Home > Consumer Reviews > Compaq Presario SR5710F Desktop PC

This computer is a great value, I actually have purchased two. It has fit my needs exactly. I use them as Home Theater PC's connected to my 47" and 52" Flatscreens in different rooms of the house.

But potential buyers would probably appreciate knowing certain things ahead of time, so I would like to share some of those with you. A couple things I noticed, which are not things they neglect to include on spec sheets, were no extra Serial ATA connections on the mother board, thus no extra SATA Hard Drive, or Blu-ray Burner with SATA and things of that nature.

The good news is it does have two open IDE connections, which in my case worked out perfectly.. I had an old Seagate 250GB IDE, set the IDE as master on the jumper settings, connect it to the blue IDE connection on the mother board, boot the computer, enter bios, simply change the boot sequence in the BIOS because it will default to boot from the IDE Hard Drive when it is added(so if you get a OS not found message at first don't freak out).

Also, (this is stated on the spec sheets) there are only 1PCIx16 and three regular PCI slots.

So choose your upgrades wisely. Other than the added IDE HD, i've added the PNY - NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT 512MB PCI Express DDR3 for Graphics, and a Swann PCI DVR 4 Camera input security card with software. I plan on using the other PCI slot for possibly a sound card, or wireless card if the PC ever gets moved away from the router. I'm not saying the computer comes up short on any of the specs, just that some of the things that they don't mention, and you find out after you purchase it. Just thought I would share what i've noticed after buying a couple of them.
Sorry for the long review, but I figured the more the better in this case.
Cheers

I did a lot of research for a new computer, name brands, disk space, RAM, OS, capabilities, etc. I compared what I could afford and what I wanted, this computer tops out for the price! I was wary of Vista, but it seems to be ok so far. Microsoft has had the last 2 years to get it right! This is my 2nd HP, the first one from 2004 (XP Pro on it) is still working great and is in another room for my teenage daughter. I love the quickness and capabilities that this pc has! I have more hard drive space than I will ever use! The 3 gig RAM and the processor are extremely fast and programs load in seconds! The internet is superbly fast with this PC too! My opinion- if it's time to upgrade, this is the computer to get! I finally have left XP and am glad that I took the chance and I am ecstatic that I went with HP (Compaq)!

I agree with the other reviews already written here. Don't buy this computer if you are looking for a computer with dozens of upgrade options. Buy it if you are looking for a fairly fast, stable, small, quiet, inexpensive, name brand computer. I bought it for my daughter to use for PC gaming, WOW, etc. She loves it. I did install an ASUS WM8500 GT Silent (passive cooling) video card into the PCI Express 16 slot, it works great. Admittedly, the graphics seemed pretty quick without the upgrade. There are no case fans in this computer, but there is a pre-drilled attachment area for you to install one on the case exhaust area if you feel the need to add one. There is a large fan cooler on the CPU that seems to do a good job on much of the case, and a fan on the somewhat small power supply. Even with the passively cooled video card, the computer seems to be running nice and cool so far. Very quiet. Thinking of buying another one.

Yes, it has the typical HP/Compaq bloatware, but it's easy to uninstall anything you don't want.

Activate the Sleep Mode and it's almost impossible for the computer to revive. Rolling the mouse is a joke, so is pressing the power switch, and hitting the sleep key. The only way is to pull the plug out, not once, but several times. Following the trouble-shooting instructions didn't solve the problem, on-line help only made me repeat the process. Phoning HP's support group was almost insulting. They told me to simply DON'T USE the Sleep Mode!! Well, that's a lot easier than trying to fix the darn thing and it's a brand-new computer. Maybe if Compaq manufactured autos with defective brakes, they'll fix the problem by telling you not to use the brakes! Unaccepatable.

I could not be happier with my purchase!! Was told it would arrive in about a week. It was here in 3 days. All I had to do was plug it in and I was in business. Was a little worried about windows vista because I was used to windows xp but it is so easy to get around. I am very happy with all my purchases from Amozon and would highly recommend doing business with them. Beverly Bailey