HP Elite 805 G9 2023, Ryzen 7 8700G, 16GB, 512GB SSD

The HP Elite 805 G9 SFF scores 63.6 out of 100 overall, with a standout 91st percentile port selection and a solid Ryzen 7 8700G CPU. But the AI performance is a rough 30 out of 100, and the 512GB SSD is below average for the class. It's a quiet, reliable office workhorse with some annoying cost-cutting compromises.

The Ryzen 7 8700G is the headline act here, and it mostly delivers. Eight cores at 4.2 GHz with DDR5 memory behind it means this machine chews through multitasking without breaking a sweat. Our CPU benchmark puts it in the 72nd percentile, which translates to "well above average" in everyday terms. You can run a dozen browser tabs, a video call, and a hefty spreadsheet simultaneously and the fan barely spins up. The 16GB of 5600 MHz DDR5 is about average for this class, 54th percentile, so it's adequate but not generous. If you're the type who keeps 40 Chrome tabs open while editing photos, you might feel the ceiling.

The integrated Radeon Graphics is where expectations need to stay grounded. At the 63rd percentile, it's fine for business tasks, light photo editing, and driving multiple displays, but this is not a gaming or rendering machine. The 512GB NVMe SSD scores in the 41st percentile, which is honestly a bit disappointing for a business desktop at this price point. It's fast enough for boot times and app launches, but 512GB fills up quicker than you'd think once Windows 11 Pro and a few years of files pile up. The 260W PSU tells you everything about the intended use case: efficient office work, not expansion headroom.

Stacked against the Apple Mac Studio M5 Max, the Elite 805 G9 gets absolutely demolished on GPU and AI workloads, the Mac's unified memory architecture and dedicated silicon are in a different universe. But the Mac also costs significantly more and locks you into macOS, so it's not a fair fight for a Windows business fleet. Against the Lenovo Legion Tower 5a Gen 10, the HP loses on raw graphics and gaming potential but wins on port selection and the smaller footprint. The Dell Desktop ECT1250 is probably the closest real-world competitor, and there the HP's 91st percentile port selection and above-average reliability give it an edge for office deployments, even if the Dell might offer more storage for similar money. The MSI Aegis ZS2 and CLX SET are gaming-oriented machines that outclass the HP on GPU performance but lack the enterprise management features and quiet operation that business buyers actually need.

At CAD 2,007 from the single Canadian listing we track, the Elite 805 G9 is a tricky value proposition. The Ryzen 7 8700G and that excellent port selection justify a decent chunk of the price, and the 4.8-star average from early buyers suggests people who pulled the trigger feel good about it. But the 512GB SSD and data-only USB-C feel like cost-cutting measures that sting at this price. For a business buyer who needs reliability and connectivity above all else, it's defensible. For anyone else, you're paying a premium for the HP enterprise badge and the SFF form factor, not raw performance per dollar.

The HP Elite 805 G9 SFF lands at 63.6 out of 100 in our database, which puts it firmly in the "solid but not spectacular" zone for business desktops. The standout spec is the AMD Ryzen 7 8700G, an 8-core chip running at 4.2 GHz that sits in the 72nd percentile for CPU performance. That's a genuinely capable processor for a machine this size, and it's paired with 16GB of 5600 MHz DDR5 RAM and a 512GB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD. The port selection is where this thing really shines though, 91st percentile, with 10 USB-A ports, a USB-C, HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4a, and Gigabit Ethernet. You won't be hunting for a dongle with this one.

But here's the thing: the weakest area in our testing is AI and LLM workloads, scoring just 30 out of 100. That's a bit awkward given HP's marketing pitch leans hard on "AI-enhanced power" and the NPU baked into the 8700G. The integrated Radeon Graphics sits at the 63rd percentile, which is fine for spreadsheets and video calls but won't impress anyone doing real GPU work. At 5.04 kg, it's not exactly light for a small form factor either, though it's built like a tank and reliability scores are above average.

Skip this one if you need any kind of AI or GPU workload capability, the 30 out of 100 AI score is the worst metric on the whole spec sheet, and the integrated graphics won't save you. Also skip it if you're a storage hoarder, 512GB at the 41st percentile is going to feel cramped within a year or two, and the 260W PSU means you're not adding a big GPU or a pile of drives later. If you need USB-C charging or display output from that port, this machine will frustrate you on day one. And if you're shopping on a tight budget, the CAD 2,007 price tag is hard to justify when the RAM and storage are both middle-of-the-pack at best.

The HP Elite 805 G9 is a competent, quiet, well-connected business desktop that does exactly what it says on the box, no more, no less. The Ryzen 7 8700G is a genuinely strong CPU for office workloads, and the port selection is among the best we've seen in this form factor. But the 512GB SSD is stingy, the USB-C port being data-only is an annoying omission for a machine marketed as future-proof, and the AI performance that HP leans on in the marketing is the weakest part of the whole package. If you need a reliable fleet machine with tons of connectivity and don't care about GPU muscle, this is a solid pick. If you want value per dollar or any kind of AI workload capability, keep looking.