A desktop buying thread

[Doug5984]

Seen quite a few laptop buying threads around- but I'm going old school in search of a desktop. I'd like to set up a pretty solid system to remote access my work computer and work from home mainly. I'd also like it if it could handle games like Civilization, and my wife would like the Sims. I've looked around and found various machines with i3 processors, 4-6 gb ram, terabyte hard drives for the 400 range. I'd like to set up a dual monitor system so when I remote access I could have my work on one screen and whatever else on my local computer on the other (pandora, FOFC, etc.)... this is where I'm having the most difficulty, none of the machines come with a video card capable of this, and when going to customize I don't see an option to add one- I also think I'd need a little bit better video card if I'm going to be playing games like Civ on it.

Amazon.com: Acer Aspire AXC600-UR12 Desktop (Black): Computers & Accessories

Amazon.com: Acer AME600-UR368 Desktop (Black): Computers & Accessories

Couple of systems I found on amazon, positive is no tax, no shipping. Similar systems are available on HP & Dell...

Lastly- what is the consensus on Windows 8- should I go with 7 or make the switch? I'll be remote accessing through logmein

[Izulde]

Honestly, IMO the best budget desktop is Lenovo. It's what I got some months ago and I love it.

HP and Acer have terrible reliability from my experience, although 15 years ago, Acer was an awesome budget computer. Not any more, sadly.

Also, with every desktop in this range, yeah you're going to need to add a better graphics card at some point (this is true of my Lenovo as well, which is why it's first on my list after finishing paying off undergrad loans later this year).

[Doug5984]

Originally Posted by Izulde

Honestly, IMO the best budget desktop is Lenovo. It's what I got some months ago and I love it.

HP and Acer have terrible reliability from my experience, although 15 years ago, Acer was an awesome budget computer. Not any more, sadly.

Also, with every desktop in this range, yeah you're going to need to add a better graphics card at some point (this is true of my Lenovo as well, which is why it's first on my list after finishing paying off undergrad loans later this year).

As far as a solid budget Lenovo- here is what I found that was similar

Amazon.com: Lenovo IdeaCentre H430 Desktop (Black): Electronics


Would I notice any significant difference between the i3 and i5, and the 6gb ram vs 8 gb ram?

[Butter]

I have a couple of HP's and haven't had problems. We were able to customize our current HP to include a better stand-alone video card so that it could play Civ V... because that's essentially why we bought the thing, in addition to needing something that had a hard drive that fit today's standards instead of the "huge" 80 GB of yesteryear.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by Doug5984

As far as a solid budget Lenovo- here is what I found that was similar

Amazon.com: Lenovo IdeaCentre H430 Desktop (Black): Electronics


Would I notice any significant difference between the i3 and i5, and the 6gb ram vs 8 gb ram?

To be honest, I don't know. Don't remember from my research if there were huge differences between the two.

[bhlloy]

Jumping on this thread - looking for a mid level gaming machine to replace the one I've had for about three years and built myself (won't be doing that again)

I know I can roughly get an i5, 8GB of RAM and either an AMD r9 or the nVidia gtx 750 ti for around a thousand bucks on either ibuypower or the other "build it yourself" websites, any better pre-built deals out there that anyone knows about?

Also, I'm pretty set on the intel CPU but should I be considering AMD (where I could probably squeeze a bit more performance out for the price)? Same goes for the GPU, I'm leaning the reliability and low profile of nvidia over the extra power for the price of the AMD card.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. I'm also heading to the UK next month so might not be ordering for a month or so, but trying to get my ducks in a row.

[TRO]

From what I understand, Intel is pretty solidly ahead of AMD right now unless you are looking for very basic usage (email, web).

[weegeebored]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

Jumping on this thread - looking for a mid level gaming machine to replace the one I've had for about three years and built myself (won't be doing that again)

What happened that you don't want to do your own build? That's really the only way to go unless you don't know how or don't want to deal with warranty issues.

[bhlloy]

The cooling never holds up when I do my own build, and the price difference between building it through one of these websites with a 3 year warranty and getting the components myself just isn't worth it to me.

[stevew]

I had this sweet i7 G4 Mac Cube hackintosh all planned out in my head and then the dude sold the cube(50$!!) to someone else cause it was snowy and i couldn't get out there for a couple days. So I bought a several year old Mac Pro instead for now. I'm still looking for another good condition cube but they're hard to find and often too expensive.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

The cooling never holds up when I do my own build, and the price difference between building it through one of these websites with a 3 year warranty and getting the components myself just isn't worth it to me.

I built my own, the part that scared me was figuring out what parts were compatible (is this power supply big enough, cooling concerns, motherboard/case compatibility with everything). I spent a good bit of time looking at reddit's Build a PC sub (reddit.com/r/buildapc). I found a number of builds that had some discussion in my price range, found a build that was widely approved of, and just copycatted the thing.


To be fair I do have a couple advantages here... an online buddy of mine works for a laptop company and knows everything, so I was able to show him the build and confirm it was solid, and I have a friend that works at Microsoft and got the employee discount on a copy of windows 8.

That said, I spent about $1100 and got a machine that I cannot put together the exact specs for through any cookie cutter site, but the closest thing i could find via cookie cutter building would have cost me $1600.


If you do change your mind and go through this process feel free to link me your build before you buy it and I'll run it by my hardware expert buddy.

[weegeebored]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

The cooling never holds up when I do my own build, and the price difference between building it through one of these websites with a 3 year warranty and getting the components myself just isn't worth it to me.

Yeah, it's not about saving money. To me it's about getting the exact components that I want. Not sure about your cooling issues. If you're not overclocking then you can get by with the stock HSF.

Go with the Intel proc, btw. And Nvidia seems to have the upper hand again so probably the 750 depending on your price point and how much graphic power you need.

[MizzouRah]

Acer sucks.. stay far away.

HP not bad.. Lenovo.. not bad. I'm still a big Dell guy for desktops and Lenovo or HP for laptops.

Get an i7 and 8 GB of ram, I'd also get a decent graphics card separately. I'd also look at hybrid HD's.

If at all possible, stay with W7 64 bit.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Get an i7 and 8 GB of ram, I'd also get a decent graphics card separately. I'd also look at hybrid HD's.

If at all possible, stay with W7 64 bit.

Core i7, 8GB Ram, graphics card. Win 8 isn't bad enough not to upgrade to it. It takes some geting used to, but it's solid.

This is what my laptop is and it's the min I would go with for a desktop going forward.

[MizzouRah]

Being in IT, I just love W7.. I'm getting used to W8 a bit.. but it's still a touch screen OS.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Acer sucks.. stay far away.

HP not bad.. Lenovo.. not bad. I'm still a big Dell guy for desktops and Lenovo or HP for laptops.

Get an i7 and 8 GB of ram, I'd also get a decent graphics card separately. I'd also look at hybrid HD's.

If at all possible, stay with W7 64 bit.

I'm a Lenovo for laptops and Dell for desktops (unless I build one myself). However, I've been tempted by Lenovo's. I don't like HP's, I'm sure they've improved but their older desktops left a bad taste.

Assuming a 3-4 year horizon ...

Get an i5. The i7 is overkill imo. Spend the difference on the next step up graphics card.

8GB RAM. Get 24 inch monitors if you can.

My personal and work computers are W7. My wife has the W8 machine and I struggle with the interface. I would stay with W7.

Monitor slickdeals.net for deals.

[frnk55]

My last 2 pcs have been from Digital Storm. Very pleased with them. Excellent customer service.

[CU Tiger]

I know its easy to hate on Dell (I do)
But their alienware line is pretty decent and the outlet prices are tought to beat.

Check here


http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineS...=2202&fid=9175



This seems right up the alley:

X51 R2
Processor: Intel Core 4th Generation i5-4440 processor (6M Cache, up to 3.3 GHz)
Windows 8
1TB 7200 rpm SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive
8 GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (2x 4GB) Non-ECC
8X DVD +/- RW Drive
1.5 GB nVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 GDDR5
Dell Outlet Alienware X51 R2


Click here for available options and upgrades
Price: $859.00

[MizzouRah]

I would still go with an i7 - you're going to want one later anyway.. and upgrade to a hybrid HD.

I have a Dell XPS and love it.

[Scoobz0202]

Look at building if you can. And get the largest SSD you an fit in your budget.

I haven't looked at the benchmarks in awhile, at least since the Sandy Bridge series, but at that time the i5 was a much better budget proposition compared to the i7. For any regular user who just games on the side the additional power was not needed or visible. But that may have changed, or the pricing may be closer now.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

The cooling never holds up when I do my own build

Did you use the stock heatsinks with the processor? I used one of these when building my last computer and it handles moderate overclocking very nicely.

Originally Posted by Radii

That said, I spent about $1100 and got a machine that I cannot put together the exact specs for through any cookie cutter site, but the closest thing i could find via cookie cutter building would have cost me $1600.

Getting the exact parts I wanted was big part of why I did mine, but another nice benefit is the case is much easier to work with. Screwless drive bays were a breeze after the nightmare that was my old Dell where the first drive bay was placed vertically and screwed against the front of the case and the second was screwed into the first.

[Ryan S]

Regarding OS, I would suggest that you go for whatever is cheaper. It's very easy to make Windows 8 behave like Windows 7, so don't pay twice as much for the older OS.

[weegeebored]

The extra cost for an i7 just isn't worth it. The i5 4670K is unlocked, and with air cooling you can get to 4.2 - 4.3 fairly easily. Put the money you save into an SSD and/or GeForce GTX 660 (or 760 for a bit more money). As your not doing your own build, you're probably better off with one of the boutique places as opposed to Dell, HP, etc. The only experience that I have had was with pre-Dell Alienware, and was disappointed. Someone mentioned Digital Storm, and maybe others will mention their experience with boutique shops.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

And get the largest SSD you an fit in your budget.

This is one of those bits of technology where, once you experience it, you'll never be able to go back again. The one I got was just big enough to put the OS + Visual Studio on it and have enough room that I don't think its likely to fill up by accident. Its AMAZING.

[frnk55]

I agree with the SSD. They are very very quick but it pisses me off that they still so damn expensive. I know they are still fairly new but it's been awhile now.

[MizzouRah]

The only problem with SSD is once they go bad, data is gone, so get an external HD to keep your data backed up.

That's why I like the hybrid drives, the SSD portion is good for the OS and your data goes on the SATA portion.

[CraigSca]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

The only problem with SSD is once they go bad, data is gone, so get an external HD to keep your data backed up.

That's why I like the hybrid drives, the SSD portion is good for the OS and your data goes on the SATA portion.

I thought hybrid drives didn't allow you the option - meaning, a hybrid drive would put the most used files on the SSD portion and seldom used files on the legacy drive. Can you actually "tell" the hybrid drive what you want to put where?

[weegeebored]

A "dual" hybrid drive only makes sense on a laptop where the space/slots are limited. If we're talking about a hybrid drive with NAND and an HDD (an SSHD) then the NAND works as a cache for frequently accessed files. Nowhere near as fast as a full SSD but better than a regular hard drive, I guess. Not for my money, though.

[bhlloy]

I've debated a hybrid SSD solution with yanking the existing HD out of my current machine but I'm completely ignorant as to exactly how it works. If I'm using this for gaming, can I have all the hundreds of GB of game files on the larger HD and still get the speed benefits of the SSD?

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

I thought hybrid drives didn't allow you the option - meaning, a hybrid drive would put the most used files on the SSD portion and seldom used files on the legacy drive. Can you actually "tell" the hybrid drive what you want to put where?

Well it doesn't allow you to specify what files, it basically puts the most used files (os files would fall into that category) into memory for faster access. I guess my post was a bit confusing.

So the data is on your HD, but as it learns your habits, it puts those files you access the most into the SSD memory.

Much cheaper than an SSD, just a little more than a normal SATA HD, since you really don't need all your data on an SSD.

[weegeebored]

Short answer? No. Obviously the best solution to get superior performance is to get a big SSD but that is still cost prohibitive. There is a compromise solution to what you're suggesting. Get a small-ish SSD (120 GB or so) and use something like SteamMover to move the game files -- that you are currently playing -- from the HDD to the SSD. When finished playing you can move the files back to the HDD and move a new game or games to the SSD. This solution does nothing for speeding up your system drive however. I bought two small SSDs 18 months ago when I built a new box -- one for Windows and the other for games. When need be, I use the method for games that I just mentioned as I still have about 2TB for storage as well.

BTW, SteamMover is just a GUI that runs the mklink and copy commands so that you don't need to worry about command line stuff.

[Julio Riddols]

Originally Posted by weegeebored

What happened that you don't want to do your own build? That's really the only way to go unless you don't know how or don't want to deal with warranty issues.

My feelings as well. Building your own is cheaper and more fun, and you can get the exact components you want right from the get go. The one I built back in 07 is still running strong and has outlasted 3 monitors while being on almost constantly. Never an overheat, never a card problem, etc. I wouldn't buy a prebuilt computer unless I was going for a laptop. YMMV of course.

Actually I take that back, it did overheat once after I moved. Turned out my heatsink was caked in dust, so that was my fault.

[stevew]

If you want a really easy and compact build, the Intel NUC series is about as easy as you can get. I built one for my daughter and all I had to add was an mSata HDD and a wireless card. It's not going to game or anything, but it's stable as hell and has a small footprint.