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Page 3 Showing 41-60 of 65 reviews
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Good but power bank is making a noise which indicates it’s not new or in best condition, but not too pricey of a fix
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Picture & sound are great. Not so great is the rinky dink remote control, you about need a PhD to figure it out. Instructions for tv are a bit of a search but once you locate it (hint there's no instructions book) it's pretty decent for the price.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Pro:
-Components secured
-Cable management
-Performance for the specs of the component
Con:
-Cooling could be better
-Issues with sleep mode
-Gaming Hub
Component’s performance and specs aside, overall the 35L is a good entry level gaming PC. The build is good, with good cable management, and all the components secured for shipping. My main criticisms are that the cooling is underwhelming, and known issues with sleep mode. The HP Gaming Hub is great but a somewhat necessary evil.
The Build
The case is mesh front and is good for airflow. However, the front fans are sandwiched between two mesh and a fine dust filter causing more restriction and noise. It’s not terrible, just unnecessary. No power supply shroud, but the cables are well managed so it looks clean.
On the back, there’s 6 USB-A ports (4 USB 2, and 2 USB 3) and 1 type C. Audio 3.5mm in/out, ethernet, and a clear CMOS button. In the front, 2 USB A and a type C, headphone out, and power button.
Inside, there’s a custom motherboard with a single fan CPU cooler. The CPU is the AMD 8700f, which doesn’t have an integrated GPU. The rams are Kingston Fury Beast 16gb 5300 (turbo up to 6000). The 5060ti is a dual fan model and securely reinforced with a bracket and it’s not budging. A 500w power supply, which is enough for this build. There’s an unused fan hub on the back panel for expansion.
Performance
Given its specs, it performed as expected. You’ll be running mostly low to mid settings at 1080p, depending on the games. The 5060ti isn’t a power house, but I could still game at 60fps with DLSS turned on. Cooling, while still within normal range, could be better. Out of the box setting, the system got hotter and louder than I’d like so I turned on manual fan settings. After which, the CPU would idle at about 32C but jumps to the mid 50’s in less demanding games and 60-70 in more intense games. The 8700f should be relatively easy to cool, and for context, my 9800X3D with a budget cooler doesn’t get that hot while playing the same games. The GPU temps are within 40C-60C so far with the games I’ve tested, which is fine.
The other criticism is the HP Gaming Hub. It’s the main control center where you can adjust cooling, lighting, performance, power, etc. It’s somewhat basic and would have been ok if it’s just that. However, it’s also a hub where everything else HP wants to shove to you. There’s so many ads and bloated features. It’s slow and laggy on start up too. Luckily it shouldn't be something that has to be used often, or third party apps are available.
There’s one other issue that is known, which is the sleep mode. This PC, whether there’s some software or hardware conflict, can’t go into proper sleep mode. It will either turn off the display but all the fans and lights are still running, just the lights or fans running, or it will eventually go to sleep after about 15 mins, but will occasionally spin up again. The advice I was given was either use hibernation or just turn it off each time.
Verdict
Despite my criticisms, it’s not a bad entry level gaming PC. Performance is according to specs. It would be mostly limited by the GPU. Cooling could be better, and would benefit from an upgraded cooler, but overall still acceptable. The sleep mode issue is annoying, and no real solution was found. For the price, it’s about $200-$300 more than building one yourself, which isn’t bad.