New Computer Recommendation

[Ironblade]

9 hours ago, Hyperstrike said:

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

I would make one slight qualification here.  Power supplies degrade over time so, under some circumstances, you want a larger PSU.  I run my system 24/7, occasionally with high CPU usage (i.e. 100% utilization) going on.  For that kind of situation, you want to go about 1/3 above whatever the PSU calculator tells you.

 

Having said that, the rest of Hyperstrike's post is gold and anyone considering building their own system should read it and read it again.

 

As for the recurring concern I see about how hard it is to build a system - it's not.  It's really not that hard.  As a newb, you'll want to stay away from things that add extra complexity, like don't use water cooling on your first build.

 

Also you'll want to read and watch videos about applying thermal compound to the CPU.  The application method will vary based on the CPU package, the heatsink mount, etc.  I would say this is the only part of the build process that requires some finesse and technique but you can't screw it up too badly.  Back in the day, CPU's could literally catch fire if they weren't cooled.  Not any more.  They will automatically monitor their own temperature and throttle or shut down to prevent any damage.  If you screw up the heatsink installation, the CPU will either not work at full speed or will shut down.  That's it.  No fires.  No explosions.

 

 

[Hyperstrike]

That's the thing about decent calculators, you can basically spec for maximum wear and tear.
You'll wind up with a SLIGHTLY beefier PSU.  But it's not like you will need 450W and it's going to tell you to buy a 1500W unit.

[Clave Dark 5]

On 10/22/2019 at 7:21 AM, Xeres said:

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.

I know enough to be able to assemble a computer, I've done that before, and added in an extra HD.  I've no idea if my PC has a M.2 slot or not, is there some way to check?

 

2GB is plenty of space.  Unlike a lot of people, I don't store all sorts of music, movies, etc. on my PC.  I'm not sure how much space I currently have, but I'm only using maybe 20% of it for all the cat photos I have, ha ha.  Troubleshooting my own PC is something of a risk to rely on; I'd essentially be doing what I hear a heck of a lot of IT people do, just Googling the symptoms for possible answers.  🙂

[Seigmoraig]

3 hours ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

2GB is plenty of space. 

Just to be sure, 2GB is 16x less than the amount of storage on most phones. I you guys meant TB, then honestly I wouldn't recommend a 2TB SSD, they are way too expensive currently. Get a 250-500Gb SSD and pair it with a 2TB HDD for storage that will run you like 40$

 

 

3 hours ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

I've no idea if my PC has a M.2 slot or not, is there some way to check?

Motherboards have only had M.2 slots for a few years now, it's only now becoming standard. You can also have a PCI-e adapter to get an M.2 drive in any PC, just slot it next to your video card

This is a M.2 on a motherboard

 

This is a M.2 adapter for a PCI-e slot, they run around 10-20$

Edited October 24, 2019 by Seigmoraig

[Xeres]

4 hours ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

I know enough to be able to assemble a computer, I've done that before, and added in an extra HD.  I've no idea if my PC has a M.2 slot or not, is there some way to check?

 

2GB is plenty of space.  Unlike a lot of people, I don't store all sorts of music, movies, etc. on my PC.  I'm not sure how much space I currently have, but I'm only using maybe 20% of it for all the cat photos I have, ha ha.  Troubleshooting my own PC is something of a risk to rely on; I'd essentially be doing what I hear a heck of a lot of IT people do, just Googling the symptoms for possible answers.  🙂

OK, great.  Yes we actually are talking TB not GB.

 

To determine if your motherboard has a m.2 slot you'll need to open the case and hopefully have a manual of your motherboard and see where the m.2 slot should be and then determine if your motherboard has it.  I don't remember when m.2 started becoming prevalent - maybe the last 2 years?

 

So yeah, I think getting a 1 TB SSD (whether it's sata or m.2 - depending on what your motherboard is capable of) is the best way to go. 

 

Should space become an issue down the road my suggestion is a NAS - with RAID 1.  Nothing extremely fancy and they can be costly but I got one a few years ago and it's one of the best items I've purchased (computer-wise) in years.