Entered CNET Catalog: 02/03/2010
SKU: p6310y
Manufacturer: HP
Manufacturer description
The HP Pavilion p6300 Desktop PC series delivers all round performance and impressive ease-of-use, all wrapped up in a classic, timeless design.Product summary
The good: Decent performance for the price; organized interior with room for upgrades.
The bad: Lacks wireless networking; Gateway gives you faster performance for less money.
The bottom line: The HP Pavilion p6310y is a midtower desktop computer with average performance coupled with a disappointing set of features. Sure, it can handle low-demand processing, but we recommend the Gateway DX4831-01e over it. The Gateway is a faster computer with more versatile connections that costs $50 less.
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 02/19/2010
Editors' note: This review is part of our 2010 retail laptop and desktop spring roundup, which covers specific fixed configurations of popular systems found in retail stores.
The Gateway DX4831-01e is the budget midtower to beat in this spring's retail roundup, and subsequent testing on this HP Pavilion p6310y only makes that argument more persuasive. Although it's a decent multitasker, we're not surprised to see that HP suffers from the same pitfalls as its predecessor: It has an attractive design and average scores, but is outshadowed by Gateway's competitive CPU and abundance of onboard connections. If it isn't obvious already, we're sticking with recommending the Gateway DX4831-01e until a more valuable system comes along.
The HP p6310y features the same aesthetic design that we continue to see in HP's p-series seasonal offerings, and the recipe is simple: take a minimal glossy black case, add a soft-blue LED-lit power button, a sliding panel on the bottom that reveals a media card reader, and two USB 2.0 ports underneath, and you have a visually attractive tower that can easily disappear into your office setup.
| HP Pavilion p6310y | Gateway DX4831-01e | |
| Price | $599 | $549 |
| CPU | 2.8GHz AMD Phenom II X4 630 | 2.93GHz Intel Core i3 530 |
| Memory | 6GB 1,066MHz DDR3 SDRAM | 6GB DDR3 SDRAM |
| Graphics | 256MB (shared) Nvidia GeForce 9100 integrated graphics chip | 32MB (shared) Intel GMA HD integrated graphics chip |
| Hard drives | 1TB, 7,200rpm | 1TB, 7,200rpm |
| Optical drive | dual-layer DVD burner | dual-layer DVD burner |
| Networking | 10/100 Ethernet LAN | 10/100 Ethernet LAN, Gigabit Ethernet |
| Operating system | Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) | Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) |
A side-by-side comparison of the desktops shows that the HP Pavilion p6310y shares almost exactly the same configuration as the Gateway DX4831-01e. In fact, the Gateway offers a Gigabit Ethernet connection and a $50 price cut, which we assume budget-minded users will consider more valuable. Unfortunately, neither system offers wireless networking, although you can purchase a Wi-Fi card online for less than $50. The Gateway also uses Intel's new Core i3 chip that gives it a noticeable speed boost that you can see in the chart.
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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Rendering multiple CPUs | |
Rendering single CPU |
HP's AMD Phenom II chip takes the lead in both the multitasking and Cinebench tests that take advantage of its two extra physical cores; however, the Gateway is able to fight back with significant leads in single-threaded applications like iTunes and Photoshop. This is because the Gateway's Intel Core i3 chip emulates two extra cores when necessary, essentially turning it into a virtual quad-core CPU. At the end of the day, neither system will satisfy the demands of hard-core video editors, but at this price range, we prefer the extra clock speed of the Gateway and its i3 CPU.
Gateway gets even more points over HP thanks to its comprehensive set of external connections. While the back of the HP Pavilion p6310y gives you options like DVI, VGA, and FireWire 400, the Gateway offers all of the same but with more USB ports (eight total), two eSATA ports for external storage, optical S/PDIF audio, and swaps the DVI port with HDMI for serving high-definition media from the Web. Connected to a standard desktop monitor via a VGA cable, the Gateway ran full-screen video from sites like YouTube, Hulu, Vimeo, and Netflix without a glitch. It also smoothly played full 1080p HD movie trailers from Apple's Web site, but we strongly recommend the slim tower Gateway SX2840-01 over either system if you plan to view your media on a TV in the living room.
To its credit, HP offers ample potential inside the tower for upgrades in the form of a 16x PCI Express graphics slot for a 3D video card, two 1x PCI Express slots, one standard PCI slot, and room for another hard drive. There's also space for another stick of memory and you can get more storage with one of HP's proprietary media drives that fits in the expansion bay slot underneath the optical disc drive. But since we don't recommend this system in the first place, we're not too keen on using this system as an upgrade foundation anyway.
 Juice box |
|
| HP Pavilion p6310y | Average watts per hour |
| Off | 2.02 |
| Sleep | 3.1 |
| Idle | 77.44 |
| Load | 134.85 |
| Raw (annual kWh) | 307.5855 |
| Energy Star compliant | No |
| Annual power consumption cost | $34.91 |
Out of the five comparison desktops we used in this chart, the HP Pavilions' cost the most to power over the course of a year at $34.91 for the p6310y and $34.75 per year for the p6320y. Compared with the $20.78 it takes to power the Dell Inspiron i560-4000NBK at the opposite end of the spectrum, the Gateway won't make as large of an impact on your wallet over time. You shouldn't be surprised to learn that neither HP comes close to earning an Energy Star certification.
HP includes a standard one-year warranty with the Pavilion P6310y, with just enough free support to keep you happy. Within the allotted time, you get 24-7 toll-free phone assistance, a comprehensive list of Web help, including manuals, FAQs, live customer service chat, and driver updates.
Find out more about how we test desktop systems.
System configurations :
Dell Inspiron i560-4000NBK
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 2.93GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E7500; 8GB 1,066MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 32MB (shared) Intel GMA X45600 integrated graphics chip; 1TB 7,200rpm Seagate hard drive
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 2.93GHz Intel Core i3 530; 6GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 32MB Intel GMA HD integrated graphics chip; 1TB, 7,200rpm Western Digital hard drive Gateway DX4300-15e
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 2.6GHz AMD Phenom II X4 810; 8GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 256MB ATI Radeon HD 3200 integrated graphics chip; 1TB, 7,200rpm Western Digital hard drive HP Pavilion p6310y Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 2.8GHz AMD Athlon II X4 630; 6GB 1,066MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 256MB Nvidia nForce 720a; 1TB, 7,200rpm Western Digital hard drive HP Pavilion p6320y
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 2.8GHz AMD Phenom II X4 820; 8GB 1,066MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 256MB (shared) Nvidia GeForce 9100 integrated graphics chip; 1TB, 7,200rpm Western Digital hard drive
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10out of 10 user reviews
HP is just awful.
Pros: none I could find.
Cons: crashed after 18mos, making me the luckiest user of one of these pieces of junk.
out of 10 user reviews
Quit after 18 months.
Pros: It ran great when I first got it.
Cons: Blue screens, rebooting, freezing. One morning I woke up and it was frozen for good. Tried a Linux live disc and it froze after ten minutes. Mobo is toast.
out of 10 user reviews
motherboard burnt up after 13 months
Pros: was good while it lasted!
Cons: not worth the money for only 1 year of use.
out of 10 user reviews
After 15 month, hard drive broke. Q Q
Pros: This is the fastest computer, I have ever had. If the hard drive have not broken, I would give 5 stars.
Cons: I paid 599.00 at bestbuy. I already spend $300 to repair hard drive and geek squad tech support/ yr. And, now I am waiting to get recovery disc. It will take another week by mail. I used to have dell computers. This is my first HP desktop. But, hard d
out of 10 user reviews
13 months old...will not power on anymore
Pros: i likes it when it was new
Cons: after only 13 months of use it quit powering on...hit the power button nothing...hp wont do anything unless i spend 100 for an extend warranty to which they only walk you through the process of fixing it yourself...had this happen with my last hp before t
out of 10 user reviews
Very fast for home use. Paid $449. great buy
Pros: Speed, memory, and size of HD. Will be interesting to see how the AMD processor holds up over time. Not a gamer so having to up grade graphics isn't an issue. Excited with windows seven. Nice program. Loaded windows security and like it also.
Cons: The trail stuff you have to put up with.
out of 10 user reviews
Perfect low-cost, high-speed 64bit solution
Pros: Clock speed approaching 3ghz. Just enought RAM & hard drive space. Great looking case.
Cons: Whimpy power supply and integrated low-end graphics. Really, really dumb placement of the CD eject button.
out of 10 user reviews
Desktops for Dummies - a decent buy
Pros: Cheap, easily purchased at (e.g.) BestBuy with support and setup.
Works fine for unsophisticated users with undemanding needs.
Quick, almost brain-dead setup, plugin and 'play'
Cons: No Gigabit or wireless native interface. AMD processor (I am personally and without logic an Intel bigot and normally don't buy motherboards with AMD processors) To each his own, AMD flamers.
I hate wasting time setting up other people's gear (burnt out / retired systems engineer)
so when a non-technical low-demand family member's computer starts dying, I just want to walk into a store and buy a pre-setup, decent-performance, low-maintenance affordable /reliable desktop. That's what the HP 6310y is.
No need for wireless or fast thruput. Maybe the recommended Gateway is a better deal, but this one (so far / 3 weeks) works just fine for a low-demand net surfer. Completely satisfied.
out of 10 user reviews
Good computer for the price
Pros: Good speed....plenty of hard drive space
Cons: non found yet
out of 10 user reviews
Awesome Desktop
Pros: Its to fast for its own good, lol.
Cons: Haven't found any yet, other than I think that microsoft office should be free with all purchases.
