shopping for new PC

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Tue Sep 07, 2010 5:36 pm

I’m in the market for a new desktop and I want to hear what you geeks have to say. I have my 8yr old Dell 4500 that’s been steady state for the entire time I’ve owned it, but it’s slow compared to stuff that’s on the market now. I’m interested in more of a media related desktop that supports on line video streaming and photos. I’ve just started looking and I usually hit CNET for feedback. I’ve also had good luck w/ Entrex for some desktops I’ve bought my son’s over the years.

While I’d like to stay w/ a windows based desktop, I’d consider an Apple, but those tend to be out of my price range. I have about a grand to spend. I don’t need a keyboard or monitor, so all coins are going into a PC.

Advice?

JamesShort · **Posted:** Tue Sep 07, 2010 6:29 pm

Damn Rodney, if you want to spend a grand on a desktop, you could build your own and it'd be pretty insane compared to what you are working with now. Lower end 64 bit quad core intel with a really fast bus, 4-8G ram, more than adequate cooling and a decent mobo plus win 7 64bit....might be even cheaper than $1k.

Chuck Branscomb · **Posted:** Tue Sep 07, 2010 7:19 pm

Rodney,

I've just upgraded two of my office PCs (son built them). These machines need maximum processing rate with a specific application where a quad core isn't any more useful, hence we used the Intel i5-680 which is the fastest dual core Intel makes. Really nice processor. $309. Couple that with a nice Asus MB with USB3.0 support, $105, 4G RAM $78, 80G Intel X25-M SSD drive, $200, Win7 Pro OEM $140, Cooler Master case $40, Cooler Master CPU cooler $20, Seasonic power supply, $55.

So for $900 these things are crazy fast. Anything to do with hard drive access is unreal with the SSD drive -- can't ever go back to an electro-mechanical drive now. These PCs don't need a lot of local storage (networked), but if you do need typical storage, get the SSD as your boot and application home drive and then for ~$70 buy a 2nd 1T harddrive for data.

You'd need a video card in addition to the above, and you could easily drop $100 off the processor cost and still have a very fast PC.

Chuck Branscomb · **Posted:** Tue Sep 07, 2010 7:23 pm

Should you not want to fool with building one, try cyberpowerpc.com.

You might even be able to buy a complete PC for about as cheap as it would cost to build one from them. I've bought two PCs for the office a few years ago from them and was very pleased. They have a great configurator on their site. Here's an example link to one of them: http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/CyberPower_P55_Configurator/

JamesShort · **Posted:** Tue Sep 07, 2010 8:14 pm

Yeah solid state drives are amazing! but pricey. I'd put that on the end of the priority list and only get one if you have money left over.

Chuck Branscomb · **Posted:** Wed Sep 08, 2010 8:31 am

JamesShort wrote:

Yeah solid state drives are amazing! but pricey. I'd put that on the end of the priority list and only get one if you have money left over.

The good part is that hopefully soon they will be on the exponential part of the S curve and price/size+performance will come down very fast (fingers crossed). That said, when I recall paying far more (in 1982 dollars even) for a 5.25" floppy drive than a high-end Intel 80G SSD costs today, I somehow justify it.

JamesShort · **Posted:** Wed Sep 08, 2010 9:15 am

Chuck Branscomb wrote:

JamesShort wrote:

Yeah solid state drives are amazing! but pricey. I'd put that on the end of the priority list and only get one if you have money left over.

The good part is that hopefully soon they will be on the exponential part of the S curve and price/size+performance will come down very fast (fingers crossed). That said, when I recall paying far more (in 1982 dollars even) for a 5.25" floppy drive than a high-end Intel 80G SSD costs today, I somehow justify it.

Yeah, I keep hoping for the same thing with smart phones...I'm not buying one till they are well under $100

.

My new work laptop came with a 80GB SSD.....it boots in less than 20s....amazing.

Andrew Jonell · **Joined:** Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:43 pm **Posts:** 1350

Just taking a quick peak at HP and Dell, you can get an i7 system with 8GB of RAM and a 1TB hard drive from HP for 900 dollars. You can probably get it for a little less if there are coupon codes floating around.

Frank Catena · **Joined:** Wed Aug 27, 2003 1:08 pm **Posts:** 418

Rodney says he's looking for a desktop for video streaming and photos. Seems like you all are selling a Porsche to a guy that wants, well, a Mustang.

Dell Inspiron 560 or so at Dell Outlet for under $500. Find one with a Core Duo processor and DVD drive. Has HDMI for video out too.

Frank

JamesShort · **Posted:** Wed Sep 08, 2010 6:39 pm

Frank Catena wrote:

Rodney says he's looking for a desktop for video streaming and photos. Seems like you all are selling a Porsche to a guy that wants, well, a Mustang.

Dell Inspiron 560 or so at Dell Outlet for under $500. Find one with a Core Duo processor and DVD drive. Has HDMI for video out too.

Frank

True....but Rodney isn't going to want a Pinto in 3 months either

.

Stacy King · **Posted:** Thu Sep 09, 2010 11:02 am

www.tigerdirect.com is your friend!

I've never put a kit together, but it can't be TOO difficult right?

www.newegg.com usually has some good deals too

You mentioned in another thread that you might be looking into iRacing as well... to be happy in the sim, you'll want to invest in a good GPU + at least dual core, pref quad core

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