find me a desktop

Mike-Mike

After running GNS3 on my turd of desktop, I need a new desktop.


However I'm out of that game for many years now, someone do the work for me and tell me what I need to look for in a desktop.

probably want to keep it under a grand. I can if needed build it, but I would way rather just buy it off the shelf

fuz1on

look at bensbargains.net for deals. i got a raidmax mini-itx case and an ECS/Elitegroup KBN-I/2100 mb (integrated dual AMD e1 cpu+radeon gpu) for $30 bucks (after rebate(s)).

tedjames

I found a nice refurbished Shuttle with an i7 and 2 TB hard drive on Woot for just over $400.

stryder144

If you are not opposed to Lenovo computers, TigerDirect has one that would fit the bill for $459.97. Comes with a four-core i5 and 4GB RAM that can be expanded to 32GB (4x8GB) - which Amazon has for $149.99. That would total out to $609.96 (excluding tax, if applicable and shipping).

Mike-Mike

hey thanks, I might check that out, much cheaper than I expected

Mike-Mike

i just dont know what to look for in a processor, or a graphics card

advanex1

Surprising you don't know with an A+ and experience I don't mind doing a little bit of looking though. I'll post in a bit and stay under a grand. I'm assuming you don't need monitors and all that jazz, just the tower/machine.

markulous

Are you looking for a PC that will do any gaming?

Either way, I'd recommend looking at Hardware Revolution and building it yourself. Basically you just use the tabs at the top to select your price range then it lists out all the components that fit within your budget.

stryder144

Honestly, if I were you, I would look for a processor that has hardware virtualization built-in (think Intel Core i5/7). As for graphics, if you are not going to game, then the built-in graphics should be sufficient. If you are going to game, it will depend on the level of gaming you plan to do. For my Plex media server I purchased a $60 nVidia graphics card with 2GB of GDDR3. More than sufficient for my needs (in fact, might actually be overkill).

advanex1

It still shows i5-2500k as what you should get. The 2500k is more expensive than a i5-4690k now. It needs to be updated a bit.

advanex1

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($223.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($52.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($92.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($106.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($58.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $860.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

This is without an optical drive. Gives you a good cpu, good ram, plenty of storage, and a video card just in case. With an optical drive it would run you around $880. Anyways, hope this gives you some insight. It's actually got quite a bit of power.

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227641&cm_re=ibuypower-_-83-227-641-_-Product

Buy an SSD and some more ram and call it good. I don't like having them pre-built, you waste a lot of money that way. You could probably even have all the items shipped to you and have a local computer place put it together for you for under $1000 total.

Could go with the flashy alienware as well. http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-x51-r3/pd?dgc=BA&cid=293617&lid=5620379&acd=12309217826278671&ven3=100203159122274021

rsutton

Mike-Mike wrote: »

someone do the work for me and tell me what I need to look for in a desktop.

Seriously?

Mike-Mike

rsutton wrote: »

Seriously?

that's right

Mike-Mike

thanks guys. I'm not really planning on gaming, but I wouldn't rule it out, could be a whole new world I never thought of..


mainly I want to do some labbing and watch videos, but I want it to be semi-future proof. Or at least 2016 proof.



In years past I never had the bankroll to go all out, so I just kind of made the best of it, but now I will try to set something legit up.


and I'm going to hit the certs and labs pretty heavy in 2016, and on my current setup, GNS3 almost killed it

Mishra

When I start purchasing a new desktop, I usually go over to tomshardware forums and do some research. This has been the most reliable and strong source of data I've found.

Then I create my desktop of choice, buy it, then completely remove myself from desktop technologies again. It works for me every time.

thomas_

If you are planning on doing any virtualization and want to run 64-bit guest operating systems I would pay close attention to the CPU you choose and its specs. When I built my desktop I opted for an i5 only to find out it could only virtualize 32-but guest Operating systems.

As mentione above tomshardware is a pretty good place to ask for help on a build. pcpartspicker is a pretty good website to look at if you're building one, but it doesn't sound like it from your post.

advanex1

I'd like to read up on that Thomas. Do you have any links? I believe an i5 supports VT and EM64T. You just need to ensure the BIOS does as well. That would enable you to run 64-bit on an i5. I could be wrong though, would love to see some literature on it.

Mike-Mike

yeah, I dont think I want to build it myself, I have in the past, but many moons ago.


So i should go i7?

thomas_

Unfortunately, I don't have any links. I initially had a i5-4440 in my desktop. I was playing around with installing ESXi in Virtualbox and Hyper-V. I was having issues installing ESXi(just to test it out without doing a bare metal install) and when I finally got it installed I think that's when I got a message about only being able to use a 32-bit guest OS.

I'm not sure if the issue was the i5, installing ESXi as a VM and then trying to install a guest OS in ESXi, or a combinatiion of the two. In order to find out I would have to pull the i7 out and put the i5 back in order to try to recreate the problem

networker050184

Did you have VT enabled in bios on the i5?

thomas_

networker050184 wrote: »

Did you have VT enabled in bios on the i5?

I'm pretty sure I did. I also think I downloaded some tool that would tell me what capabilities the processor had and if something wouldn't work, which I think it indicated something was missing that it wasn't capable of.

Of course, there's always the possibilty I misconfigured something. I think when I get back home from vacation I'll put the i5 back in and see what happens.

Mike-Mike

so would an i5 or i7 that is quad core be better than an AMD that has 6 or 8 cores?

advanex1

Yes, I believe even the i3 was outperforming 6 core AMDs. I tend to stay away from AMD processors. Intel has speed and quality.

Mike-Mike

advanex1 is my best friend

Mike-Mike

So I think I'm ordering this one from Sam's Club, it is slightly over a grand at $1,079, but seems to check a lot of boxes:

Dell XPS Desktop Tower, Intel Core i7-6700, 16GB Memory, 2TB Hard Drive, 4GB GFX, Windows 10, with Keyboard and Mouse - Sam's Club

6th Generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700 Processor (8M Cache, up to 4.0 GHz)

16GB Dual Channel DDR4 (2x8GB) - expandable up to 32GB

NVIDIA GTX745 4GB DDR3 graphics card - upgradable to NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 960

460 watt power supply


Don't know about this, might just be marketing, but sounds good:

GRAMMY Award‐winning Waves MaxxAudio software and integrated 7.1‐channel (6 jack) audio

advanex1

More than enough to run GNS3. The only thing I don't like is what dell installs on their systems and they try to make it proprietary.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015XK1XMU/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=1944687762&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B016NES2K6&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=10XMNTZ8GAFP09KH6F6W

Same thing, $30 cheaper and easier to deal with if you have prime. Downgrade to 1TB and save $100.

Mike-Mike

Mike-Mike wrote: »

advanex1 is my best friend

this still applies...

great find, I do have Prime, and I have multiple external drives, so I dont care about internal storage size

advanex1

Btw, not sure why it gave a link to walmart? Maybe that was the seller.. but here's the link back to amazon.. or one that's close.

Amazon.com : Dell XPS x8900-3131BLK Desktop (6th Generaton Intel Core i7, 16 GB RAM, 2 TB HDD) NVIDIA GTX 745 : Computers & Accessories

bigdogz

You may want to verify who supports the PC.

I do not know how support is worked through Walmart.

Good Luck!!!