[Official] HP 290-p0043w Owner's Thread

ckeltner · November 27, 2020, 2:15am

I should have grabbed one last night, they are sold out now.

Kong · November 27, 2020, 2:34am

@ckeltner, I think you can still pick one up off their main site for the same ebay prices.

JDM_WAAAT · November 27, 2020, 8:12am

I think they will end up coming back on ebay soon. Their ebay stock usually lags behind a bitt.

PostLogical · November 27, 2020, 2:26pm

If they’re out of stock at vipoutlet.com as well now, what’s the likelihood they’ll get new stock any time soon? Failed to pull the trigger in time and kicking myself now.

weskarl · November 30, 2020, 9:09pm

Back on VIP outlet linked above with a coupon code 15cyber for another 15% off - showing right at $101 before tax.

RubAnADUB · December 6, 2020, 2:26am

You guys ever check out the “HP Elitedesk G5 800 SFF” ? I got one off ebay for 300$ seems to be about the same size as the 290 and faster.

dwell · December 8, 2020, 4:59pm

We’ve had some pretty killer deals pop up on the Prodesk 400 G4, but nothing on that specific machine.

fishmonger · December 12, 2020, 12:11pm

any issues with the cpu upgrade? picked the same cpu from microcenter today and put it in but nothing is happening. put the old one back in and boots up fine.

i have already added ram and nvme as well as pulled out the hard drive and unplugged the dvd player. wanted a little more power. saw your post and thought it was a great idea.

weskarl · December 12, 2020, 12:55pm

Does it post at all or nothing on boot? I didn’t do anything special other than dropping it in, still running strong.

Edit: saw you said it was the same chip.

i have already added ram and nvme as well as pulled out the hard drive and unplugged the dvd player. wanted a little more power. saw your post and thought it was a great idea.

This is what I did as well, stock 4 + 8 gigs of ram, 1tb NVME. Also pulled the Wi-Fi chip to steal the NVME screw.

I did have some issues when I first got this box booting with just the stock 4gb of ram and stock CPU into to windows to perform bios updates, swapped the 4 for the 8 and worked no problem.

fishmonger · December 12, 2020, 2:26pm

Thanks. ill try again later today. i always build my own boxes so i wasnt sure if there might be something to change the the bios or something. i went with 16gb ram 500gb nvme. been working fine for a couple weeks but wanted a faster cpu. i tossed the cpu in, fans spin up but nothing happening. frustrated i pulled it out and put the old one in and works fine again.

JDM_WAAAT · December 12, 2020, 7:14pm

You may need to update the BIOS to use that CPU.

fishmonger · December 13, 2020, 2:04am

Thanks. going to try that. just put it back in and nothing again. i was hoping i did something wrong last time like it wasnt set in place right.

fishmonger · December 13, 2020, 2:52am

that was it. boy that was stressful. the cpu is the only thing i really hate dealing with.

note to anyone reading update the bios before cpu upgrades just in case.

Kong · December 16, 2020, 4:12pm

Have any of you picked up a new i5-8600T CPU from this reseller? They are currently going for $130, but curious if any of you have made a successful offer below that price. They have sold 28 and still have 167 available.

JDM_WAAAT · December 16, 2020, 8:53pm

Looks good to go IMO, if a little expensive.

@Kong I’d pick up an i5-8500T and save $15.

bakapaka · December 17, 2020, 9:24pm

I’m joining the Plex Party. Better late than never. $130 on ebay, but that’s a sign of the times.

I picked up a cheap NVME M.2 drive. Planning on keeping Windows, moving it to the NVME drive as my boot drive, then replacing the HDD with a large capacity drive for media. End goal: home plex server, media storage and torrent box capable of a couple simultaneous transcodes while also torrenting.

For people who have successfully moved the Windows installation to an NVME SSD, what’s the best way of accomplishing that on this box? Are you cloning with a tool, or reinstalling and using a Windows key?

JDM_WAAAT · December 17, 2020, 9:36pm

We are not running windows on this box. We are running Plex on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS via the guide below:

bakapaka · December 17, 2020, 9:44pm

Thanks for the link. I saw some people mention Windows and figured a good portion of the people here must be using it and not want to trouble with Linux. Especially if they’re like me and just need a couple transcodes. Guess not.

JDM_WAAAT · December 17, 2020, 9:45pm

Well, the guide is very straightforward with setting up Ubuntu. There’s not much to screw around with.

I highly suggest that you build a dedicated NAS for your parity protected storage and use the HP 290 as a dedicated Plex transcoding box.

bakapaka · December 17, 2020, 9:59pm

First off, I’d like to say thank you for putting so much detail and effort into this whole thing. You’re an invaluable resource and we really appreciate what you do.

Anyway, I’d love to have a more proper setup (god, I’d love a proper NAS), but I am currently prioritizing “simple, consolidated, low-effort, low-cost, small footprint”. I’m hopeful that the celeron can walk and chew gum at the same time (I’m not planning on really hammering it). And I’d honestly prefer to not bother with Ubuntu (I am very Windows experienced, Linux-dumb, and time limited) but maybe it’s not more difficult to install and manage than moving the Windows license.