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 Time to buy a dektop
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Homer_simpson




PostPosted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 1:09 am   Post subject: Time to buy a dektop

I haven't bought a desktop in well over 5 years so I am very outdated and trying to buy a new PC. =)
I have a budget of just over $1000.
I will be mostly using the PC to do data analysis and processor and memory heavy simulation.. Not going to be doing much gaming. I have been trying to do some reading to see what my best options are. I have been looking through parts through tigerdirect and others and i think my best bet might be to put together a custom PC however I don't know of any specific combination of parts that work well together.
Do you guys have any suggestions as to what route might a be a good option for me? maybe combinations that you know work well from experience? Intel or AMD? specific part suppliers that you've had a good experience dealing with?
Thanks
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mirhagk




PostPosted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 7:24 am   Post subject: RE:Time to buy a dektop

I'd suggest going with intel, it's just a more common option, and going that way means that if you really wanted to you could dual boot into OS X (even if you won't, it's nice to have the option). Your probably going to want the i7's if your doing processor intensive work, but I don't think you'll need the 3rd gen ones because the biggest boost they have is a better on-board graphics card, and the 2nd gen ones should be dropping significantly in price about now.

If you plan on overclocking (I wouldn't if I was you, you'd probably save money just getting a better processor anyways) then you'll need to invest in a good case and cooling, but otherwise just make sure you get a decent case with fans and the ports you'd like on the front.

For motherboards, there are several options, personally I like Asus and they have a pretty good warranty on their stuff, but I don't know motherboard manufacturers that well. Make sure the socket fits the processor you'd like, and enough RAM for now, and if any time you'd like to upgrade in the future (memory is constantly getting cheaper). You should also look for things like enough PCI slots to add new components and perhaps USB 3.0 (if any devices start actually using it lol).

I'd go with 8 GB of RAM if I was you, you might not ever need it, but you might go above 4GB and RAM is cheap nowadays anyways.

For harddrives, try to make sure that there are multiple slots in the case, so that if you buy a HDD now, you can easily upgrade to an SSD without losing your stuff. If you don't care about hard drive speed, go with a Western Digital hard drive (I think that's one of the best brands) that has lots of space. Not having to delete stuff is pretty awesome, and the price difference between sizes isn't all that much. If you do care about speed, still get a HDD, and get a 128GB or so SSD for your OS and certain programs, and keep all your media on your HDD.
Zren




PostPosted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 5:59 pm   Post subject: RE:Time to buy a dektop

If you're looking for sales, here's a place I check from time to time: http://www.reddit.com/r/bapcsalescanada/
I also used http://pcpartpicker.com/ca/ to plan my build this past winter.
Insectoid




PostPosted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 7:53 pm   Post subject: RE:Time to buy a dektop

Quote:
I'd suggest going with intel, it's just a more common option, and going that way means that if you really wanted to you could dual boot into OS X


Don't Intel and AMD CPUs use the same architecture (x86/x86_64)? OS X should run on either. The old PowerPC CPUs use, well, the PowerPC architecture, which Windows is incompatible with. Either way, Intel is still the ideal choice.
Homer_simpson




PostPosted: Sat Jun 30, 2012 1:31 am   Post subject: Re: Time to buy a dektop

ok thanks for your feedback guys. I've put together a list of parts for putting this together and its well within my budget:

l x79 Chipset Quad Channel DDR3 2400(OC)/2133(OC)/1866(OC)/1600/ 1333 /1066 MHz HD Audio 3 x PCI-E x16 3.0 4x SATA3 6Gb/s 6x USB 3.0 ATX [$199.00]

G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 2133MHz CL11 Quad Channel Kit (F3-17000CL11Q-16GBZL)[$134.99]

Western Digital Caviar Blue (WD10EALX) 1TB SATA3 6GB/s 7200RPM 32M Cache (OEM)[$89.99]

Intel Core i7-3820 BX80619I73820 Processor - Quad Core, 10MB L3 Cache, 1MB L2 Cache, 3.60GHz (3.90GHz Max Turbo), Socket R (LGA2011), 130W, No Fan, Retail[$299.99]

EVGA GeForce GT 520 1GB GDDR3 (01G-P3-1521-KR) nVidia GeForce GT 520 Chipset(810MHz) 1GB DDR3 Memory(1400MHz) DVI/VGA/HDMI Port PCI Express 2.0 Graphics Card[$39.99]

Sentey RJA-246C LCD Mid Tower Case W/600W PSU[$38.88]

LG GH24NS90 Black SATA DVD-Writer 24xDVD+R/-R 8xDVD+RW/6xDVD-RW 16xDVD+R DL 12xDVD-R DL 48x CD-R 32xCD-RW[$16.99]

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO Direct Heat Pipe CPU Cooler R2, Intel 2011/1366/1156/1155/775 and AMD FM1/AM3+/AM3/AM2+/AM2 (RR-212E-20PK-R2)[$35.99]

OCZ (AGT3-25SAT3-120G) Agility 3 2.5" 120GB SATA3 6GB/s Solid State Drive, Read: 525MB/s, Write: 500MB/s [$79.99]


For a total $935.81
all parts and prices are from canadacomputers and tigerdirect. let me know if you have any thoughts about this or suggestions. thanks
Zren




PostPosted: Sat Jun 30, 2012 1:50 am   Post subject: RE:Time to buy a dektop

I wouldn't trust a that PSU... Read feedback: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811322005
Homer_simpson




PostPosted: Sat Jun 30, 2012 10:00 am   Post subject: Re: Time to buy a dektop

you are right. that looks terrible. thanks for catching that.
[Gandalf]




PostPosted: Sat Jun 30, 2012 6:41 pm   Post subject: RE:Time to buy a dektop

Taking a quick glance at your parts, one thing sticks out... You're getting a locked LGA2011 CPU, with no integrated graphics, and instead going for a cheap nVidia card. You could save that money, and get a 2600K which will perform much better with a small overclock and about the same without. You're already getting a solid cooler in the 212 EVO, so temperatures shouldn't be an issue with reasonable overclocks, which is one of the great things about sandy bridge. If you're morally opposed to overclocking, I'd easily go with a 3770 ivy bridge CPU over what you have. You'll still save the $40 on the crappy video card (which we will put to good use below) and get something which performs better in both CPU and graphics. Sandy bridge already has fairly good integrated graphics, and ivy bridge is a significant improvement over that.

Also, get the Vertex 3 instead of the Agility 3. It's quite a bit better, and is actually going for cheaper right now at Canada Computers: http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=179_1088&item_id=037112
Availability might be an issue, but they restock fairly often, so you can try asking them when they'll be available again (if they're not already available).

You can still get that case. It's a good idea to junk the power supply that comes with it and replace it with something real (>$40, here's where the video card savings come in) anyway.
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mirhagk




PostPosted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 7:40 am   Post subject: Re: RE:Time to buy a dektop

Insectoid @ Fri Jun 29, 2012 7:53 pm wrote:
Quote:
I'd suggest going with intel, it's just a more common option, and going that way means that if you really wanted to you could dual boot into OS X

Don't Intel and AMD CPUs use the same architecture (x86/x86_64)? OS X should run on either. The old PowerPC CPUs use, well, the PowerPC architecture, which Windows is incompatible with. Either way, Intel is still the ideal choice.

I can't actually say 100% that it won't run on AMD, but I know people that have had a lot of issues with it (OS X isn't supposed to run on AMD, so they may even due things to ensure that you must buy apple approved parts).

Also sandy/ivy bridge have the benefit of replacing lower end graphics card, as gandalf mentioned. It means you can run most games on low settings, so if your not a pro gamer, it's more than enough for what you need. (Ivy bridge might even run things better, I'm just going off of my friend's sandy bridge). I have the vertex 3, and it's beautiful, I love it. I do like your set up, and I'm not a motherboard person but the hard drives and processor seem decent.
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