The HP Pavilion Gaming Desktop (Model 690-0024) is a solid mid range gaming tower. It packs more than enough power to handle E-sports titles (CS:GO, Overwatch, LoL) at high to ultra settings and 1080p. It also has no problem running Fortnite at epic settings, 1080p, with 60+ fps. AAA titles can be played at med-high settings and still pull around 60fps. Specs Processor – AMD Ryzen 5 Pro 2400G with Vega 8 Graphics - CPU 4C/8T @ 3.6 GHz with boost to 3.9 GHz Graphics – AMD Radeon RX 580 4GB [Discrete] / Vega 8 iGPU 11 cores Motherboard – AMD B350 with AGESA 1.0.0.5 BIOS Memory – 8GB DDR4 2666 Single Channel (20-19-19-43) Storage – 128GB Samsung SSD (M.2); 1 TB Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM HDD with 64MB Cache Buffer Network Adapter – 802.11AC WiFi adapter / 1X Gigabit LAN Port / Bluetooth 4.2 Radio External Ports – 1X USB-C / 2X USB 3.1 / 4X USB 3.0 / 2X USB 2.0 / 1X SD Card Reader / 1X HDMI / 3X Displayport / 3.5mm jacks for speakers, mic, and AUX. Additional Internal Expansion Ports – 1X 288-pin DDR4 slot / 1X PCIE (3.0?) x1 slot / 1X M.2 SATA* / 1X SATA 3 6Gb/s CD/DVD Burner Includes a standard wired HP keyboard and mouse The HP Pavilion Desktop (690-0024) comes with an all AMD setup. It’s equipped with their stellar Ryzen 5 2400G processor and Radeon RX 580 graphics card. [Full disclosure I am an AMD fan with an R7 1800X/Vega64 powered main tower]. The R5 sports 4 cores with 8 threads that performs better than an i5-7400 and just a hair behind the 8400. The RX-580 graphics card performs similarly to the Nvidia 1060 3GB. It is a perfectly good card that can play AAA games, and still deliver an enjoyable gaming experience. I had the pleasure of hooking my 580 up to a HP 25x 1080p 144Hz Freesync monitor, and got to experience some smooth 144Hz action. I also used the card to drive my 4 1080p monitors, which is great for people who might need some more screen real estate. The HP Pavilion comes with a single 8GB DDR4 2666 (CAS 19) RAM stick. This, for the most part, is enough RAM to play most games without becoming a bottleneck. It should be noted that Ryzen processors are hindered by single channel RAM and adding a second RAM module is a significant benefit. Storage comes in the form of a 128GB M.2 NVME SSD and a 1TB 7200RPM hard drive. The SSD can handle the install of the majority of your programs and the OS, but its size will force you to install your games to the 1TB HDD. The specs for the HP list 2 M.2 slots. In all reality only 1 can be used for an SSD. The other is an M.2 WLAN slot, which is meant for a Wi-Fi card. This spec is misleading, and really should be defined as 2 different slots. Games and Benchmarking I ran the Pavilion through a series of benchmarks to test its various capabilities. Tests included 3DMark Time Spy (scored 3882) and Skydiver (scored 23097), PC Mark 10 (scored 4467), and CrystalDiskMark 6 (Sequential 535 Read / 309 Write for the SSD). The results showed me basically what I already knew. This computer is a competent mid-range gaming PC that can play any game available at 1080p with settings tailored to the game being played. It’s not going to set any records, but it will play E-Sports title at high frame rates (100+ @high to ultra settings), and the most popular games (looking at you Fortnite) at good framerates (60+ @ Epic settings). I made sure to run it through the 1 game I know will be played on it – Fortnite. I was able to achieve mid 60s to low 70’s with V-sync enabled on Epic (not customized) settings with a long draw distance. Dialing down the settings I would get a better max FPS but would still bottom out into the 60’s leading me to believe at 1080p the CPU was the bottleneck. An extra 8GB of RAM would have probably helped these numbers out, but as tested the game ran just fine. In all reality the game played/looked better at max settings with a lower framerate. I also played some Dirt Rally to see how it held up with the fast-paced scenery changes. Running the game on high settings with V-Sync on I was maxing out at 130 FPS while getting and average FPS of 85. If this game support Freesync, the average/max numbers would be closer together. And in a run through of Shadow of War on high settings I was pulling around 60FPS avg. Overall pretty good results for this system. Again affirming its spots as a mid-range gaming desktop. Design The Design of the Pavilion is small and sleek. It has a very simple, clean shape. The front buttons and inputs are flush with the face, which helps it keep its sleek exterior. The green accent LED’s give the front of the case a nice accent feature. I like the green, mostly because I am so tired of blue LED’s. Also green is less intense of a light color, so leaving this tower on at night in your room shouldn’t cause you any problems – unlike the blinky blue lights of a router. Compared to my main tower (Thermaltake Core P3 Mid), the Pavilion is diminutive. I chuckled when I sat them next to each and the P3 dwarfed the Pavilion. However, that led me to be impressed with how much performance was packed into this little case. The layout of the ports are as you would expect. USB’s in the front and the rear. What is nice to see is the addition of USB C to the front I/O panel. Its nice to see this port finally brought out from the rear I/O to the front where it can be used more readily. The case is a mATX mini tower that use SFF (small form factor) components. The power supply is a 400W 80 Plus Platinum (very nice) SFX PSU. The GPU is a single fan 170-175mm long version of the 580, and the DVD drive is a laptop form factor (5.25” slim) version. All of this together comes out to only 11.4 lbs. That’s only a pound more than the PSU for my main tower! I can easily bring this little tower to LAN parties. Value I mostly look at prebuilt systems from a value perspective. I enjoy spec’ing and assembling my own PC, but if the value is there in a pre-built I don’t see the point. I built up a similar system in PCPartPicker – matching about 95% of the specs. I came out to a final total of $835 – and would have to source all the parts from 4 different online stores (Amazon, Newegg, B&H, and Outlet PC). This is without shipping or tax and with some items on sale. Or for the same price (MSRP is $830) I can get the HP Pavilion Gaming Desktop from Best Buy, save the hassle of ordering from all over, skip the fun/frustrating assembly stage, and be up and running right away. Already this HP comes out as a better value proposition, and that’s at full MSRP. Sales happen, and you can catch these towers for a tremendous deal which just makes the DIY route make even less sense. I love building PC’s, but there are times when the big OEM’s put alot of value in their offering that is tough to beat. Besides, I can always fiddle with upgrades to satisfy that DIY need. Upgradability The biggest issues with pre-built systems is their narrow upgradability and BIOS limitations. Usually you are limited to just adding RAM, or swapping slower parts for faster ones. In the case of the Pavilion, you have a few other options, which are nice. You can still upgrade the RAM by adding a second DDR4 2666 stick. *Ryzen processors can handle DDR4 3200 (CAS 14) – The GSkill Flare-X series are ensured to run at stated speeds with Ryzen processors. You can still swap out the main drives for faster/larger versions. There is also an additional hard drive mounting location in the case. You can add either a larger capacity 2.5” SSD or get something like a Seagate Firecuda hybrid drive (has an 8GB SSD built in as a cache buffer to increase speeds). The GPU can also be readily upgraded as long as you stick within the parameters of the current card. Card length will need to be SFF compatible and only need an 8-pin power connection. The card can be It also can’t exceed the 400W PSU without that needing an upgrade as well. A longer card can be used (maybe up to 240mm), but you will need to do some modification to the special HP 8 pin harness holder or discard it. Also, since HP produces a version of this desktop with an R7 2700, it is safe to say that in the future you could buy an R7 2700 or 2700X and swap the processors. That upgrade isn’t for everyone, but it would double your core/thread count. It’s something that can be done when stores are clearing out their R7 2000 series stock or snag a used one. Depending on the BIOS, you may even be able to upgrade to the Ryzen 3000 or 4000 series – this is more of a long shot though and not likely to be available. Also, per comments from an HP rep in the forums about this lineup, Overclocking the processor is locked on HP MOBO’s. I haven’t tried the Ryzen Master Application to OC from within the OS, so there may be some wiggle room there. Final Thoughts I really enjoyed using the HP Pavilion Gaming Desktop. I took my main tower (1800X/Vega64) out of service for 2 weeks and used the HP in its place. It drove all 4 of my monitors for day to day activities with ease. It had no issue with anything I threw at it honestly. Aside from being able to play games at higher settings on my main rig, there wasn’t much difference in my computing experience. That is impressive, and sad (for me) at the same time – my main rig cost 2-3 times as much ☹. When I went to game I played exclusively on my HP 25x 144Hz 1080p panel to get the best image quality out of my setup. The RX 580 had no problem with the higher refresh monitor, and it allowed me to have an enjoyable gaming experience. This is a great little tower that has a solid value proposition. It has entry level pricing, and mid-range performance. It is a great tower for anyone getting into gaming, or just looking to upgrade an old rig without blowing the budget. It has some future upgrade potential as well, so you can always add some extra power down the line.