HP dc5750 SFF - Good or bad?

[tarquel]

Hi all

Just wondering if any of you guys 'n' gals have tried the HP Compaq Business Desktop dx5750 series? - the ones with AMD 64 X2 Athlon's in them.

Got some more machines to procure and although the dx5150 SFF's are kinda stable, I know a few ppl that have had hell with them, so I'm not keen on getting the same range - thus why I'm looking at these ones

They any good?

http://uk.insight.com/apps/productpr...D%26K%3Ddc5750

Cheers
Nath

[andy]

Lol. I too am looking at getting a few machines, so I looked at this post with interest. I had an Insight window open so I copied and pasted the model in to search so I knew what we were talking about... and then noticed your link you had already kindly provided

So I don't know if they're any good or not, but I would be interested in people's opinions also. Please excuse my rather pointless post, was up late reading Harry Potter last night and some kid has just told me I looked stoned 8O . Just drinking my Irn Bru now

Andy

[Lee_K_81]

...SNIP..... although the dx5150 SFF's are kinda stable, I know a few ppl that have had hell with them, so I'm not keen on getting the same range - thus why I'm looking at these ones

D'oh! Don't say that. i've just ordered 20 of the dx5150 SFF........

[Norphy]

We have about 30 of them, they've been excellent so far. No failures in the ~10 months that we've had them which is more than we can say for the Dells and NECs that we have.

/edit thats the DX5150 btw. I doubt the DC5750 would be any different

[tarquel]

I think that me and another edugeek member got unlucky with our 5150's - still... I'm not prepared to run the risk... the 5750's seem to be the newer model so thats why I'm looking at them.

With my 5150's, I've had a row of seven that have had ...well... overheating problems in the past [previous to my modding of a cupboard and sticking them in it - they are actually well behaved now they are in it heh but thats another story] and have had quite a few parts replaced on them - tho mainly DVD-ROM drive replacements, and a call out that replaced the motherboard.

The other ones I have running in the Music suite are working lovely with Cubase SX 3

Any more thoughts... keep 'um coming

Cheers
Nath.

[Norphy]

The documentation for them does state that you need a decent amount of space either side of them for ventilation. There are intake/output fans on either side.

[john]

I have some 5150MTs and they are fine, the one you are linking to is just the 5150 in a different case to bring it inline with the new range. Don't think they look as attractive as the old range, but they will be the same thing.

[tarquel]

norphy:
Indeed... its a interesting design that works well - until you have a row of them tightly packed together all the way around the room [in most schools I'm meaning] as air would flow into one pc then out and back into the next.... etc.... the further right=hand computer technically is well hot heh [of course, I havent really checked, but its possible ]

[PS Shame I'm not nearer, the lan party sounds like fun ]

With the way i have them in the cupboard, it doesnt matter two much as the hot air rises and due to the way i have installed fans in the cupboard,
cold air is drawn in and sucked out the top

They haven't caused me any problems while being in the cupboard so the dc5750 should be no different in there.

And yes john, I had assumed thats what they had done hehe ^^ although it

[TimJing]

Hey guys

Found this thread on Google troubleshooting more strange issues with this particular model.

Our admin staff purchased 6,000 of these machines with the AMD processor and ATI chipset. The issues encountered so far are Random reboots(No errors or logs), ATI drivers errors, Freezing from ATI drivers.

1. Drivers are almost impossible to configured correctly. And HP only supports their factory image and not any sort of Unattended installs.

2. Very cheaply made, front bezel easy to break.

3. ATI drivers causes strange errors(tried multiple versions of OEM and HP drivers)

So far this looks to be much more troublesome than the Intel models we normally purchase from HP(DC5100, 5000...)

[john]

Must admit I agree with TimJing on the Bezel on the new HP style machines and I told them so the other day, I hate it and it is brital and not as strong and prone to attack by kids as well as having rubbished pushed into it so I told them I will be reconsidering my purchasing decision on using them, they used WEEE as an excuse, I told them others are WEEE complaint and still a decent strong case and stop using that as the reason.

[mark]

We have 28 5150s and have had loads of problems with them overheating. Just badly designed we think. Ours are spaced whay i'd say normally, gives about 12"-16" between them. It's been a cool summer so they've not given us too much trouble this year, but even in winter you can hear the fans go into overdrive as they overheat. The room is air conditioned too.

If it happens a lot they just refuse to turn on with a red light. powering down for a few hours fixes it the first few times, eventually they just cook and die.

We had an engineer out to fix ours, who replaced a few CPUs. We worked around the room on all those going into fan overdrive and they were all running unacceptably hot. We did as many as the engineer had spares for. Tech support reccomend you re-seat the CPUs but don't tell you to renew the heat transfer compound which is of course suicidal.

Oh yes and the bezel is pathetic. Kids have pulled off the drive bay cover and the power button facia which fall off quite easily (and then post coins onto the motherboard - nice!).

[john]

Thanks for that Mark, glad I got the last generation of old style 7000 machines, but HP have said the case will change on them in the new year to the new style So may be time to move on.

The overheating I've heard of before, they just have not got the BTX case design right I don't think.

[kearton]

We've just installed 68 new dc5750's in our 2 language labs over the break. We had to do a bit of "modifying" to move the front mic port to the back of the PC's. 32 more are going in elsewhere in the school in the next few weeks.

You've got me paranoid about them now.............

[john]

@Kearton, it is fairly clear from the design that they are no suited for schools just looking at them i'm afraid, all those slots at the front are crying out for things shoving in them, rulers pushing in them and then being twisted around etc that instantly made me go hmmmm lets re-think a bit harder on this before spending money on them.

[kearton]

@john: Yes, agreed. From what I can gather we got them very cheap... and when you're buying 100 that is a more important factor to some people than how kid-proof they are, etc...