HP EliteDesk Tower, Core i5-7500, 32GB, 128GB SSD + 3TB HDD, GTX 1660 Super

The GTX 1660 Super and 32GB of RAM are fine, but the Core i5-7500 CPU is in the 11th percentile, which is one of the weakest we've seen. The 128GB SSD is too small for modern games, and the 3.8 star average from 112 reviews reflects that frustration. At $719 USD, this renewed system is a hard pass unless you specifically need 3TB of storage and don't care about CPU performance.

Let's talk about that CPU first, because it's the elephant in the room. The Core i5-7500 is a 4-core, 3.4GHz chip from 2017, and it sits in the 11th percentile among CPUs in our database. That's not just old, it's one of the weakest we've seen in this category. The GTX 1660 Super 6GB is a much better story, landing in the 66th percentile for GPUs, which is solidly middle of the pack. It'll handle 1080p gaming on medium to high settings in most titles without breaking a sweat.

The 32GB of DDR4 RAM is generous and puts this machine in the 65th percentile for memory. You won't run out of RAM for gaming, streaming, or having 40 Chrome tabs open. The storage combo is interesting: 128GB SSD for the OS and a 3TB HDD for everything else. That's a lot of total space, but the SSD is small enough that you'll be shuffling games on and off it constantly. The port selection is a genuine highlight at the 87th percentile, with 10 USB-A ports, HDMI, DisplayPort, and Ethernet. You can plug in basically anything.

Stacked against the competition, this HP gets outclassed quickly. The Lenovo Legion 90YA003GUS and MSI Aegis Z2 both offer newer CPUs and faster GPUs for similar money. The ASUS ROG G700TF-U7KF5070 is in a completely different league with modern components. Even the Dell Desktop ECT1250, which isn't a gaming machine, has a more balanced spec sheet. The Apple Mac Studio M3 Ultra is obviously not a direct competitor at its price point, but it highlights how far behind this i5-7500 really is. The only area where this HP holds its own is RAM capacity and total storage, and those are the cheapest components to upgrade on any system.

At $719 USD, this is a tough sell. You're paying for 32GB of RAM and a 3TB HDD, but the CPU is ancient and the SSD is tiny. For that money, you could find a newer system with a Ryzen 5 or 12th-gen Intel chip and a 500GB NVMe drive. The renewed status means you're also rolling the dice on component longevity. The included RGB keyboard, mouse, WiFi adapter, and Bluetooth adapter soften the blow a little, but those are cheap add-ons, not value drivers. The 1-year warranty and lifetime tech support are nice touches, but they don't fix the core problem: you're paying 2024 prices for 2017 silicon.

The HP EliteDesk Tower is a bit of a Frankenstein build. You've got a 7th-gen Intel Core i5-7500 that lands in the 11th percentile for CPUs, which is rough, paired with 32GB of DDR4 RAM and a GTX 1660 Super 6GB. The storage setup is a 128GB SSD plus a 3TB HDD, which puts it in the 86th percentile for total capacity, but that tiny SSD is going to fill up fast with Windows 11 Pro and a couple of modern games.

Our database scores this thing at 69.5 out of 100 for gaming and 66.2 for home office work. The social proof is actually strong at the 93rd percentile, meaning lots of buyers have weighed in, but the 3.8 out of 5 star average from 112 reviews tells a more complicated story. It's a renewed unit, so you're getting older guts in a fresh-ish shell, and the $719 USD price tag needs to justify that.

If you play CPU-heavy games like Escape from Tarkov, Warzone, or any modern open-world title, skip this. The i5-7500's 11th percentile ranking means it'll choke on anything that needs more than 4 threads. Content creators should also look elsewhere: the 128GB SSD will fill up with editing software and scratch files almost immediately, and the CPU will make rendering a slog. If you're buying this for AI or machine learning work, the 35.7 out of 100 score in that category should be a giant red flag. And if you're expecting a quiet, efficient machine, the old architecture and 3TB spinning drive won't do you any favors.

The HP EliteDesk Tower is a classic case of a seller dressing up old hardware with flashy accessories. The 32GB of RAM and 3TB HDD are nice, but they can't compensate for a CPU in the 11th percentile and a 128GB SSD that'll have you constantly managing storage space from day one. The GTX 1660 Super is a decent 1080p card, but it's being held back by that i5-7500 in CPU-heavy games. At $719 USD, you're better off saving a bit more for a system with a modern processor, or looking for a used build with a Ryzen 5 and a bigger SSD. The 3.8 star average from 112 reviews backs this up: buyers are lukewarm, and so are we.