35W AMD X2 3800+ in HP s7600e series PC

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35W AMD X2 3800+ in HP s7600e series PC

Post by MikeC » Tue Oct 24, 2006 11:44 am


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Post by rpsgc » Tue Oct 24, 2006 12:18 pm

Cool. Waiting for review.

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Post by MikeC » Tue Oct 24, 2006 2:14 pm

My guess is that this system will be modestly quiet by SPCR standards.... and possibly meet the Energy Star 2007 spec.
Last edited by MikeC on Wed Oct 25, 2006 7:50 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by puscifer » Tue Oct 24, 2006 2:48 pm

So thats why no +3800 SFFEE ever got into stores here.. Figures some company like HP should be hoggin most of them :]
I was waiting for one to upgrade from my A2500+ system and still keep air cooling noise down, now i'm pretty much determined in gettin a decent conroe system, since P5B del. has shown it's worth.
DDR2 is still going up and might continue after 07, you guys think with the quads (and probably new dual models) coming, there will be any significant drop in conroe prices? What I'd really like to see is a quad for less than 500€ in the near future (6500 maybe)?

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Post by Spartanicus » Tue Oct 24, 2006 11:05 pm

I've been eying up the old model of this PC equipped with a single core AMD Turion 64 and DDR1 memory which is currently offered by a local chain store.

As documented on http://www.ursulin.net/ that model has HP firmware issues which cause the fan to be constantly on, making it less quiet than it could be. Low noise doesn't appear to have been a design goal, otherwise this flaw would have been noticed and addressed. I'd guess that the design goal was to create a "cute" looking PC, a PC that appeals to girls, the artistically inclined and gay people :)

Disturbingly I also like it. I've opted for the conclusion that I am a bit of a girl ;-)

I'm struggling with the question of whether buying this single core model is worth considering in this day an age of the new mobile 2 core Intels and the Turion 64 X2. I've read that two core processors offer no advantage unless the application software is specifically optimized for two core procs, in fact they may well do worse speed wise compared to the same proc in a single core version when used with application software which has not been optimized for two cores. Yet more than once I've read in reviews that switching between applications when for example encoding audio or video in the background is significantly faster using a two core proc.

I could find very little info on this HP Pavilion slimline model range, I was hoping members of this forum would have written about it, but I drew a blank on that. It is one of the few factory build systems based on a mobile processor. Previous models were based on various Pentium M's including procs from the 700 range.

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Post by ahnj » Wed Oct 25, 2006 5:34 am

I wish HP offered the PC in a mini-tower case.

I wonder if it would make sense to purchase this PC from HP and transplant the guts of the PC to a larger tower case from Antec. How easy/cost-effective would it be?

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Post by preti9cboi » Wed Oct 25, 2006 7:14 am

How does that compare with intel E6300?? Man, maybe i should have waited.

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Post by plympton » Wed Oct 25, 2006 7:37 am

$634.99 - that's the entry cost for the x2 version. All of them use 35w processors, though.

I also seriously considered on - I wanted to build a low-power, low-noise HTPC. Couldn't find a damn spec sheet that said whether it had S-Video out or not! (or DVI) Wasn't going to order it without that info. Went to Fry's, and I *THINK* it does - the ones they had in stock (AMD & Intel) had S-Video out.

I ended up picking up an NSK2400, Asus-AM2-VM MB, and a 65W AM2 3800+. Cheaper, looks like an HTPC, and things are good.

-Dan

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I have an earlier version...

Post by BeerParty » Wed Oct 25, 2006 9:45 am

I have an earlier version of the HP slimline series, it is actually fairly quiet.

The main disadvantage (from a noise perspective) is that it uses a custom power supply with a 40mm fan - which makes the only noise I can hear from the system (other than the DVD drive when it's in use). The CPU and other internal parts are cooled by an 80mm fan mounted inside the system (I think it is 80mm, I have not measured).

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Post by MikeC » Wed Oct 25, 2006 9:54 am

Someone HP, at the behest of someone at AMD, contacted me this morn to say they should be able to find someone to get me a sample. (I know -- that's a lot of someones... :lol: )

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Post by Spartanicus » Wed Oct 25, 2006 10:16 am

plympton wrote:I also seriously considered on - I wanted to build a low-power, low-noise HTPC. Couldn't find a damn spec sheet that said whether it had S-Video out or not! (or DVI) Wasn't going to order it without that info. Went to Fry's, and I *THINK* it does - the ones they had in stock (AMD & Intel) had S-Video out.
HP could have made the technical nitty gritty on these machines a bit more easy to find, but they do provide it:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/docu ... 059&dlc=en

The s7600e has neither S-Video out nor DVI.

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Post by qviri » Wed Oct 25, 2006 10:28 am

What's very interesting from that spec page is the motherboard... the size it just a teeny bit bigger than the 17x17 mini-ITX standard, and from a quick visual check the mounting holes are located in the same spots as on VIA's mini-ITX boards, too.

What we have here is an Asus-made socket AM2 mini-ITX motherboard. Wonder if you can swipe one through some gray-channel retail.

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Post by MikeC » Wed Oct 25, 2006 10:50 am

Spartanicus wrote:
plympton wrote:I also seriously considered on - I wanted to build a low-power, low-noise HTPC. Couldn't find a damn spec sheet that said whether it had S-Video out or not! (or DVI) Wasn't going to order it without that info. Went to Fry's, and I *THINK* it does - the ones they had in stock (AMD & Intel) had S-Video out.
HP could have made the technical nitty gritty on these machines a bit more easy to find, but they do provide it:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/docu ... 059&dlc=en

The s7600e has neither S-Video out nor DVI.
Thanks for the research, it's now in the news post. ;)

An AM2 mITX -- this is a first, I believe.

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Post by MikeC » Wed Oct 25, 2006 11:02 am

BTW, I was wrong about who contacted me earlier -- it was someone at HP, but not an official press contact. It was, in fact, BeerParty, who happens to work for HP. 8)

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Post by qviri » Wed Oct 25, 2006 11:05 am

Your link on the front page is linking to the "Clearing the BIOS" section; might want to remove the #N891.

I think this would be only the second AMD mITX board after the s754 Albatron? Of course other manufacturers could be using proprietary small-form motherboards of their own... I just liked that HP went with the somewhat-standard mITX.

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Post by jaganath » Wed Oct 25, 2006 11:59 am

MikeC wrote:Someone HP, at the behest of someone at AMD, contacted me this morn to say they should be able to find someone to get me a sample. (I know -- that's a lot of someones... :lol: )
Hooray! (of course it would be even better if HP hadn't hogged all the 35W X2's....never mind.....maybe they are just factory undervolted 65W parts?)

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Post by qviri » Wed Oct 25, 2006 12:55 pm

I'd say the CPUs get binned according to undervolting ability and then get assigned TDP ratings and default voltages... same as with speed.

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Post by plympton » Wed Oct 25, 2006 2:20 pm

Spartanicus wrote: The s7600e has neither S-Video out nor DVI.
Thanks! How the heck did you FIND it?? No S-Video means I'm glad I didn't get it!

-Dan

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Post by autoboy » Wed Oct 25, 2006 2:24 pm

I was also eyeing the older version of the pc in socket 754 configuration. The same case was available with regular semprons, Turions, and Pentium M/Celeron M. I was checking out the sempy. At frys i put it up to my ear and was pleasantly suprised. I was worried it would be loud from the tiny power supply but it looked like it was a side firing slim 60mm and not a 40mm in the power supply. There is no exhast fan, just a big hole in the back and the cpu fan was not terribly loud. It would never match a Mac mini but it wasn't too bad. I would guess 30db or as Mike put it, moderately quiet. It was in a store so it was difficult to say. Lets hope this new one can adjust the fan speed and so it will be quieter.

The case was actually a little bigger than i expected. Height and width are pretty slim but it is pretty long considering its size. It is 9.75" H x 4.375" W x 13.125" D. Not super small considering it is a ITX form factor.

Really disapointing that there is no DVI port. What is wrong with people. DVI is backwards compatible with VGA. Stop it with VGA! Come on already.

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Post by Mats » Wed Oct 25, 2006 3:38 pm

If you think it looks like LGA 775 mouting holes in the mobo pic... well, it is! 72 x 72 mm.

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Post by Mats » Wed Oct 25, 2006 3:48 pm

autoboy wrote:Really disapointing that there is no DVI port. What is wrong with people. DVI is backwards compatible with VGA. Stop it with VGA! Come on already.
The worst thing (or, could it be a good thing?) is that you see a hole pattern in the mobo PCB that looks like DVI, next to the VGA, can you see it? They probably had plans to add a DVI connector over the VGA...

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Post by qviri » Wed Oct 25, 2006 3:50 pm

Good catch! The northbridge heatsink is also held down Intel-style. Interesting.

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Post by Aris » Wed Oct 25, 2006 6:21 pm

mini itx, am2, vga out, coax spdif out, firewire, only 10/100 lan though.. and most importantly, a PCI slot and not a pci-e 16x slot.

too bad. if it had gigabit ethernet and a pci-e 16 slot, this board would be kickass.

also, that HP case is HORRIBLE LOOKING. i thought case designs like that went out the window over 5 years ago.

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Post by qviri » Wed Oct 25, 2006 6:37 pm

Aris wrote:too bad. if it had gigabit ethernet and a pci-e 16 slot, this board would be kickass.
But it wouldn't be in a $500 computer, so HP wouldn't have ordered it, so Asus would have never made it. (A8N-BR is evidently built-to-order.)

Everything can be improved. Let's appreciate what we've got for a change.

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Post by autoboy » Wed Oct 25, 2006 7:07 pm

Is that atx power connector smaller than normal?

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Post by qviri » Wed Oct 25, 2006 7:32 pm

It's described as "24-pin ATX power connector" and from comparing the proportion of connector length to AM2 socket size of this board and a random AM2 board on newegg, it definitely looks full-size.

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Post by Spartanicus » Wed Oct 25, 2006 11:45 pm

Aris wrote:mini itx, am2, vga out, coax spdif out, firewire, only 10/100 lan though.. and most importantly, a PCI slot and not a pci-e 16x slot.
The board is specific to this PC, the fact that it only has a standard PCI slot shouldn't matter. You wouldn't be able to use a powerful 3D graphics card in it due to the size restrictions on the card, the very limited cooling capacity such a card would require, and the very limited power supply available.

The PSU is rated at 108W, and IIRC HP recommends that any PCI card used should use no more than 5W. That severly limits what you can stick inside this box, basically it is suitable for a modem card or something similarly simple.

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Post by Spartanicus » Thu Oct 26, 2006 12:20 am

Some more info for those interested in this PC: according to this article at Tom's Hardware: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/2006/08/2 ... page2.html, it appears that HP didn't chose the processor speed & memory combo wisely.

The s7600e has a 2000 Mhz processor with 533 Mhz DDR2 memory, according to the TH article a considerably more affordable 1800 Mhz processor with the same memory would have been almost as fast for memory intensive applications.

(note that the TH article seems to contain an error in the text, it should read "a Turion 64 X2 TL-60 shipped with DDR2-533 MHz memory only runs at 500 MHz.")

Sadly HP does not offer a choice of processor or memory speed.

Another thing to consider is that all HP's memory choices mean that both banks are occupied, so adding more memory afterwards means that you have to throw out the existing memory.

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Post by Aris » Mon Oct 30, 2006 8:45 am

you people need to learn to think outside the box. just because its made for HP doesnt mean i cant buy it and use it for somthing completely different.

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Post by qviri » Mon Oct 30, 2006 8:51 am

Uh, actually, yes it does.

You could buy the entire computer and then resell the unnecessary parts, though.

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