New PC Choices

It's that time again to buy a new primary PC for my home, and would like to hear opinions from the forum. I really would like to know what your experience is with different manufacturers. I have used Dells for the past 10 years, and have found them to be reliable, but wonder if I could get the same performance/reliability out of another brand, say Systemax or other similar to that.
Just for info, the PC is not used for any real cpu-intensive stuff on a normal basis, but I would like to play the occasional FPS game, webcam app, etc..

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N2IT

dorawe wrote: »

It's that time again to buy a new primary PC for my home, and would like to hear opinions from the forum. I really would like to know what your experience is with different manufacturers. I have used Dells for the past 10 years, and have found them to be reliable, but wonder if I could get the same performance/reliability out of another brand, say Systemax or other similar to that.
Just for info, the PC is not used for any real cpu-intensive stuff on a normal basis, but I would like to play the occasional FPS game, webcam app, etc..

I am really big on Lenovo. They have a refurbish website and a return site. (Companies buy to many of a certain type of computer and return a few). Usually they go through vendors like Compucom.

Anyway I have nothing but great things to say about Lenovo. 400 can get you into a base machine.

dorawe

Thanks, I'll give them a look. Anyone else have suggestions?

demonfurbie

is it just home use or are ya gonna do gaming/lab work/vms

for stuff like browsing and email with some office stuff i tend to go dell

other stuff i use

iBUYPOWER: High Performance Custom Gaming Computers and Laptops

tomahawkeer

I went through this about 6 months ago, and for the life of me, I just couldn't bring myself to buy a pre-made system. I've always been the type to build exactly what I want, and save a little in the process. The machines I build tend to hold up very well, and ive had very few issues with them. Im particular to certain brands and manufactures, in regards to parts, and they tend to never let me down.

dorawe

demonfurbie wrote: »

is it just home use or are ya gonna do gaming/lab work/vms

for stuff like browsing and email with some office stuff i tend to go dell

other stuff i use

iBUYPOWER: High Performance Custom Gaming Computers and Laptops

I had read a couple of bad reviews for these, so I kinda dropped them off my list of potentials. They could have been one-offs, but I like to see happy customers.........

dorawe

tomahawkeer wrote: »

I went through this about 6 months ago, and for the life of me, I just couldn't bring myself to buy a pre-made system. I've always been the type to build exactly what I want, and save a little in the process. The machines I build tend to hold up very well, and ive had very few issues with them. Im particular to certain brands and manufactures, in regards to parts, and they tend to never let me down.

I thought about this as well, but after punching in the numbers on a ground-up build, the price is almost the same as a custom-build from the others. But you are right, you will get exactly what you want, and none of the fluff.

Reseven

tomahawkeer wrote: »

I went through this about 6 months ago, and for the life of me, I just couldn't bring myself to buy a pre-made system. I've always been the type to build exactly what I want, and save a little in the process. The machines I build tend to hold up very well, and ive had very few issues with them. Im particular to certain brands and manufactures, in regards to parts, and they tend to never let me down.

Same here.

I build my own and have since the early 90s. The only thing I've purchased was a laptop from HP.

My old Pentium from way back in the 90s still boots and works. Win95 FTW!

I just feel a lot more comfortable building my own. I decide what goes in and what quality it is. Right now I'm still running fairly strong with my Q9550@3.4 w/ 8 GB RAM and a GTX260. I think I'll upgrade the GTX260 to a GTX570 later this year. I now use a 28" monitor @ 1920x1200 and sometimes the 260 just doesn't quite cut it (Metro 2033).

dorawe

ok, can you suggest a good vendor to get the parts to build one. Something like tigerdirect?

rsutton

For my home PC I also have an iBUYPOWER machine, it's been a fantastic computer.

kriscamaro68

dorawe wrote: »

ok, can you suggest a good vendor to get the parts to build one. Something like tigerdirect?

The 2 best places to buy from is either newegg.com or amazon.com. I have bought most of my parts through amazon lately cause they have better pricing and free shipping on just about everything where as newegg is not always free shipping. I think amazon packages better as well.

demonfurbie

dorawe wrote: »

ok, can you suggest a good vendor to get the parts to build one. Something like tigerdirect?

depending on where you live you can goto a tigerdirect store and look at the parts

building is always a nice way but you also have to factor in os cost ... unless you use linux

tomahawkeer

dorawe wrote: »

ok, can you suggest a good vendor to get the parts to build one. Something like tigerdirect?

www.newegg.com
www.mwave.com

Those will get you started. I built my complete system from newegg last time. Tigerdirect is also a good place, just make sure you aren't getting referb stuff when you think you are getting new. They don't always make it the most obvious.

brad-

dorawe wrote: »

ok, can you suggest a good vendor to get the parts to build one. Something like tigerdirect?

I've been using newegg.com for 10 years. Never had a problem with the ordering process.

If you use them, sort your selection by rating or by top sellers to see what everyone else is using - and read the feedback. Doing that, you know you'll get what you want.

badboyeee

Personally, I buy my computer parts usually from Fry's or Microcenter. Online would be newegg.com or amazon.com.

What is your budget?

dorawe

looking to spend $1200-$1500 on the system

ehnde

Another vote for newegg.com

You get geek points for building your own box, but it's almost always cheaper to buy it prebuilt from a big manufacturer. Here is a nice hybrid solution: Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more! DIY combos on newegg will be a little cheaper than buying each part individually, but you still get to pick what parts go in your new box and put it together yourself.

Priston

Pre-built i'd recommend HP, Dell, and Lenovo.

If you custom build newegg.com has my loyalty

Some people might say brand doesn't mean anything because each brand has high end machines and low end machines (made out of cheaper material) and everything come down which model it is.
To a certain point I agree but I do find some brands overall to be more reliable than others.

If you do decide to build custom built some of the brands i'd recommend are:
Motherboard - ASUS, GIGABYTE, MSI
RAM - CORSAIR, G.SKILL (I hear OCZ and Crucial are good but I haven't tried them yet)
Video card - From my understanding almost every video card brand is good, but ASUS, EVGA, GIGABYTE, MSI, SAPPHIRE, XFX seem to be the most popular
Hard Drive - Western Digital, Seagate
Power supply - CORSAIR, Thermaltake, anything 80 plus certified

dorawe

Well, I decided to go with a Dell. My current Dell system lasted me 10+ years (as you can see I don't feel the need to be on the bleeding edge of technology). Here is what I went with:

Intel Core I7-2600 (8MB Cache, 3.4Ghz)
12GB Tri Channel DDR3 SDRAM (1333Mhz) 4 DIMMS
1.5 TB SATA II, 3GB/s, 7,200 rpm, 32MB cache
ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5

The only thing that bugs me is that the power supply is 350w. If I encounter problems, that'll be the first thing to get swapped out.

badboyeee

dorawe wrote: »

Well, I decided to go with a Dell. My current Dell system lasted me 10+ years (as you can see I don't feel the need to be on the bleeding edge of technology). Here is what I went with:

Intel Core I7-2600 (8MB Cache, 3.4Ghz)
12GB Tri Channel DDR3 SDRAM (1333Mhz) 4 DIMMS
1.5 TB SATA II, 3GB/s, 7,200 rpm, 32MB cache
ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5

The only thing that bugs me is that the power supply is 350w. If I encounter problems, that'll be the first thing to get swapped out.

How much does this system cost?? With what OS??
RAM might be overkill, especially when you can upgrade it later at a much cheaper price than Dell. Only reason for that much RAM is if you will be running a lot of VM's. But for gaming, 6gb is enough.

dorawe

I chose Windows 7 Home Premium, and with all of the other options I put in, it pushed just over $1400 with tax. I do use VM on occasion, mostly for training for new certs, but this box isn't going to do anything really heavy duty. I got it through EPP, so I don't know what the difference in price would be without that discount...probably not that much.

badboyeee

dorawe wrote: »

I chose Windows 7 Home Premium, and with all of the other options I put in, it pushed just over $1400 with tax. I do use VM on occasion, mostly for training for new certs, but this box isn't going to do anything really heavy duty. I got it through EPP, so I don't know what the difference in price would be without that discount...probably not that much.

Okay cool, your rig seems very capable of heavy duty work tho! Enjoy your new system

SteveLord

dorawe wrote: »

Well, I decided to go with a Dell. My current Dell system lasted me 10+ years (as you can see I don't feel the need to be on the bleeding edge of technology). Here is what I went with:

Intel Core I7-2600 (8MB Cache, 3.4Ghz)
12GB Tri Channel DDR3 SDRAM (1333Mhz) 4 DIMMS
1.5 TB SATA II, 3GB/s, 7,200 rpm, 32MB cache
ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5

The only thing that bugs me is that the power supply is 350w. If I encounter problems, that'll be the first thing to get swapped out.

Yikes. A cpu with HT that you likely won't use and 12GB of memory you likely won't use isn't close to bleeding edge for you? I guess that's alright if you don't plan to replace it for another 10 years though.

Good choice on Home Premium though. Some of my gaming buddies throw down extra money on Pro and Ultimate having no use for the extra features. I think they just pay for the title and don't admit it.

dorawe

SteveLord wrote: »

I guess that's alright if you don't plan to replace it for another 10 years though.

Good choice on Home Premium though. Some of my gaming buddies throw down extra money on Pro and Ultimate having no use for the extra features. I think they just pay for the title and don't admit it.

That's exactly what I want, I don't want to be shelling out every 3-4 years because the machine I bought is a slug. And Home Premium will do what I need, I also have friends that'll pay for Pro or Ultimate just to say they have it.....and won't have a clue as to what to do with it.