HP G3 2025, AMD A10-9700, 16GB, 1TB SSD, Radeon RX 550, Full Dark

The HP G3 is a renewed budget tower with a 1TB SSD, 16GB of RAM, and an RX 550, but the A10-9700 CPU is one of the slowest we track at the 6th percentile. It's fine for web browsing, office work, and older games, but the 'Gaming PC' label is a stretch. Port selection is nearly dead last, and the compact score is rough. Only worth it if the price stays very low.

Let's talk about that CPU first, because it's the anchor dragging this whole system down. The A10-9700 runs at 3.5GHz across four cores, which sounds fine on paper until you realize those cores are based on AMD's pre-Ryzen architecture. In our database, this chip lands in the 6th percentile for CPUs in desktop towers. That means 94% of the desktops we track have a faster processor. For everyday tasks like email, document editing, and streaming video, you'll be okay. But throw a heavy spreadsheet, a big photo batch, or any kind of video editing at it and you'll feel the wait.

The RX 550 is a more interesting story. It sits right around the middle of the pack in our GPU rankings, which is honestly better than I expected for a card this old. With 4GB of VRAM, it can drive a 1080p display for media and light gaming without falling over. But 'light' is the operative word. This is not a card for Cyberpunk or Starfield. Think older titles, indie games, and esports at reduced settings. The 16GB of RAM is solid for multitasking, though it's only in the 32nd percentile, which tells you how much RAM modern desktops are shipping with these days. The 1TB SSD is a genuine bright spot, landing in the 54th percentile and giving you fast boot times and quick app launches.

Stack this against the Lenovo Legion Tower 5a Gen 10 and it's not even a fair fight. The Legion ships with modern Ryzen silicon and a proper gaming GPU, and it scores dramatically higher across the board. But it also costs a lot more, so that's expected. The more useful comparison is against other renewed or budget towers. A Dell Desktop ECT1250 or a CLX SET TGMSETRTU5204BM will typically offer newer CPUs, even if the GPU is integrated. For office work and web browsing, those newer CPUs will feel snappier day to day than this A10-9700.

The Apple Mac Studio M5 Max is in a completely different universe, both in price and performance. It's not a realistic alternative for someone shopping this HP, but it does show the range of what's out there. The MSI Aegis ZS2 is another gaming-focused tower that will run circles around the RX 550. If you actually want to play games released in the last five years, any of these competitors will serve you better. The HP G3's only real edge is the bundle and the low entry price, assuming the seller keeps it low.

Here's the tricky part. We don't have a price for this exact listing, which makes value hard to pin down. Renewed HP towers with similar specs tend to float around the budget end of the market, and that's where this belongs. The 1TB SSD and 16GB of RAM are the two things that keep this from feeling like a total throwaway. If you can snag it for a low price, it's a reasonable basic desktop with some gaming capability on the side.

But you need to be honest about what you're getting. The CPU is the bottleneck, and it's not a small one. In our database, the A10-9700 is in the 6th percentile. That's not 'a little slow.' That's 'this chip was mid-range when it launched eight years ago' territory. Compare that to something like a used Dell or Lenovo tower with a Ryzen 5 or Intel i5 from the same era, and you'll often find better CPU performance for similar money. The RX 550 is fine, but it's not enough to rescue the platform. If the price is right, this is a decent office machine with a gaming aesthetic. If the price creeps up, you're paying for RGB lights and a wood finish, not performance.

The HP G3 is one of those listings that makes you squint at the spec sheet and wonder what year it is. You've got an AMD A10-9700, a chip that was already showing its age when Windows 10 was the new hotness, paired with 16GB of DDR4 and a 1TB SSD. The seller slaps 'Gaming PC' in the title and throws in an RGB keyboard, mouse, headphone, and even a webcam. It's a bundle, sure, but the bundle is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.

Who is this actually for? Someone who needs a basic desktop for web browsing, video calls, Office apps, and maybe some very light gaming on older titles. The RX 550 with 4GB of VRAM can handle esports stuff like League of Legends or CS:GO at modest settings, but anything modern will have it wheezing. The 1TB SSD is genuinely nice to see at this end of the market, and 16GB of RAM means you won't choke on a dozen browser tabs.

The 'Wood Edition' finish is a fun touch, and the renewed status means someone has at least checked it boots. But our database puts the total score at 35.2 out of 100, and that's not us being mean. That's the reality of a CPU sitting in the 6th percentile against everything else we track. The A10-9700 is a four-core chip from 2017 built on AMD's old Excavator architecture, and it shows in every benchmark we have on file.

Skip this if you want to play modern games, stream while gaming, or do any kind of content creation. The A10-9700 will frustrate you constantly, and the RX 550 isn't strong enough to compensate. You'd be better off with a renewed tower packing a Ryzen 5 or Intel i5 and a GTX 1650 or better. Also skip it if you need lots of ports for peripherals, external drives, or multiple monitors. The port selection is in the 5th percentile, which is nearly dead last in our database. And if you're tight on desk space, the compact score of 17.8 out of 100 means this tower is going to eat up real estate. Look for a small form factor PC or a mini desktop instead.

If you need a basic desktop for email, web browsing, video calls, and streaming, and you can get this HP G3 for a genuinely low price, it's not a terrible choice. The 1TB SSD and 16GB of RAM mean it'll feel responsive for everyday tasks, and the RX 550 gives you a little headroom for older games. The bundle with keyboard, mouse, headphone, and webcam is a nice touch if you're starting from scratch.

But if you have any interest in modern gaming, content creation, or anything that stresses a CPU, look elsewhere. The A10-9700 is a serious limitation, and no amount of RGB or wood paneling changes that. For the same money, you can often find a renewed tower with a Ryzen 5 or Intel i5 that will feel faster in every way that matters. This is a machine for light use and light expectations. Keep both light and you'll be fine.