Is it hard to buy, for example, an hp computer, and then get a beefy power supply and add a good video card? Is it possible to get that motherboard to work with anything else? What I want to know it, out of this system listed is there anything that cannot be swapped out? How hard is it? Do you need new drivers and are they compatible with a pc builders drivers. Here's the system:
http://www.compusa.com/products/pr [...] _Minitower
It's so much cheaper than what I can build a computer at with the same specs.

Hi,

Build your own computer and stay away from brand name units, the manufacturer will do his best to lock you into their upgrade path.

Greetings my friend,

I looked at the motherboard and specs. The short answer is yes, you will be able to upgrade components, including video and other devices.

The motherboard in the HP Pavilion a1630n Minitower you are considering is made by Asus. Asus calls it the A8M2N-LA. But then it is sold to HP/Compaq and they re-name it as the NodusM3-GL8E.

This board does not appear on the Asus website because Asus makes that board according to HP/Compaq specs for HP branding. However, here is the link on the HP site with specs and board layout pics:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc [...] R1002_USEN

As you can see, the board comes with integrqated graphics and sound, but board has a PCI express slot for upgrading the graphics card. There are also 3 PCI slots for other add-in boards, such as sound.

I was unable to find out which chipset the board uses. The HP site lists the chipset as GeForce 6150 LE. However, I "believe" that is actually the integrated graphics chipset. The M2N-series boards on the Asus website
http://usa.asus.com/products2.aspx?l1=3&l2=101
all appear to use nForce motherboard controller chipsets. I just cannot find anything that tells me which specific one is in the board you are considering. There may be an chipset guru here who can help more with this if necessary. In any event, I looked at the nForce chipsets on each of the Asus M2N series boards, and do not think that any of them are sub-par. The main differences sem to be in whether or not they suport RAID, and that sort of thing.

Overall, then, I would say that this is probably a decent system for the money and will allow some upgrading. You probably would not have to do anything besides video and sound.

Additioinally, as far as product quality, since the board is made by Asus, you certainly have a solid market leader there. The Award BIOS is certainly big-league stuff. Your front side bus speeds, and memory speeds are up-to par. Your board has 4 SATA connectors though no RAID capability. Of couse, it has usb 2.0 plus even a fire-wire port.

One final note, you "may" have to install a riser card
http://h30094.www3.hp.com/product. [...] extended=1
to put in a PCI Express video card, though I annot know that for sure. It may be that the board is cramped(?). I only say that because HP shows the riser card right next to the search results for your board:
http://search.hp.com/query.html?la [...] a=en&cc=us

Best wishes,
mike