Author
|
Topic: The 'Build Me A PC' Thread (Read 907252 times)
|
K9
Terracotta Army
Posts: 7441
|
SO I know nothing about computers and my PC seems to have died. It was an old Dell Dimension 8400 and it has had some catastrophic mother board failure that seems to be pretty common (fan going into crazy overdrive, that stopped and now it just beeps sadly)
So I need a new PC and have little clue what to buy. I'd probably prefer something with a warranty, I'm not sure I have the expertise or patience to build my own. I was thinking of going with Dell again, since this last PC has been pretty trouble free for 5-6 years, and where I have had trouble their service has been good. I just have no idea what's good value for money, what are good components vs bad, and so on. I could probably afford £800-900 if it's going to last a while.
With respect to use, I'm not expecting to play a ton of high-end games on it. Probably WoW and SCII for the most part. Having something I can also use for work (cpu-intensive modelling) would be a bonus.
Any advice would be welcome, thanks. Even really basic stuff.
|
I love the smell of facepalm in the morning
|
|
|
Engels
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9029
inflicts shingles.
|
From your description, I think this one will do you: http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?b=&c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&kc=DRSSX004&l=en&m_30=322642&oc=D00X8104&rbc=D00X8104&s=dhsHigh end processor So-so video card (nothing fancy but can do games). I am confident you can install another one, provided you don't need a super duper one which would tax your Power Supply (if it even has enough power connectors for it) Price £1,098.00 Total savings* £269.00 Total £829.00 Catalog Number / Description Product Code Qty SKU Id Base: StudioXPS 8100 - Intel Core i7 Processor 860 (2.80GHz, 8MB) 346965 1 [210-30757] 1 Microsoft Operating System: Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64bit- English 409483 1 [619-25659] 11 Services and Support: 1 year of coverage included with your PC 322642 1 [754-56815] 30 Monitor: Display Not Included 92239 1 [480-10999] 5 Memory: 6144MB (2x2GB) (2x1GB)1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel Memory 294395 1 [370-15901] 3 Hard Drive: 2TB Dual Hard Drive Raid 0 "Stripe" (2x1TB - 7200rpm) 295460 1 [400-18347] 8 Video Card: Graphics Card - Single 1GB Nvidia GeForce GTS 240 351318 1 [490-11904] 6 Optical Devices: DVD +/- RW Drive (read/write CD & DVD) with Roxio Easy CD and DVD Burn software 420041 1 [429-15320] 16 Keyboard: Dell™ USB Entry Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY) 255298 1 [580-15212] 4 Mouse: Dell 2 Button USB Optical Mouse 214237 1 [570-10750] 12 Thermal Cooling: 95W Processor Heatsink 346968 1 [412-10037] 412 Speakers: No Speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system) 6655 1 [520-10217] 18 Dell System Media Kit: Studio XPS 8100 Resource DVD 346957 1 [340-20766] 319 Sound Cards: Integrated HDA 7.1 Dolby Digital Audio 189326 1 [510-10237] 17
|
I should get back to nature, too. You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer. Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached. Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe
I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa
Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
|
|
|
Sheepherder
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5192
|
I'm firmly in the camp that the i5-750 is the way to go, it's the same core without hyperthreading, some security features which may or may not turn into a massive DRM clusterfuck, and some virtualization features designed to handle DMA in hardware. Case in point.
|
|
« Last Edit: June 06, 2010, 06:29:17 PM by Sheepherder »
|
|
|
|
|
Engels
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9029
inflicts shingles.
|
It seems that the i7 8xx does a wee tad better than the i5s with 3D modeling. Of course, it all depends on various factors. IF his programs take advantage of hyperthreading, then he's got an edge with an i7 8xx, I suspect.
|
I should get back to nature, too. You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer. Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached. Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe
I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa
Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
|
|
|
Sheepherder
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5192
|
It's a $90 price difference for almost nothing performance wise even in best case. Hyperthreading has never impressed me, the TxT security feature makes EA and Sony cackle with glee, and VT-d is superfluous unless you're running demanding modern applications in a virtual environment, where a software layer handling DMA requests just isn't fast enough.
|
|
|
|
Trippy
Administrator
Posts: 23637
|
For rendering 3D models HT probably does matter but K9 will need to dig around to see if there are any benchmarks that can confirm that.
|
|
|
|
Sheepherder
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5192
|
Very close.A more general comparison.The second comparison reveals that there are a shitton of programs that still attempt to use every available core before checking whether it's a logical or a physical core, which really fucking hurts programs that need fast cache access more than parallelism.
|
|
|
|
brellium
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1296
|
Honestly, for just WoW and general office stuff I'd just go for the bottom, one for 400-500£ with a non intel card should run WoW fine.
Dell either goofed up on pricing or wanted to get some old stuff out and I walked away with a 300$ box with a 5 year warranty, it worked fine (not awesomely, but fine).
I could run 25 man raids, do WG and stuff on it fine and this is (now) a 2 year old box. Granted, my netbook can run WoW, at 2 fps, but it can run WoW.
I seriously wonder what my current machine would do in WoW.
|
|
« Last Edit: June 06, 2010, 09:15:27 PM by brellium »
|
|
"One must see in every human being only that which is worthy of praise. When this is done, one can be a friend to the whole human race. If, however, we look at people from the standpoint of their faults, then being a friend to them is a formidable task." —‘Abdu’l-Bahá
|
|
|
Sheepherder
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5192
|
The processor is not something you find you need to replace. Or maybe it is, now that FSB's have fucked off and died.
|
|
|
|
Cyrrex
Terracotta Army
Posts: 10603
|
I'm considering grabbing one of those very same i5 750 processors. Suggestions on a good motherboard to go with it? I wouldn't know a good MB if you beat me over the head with it.
|
"...maybe if you cleaned the piss out of the sunny d bottles under your desks and returned em, you could upgrade you vid cards, fucken lusers.." - Grunk
|
|
|
|
Nebu
Terracotta Army
Posts: 17613
|
I'm starting to wonder if I'm the only person that has had great luck with Asus MB's. I'll take a look at the MSI.
I'm really sold on the i5 and am probably going to upgrade to one soon. The only thing holding me back is the complete lack of an MMO worth spending time on.
|
"Always do what is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astound the other."
- Mark Twain
|
|
|
Cyrrex
Terracotta Army
Posts: 10603
|
MSI P55-GD65
It's freaking weird that this was exactly the MB I was looking at buying.
|
"...maybe if you cleaned the piss out of the sunny d bottles under your desks and returned em, you could upgrade you vid cards, fucken lusers.." - Grunk
|
|
|
Sheepherder
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5192
|
I haven't actually seen many truly shitty motherboards, even the manufacturers unwilling to put out a manual in anything other than Engrish are putting out some pretty hot shit for cheap.
|
|
|
|
K9
Terracotta Army
Posts: 7441
|
Thanks a lot for the suggestions. PC hardware is one thing I have a glaring blind spot for, so I usually opt for a bigger number = better approach which I suspect is not the right way to go. I might just go ahead and buy this unless anyone has any other suggestions or improvements. I'll come back in due course for upgrade suggestions I guess. fakeedit: Are dell monitors good value for money? You omitted a monitor from the build which is fine since my old one works fine. Going to two screens is something I would probably be keen to do in the near future. Would I need a different graphics card for that, and is getting a monitor as part of the bundle good value, or should I buy separately? For rendering 3D models HT probably does matter but K9 will need to dig around to see if there are any benchmarks that can confirm that.
I honestly wouldn't have a clue what to make of those. The modelling I do is all numerical though, not graphical (science, narf). Thanks for all the comments!
|
I love the smell of facepalm in the morning
|
|
|
Engels
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9029
inflicts shingles.
|
The GTS 240 can accomodate two monitors: http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_gts_240_us.htmlTwo via DVI port. If your current monitor uses VGA, you can purchase a DVI-to-VGA adapter. They aren't expensive. Since the uproar by Sheephearder and his intense animosity towards all things i7 , I tried to find an i5 system on the UK site, but I'm not seeing it. The best thing you can do is to see if your modeling software supports hyperthreading. If it does, the i7 is probably going to be better than the i5. If it doesn't, then the i5 might be better, but who knows. Dell's monitors are for the most part good. The pricing, as bundled with a system, suggest the purchase of the 23" one. Its a TN monitor, which generally speaking means good for gaming, not great for video (viewing angles and blacks are a bit weak). Trippy or someone else might know a bit more on this subject, since I've been out of the monitor game for a while.
|
|
« Last Edit: June 07, 2010, 05:48:50 PM by Engels »
|
|
I should get back to nature, too. You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer. Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached. Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe
I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa
Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
|
|
|
Sheepherder
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5192
|
1. Combine an Intel i5-750 and the Geforce 260 GTX, IMO. That way you don't have to go card shopping. 2. Dell monitors are usually pretty good. 3. HT doesn't consistently perform better at anything, even where it should be a clear upgrade like file compression it can be +/- 20%, completely depending on what software you use. EDIT:StudioXPS 8100 - Intel Core i5 Processor 750 (2.66GHz, 8MB)Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64bit- English OS Windows® Recovery Media Not included Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Word Starter, Excel Starter) 1 year of coverage included with your PC No Security/Anti-Virus Protection - English No Accidental Damage Support Display Not Included 6144MB (2x2GB) (2x1GB)1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel Memory - Might want to go for 4 matched sticks, £40 more.1.5TB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive Graphics : Single 1.8GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 - The ATi card is £140 less, but it's pretty mediocre.DVD +/- RW Drive (read/write CD & DVD) with Roxio Easy CD and DVD Burn software http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?b=&c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&kc=DRSSX003&l=en&m_30=322642&oc=D00X8103&rbc=D00X8103&s=dhs
|
|
« Last Edit: June 07, 2010, 07:40:23 PM by Sheepherder »
|
|
|
|
|
K9
Terracotta Army
Posts: 7441
|
The best thing you can do is to see if your modeling software supports hyperthreading. If it does, the i7 is probably going to be better than the i5. If it doesn't, then the i5 might be better, but who knows.
We write it ourselves, so I'm going to guess no Thanks again for all the suggestions and help.
|
I love the smell of facepalm in the morning
|
|
|
Engels
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9029
inflicts shingles.
|
I'd go with Sheepherder's build. For the same amount of money, you get a much more beefy video card.
|
I should get back to nature, too. You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer. Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached. Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe
I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa
Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
|
|
|
ffc
Terracotta Army
Posts: 608
|
My ATI 4850 512mb just melted and I'm wondering if there is a bottleneck in my system for a video card upgrade/downgrade. Similar to Aez: AMD X2 64 5000+ oc'd to 3.0ghz 4GB DDR2 800 ram Asrock 939Dual-Sata2 mobo cobbled together with its daughter card
|
|
|
|
Engels
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9029
inflicts shingles.
|
90% of GPU failures are due to insufficient or failing power supplies. What are your PSU's stats?
|
I should get back to nature, too. You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer. Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached. Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe
I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa
Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
|
|
|
ffc
Terracotta Army
Posts: 608
|
90% of GPU failures are due to insufficient or failing power supplies. What are your PSU's stats?
Antec earthwatts 500W (ea-5000)
|
|
|
|
Engels
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9029
inflicts shingles.
|
That's a decent brand and a decent wattage.
So, ya, I think if you were running a 4000 series card without issue, you can comfortably upgrade to a 5k series and see improvements. Your CPU isn't omgwtfbbq aswome, but its on par with a E6xxx series C2D processor. You may not get the absolute best performance with that CPU, so its probably a bottleneck, but you'd still get an improvement. How much is hard for me to say, other than looking at artificial benchmarks that won't quite match your hardware config.
|
I should get back to nature, too. You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer. Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached. Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe
I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa
Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
|
|
|
Yegolev
Moderator
Posts: 24440
2/10 WOULD NOT INGEST
|
|
Why am I homeless? Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question. They called it The Prayer, its answer was law Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone
|
|
|
Yegolev
Moderator
Posts: 24440
2/10 WOULD NOT INGEST
|
|
Why am I homeless? Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question. They called it The Prayer, its answer was law Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone
|
|
|
Engels
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9029
inflicts shingles.
|
What made you decide for the Silverstone over the Corsair? That Corsair looked pretty sweet to me.
|
I should get back to nature, too. You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer. Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached. Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe
I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa
Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
|
|
|
Yegolev
Moderator
Posts: 24440
2/10 WOULD NOT INGEST
|
Confirmed a removable mobo plate. I suppose the user endorsement was what sold me. I felt we connected.
|
Why am I homeless? Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question. They called it The Prayer, its answer was law Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone
|
|
|
Vision
Terracotta Army
Posts: 287
|
I was in the market for a new laptop, but realized I never take the thing anywhere anyway. So I decided to go for a desktop. Here are the parts. I tried this once in the past and it failed miserably, so instead of spending months researching and waiting and pining for tech that isnt out yet, or scrutinizing every detail of my build, I would rather just get it over with as fast as possible (even if that isnt the proper mindset). If someone could give it a quick once over to make sure I'm not missing something major that would be good.
Also, if anyone knows how to shave off a few $ for due to my lack of foresight, that is welcome too. And is neweggs return policy for monitors still the no less than 5 dead pixels BS that it used to be? I looked and didnt see it anywhere. Thanks
Case: COOLER MASTER COSMOS 1000 RC-1000-KSN1-GP Black/ Silver Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case Model #:RC-1000-KSN1-GP Item #:N82E16811119138 Return Policy:Standard Return Policy In Stock $169.99 HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive Model #:WD6401AALS Item #:N82E16822136319 Return Policy:Standard Return Policy In Stock $74.99 Monitor: ASUS VH242H Black 23.6" 5ms HDMI Full 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor Model #:VH242H Item #:N82E16824236052 Return Policy:Monitor Standard Return Policy In Stock Mail in Rebate Card $199.99 Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL Model #:F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL Item #:N82E16820231277 Return Policy:Memory Standard Return Policy In Stock $107.00 Mobo: ASUS P6X58D Premium LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard Model #:P6X58D Premium Item #:N82E16813131614 Return Policy:Limited Replacement Only Return Policy In Stock $299.99 CPU: Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor BX80601920 Model #:BX80601920 Item #:N82E16819115202 Return Policy:CPU Replacement Only Return Policy In Stock $279.99 PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power ... Model #:CMPSU-750TX Item #:N82E16817139006 Return Policy:Standard Return Policy In Stock Mail in Rebate Card $109.99 GPU: ASUS EAH5870/2DIS/1GD5/V2 Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support ... Model #:EAH5870/2DIS/1GD5/V2 Item #:N82E16814121374 Return Policy:Standard Return Policy In Stock Mail in Rebate Card $409.99 CD/DVD: ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM Model #:DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Item #:N82E16827135204 Return Policy:Standard Return Policy
|
|
|
|
Engels
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9029
inflicts shingles.
|
My only thought is that your motherboard and cpu are set up for triple channel. I don't know if you -have- to use 3 sticks, but I believe that's what your mobo and CPU are ideally set up for.
|
I should get back to nature, too. You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer. Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached. Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe
I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa
Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
|
|
|
Vision
Terracotta Army
Posts: 287
|
nice replaced the ram with this
CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TR3X6G1600C9 Model #:TR3X6G1600C9 Item #:N82E16820145222
|
|
|
|
Engels
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9029
inflicts shingles.
|
Better brand anyways.
|
I should get back to nature, too. You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer. Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached. Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe
I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa
Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
|
|
|
Sky
Terracotta Army
Posts: 32117
I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.
|
If you want to save a few bucks you might look at an i5 750 system, yeah? (See further on up the thread)
|
|
|
|
Lounge
Terracotta Army
Posts: 235
|
So I just ordered some parts to upgrade my pc on the cheap to try to play some of these steam games I've purchased recently. I already had a case/monitor and whatnot but what I'm not sure about (and don't know how to find out really) is if the 380w psu in my current case is enough to power this thing. Any pointers on figuring that out?
Here's what i ordered: - GIGABYTE GA-H55M-UD2H LGA 1156 Intel H55 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - GeIL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10660) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model GV34GB1333C9DC - Intel Core i3-530 Clarkdale 2.93GHz LGA 1156 73W Dual-Core Desktop Processor BX80616I3530 - Western Digital AV-GP WD5000AVDS 500GB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal AV Hard Drive -Bare Drive - EVGA 01G-P3-1158-TR GeForce GTS 250 1GB 256-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Came out to $480 shipped with another $40 in rebates.
|
|
|
|
Sheepherder
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5192
|
Also, if anyone knows how to shave off a few $ for due to my lack of foresight, that is welcome too. And is neweggs return policy for monitors still the no less than 5 dead pixels BS that it used to be? I looked and didnt see it anywhere. Thanks The i5-750 is ~$90 cheaper for almost the exact same processor. The added features of the i7 are negligible for most people. what I'm not sure about (and don't know how to find out really) is if the 380w psu in my current case is enough to power this thing. Any pointers on figuring that out? What's the brand on the PSU?
|
|
« Last Edit: June 29, 2010, 10:31:37 AM by Sheepherder »
|
|
|
|
|
Lounge
Terracotta Army
Posts: 235
|
What's the brand on the PSU?
Antec ... Came with my Sonata 1 which is many years old at this point. If its even going to be questionable I'll upgrade it, just would like to know how big and how to figure that out.
|
|
|
|
|
|