HP Elite SFF G9| 6-core 5GHz, Ryzen 5 8600G, 32GB, 1TB SSD

The HP Elite SFF G9 has a port selection in the 97th percentile, with 11 USB-A ports, USB-C, HDMI 2.1, and DisplayPort in a compact SFF chassis. But the Ryzen 5 8600G CPU ranks in the 32nd percentile and the gaming score is 15.8 out of 100, so this is strictly an office machine. At $1,000 with 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD, it's a fair deal for business users who prioritize connectivity over raw performance.

Let's talk about what the Ryzen 5 8600G actually does. Six cores, twelve threads, 16MB of L3 cache, and a max boost of 5GHz. On paper, that sounds respectable, and for everyday office work, web browsing, and light multitasking, it'll feel snappy. The 32GB of DDR5 RAM helps a lot here, sitting at the 78th percentile for memory, which means you can keep a ridiculous number of browser tabs open without breaking a sweat. The 1TB NVMe SSD is also above average for storage, so boot times and app launches will be quick.

But the integrated Radeon 760M is where things fall apart. It's fine for driving two 4K monitors and handling video playback, but it's not built for anything beyond casual gaming or light photo editing. Our GPU score puts it at the 56th percentile, which sounds okay until you realize that's against all desktops, including budget office boxes. For anything with real graphical demands, this machine will struggle. The 260W power supply also tells you everything you need to know: this is not a system designed for upgrades or discrete graphics cards.

Against the Lenovo Legion Tower 5a Gen 10, this HP gets absolutely smoked in gaming and CPU performance. The Legion is built for gaming with a discrete GPU, while the HP's integrated Radeon 760M and 15.8 gaming score put it in a completely different league, and not a good one. The Dell Tower ECT1250 is a closer match for office work, but the HP's port selection at the 97th percentile blows most Dell configs out of the water. The Apple Mac Studio M4 Max is in another universe entirely for performance, but it also costs significantly more and runs macOS, so it's not a direct competitor for Windows-based business users. The ASUS ROG GM700 and CLX SET are gaming-focused machines that trade blows with each other, but neither offers the compact SFF footprint or the sheer number of USB ports this HP brings. If you need a small, quiet office machine with every port you could want, the HP is a solid choice. If you need any kind of graphical horsepower, every competitor here beats it.

At $1,000 USD, this HP Elite SFF G9 is a tough sell on pure performance. You're paying for the compact form factor, the excellent port selection, and the enterprise-grade build quality, not raw speed. The 32GB of RAM and 1TB SSD are nice, but the CPU and GPU are the weak links. For the same money, you could find a mid-tower with a dedicated graphics card and a faster processor, though you'd lose the small footprint and the port variety. If your priority is a clean desk setup with tons of connectivity and you don't need gaming or heavy compute, the price is defensible. If you want performance per dollar, look elsewhere.

The HP Elite SFF G9 is a compact office machine that gets one thing very right: ports. Our database puts its connectivity at the 97th percentile, which means 11 USB-A ports, a USB-C, HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort, and Ethernet. That's more I/O than most full-size towers we've tested, crammed into a box that's roughly 13 inches deep and under 12 pounds. For a desk setup with multiple monitors, external drives, and a wired keyboard and mouse, this thing is ready to go without a dongle in sight.

But the CPU is the elephant in the room. The Ryzen 5 8600G lands at the 32nd percentile for processing power, which is mediocre for this class. The listing claims it's 1.3 times faster than an Intel i7-1255U, and that's likely true for bursty tasks, but against other desktops in our database, it's not a standout. You're getting 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a 1TB NVMe SSD in this config, which are solid numbers, but the integrated Radeon 760M graphics mean gaming is basically off the table. Our gaming score for this machine is 15.8 out of 100, and that's not a typo.

Skip this if you have any interest in gaming or GPU-accelerated work. The gaming score of 15.8 out of 100 is one of the worst we've seen in this category, and the integrated Radeon 760M simply can't keep up with even budget discrete graphics cards. The CPU's 32nd percentile ranking also means this machine will feel sluggish in heavily threaded workloads like video editing, 3D rendering, or large data processing. And if you need WiFi 6 or 6E for faster wireless speeds, the WiFi 5 here is a generation behind. For $1,000, you can find desktops with dedicated GPUs and faster processors if you're willing to give up the compact size and port selection.

The HP Elite SFF G9 is a niche machine that nails its niche. If you want a compact, reliable desktop for office work, web browsing, and multi-monitor productivity, the port selection alone makes it worth considering. The 32GB of RAM and 1TB SSD are genuinely good specs, and the Windows 11 Pro license with TPM 2.0 is a nice touch for business buyers. But the CPU is mediocre and the gaming performance is abysmal, so this is not a machine for anyone who wants to play games or run demanding creative software. At $1,000, it's a fair price for what it is, but only if you know exactly what you're getting into.