HP - Pavilion Elite Desktop with Intel® Core™ i7 Processor

This is Best Buy's top of the line gaming pc. Unfortunately, it falls short of being the ultimate gaming pc. It has a great processor and lots of ram to spare. The nvidia graphics card on its surface looks like it should handle anything you throw at it. That is not the case - Crysis can really only be played on high settings. For the latest top of the line PC I really expected it to be able to handle anything I threw at it. The biggest strong point is the machine's effortless ability to handle heavy multi-tasking. There is plenty of power to run multiple data intensive programs at a time. I was really dissapointed to find that the HDMI out that is advertised is actually achieved by using one of the DVI ports with an included converter. Best Buy needs to update its profile because this DOES NOT have a built in HDMI output. On top of that I would be willing to wager since you use a converter the audio will not be carried via the HDMI cable. This sucks because I was really looking forward to running a long hdmi cable between rooms to my HDTV. Now I'm faced with sacrificing my dual montior setup and having to run monitor AND audio cables. Overall - not a bad pc. But if I had to do it all over again I would probably go to something like alienware for the money. The performance leap for gaming on this pc just wasn't big enough to justify making the expensive jump from my 3 year old pc.

Well, overall a great product from HP. I've been a Gateway user for 3 systems now over the past 15 years but I've thought HP has had pretty good products so I finally went with them. This machine is a great value for the price when compared to building your own system, although I could have done it, but elected to buy a "factory-spec" unit for the support factor considering it's new technology and I live some distance from advance computer repair tech's. One thing I assumed when looking at the pics shown for this system is that it was going to come with bays for both a Personal and Pocket media drive from HP... Not So! It only came with the Personal Media drive bay. Not a big deal, but they should get their pics straight. Sad part is Best Buy said it was HP's fault for not giving them the right pics to use, HP said it's BBuys fault for using the wrong pics? No accountability. Other than that it seems to be working flawlessly, I opted to get the PRO version of Win7 which I have had to utilize for running one of my APPS that doesn't have a Win7 upgrade as of yet, and that seems to be OK. I would recommend HP or at least specifically this system to anyone. Just check the spec list carefully and enjoy!

During the two weeks I used this computer I had the blue screen of death five times and one total freeze-up on my screensaver. The computer diagnosed its problem as being either a problem with RAM, System Board, CPU, or Power Supply. I had trouble installing my Adobe programs onto the computer. Windows 7 comes with no email program, and the email download program is different enough from the old Windows Mail that it is awkward to use. I was unable to use a rapid transfer cable to move my files from my Vista computer to this computer. I suspect the glitch in my computer is a rare problem, but it has indeed been frustrating.

Value...I had spent over a month comparing costs and features from other online internet computer companies and big name pc competitors and for as loaded as this system comes, I could not even build it myself for the price. Testing...I purchased this system over a month ago and have only had minimal issues concerning BSOD's like othe reviewers here. I did however take caution when I received it to let it burn in before installing any software on it. When I received the computer, I noted that I had the latest BIOS revision was loaded. Within the second day of having it I had 2 BSOD's reported by the Event Viewer as Power Failure. I turned off the Power MGMT (hard drive hybernation feature). I have been running my computer 24/7 with reboots every 3-5 days ans have not had any of these BSOD's since. I however had 2 other BSOD's but related to incompatable software fro Windows 7 32/64 bit issues (It helps to check Microsofts Windows 7 Compatibility website) I have since upgraded and/or patched the offending software and have not had any problems since. Performance...This is big. I run CPU and Memory demanding video editing and photo editing software. It's nice to be able to actually multitask between 2 open programs with no/little degridation to the system. Upgradability...Although tight...2 video cards can be installed in this system but the power supply will also have to be upgraded from the current 460-watt to the 850-watt (HP compatable) power supply.

I owned this heap for 3 months before it had to be returned. The first six days I had it I was amazed at the speed and performance gain over my previous HP desktop from 05. On the 7th day the hard drive failed and had to be replaced. HP's solution? FedEX me a new hard drive and have me install it. I was not about to start taking apart my brand new PC while under warranty so I hauled it to the local Best Buy and had the geek squad perform the install. Which, even for them, proved to be difficult because of the special cage for the (sold separately) personal media drive. Thankfully I had all my files backed up so I just had to recopy all my files and reinstall all my programs. A huge pain but not that bad. A few weeks go by and I decide to purchase a few games for my "elite" gaming computer. Upon playing I get a bluescreen telling me something or other about a clock cycle not being received on a secondary processor. I research the issue thinking it might be with the game I was playing. No issues there. So I made sure to upgrade all my drivers and reboot. Upon restart I try again and everything works. After playing for 8+ hours I closed out of the game and got on the internet. Browsing presents the same issue I got while playing a game the first time. Sound stuttering momentary glitches\freezes and then BSOD. I make the first of 6 calls to HP. They tell me to upgrade the BIOS and reinstall Windows 7. So I have to redo all my stuff for the third time. Hoping this will resolve the problem. This did not resolve the problem and if anything made it present more frequently and randomly. To no avail and the end of my patience I make the final call to HP support I will ever have to make. They finally own up to what I had been reading here in these reviews and elsewhere on the web: the motherboard has a known issue and requires benching to repair which will take 2-3 weeks to perform and when it comes back I will again have to redo all of my personal files for the 4th time. Then the rep tells me Best Buy has the motherboard in stock and should be able to do the repair in 3 to 4 days. After hanging up with him I load up my elite PC and head back to BBY. There I am told they do not, and never have had the motherboard in stock. Also they mentioned that because HP knew about the problem this, at one time HP's most expensive gaming machine, had been discontinued and the disreputable company that produced the motherboard had stopped making it too. So no repair or replacement could be done at all. But since it was still under warranty they allowed me to get a full refund to purchase another PC, which I did. It was not an HP.

I have been a computer user since the early 1990s, so I know computers very well. I was hesitant to buy the HP Elite series after reading reviews that the Elite series computers would freeze/blue screen frequently due to a motherboard problem. I am glad to say that my HP Pavilion Elite e9290f has no problems what so ever. It is lightning fast and plays all my PC games very well. I've spent days researching other vendors including "mom and pop" type vendors for a PC and this HP computer beats them all in price. Also the HP Elite e9290f is super quiet and looks cool too (I like the glowing HP logo in the front). Like other reviewers have said on other sites, this might be one of the best gaming PCs for the price too, since it comes with an Nvidia GTX 260 1.8 GB graphics card. I am also the type who doesn't post reviews, but I wanted to post this review to let everyone know that there are no freezing problems with the Elite series as some have described in the past.

I spent many hours researching computers trying to find one that had everything I needed. I was about to have a custom built when I discovered this ready to ship model. I was so happy to see that it had the most important features I needed. The i7 Processor, 9 Gig of Ram, and the memory card with 1.8 dedicated Ram! I am not a gamer but a photographer/graphic artist who works in very large RAW format. My elite 9150f was powerful, just not powerful enough to do all I needed in CS3. I am happy to report this Elite 9290f is doing it all and then some. I have had no problems what so ever. All my programs are up and running, even the 32 bit ones. I love that this PC has so much room for upgrades. 6 dimms for memory, extra PCI x16 and x4 slots, internal and external SATA's. It is a computer that I can keep for awhile and just upgrade, which is nice. I have been running it 24/7 for 2 weeks now and I have had none of the problems described by others. No blue screens, no bio problems. It's running smooth. Over all I love this machine, great buy!

The PC is very quick and can handle most apps and games with no problems. It uses a 260gtx NVidia which is not bad for the price of this PC. If you are looking for the top PC's for gaming, you are looking at 2x this price being that the top GFX Cards are around $400-500 at least. This PC is better than the I-7 860 and I-5 750 by a large amount b/c it has tri-channel capability, which means it has 6 DIMM slots of DDR3 instead of 4 slots like the others. It can most likely handle 24gb like most other 1366 motherboards out there. If you are looking at buying this and maxing any game, i would recommend a Nvidia 285 GTX card to go with it, but if you are looking to max most games, then i would say the 260gtx that comes with it is fine. Overall, the pc is nice b/c it can be upgraded in the future, and HP is a good brand, or at least they were when i bought my other HP PC back in 2002 lol.