Time for a new PC. Am I on the right track?

[Haoleb]

Ok so it is about time I got a new PC...I know this is not a computer forum but I am not a member on any of those forums and I also know that there are a good number of computer people here.. So anyway.. I am still using a 10 year old computer with pentium 4 processor, 4gb ram and XP with office 2000... It is getting to the point where I just don't have the power to do some of the stuff I want and progams wont work properly with XP. For example I can't even play HD video off my cell phone on the PC. The processor goes to 100% and it is choppy and freezes up. It is pretty sad when my cell phone has more computing power than my desktop PC

Here is what I am looking at... I am pretty tech saavy but there is just so many damn products to choose from it is quite frankly just overwhelming and I just do not follow current computer technology to know what I am looking at. Either of these machines would be running windows 7 since the very limited experience Ive had with windows 8 was terrible and I hate the whole stupid hey look at me I am into social networking and tablets stuff... I will be using two 24" 1080p monitors. But I also want the option of adding in a third monitor if I decide to hook my TV up to the computer. I Don't need a sound card because I have an external USB DAC. I don't do any gaming. Mostly internet browsing. watching movies. photo editing. music.. Good chance I would be using Autocad but unlikely I would do any 3d modeling type stuff


First option; Pick up a used Dell precision t7400 off ebay for around ~$1,000. Dual quad core xeons at 3.0-3.2Ghz and 32GB ram. 2GB graphics card. Comes with 1TB hard drive but I dont care about that I have a ton of HDD. I figure if I go this route these computers are built to be durable and clearly looking inside are much better designed than say some brand new off the shelf XPS that feels like a cheap piece of crap and I hate the case design. The whole thing just feels and looks cheap.

Second option. Build my own. Haven't done this before from scratch but I am familiar with computer stuff I have fixed and upgraded them before. This is a list the stuff I figured I would probably go with. Still comes out to about 11-1200 dollars but brand new. I would also cut some costs by buying off amazon's warehouse deals when I can.


Samsung Electronics 840 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Single Unit Version Internal Solid State Drive MZ-7TE120BW
$80.99

Corsair Hydro Series Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler H80i
$74.99

EVGA GeForce GTX 660 SUPERCLOCKED 2048MB GDDR5 DVI HDMI DP Graphics Card 02G-P4-2662-KR
$194.09

Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory (CMZ16GX3M2A16?00C10)
$147.95 (I would likely just go for 32GB but maybe to save some $$ i would stick with 16)

Asus Z87 PRO LGA 1150 Motherboard
$174.99 (I like that this board has bluetooth and wifi built in. I would always use a wired internet but kind of nice just to have that feature.)

Intel Core i7-4770K Quad-Core Desktop Processor (3.5 GHz, 8 MB Cache, Intel HD graphics, BX80646I74770K?)
$309.99

Corsair Vengeance Series Military Green C70 Mid Tower Computer Case (CC-9011018-WW?)

I also already have a corsair TX750M power supply I would use in this build. The SSD would just be for the OS and program software and I will have a couple 1TB drives for all my music and pictures etc..

any input would be helpful. I do not want to spend a grand on something I would be regretting. Of course I probably would be pretty happy with anything I get compared to what I have now. I really am stretching at 1200 dollars for this computer but I want something I can be happy with for another 10 years.

 

[rojo]

I would say most of your problems decoding video on your current system are not from a weak CPU, but more from a video card that doesn't support hardware decoding of modern codecs such as h.264. To accomplish what you want, you really don't need to spend as much as you're planning. You don't need Xeon server processors, you don't need liquid cooling, and you don't need a GTX-level video card. In fact, you don't even need your USB sound card.

You could pretty much get any Win 7 machine you see on Craigslist, max it out on RAM, replace the HDD with the solid state drive you listed above and move the original platter drive to D: for movies / music / etc, and add this video card and probably be fine for, well, 5 years at least I'd say. But since you aren't spending a grand on a computer, you could look into setting up a separate headless NAS for your media and backups, using your existing 1TB drives to start with. The video card I linked above has 2 monitor outs + an HDMI out for your TV or HT receiver, and will transmit digital audio over HDMI. If you prefer building it yourself, you can get a barebones kit from Tiger Direct or similar and go nuts.

 

[Haoleb]

Thanks for the input. Right now I just have an 80 dollar craigslist special that I got to use temporarily for ~2yrs it only has integrated graphics.I did end up maxing out the ram on it and buying a new Power supply because when I got it I had issues I could not trace so I bought new ram and an PS for it.... but the PC I have in storage I will soon be back to using has basically the same specs but it does have a 1gb video card. I guess I'll have to try playing video on that machine as well. Truth be told I really havent had a chance to use a newer computer beyond the pentium 4 to see how much of an improvement it might be to get one of these multi core processor mega machines.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Rojo have good points. Modern gpu will go a long way to help play 1080p video. Word of warning on older computers, especially dell's - watch out for any blown or bloated capacitors.
Any core i3 with 4gb ram and cheap ssd and Windows 7 will fly. For 3 monitor support i won't recommend Nvidia, but an ATI/amd card. I will post suggestion shortly

 

[rojo]

These days, processors aren't that much faster than your Pentium 4. They've just got more cores to handle more threads. The bottleneck has always been the hard drive for fast performance. But faster ahci speeds and solid state drives are changing that.

My 7-year-old HTPC with a bit newer SSD completes booting from post to fully loaded win 7 desktop in less than 30 seconds. It only has a dual core 2.2GHz cpu and 4 gigs of DDR2 RAM. I use newer computers with more impressive specs at work all the time. Even my mobile phone now has as fast a processor, but with more cores. But even now, my HTPC feels like the fastest, most responsive computer I've ever used. It launches programs nearly instantly, it handles sending 1080p video and multichannel digital audio to my receiver without hiccup, and I have no desire to replace it any time soon.

I say all that to say, your monster cpu machine might look impressive on paper, but it's overkill for what you have planned unless you suddenly decide your computer needs to be able to deconstruct DNA models, serve a website to 1000 simultaneous users, or play the next Call of Duty sequel at 120+ fps.

Your biggest benefits will be found with a solid state boot drive and a capable (but not necessarily overclocked) graphics card. Anything else is just bragging rights and effective marketing.

Sent from my LG-VS980 using Tapatalk

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121439

 

[MinusTheBear]

Ok so it is about time I got a new PC...I know this is not a computer forum but I am not a member on any of those forums and I also know that there are a good number of computer people here.. So anyway.. I am still using a 10 year old computer with pentium 4 processor, 4gb ram and XP with office 2000... It is getting to the point where I just don't have the power to do some of the stuff I want and progams wont work properly with XP. For example I can't even play HD video off my cell phone on the PC. The processor goes to 100% and it is choppy and freezes up. It is pretty sad when my cell phone has more computing power than my desktop PC

Here is what I am looking at... I am pretty tech saavy but there is just so many damn products to choose from it is quite frankly just overwhelming and I just do not follow current computer technology to know what I am looking at. Either of these machines would be running windows 7 since the very limited experience Ive had with windows 8 was terrible and I hate the whole stupid hey look at me I am into social networking and tablets stuff... I will be using two 24" 1080p monitors. But I also want the option of adding in a third monitor if I decide to hook my TV up to the computer. I Don't need a sound card because I have an external USB DAC. I don't do any gaming. Mostly internet browsing. watching movies. photo editing. music.. Good chance I would be using Autocad but unlikely I would do any 3d modeling type stuff


First option; Pick up a used Dell precision t7400 off ebay for around ~$1,000. Dual quad core xeons at 3.0-3.2Ghz and 32GB ram. 2GB graphics card. Comes with 1TB hard drive but I dont care about that I have a ton of HDD. I figure if I go this route these computers are built to be durable and clearly looking inside are much better designed than say some brand new off the shelf XPS that feels like a cheap piece of crap and I hate the case design. The whole thing just feels and looks cheap.

Second option. Build my own. Haven't done this before from scratch but I am familiar with computer stuff I have fixed and upgraded them before. This is a list the stuff I figured I would probably go with. Still comes out to about 11-1200 dollars but brand new. I would also cut some costs by buying off amazon's warehouse deals when I can.


Samsung Electronics 840 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Single Unit Version Internal Solid State Drive MZ-7TE120BW
$80.99

Corsair Hydro Series Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler H80i
$74.99

EVGA GeForce GTX 660 SUPERCLOCKED 2048MB GDDR5 DVI HDMI DP Graphics Card 02G-P4-2662-KR
$194.09

Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory (CMZ16GX3M2A16?00C10)
$147.95 (I would likely just go for 32GB but maybe to save some $$ i would stick with 16)

Asus Z87 PRO LGA 1150 Motherboard
$174.99 (I like that this board has bluetooth and wifi built in. I would always use a wired internet but kind of nice just to have that feature.)

Intel Core i7-4770K Quad-Core Desktop Processor (3.5 GHz, 8 MB Cache, Intel HD graphics, BX80646I74770K?)
$309.99

Corsair Vengeance Series Military Green C70 Mid Tower Computer Case (CC-9011018-WW?)

I also already have a corsair TX750M power supply I would use in this build. The SSD would just be for the OS and program software and I will have a couple 1TB drives for all my music and pictures etc..

any input would be helpful. I do not want to spend a grand on something I would be regretting. Of course I probably would be pretty happy with anything I get compared to what I have now. I really am stretching at 1200 dollars for this computer but I want something I can be happy with for another 10 years.

I agree with everyone that this build seems like plenty of overkill especially the amount of RAM and the corsair water cooled heatsink for the CPU. Even the 750w power supply you already have is way more than you need.

I think you would get by just fine with a i5-4570 or i5-4670 CPU
GTX 760
8GB (2x4) G-Skill CL9 1600 DDR3
128GB SSD
Z87 PRO
TX 750M
Case
1-2TB HDD

 

[Haoleb]

Thanks for all the input guys! I guess I should just forget about the stuff I have been looking at and consider some more reasonable options. I am so used to having to spend over a grand on a computer it just seemed like a good place to start. The first real computer we ever had in our home was a dell xps b1000 I think it had a P3 1ghz and the damn thing was over 3 grand. Now days you pretty much couldn't pay a person to take if off your hands.

I think rather than just get a better graphics card and SSD for my current 10 yr old dell I should look into something newer that at least has modern USB and expansion slots. And more than one SATA port.

I guess the next question is, should I stick with a smaller size SSD for the OS and programs to get more speed or would It make more sense to get a bigger one for my files? a few of the HDD I have are relatively new... maybe 3 years old. Not sure on the transfer rate but they are all 7200 rpm sata drives. my music files load plenty fast but it would be nice to have my pictures load a little faster

 

[rojo]

Your revised plan is a good one I think. SATA-3 ports, a PCI-Express 16x slot, and USB 3.0 are the way of the future. You don't necessarily need integrated wifi or bluetooth, though. Both are available for around 10 bucks each as USB dongles, and will provide cheap upgradeability should the need arise. I got this bluetooth dongle a few months ago, which works great for me. It even allows me to stream aptX from my mobile phone to my home theater. And you never know what will succeed 802.11n for wifi, or when. (Then again, I'm still happily using 802.11g. *shrug*)

If you're looking to future-proof, then looking for a 256 gig SSD wouldn't be unreasonable. Sometimes you can catch them on sale at NewEgg, TigerDirect, OutletPC or similar for less than 150 bucks. Sale aggregator sites like Dealnews, Ben's Bargains and Anti-Rebate are useful for this sort of thing. Anyway, since your boot drive contains not only your Windows install but also your Program Files, and some application suites like MS Office and Adobe Creative Suites measure in gigs rather than megs, then a larger drive will allow for now + the future. I'm currently using about half my 120 gig drive, even with all my media files on other drives, so I can certainly see the potential of needing a larger drive at some point. (Background defragging and swapfile management start to encounter limitations when your system drive breaks the 80% full mark.)

But I'd still recommend using platter drives for storing your music, movies and pics, as the gig-per-dollar ratio is more reasonable.

 

[jinjuku]

WinXP doesn't support TRIM for SSD.

I would get a 4 core AMD Kabini and FM1 Mainboard for ~$100-115

Get a 256 or 480GB SSD

Add on a PCI-E Radeon when you feel the need for a third monitor.

Toss in 4GB of RAM. Get Win7.

 

[lsiberian]

You could just buy a new computer. The margin is extremely low and you get support.

 

[Haoleb]

I have looked at some new computers in the local stores and really to be honest they all seem very cheaply made. I am one of those people who still believes weight is a pretty good indicator of quality. Call me old fashioned The one bonus is that for similarly spec'd computers costing roughly the same it seems like the software is included which mainly all I need is MS office and Win 7 but still that is nearly 300 dollars. The support.. meh... Good for practicing an indian accent I guess.

Ive been shopping around more kind of going for cheaper less top of the line stuff but still midrange performance and features and I think I have put together something that will suit my basic needs as well as my occasional more demanding needs. Brought the cost down a couple hundred dollars to where i am comfortable. I will not be buying anything for at least another month so maybe costs will drop even more or I will see something on craigslist but the last time I bought a craigslist computer I kinda got burned and not sure I am going to do that again.

I ditched the i7 for an i5-4570

Ditched 32GB of Corsair Vengance ram for 16GB of crucial ballistix sport ram

Ditched the graphics card for a cheaper GTX750ti

Ditched the water cooling for a cheaper cooler master hyper t4 (actually I did not realize that the CPU comes with a cooler, but for 28 dollars I figure its worth it to get a better unit?)

everything else I kept the same

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I have looked at some new computers in the local stores and really to be honest they all seem very cheaply made. I am one of those people who still believes weight is a pretty good indicator of quality. Call me old fashioned The one bonus is that for similarly spec'd computers costing roughly the same it seems like the software is included which mainly all I need is MS office and Win 7 but still that is nearly 300 dollars. The support.. meh... Good for practicing an indian accent I guess.

Ive been shopping around more kind of going for cheaper less top of the line stuff but still midrange performance and features and I think I have put together something that will suit my basic needs as well as my occasional more demanding needs. Brought the cost down a couple hundred dollars to where i am comfortable. I will not be buying anything for at least another month so maybe costs will drop even more or I will see something on craigslist but the last time I bought a craigslist computer I kinda got burned and not sure I am going to do that again.

I ditched the i7 for an i5-4570

Ditched 32GB of Corsair Vengance ram for 16GB of crucial ballistix sport ram

Ditched the graphics card for a cheaper GTX750ti

Ditched the water cooling for a cheaper cooler master hyper t4 (actually I did not realize that the CPU comes with a cooler, but for 28 dollars I figure its worth it to get a better unit?)

everything else I kept the same

If you not intend to overclock the cpu - there is no need for aftermarket coolers, stock cooler is quiet and effective.
16gb is lots of ram, most likely much more than you'd ever need. Especially with ssd
$150 for video if you never intend to play video games is a wasted money - better off spending in toward faster/bigger ssd
I still strongly encourage you to change the cpu to core i3 - it will be fast enough. The reason I don't recommend amp cpu since apples to apples intel are running cooler and faster with single thread apps - which still are vast majority

and Most important of all - if you have built and PC - don't do it. Pretty much the only good reason to build a custom pc is for gaming rigs - since brand gaming desktop are very margin heavy.
I had built my own NAS - another good reason - it's really cheap, but full of compromises - like lack of hot-swap drives for one example