Why You Can Trust CNET HP Pavilion HPE h9z review: HP Pavilion HPE h9z
HP Pavilion HPE h9z
"Mass-market gaming desktop" doesn't have to mean lackluster performance and uncompetitive pricing. Too bad Hewlett-Packard seems to have forgotten. Both slower and more expensive than its competition, the $1,049 HP Pavilion HPE Phoenix h9z desktop is almost confusingly terrible in terms of bang for the buck. A Blu-ray drive and, to a lesser extent, Beats Audio software add some value, but the gamers for whom this system is clearly intended will find little to like here.
HP Pavilion HPE h9z
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
HP introduced its new Phoenix case design at CES this year. The stylized appearance comes replete with dramatic angles and red LEDs. All of it will sufficiently communicate "gaming computer" on the shelf at Best Buy, but it does essentially nothing to move PC aesthetics forward.
Absent from this system is the Phoenix line's liquid CPU cooler. HP highlighted the liquid cooling hardware as a selling point for the Phoenix at CES. The AMD FX-8100 chip is indeed overclockable, and you can buy the cooler as a $60 option if you're inclined to tinker with clock speeds. Like Dell, HP won't overclock out of the box, but the liquid cooler option at least acknowledges that PC gamers appreciate the opportunity to squeeze out more performance when possible. You can still overclock the CPU in this Phoenix without the liquid cooling rig, but you won't be able to set the frequency as high as you might with it.
| HP Pavilion HPE Phoenix h9z | Alienware X51 | Origin Chronos | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $1,049 | $999 | $1,199 |
| Motherboard chipset | AMD 970X | Intel H61 | Intel Z68 |
| CPU | 2.8GHZ AMD FX-8100 | 3GHz Intel Core i5-2320 | 4.5GHz Intel Core i5-2550K (overclocked) |
| Memory | 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM | 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM | 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM |
| Graphics | 1GB Nvidia GeForce 550 Ti | 1GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 555 | 1.28GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 560Ti |
| Hard drives | 1TB 7,200rpm | 1TB 7,200rpm | 750GB 7,200rpm |
| Optical drive | Blu-ray/DVD burner combo | dual-layer DVD burner | dual-layer DVD burner |
| Operating system | Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) | Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) | Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) |
HP offers versions of the Pavilion HPE Phoenix on both AMD and Intel CPU platforms. Our AMD-based review unit is the most affordable, starting at $999. The other three models, all Intel-based, start as high as $2,049 for the h9se with Intel's unnecessary six-core, Core i7-3900-series chips. None of these Phoenix units is that compelling, particularly compared with HP's non-Phoenix Pavilion HPE h8xt. For $1,130, you can get an h8xt with a Core i7-2600S, with 8GB of RAM, a 2TB hard drive, and a Radeon HD 6850 graphics card. The Phoenix h9t with those specs and a compulsory Blu-Ray drive will cost $1,378, making it a nonstarter.
In comparison with midrange gaming desktops from other vendors, the Phoenix fares even worse. Alienware's new X51 is faster on every test and only costs $999. Willing to spend $150 more than the HP review unit costs? Look into the factory-overclocked Chronos from Origin and you'll get some of the best performance we've seen in a sub-$2,000 computer. Neither of those competing systems has a Blu-ray drive like the Phoenix, but for gaming systems raw performance is far more important.
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
 | Rendering multiple CPUs | | Rendering single CPU |
The AMD FX-8100 chip holds the Phoenix h9z back on all of our application tests. HP's system can't outperform the cheaper Alienware system on these tests, nor can it catch HP's more mainstream Pavilion HPE h8xt. I thought the native eight-core CPU might have a chance to help the Phoenix claim a win in the Cinebench test at least, but AMD's chip can't withstand its Intel-based competition.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
| 1,920x1,200 (DirectX 10, 4x aa, very high) | | 1,440x900 (DirectX 10, 4x aa, very high) |
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
| 2,560x1,600 (DirectX 11, very high) | | 1,920x1,080 (DirectX 11, very high) |
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
| Extreme (1,920x1080) | | Performance (1,920x1,080, 16x AF) | | Entry level (1,680x1,050) |
Slow 3D performance paints perhaps a worse picture for the Phoenix, given its positioning as a gaming system. It came in last on every test, barely even hitting 60 frames per second on our venerable Far Cry 2 benchmark. Yes, the Phoenix will play most current games at reasonably acceptable image quality and smoothness. Compared with competing systems in its price range, however, the Phoenix offers less headroom for "ultra" quality settings and resolutions above 1,920x1,080 pixels, and won't instill as much confidence in its ability to run more demanding PC games released in the future.
As a traditional full-tower desktop, the Phoenix does offer more expandability than the Alienware and Origin systems, and its 600-watt power supply should allow steady graphics card updates down the road. Those competing systems have faster cards than the Phoenix, but the full-size Phoenix case design means it can take a full-length card, which the Alienware X51 can't. The Phoenix also has more expandability than the small-form-factor Chronos, with four memory slots, room for three hard drives, and two free 1x PCI Express card slots. While that expandability is welcome, I still wish the Phoenix was more competitive out of the box.
Its external connectivity options cover the most important bases. You get one pair of USB 3.0 jacks, an assortment of USB 2.0 ports around the system, and two DVI ports and a Mini-HDMI jack on the graphics card. For audio output, you get a set of 7.1 analog jacks and a S/PDIF digital audio output, as well as a set of audio jacks on the front of the system. I wouldn't mind a few more USB 3.0 ports, but overall I can't think of many other connections I'd like to see.
 Juice box | |
| HP Pavilion HPE Phoenix h9z | |
| Off (watts) | 3.27 |
| Sleep (watts) | 2.89 |
| Idle (watts) | 71 |
| Load (watts) | 244 |
| Raw (annual kWh) | 417.36 |
| Energy Star-compliant | No |
| Annual operating cost (@$0.1135/kWh) | $47.37 |
Because this is a gaming system, it's worth looking into the Phoenix's power draw. At just about $4 a month in power bills, HP's gaming rig falls in the middle of this group of systems. None of these costs are too exorbitant, but comparatively the Phoenix posts disappointing power efficiency by requiring more power than two other systems that offer better performance.
HP includes a basic one-year parts-and-labor warranty with the Pavilion HPE Phoenix h9z. You also get 24-7 toll-free phone support, and a variety of support resources are available on HP's Web site, as well as on the system itself.
Conclusion
If it's not apparent, I advise against purchasing the slow, uninspired HP Pavilion HPE Phoenix h9z. You can look to a number of other vendors for more gaming performance at this price, including HP itself via its Pavilion HPE h8 line.
Find out more about how we test desktop systems.
System configurations:
Alienware x51 (Core i5-2320, January 2012)
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit; 3.0GHz Intel Core i5-2320; 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 1GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 555 graphics card; 1TB 7,200rpm hard drive
Origin Chronos (Core i5-2550, March 2012)
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit; 4.5GHz Intel Core i5-2550; 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 1.28GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti graphics card; 750 GB 7,200rpm Western Digital hard drive
HP Pavilion HPE h8xt (Core i7-2600, August 2011)
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit; 3.4GHz Intel Core i7-2600; 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 1GB AMD Radeon HD 6850 graphics card; 1.5TB 7,200rpm Seagate hard drive
HP Pavilion HPE Phoenix h9z
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit; 2.8GHz AMD FX-8100; 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 1GB Nvidia Geforce GTX 550 Ti graphics card; 1TB 7,200rpm hard drive
Velocity Micro Edge Z40
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit; 4GHz Intel Core i5-2500K (overclocked); 4GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 1GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 560Ti graphics card (overclocked); 1TB 7,200rpm Hitachi hard drive