New Computer Recommendation

[Hyperstrike]

2 hours ago, Call Me Awesome said:

Agreed on the SSD recommendation; I've had both Samsung and Crucial drives for some years now with zero issues.  On the other hand the very first SSD I bought shortly after they came out was an Intel and it died after a year... just long enough to outlive the warranty of course.

 

I hadn't realized prices had come down that much, it's been a couple years since I last bought one and they were more than double those prices then.  Damn it Hyper, you're making me think about replacing the ~400GB Samsung in my gaming rig with a 1TB.  🙂 

I've the SSD boot and a couple of 4TB mechanical drives in the machine now and the SSD is nearly full.

 

Oh, one question, what's your opinion on the most reliable 4TB+ drive for long term archival of video footage?  I've been using WD Blue drives lately, prior to that I have a bunch of WD External drives (My Book) on shelves in the closet.  I fill about 15 TB or more a year with video footage that I need to archive and I just got bit when a My Passport drive from 2013 died and took a bunch of footage with it (That I fortunately had a backup of).

Okay, if it's TRULY archival (cold storage), Western Digital Purple.

If you're going to access it more frequently than once a year?  Western Digital Red or Red Pro if you want a slightly more performant drive..
HGST used to be on the list.  But they've essentially been folded down into Western Digital now, and remaining drives are going for "Are you NUTS?" prices.

Also, if your SSD is more than about 70-75% full, it's DEFINITELY time to either throw stuff out or get a bigger drive.
The fuller the drive gets, the faster it'll wear out.

Edited October 19, 2019 by Hyperstrike

[Hyperstrike]

7 hours ago, Herotu said:

I'm looking to put together a new, cheap computer. 

I'm looking at a

processor - Ryzen 3600

motherboard - ASUS Prime B450M-A (I don't overclock)

PSU - EVGA 600W

 

Then I just need memory and I'll use my old hard drives (2x512gig Seagate Barracudas in a striped RAID, Intel® SSD 530 Series 125gig for operating system, Samsung EVO 850 SSD 250gig).

 

There may be an issue putting all of these sata devices on that particular board - but we'll see. I'll fudge it somehow.

 

Not sure about graphics yet.

 

RULE OF THUMB : If it says "Gaming" on it, look for a cheaper version of it. -"GAMING" adds 30-200% to the price for no reason. 

 

I get the impression that a lot of people are holding off buying computer components because they're a massive rip off at the moment. 

 

With the Cudas being that old, I'm not sure it's worth using drives that far past their warranty date.  And I'm using a 300GB 15Krpm drive!
ESPECIALLY IN SOFTWARE RAID!

A Western Digital 1TB Blue is $45
And you can snag a Crucial 500GB for $67 (and PCI-E to boot!).
$112 and you can still move over up to 4 SATA devices!  (The PCI-E drive takes over SATA controllers 5&6).


 

[Call Me Awesome]

27 minutes ago, Hyperstrike said:

Okay, if it's TRULY archival (cold storage), Western Digital Purple.

If you're going to access it more frequently than once a year?  Western Digital Red or Red Pro if you want a slightly more performant drive..
HGST used to be on the list.  But they've essentially been folded down into Western Digital now, and remaining drives are going for "Are you NUTS?" prices.

Also, if your SSD is more than about 70-75% full, it's DEFINITELY time to either throw stuff out or get a bigger drive.
The fuller the drive gets, the faster it'll wear out.

Yeah, it's definitely long term storage.  Most of the drives are only accessed once or twice a year on average, some of them haven't been touched since they were stored away.  They hold video footage that gets pulled out when a client orders it or when we have need of it for an edit... there's several drives that date to 2006 and haven't been accessed in 10 years.  All are stored in a climate controlled area but they sit on the shelf until needed.

 

As a thumb rule the drives with last year and this year's stuff will be accessed monthly on average, as it gets older the access gets much rarer.  I'm thinking  of buying several drives and copying the old footage over, hopefully before the drives die.  I tend to find out a drive has died when I pull it off the shelf and plug it in.  Worst case I have the footage on DVD, but that's SD and the drives have the HD footage.

[Herotu]

2 hours ago, Hyperstrike said:

With the Cudas being that old, I'm not sure it's worth using drives that far past their warranty date.  And I'm using a 300GB 15Krpm drive!
ESPECIALLY IN SOFTWARE RAID!

A Western Digital 1TB Blue is $45
And you can snag a Crucial 500GB for $67 (and PCI-E to boot!).
$112 and you can still move over up to 4 SATA devices!  (The PCI-E drive takes over SATA controllers 5&6).


 

I would never touch anything other than a Seagate Barracuda hard disk drive. Especially not from Western Digital.

 

1 hour ago, Call Me Awesome said:

As a thumb rule the drives with last year and this year's stuff will be accessed monthly on average, as it gets older the access gets much rarer. 

This is a good rule. Keep them active. Move them or lose them!

Edited October 19, 2019 by Herotu

[Hyperstrike]

3 hours ago, Call Me Awesome said:

Yeah, it's definitely long term storage.  Most of the drives are only accessed once or twice a year on average, some of them haven't been touched since they were stored away.  They hold video footage that gets pulled out when a client orders it or when we have need of it for an edit... there's several drives that date to 2006 and haven't been accessed in 10 years.  All are stored in a climate controlled area but they sit on the shelf until needed.

 

As a thumb rule the drives with last year and this year's stuff will be accessed monthly on average, as it gets older the access gets much rarer.  I'm thinking  of buying several drives and copying the old footage over, hopefully before the drives die.  I tend to find out a drive has died when I pull it off the shelf and plug it in.  Worst case I have the footage on DVD, but that's SD and the drives have the HD footage.

Note: "Cold" storage doesn't really denote temperature.  It's a euphemism for extremely low-access storage.

[Hyperstrike]

2 hours ago, Herotu said:

I would never touch anything other than a Seagate Barracuda hard disk drive. Especially not from Western Digital.

If you want to burn that sort of money on tiny hard drives...I guess?
Some of Seagate's newer offerings in the consumer space are getting more reliable (some of the better "DNA" from their myriad hard drive company purchases is finally outing).

If you want an eye opener, look at Backblaze's quarterly drive results.

https://www.backblaze.com/blog/backblaze-hard-drive-stats-q1-2019/

https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-stats-q2-2019/

They basically operate on a least-cost basis for hard drive acquisition.
Then they make up for it with massive redundancy and even more massive partial redundancy.

And their "storage pods" are hard drive torture devices.



If it's durable in their environment, you pretty much never have to worry about anything other than the extremes of the bathtub curve.

https://www.backblaze.com/blog/life-and-times-of-a-backblaze-hard-drive/

Edited October 20, 2019 by Hyperstrike

[Sanguinesun]

22 hours ago, Hyperstrike said:

 

20 years ago?  I'd have agreed with that.
Unfortunately, I don't agree with it any more.  I'm in Chicago, and unless you actually KNOW and trust the person putting a machine together for you, I wouldn't touch someone else's prebuilt, off-the-shelf stuff with a 100 yard pole.

No idea how long it's been sitting there.  And unless you've VERY familiar with SOTA, you have no clear way of knowing if the stuff in the box isn't 2 years old, refurbed, etc.
This is why I don't recommend buying off the shelf from Worst Buy or similar Big Box stores.
I had a client who'd basically buy his office new computers like that and it was Fuster Cluck City.  No two machines matched.  Goofy driversets on all of them.  Funky behavior out of all of them.

But by George!  He got a DEAL!

*GRUMBLE*

 

I'm sorry for the lack of reliability that you experience in your area. 

This isn't always the case for everyone/every area.  

 

Again, my recommendations were not for them to use big box stores as you infer but again local shops that their reputation keeps them in business against big box versus trying to act like a car dealership.

Local places I know grab a clip board with a parts fill in list and walk the aisle with you on new parts and explain to you step by step what each part offers for a rig and compatibility of the parts etc.   I also have encountered this over seas too so it seems that its better to simply know the sketchy places from the others.  Again I wasn't advocating buying from a "local" store front of a big chain.  I was advocating going to a proper local run store that caters to customization, parts, and service.

Edited October 20, 2019 by Sanguinesun

[ed fray]

 

I use PC PART PICKER and I recommend it lots!

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/

 

It's as addictive as the costume generator.  😄

[Clave Dark 5]

On 10/18/2019 at 11:10 PM, Hyperstrike said:

If that's the only thing stopping you, SCREW the HDD.
Get yourself a decent sized SSD!

Funnily enough, I just saw an article about SSDs and was intrigued.  I think I could happily go with one of those, knowing it was less likely to fall apart like a drive with moving parts.

[Seigmoraig]

3 hours ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

Funnily enough, I just saw an article about SSDs and was intrigued.  I think I could happily go with one of those, knowing it was less likely to fall apart like a drive with moving parts.

SATA SSDs have been out for so long that even they are getting outdated by now. NVME versions of SSD read about 5 times faster than regular old SSDs. Like others have pointed out, while still more expensive per Gig than HDD, they are very affordable and worthwhile to purchase

SATA HDD = 100 mb/sec read
SATA SSD = 550 mb/sec read
NVME SSD = 2600 mb/sec read

Edited October 21, 2019 by Seigmoraig

[Abraxus]

Agreed!  The performance, and reliability vs. traditional spin drives more than makes up for any small difference in cost per GB.  It is money well spent.

[Hyperstrike]

About 2 years ago, when HD prices were still sky high (after the Thailand disaster kicked the industry squarely in the jimmies), SSDs were on track to nearly equal hard drives in $/GB.

A budget drive like the 1TB Western Digital Blue?  $0.045 per GB
A Western Digital Red drive of the same size?  $0.065 per GB
A Samsung Evo 1TB?  $0.13 per GB

Now a luddite might point and go "NUMBER NOT SAME!" in the middle of complaining about stairs...
But what they're missing is the massive performance difference.

 

Edited October 21, 2019 by Hyperstrike

[HelenCarnate]

Ibuypower.com

Have someone professional build your pc for about the same cost as doing it yourself.  You pick everything and they put it together for you.

 

Edit, Oh yea, they also do a fresh install of Windows and don't add any bloatware unlike many of the pre-built units you will find in stores.

Edited October 22, 2019 by HelenCarnate

[microc]

retired pc tech there are some pit falls to watch out for. on the pre built side with dell and other brands a lot of them now dont use stock size cases. a lot of times now there itx or micro atx cases with there own sized power supply. also to keep cost down they use under sized power supply ie 200-400w units good for mom and dad doing web or light work on but not for a gaming gpu. look to see if you can pick up the power supply yourself when the one year warranty ends. see what it costs and the wattage. also with dell see if there a local repair shop if it fails under warranty or if you have to mail it to one of there repair depots. dont base your new pc om spec just for coh. there are two type of pc builders/buyers. the first is ones that will pay any price for the newest tech. then there are others that only update when needed....pc dies or is so slow old it time to  put the pc out to pasture. I am one of the second group i had this pc i been playing on for many years with only a video card upgrade. there are youtbe and web sites that show you low cost build that are good for gaming. any new pc rig should have 16g of ram as the min now. it used to be eight gigs but games have started to use more and more ram. most new mb will have 4 or two ram slots. the lower end mb to save cost will have two. with new mb dont use one ram stick most new mb run best with two matched dimms. wiht a 4 slot mb there two ram banks bank 0 and back up bank 1. in real world it nice to leave the back up bank open if one of the ram slots gets damaged. on ram speed most mb will give you a range of ram speeds that have been tested by the mb vendor. the ram speed that you need to look at is the ram speed of the cpu you uses. both amd and intel now have non overclock base ram stock speed for there cpu. and there also overclock ram for both of these cpu. when buying ram look at is stock and overclock voltage. intel and amd memory controllers have stock voltages and max voltages for over clockers. with higher speed ram the more voltage that is used the more heat is made and sometime can shorten the life of the ram or mb vrm. with ram when buying look at the speed/size cost and warranty of each kits. if a 32g kits of stock speed with lifetime warranty from a good ram vendor show up for sale it would be a good buy. on cpu try and buy the amd 5 ser cpu or the intel i5. they give you the best value for your money in that you want have to repalce the cpu in till the rig dies. if you look online most gaming rigs/streamers use the higher end cpu and need to match with the higher end gpu. on intel cpu be care full the next gen are dropping next year and will not have the same pin count as today's cpu. on power supply's  look for a gamer line of unit that uses the newer digital power supply one that you can read with software the fan speed and unit health. the older analog power supply on the newer gpu cant turn on or handlen the new gpu inrush spikes. on some mb and gpu it causes the rigs just to go into a boot loop. a lot of new mb have anti surge and if the power supply is cheap it can set it off. with nvidia and amd they start with a high end chip for there top cards then cut the chips down and use slower ram and smaller bit bus on the cheaper cards. make sure you buy a gpu that has a 256 or larger bit bus. you also want look at gpu that have a good amount of ram. the old days of 2g ram gpu playing games is gone now. the more ram you can get on the gpu the better it game for you. with gpu vendors nvidia newest and $$$ cards if you look at there frame rate in most game from last years cards there not that much faster. when looking at gpu if you can find last years card at a good price and it new. as long as in tests it has good frame rates. then go for it.  it not just gamers that are keeping gpu prices high it also crypto miners and gpu vendors and chip vendors now cant keep up with the orders. on cases the smaller the case the harder it is to work on and sometimes with small cases you have to use non gaming parts to fit.

[Lusiphur Malache]

I might have missed it, but if we knew what your rig has now you might not have to replace as much as you think.

 

btw, ssds are so yesterday,if you can afford it get a nvme drive, probably would have to get a new motherboard that supports it.

[Hyperstrike]

12 hours ago, HelenCarnate said:

Ibuypower.com

Have someone professional build your pc for about the same cost as doing it yourself.  You pick everything and they put it together for you.

 

Edit, Oh yea, they also do a fresh install of Windows and don't add any bloatware unlike many of the pre-built units you will find in stores.

Just be aware.
Simply because someone is a "professional", meaning they're being paid to slap the thing together, doesn't mean they're GOOD at it...

[HelenCarnate]

Feel free to read their reviews.  Mine came in a giant box with tons of padding to prevent damage during shipping.  Everything was in its correct place with all the wires tucked out of the way.

[Hyperstrike]

4 hours ago, microc said:

Retired PC tech

There are some pitfalls to watch out for.  On the pre built side with Dell and other brands a lot of them now don’t use stock size cases.  A lot of times now there ITX or micro ATX cases with their own sized power supply.

Also to keep cost down they use under sized power supply i.e. 200-400w units good for mom and dad doing web or light work on but not for a gaming GPU.

Look to see if you can pick up the power supply yourself when the one-year warranty ends.  See what it costs and the wattage.

Also, with Dell see if there a local repair shop if it fails under warranty or if you have to mail it to one of their repair depots.

Don’t base your new PC on spec just for CoH.

There are two type of PC builders/buyers.

The first is ones that will pay any price for the newest tech.

Then there are others that only update when needed....pc dies or is so slow old it time to  put the pc out to pasture.

I am one of the second group.

Had this PC I been playing on for many years, with only a video card upgrade.

There are YouTube and web sites that show you low cost builds that are good for gaming.

Any new pc rig should have 16g of RAM as the min now.  It used to be eight gigs, but games have started to use more and more RAM.

Most new motherboard will have 4 or two RAM slots. The lower end motherboards, to save cost, will have two.  With new motherbords don’t use one RAM stick.  Most new motherboards run best with two matched DIMMs. 

With a 4 slot motherboard there two RAM banks.  Bank 0 and backup Bank 1.  In real world it nice to leave the backup bank open if one of the RAM slots gets damaged.

On RAM speed most motherboard will give you a range of RAM speeds that have been tested by the motherboard vendor. The RAM speed that you need to look at is the RAM speed of the CPU you uses.

Both AMD and Intel now have non-overclocked base RAM stock speed for their CPU. And there also overclocked RAM for both of these CPU.  When buying RAM look at is stock and overclock voltage. 

Intel and AMD memory controllers have stock voltages and max voltages for overclockers. With higher speed RAM the more voltage that is used the more heat is made and sometime can shorten the life of the RAM or motherboard VRM.

With RAM when buying look at the speed/size cost and warranty of each kits.

If a 32g kits of stock speed with lifetime warranty from a good RAM vendor show up for sale it would be a good buy.

On CPU try and buy the AMD 5 series CPU or the Intel i5.

They give you the best value for your money in that you want have to replace the CPU in till the rig dies.

If you look online most gaming rigs/streamers use the higher end CPU and need to match with the higher end GPU.

On Intel CPU be care full the next generation are dropping next year and will not have the same pin count as today's CPU.

On power supplies, look for a gamer line of unit that uses the newer digital power supply one that you can read with software the fan speed and unit health.

The older analog power supply on the newer GPU can’t turn on or handle the new GPU inrush spikes.

On some motherboards and GPUs it causes the rigs just to go into a boot loop.

A lot of new motherboards have anti surge and if the power supply is cheap it can set it off.

With Nvidia and AMD, they start with a high-end chip for their top cards then cut the chips down and use slower RAM and smaller bit bus on the cheaper cards.

Make sure you buy a GPU that has a 256 or larger bit bus. You also want look at GPU that have a good amount of RAM.  The old days of 2GB RAM GPU playing games is gone now. The more RAM you can get on the GPU the better it game for you. 

With GPU vendors Nvidia’s newest and $$$ cards if you look at their framerate in most game from last year’s cards there not that much faster. 

When looking at GPU if you can find last year’s card at a good price and it new.  As long as in tests it has good framerates. Then go for it. 

It not just gamers that are keeping GPU prices high it also crypto miners and GPU vendors and chip vendors now can’t keep up with the orders.

On cases the smaller the case the harder it is to work on and sometimes with small cases you have to use non gaming parts to fit.

Okay, de-walled, grammar and some spelling check.

Microc's right that many vendors don't always use standardized cases.  So be aware of this when going for a pre-built from a big name.

 

On the "undersizing" of a PSU.  Using a PSU with a less powerful rating isn't a terrible thing.  The PSU should fit the system being delivered without horrendous amounts of overhead (which leads to bigger power bills and more heat).  Where it CAN bite you in the sit-upon is when you go to make UPGRADES.  You might find your original PSU can't handle the power requirements for a newer, beefier card or CPU.
 

Basically, grab a PSU load calculator.  So long as your PSU exceeds the required draw by 15-20%, you're fine up front.

As for the base warranty.  For a Desktop machine, consider upgrading the warranty to the ProCarePlus with Accidental Damage for the 1 Year.
For a LAPTOP, get the longest ProCare Plus warranty you can afford with accidental damage.

In both cases, this means they'll send a technician to YOU.  No futzing for days/weeks waiting on a depot, which many times sources it out to an outside company.

I agree that you shouldn't just base your specs on "Will it run CoH?".
You  can run it on practically ANYTHING now.

YES, budget is ALWAYS a consideration.  But it's kinda dumb to buy the cheapest POS that has to be jerry-rigged to run it even mildly okay, when, with a bit of judicious purchasing, you can get a machine that makes it run like a herpetophobe from Godzilla...(which is amazingly similar to how everyone else on the planet runs from him too).

Actually he's incorrect about there being two types of buyers and builders.
As certain sections of the population would say..."It's a spectrum."

As for his blind contention that "any new rig should have a minimum of 16GB of RAM".
No.  The minimum's still 8.  If you're using a 64-bit copy of Windows, you want 8 minimum.  More than that really doesn't severely affect CoH.  Though, other, far newer games might gripe.  But in general use, 8's still the baseline.

Going to disagre on the "backup bank".
That's NOT how these memory banks are assigned.  Hell, there's boards out there that won't even WORK unless you have something in Bank 0.
For buying memory, get as much memory as you can reasonably afford, and get it in the fewest possible number of DIMMs, with the minimum number of DIMMs being TWO (2).  While there are some triple and even quad-channel RAM solutions out there, most of those are either obsolete, or monstrously expensive Enthusiast boards (or servers).  Most everyone else is still sticking with dual-channel RAM.  Because it's relatively cheap, and It Just Works.

So instead of getting four 2GB RAM sticks, get two 4GB RAM sticks.  For a matched set of 4, you're probably paying more than a matched set of 2 anyhow.

Stick with default memory speeds required by your board and CPU.
If you don't know what your CPU supports?  Intel has a nice tool, the ARK.

Simply type your Intel CPU's designation into Google.  Pretty much the first result you'll get is from ARK.  And it'll tell you there.

Like this one.

AMD has something similar.

What he's saying about overclocked RAM isn't quite correct.  It really depends on the vendor and the spec the memory was built upon.

Honestly, I don't like dinking around hoping my memory's going to work right or be compatible or warranty stuff.

I just go to Micron's Crucial.com website.  Put in your motherboard, device, or vendor's system designator, and pow.  It'll show you GUARANTEED compatible memory.
It's a 10 year limited warranty (which is basically the general lifespan of a computer system barring incremental upgrades).

He's basically right.  The AMD Ryzen 5 and Intel i5 are usually your best bets.  They have most of the specs and tech that you need, and not much else.
The Ryzen 7, i7 and i9 are basically enthusiast CPUs with some tech that CAN affect performance, but you're generally talking in the 90th+ percentile.
Basically this is the "Cost isn't the primary factor" sector.

As for having to match a higher end CPU with a higher end GPU?  Pure bunk.  I could take an i9 and mate it to a GTX 1050 and it'd be fine.  It wouldn't really outperform an i7 or i5 with a GTX 1050.  But this falls under the AC/DC (I've Got Big Balls) rule.

His advice about next-gen connector changes is well meant, but pointless.

ALWAYS mate your board to the appropriate CPU and vice-versa.  If you're ready to buy NOW, don't let what's coming "Next Year Sometime" inform your decision in any way, unless the actual new platform is dropping within 2-4 weeks of when you finally decide to drop the cash.  Buy the best machine you can buy FOR RIGHT NOW.

Otherwise you're ALWAYS waiting for "The Next Big Thing" and you NEVER buy!

As for the "older analog PSU thing and GPUs"?  Unless he has documentation of that, I'm going to say "Apocryphal".

You make sure your GPU meets your system's needs, plus a "safety margin".  Analog/digital doesn't factor into it.

As to how AMD and Intel make chips and cards?  They don't "cut down".
In some cases, YES, they will convert higher-end GPUs that don't pass certain quality checks for their product tier down to the highest next-tier device they can get it to pass QC with.
But, in other cases, the boards are COMPLETELY different devices.

Take the GTX1660 and 1660Ti from NVIDIA.

They are NOT cut-down RTX cards.
They are not remanufactured GTX 10-series cards.
They're their own definitive product, engineered to be what they are from the start.

As for GPU bus-bit-depth.  Get the best card you can afford.  PERIOD.
Make sure the system's solid underneath it FIRST.
Because you can almost ALWAYS replace a GPU faster and easier than stripping out a CPU, motherboard and memory...

As for "The newer cards aren't much faster than the last-gen"?

Bunk.  The RTX 2080Ti is DEFINITIVELY faster than the GTX 1080Ti.

BUT, if you're gaming at 1024x768 or 1366x900 (hell, even 1920x1080), you're NEVER going to notice the difference without software benchmarking.

https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-RTX-2080-Ti-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1080-Ti/4027vs3918

Now, if you're gaming at 4K with all options on...the newer cards are ABSOLUTELY faster.  And you WILL notice it.

Put it this way.  The 1660Ti vs the 1080Ti

https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1660-Ti-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1080-Ti/4037vs3918

 

The 1660Ti is slower in just about everything.  But it remains TOTALLY PLAYABLE (average FPS of 75+ at 1920x1080 on EVERYTHING) even at that rate.  And costs HALF what the 1080Ti does.

He IS right about crypto mining affecting the pricing of GPUs.

Unfortunately, there's no real fix for this unless the complexity of what's being mined TOTALLY outstrips consumer GPU capabilities.  And I don't see that happening yet.

As for the problems of working in small cases?  I agree.
But very LARGE cases have their own problems too.
Case in point (double entendre intended).

 

Okay, those are 27" monitors.  And that big black thing next to them?  My case.
Roomy?  HELL YES!
Easy to work on?  HELL YES!
Heavy?  Luckily, not really.
Ungainly as hell to move?  HELL YES!

 

Here's the specs on the case.

Basically, if you're a water cooling freak like I am, this case (and it's entire line) give you pretty much THE most options for water cooling available on the market!
Heck, you can even STACK them to mount even BIGGER radiators!

 

Basically, if you're putting a machine together yourself, pay close attention to clearances for things like video cards.
Because spending $300 on a video card and then finding out that it's exactly 1/16th of an inch TOO LONG for your case is essentially the same thing as punching yourself in the nuts.
Lots of pain, physical and emotional.  And it's ALL self-inflicted...

 

 

[Hyperstrike]

2 hours ago, HelenCarnate said:

Feel free to read their reviews.  Mine came in a giant box with tons of padding to prevent damage during shipping.  Everything was in its correct place with all the wires tucked out of the way.

Has nothing to do with what I'm talking about.

[Seigmoraig]

7 hours ago, Hyperstrike said:

Just be aware.
Simply because someone is a "professional", meaning they're being paid to slap the thing together, doesn't mean they're GOOD at it...

They DO have a warranty though so you are covered on that end

[Seigmoraig]

5 hours ago, Hyperstrike said:

On the "undersizing" of a PSU.  Using a PSU with a less powerful rating isn't a terrible thing.  The PSU should fit the system being delivered without horrendous amounts of overhead (which leads to bigger power bills and more heat).  Where it CAN bite you in the sit-upon is when you go to make UPGRADES.  You might find your original PSU can't handle the power requirements for a newer, beefier card or CPU.
 

Basically, grab a PSU load calculator.  So long as your PSU exceeds the required draw by 15-20%, you're fine up front.

*also a computer tech*
If you are buying a PC from an online retailer, they will usually tell you what is in the machine they will ship. If the seller you are purchasing from does not reveal this information up front, like the wattage of the PSU, you can expect some jank.
Reputable sellers like ibuypower will straight up tell you everything about the parts in the build you are buying. Everything from the brand to the wattage to the certification level.

 

5 hours ago, Hyperstrike said:

Okay, those are 27" monitors.  And that big black thing next to them?  My case.

That's a nifty looking case but I could never get into the whole watercooling every part of my pc thing. I have been using closed loop water coolers for CPU for a while though. I have the Corsair Hydro H60 in my current build. Easy to install, no maintenance, no leaks, no hassle and it handles my 10% OC no problem (Actually my first build I've OCed).

I have my case on the ground next to my desk on a small riser (1 foot) i built so that it isn't right on the floor. The dinky monitor on the left is gone, I put a lamp there instead lol
If you are looking for a BITCHING computer desk, I can't recommend the Arozzi Arena desk enough. You see that surface ? Yeah, that ALL mousepad, like 15 sq ft of mousepad
https://arozzi.com/product/arena/

@Hyperstrike Just for the funzies, do you know what kind of score your machine got in Time Spy and Firestrike ?





 

Edited October 22, 2019 by Seigmoraig

[Xeres]

There's some good advice here.  I'll try to add some more.

 

Clave, the PC you have is probably just fine for what you posted what you want to do.  I guess the question is how familiar are you with the inner workings of a PC?  Do you think you could replace a hard drive and install Windows on the new HDD yourself?  I ask because the best recommendation I see is getting a SSD hard drive (probably SATA because I don't think your PC will have a M.2 slot).

 

Now, if you go that route, like what was previously posted a SATA SSD will run you between $200 - $300 USD for a 2GB.  Is that enough space?  I ask because I am wary of HDDs that seem to be malfunctioning.  Hard drives, to me, are a proactive thing rather than a reactive thing - you want to "fix" it before something happens.  So IMO, the HDD that you're using I would consider on borrowed time and not reusable.  So can you fit what you need on 2 GB?  If not there are different things you can do.

 

As far as a new PC, to me it really depends on your level of troubleshooting capability.  You can have one built for you but will that person / company be available to troubleshoot if something goes wrong?  Are you able to do that?  Based on that to me determines from whom you should purchase the PC from IMO.

[Hyperstrike]

48 minutes ago, Seigmoraig said:

That's a nifty looking case but I could never get into the whole watercooling every part of my pc thing. I have been using closed loop water coolers for CPU for a while though. I have the Corsair Hydro H60 in my current build. Easy to install, no maintenance, no leaks, no hassle and it handles my 10% OC no problem (Actually my first build I've OCed).

 

The thing is, I didn't initially buy it for water cooling.  And the only such rig in there now is a 280mm AIO CPU cooler.
Mostly I bought it because I was sick (and tired!) of cutting up my hands on some of my previous cases as the quarters were a BIT tight for my hands.
So I got this one and promptly gashed my hand open and bled all over it...

*SIGH*

 

48 minutes ago, Seigmoraig said:

I have my case on the ground next to my desk on a small riser (1 foot) i built so that it isn't right on the floor. The dinky monitor on the left is gone, I put a lamp there instead lol
If you are looking for a BITCHING computer desk, I can't recommend the Arozzi Arena desk enough. You see that surface ? Yeah, that ALL mousepad, like 15 sq ft of mousepad
https://arozzi.com/product/arena/

$300?
NAHHHH!  I'll stick with my cheap Ikea table.
 

48 minutes ago, Seigmoraig said:

@Hyperstrike Just for the funzies, do you know what kind of score your machine got in Time Spy and Firestrike ?

Nope.

Current specs:
CPU: I7 970 (3.2Ghz)  (Cooled by NZXT Kraken X61 280mm AIO Cooler).
RAM: 24 GB (Triple channel)
GPU: NVIDIA RTX 2060
Boot Drive: Samsung Evo 850 512GB
Storage Drives:

• 2x 1TB Western Digital Enterprise drives.  (This was a former server.)
• HGST 6TB Deskstar NAS drive
• Seagate Cheetah 300GB 15.7Krpm drive

Monitors: 3x Dell U2718Q 27" Monitors
Steel Series mouse (closest I could get to the original Microsoft Optical Wheel Mouse for feel in my hand).
Steel Series Arctis 5 headset.
Speakers: Logitech Z313

[Seigmoraig]

43 minutes ago, Hyperstrike said:

$300?
NAHHHH!  I'll stick with my cheap Ikea table.

But 300$ for a case is ok ? XD
Ergonomics is SO important to me, I started developing carpal tunnel and having a proper desk just adjustable legs alleviates all of that.

 

43 minutes ago, Hyperstrike said:

The thing is, I didn't initially buy it for water cooling.  And the only such rig in there now is a 280mm AIO CPU cooler.
Mostly I bought it because I was sick (and tired!) of cutting up my hands on some of my previous cases as the quarters were a BIT tight for my hands.
So I got this one and promptly gashed my hand open and bled all over it...

*SIGH*

I know that feel. I usually try to get something in the 50$ range that has good reviews. I had a cheapo case back in the day with terrible management and sharp edges, never again. I have been using Corsair cases for my previous 2 builds and I am very satisfied with the build quality and cable management options in them. My current case is a Corsair Carbide Spec-02. The 2 main things I look for in a case are pretty simple : Front facing USB-3.0 ports and a 50$ price tag lol and Corsair delivers for me. I don't care about RGB either. Most of the parts come with integrated RGB nowadays but I end up turning all that fluff off in the BIOS because I find it distracting.

Edited October 22, 2019 by Seigmoraig

[Hyperstrike]

The case wasn't $300..  It wasn't, even new.
At the time I bought it, I picked it up on sale for $140 from my local MicroCenter.
Is it the most I'd ever spent on a case?  Nope.
But anything costing more than that was a server box.