DDR2 / 80gb WD SATA/ DVD-CDRW. It has a BTX case and motherboard, so it's relatively small (size of typical retail HP/compaq case), and it only has 1x 120mm fan to cooling. It's extremely quiet (to the point of danger, as I actually attempetd to install a video card without noticing that the computer was still on). I added about $100 worth of upgrades, mainly 1 more stick of 256mb DDR2, a used 6600 PCI-E, and a Buffallo USB Wireless aadpter. I installed my spare TV-tuner and a Chaintech AV710 I had as spare. So, for mere ~$400, I built myself a quite respectable HTPC that is dangerously silent, small, and looks nice. Overclocking and tweaking options are non-issue for its HTPC role. If I want to game, another kit of 512mb or 1gb DDR2 (for ~$40 - $70) will let me play BF2 and DoD:S quite nicely. If I went to self-build route for everything, I'm sure I would have to add about $100-200 to the equation. Also, the Dell came with Windows MCE, so that's another $100-150 savings on top.
Don't dismiss OEM as "PC for Noobs". OEM setups can be great for non-gaming use, and they certainly can be a good base for nice systems at significant discount.
JarredWalton - Thursday, December 15, 2005 - link
The system that I reviewed was obviously a bit on the high end for the processor. That's what HP chose to send me, but many people would probably be happy with the lower end configurations. If you want to check those out, here are the links:http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF25a/1245...">Desktop Models
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF25a/1245...">Tower Models
The $600 models are pretty good deal. 80 GB hard drive, 3200+ processor, and 512 MB RAM. It only comes with a 48X CD-ROM, but everything else is sufficient. Remember, that still includes the three-year on-site next business day warranty. For about half the price of the system I reviewed, it provides 80% of the performance.
Questar - Thursday, December 15, 2005 - link
Nice article.I wonder though, why all the game benchmarks for a business machine?