So I am looking to get a new desktop cause I have am old AMD Sempron running Win7 64-bit and Nvidia GeForce 210 w/ 512meg on-board, and 4gig ram. I want to get something awesome but for a really good price. Like using some of my collage money kind of price. Any opinions? I was looking at the Alienware Area-51 desktop but after I customized it, it ran a little under $8,000. Yeah right.
Avoid Alienware or any other preformed company like the plague, when Alienware was bought out they went to a utter pile of sheit. Your best off building the system yourself, its cheaper and you get a real sense of accomplishment from it any time you turn it on or show it off. Lets say you are working with a 2,000$ Limit, here are a few suggestions for components. So you know these prices are Canadian, you will have to look up local prices yourself. CBPO = Current Best Price Online The links are to the manufacturers website. 1. The Tower, the outer shell of your new toy. This is one of the more important pieces due to it not only contains your gear but also helps with protecting, cooling and showing off your gear. I personally only use Coolermaster, just for style, ease of use and cooling options. Here are 3 of my favs: A) Coolermaster CM690 II Advance: CBPO - 79.99 (http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?category_id=19&product_id=2970) This is what I have. B) Coolermaster H A F X EATX Tower: CBPO - 164.70 (http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?category_id=18&product_id=2988) This is a BEAST C) Coolermaster's COSMOS S: CBPO - 224.99 (http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?product_id=2692) This is the big boy, its freaking HUGE There a tons of other options out there, Thermaltake, Antec, Corsair, etc etc. It all comes down to what you prefer and like. Always read the reviews though, some cases that look amazing are total shit. So be wary. 2. Power Supply, the thing that gives your system juice. Never skimp out on the power supply, the better the supply, the better your system will treat you. Always think one step ahead when it comes to this part, think 5 years down the road with this be still usable and does it have enough cables? Lots of options for this but here are 2 of top ones online and one personal fav. A) Coolermaster Silent Pro 850W Fully Modular Power Supply: CBPO - 104.69 (http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?product_id=2948) This is what I have, always recommend this PS. B) Corsair Professional Series Gold AX850 850W Fully Modular 80PLUS Gold Power Supply: CBPO - 193.77 (http://www.corsair.com/power-supply-units/professional-series-gold-power-supply-units/ax850.html) Amazing reviews online and Corsair is known for decent PS's C) Antec High Current Pro 850W PFC 80 Plus Gold SLI Modular Power Supply: CBPO - 159.99 (http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?id=NzA0MzM3) Never used this company myself but a few of my friends rave about them, good online reviews as well. 3. The Motherboard, the piece that brings it all together. This is where you have to choose what socket (Processor) you want in your system, do you want to go with Intel or AMD. I myself prefer AMD mainly due to price point, I will list my top 3 for AMD (Socket AM3) and Intel (Socket LGA1366) though. This is IMO the most important part due to look, what it will hold/do and NUMEROUS other points to consider. Main thing is always updatability, will it be useful down the road and will it have decent resale value. I1) ASUS Sabertooth X58 LGA1366 DDR3 CrossFireX SLI 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 PCI USB 3.0 Motherboard: CBPO - 184.69 (http://ca.asus.com/en/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1366/SABERTOOTH_X58/) I like ASUS, they are what I use in all my builds I2) Gigabyte X58A-UD3R ATX LGA1366 X58 DDR3 4PCI-E SATA3 USB3.0 Sound GLAN CrossFireX SLI Motherboard: CBPO - 189.69 (http://ca.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3449#ov) Never used them myself but good online reviews and my friends speak highly of them. I3) EVGA X58 FTW3 ATX LGA1366 DDR3 3PCIE-16 PCI-E1 2PCI SLI SATA3 USB3.0 Dual GBLAN Motherboard: CBPO - 239.23 (http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=132-GT-E768-KR&family=Motherboard Family&series=Intel X58 Series Family&sw=5) This company is the "Bad Boy" of the Intel world (So I am told), good looking setup and decent reviews A1) ASUS M5A99X Evo ATX AM3+ DDR3 AMD 990X 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 1PCI USB3.0 SATA3 GBLAN Motherboard: CBPO - 149.79 (http://ca.asus.com/en/Motherboards/AMD_AM3Plus/M5A99X_EVO/) All I can say is "I LOVE THIS BOARD", this will be my next upgrade to my system. I have the previous version of it. A2) MSI 990FXA-GD80 ATX AM3+ 990FX DDR3 4PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 1PCI SLI CrossFire SATA3 USB3.0 Motherboard: CBPO - 219.99 (http://us.msi.com/product/mb/990FXA-GD80.html) Lots of decent ratings online, don't know the company though A3) ASUS Crosshair V Formula AM3+ DDR3 ATX AMD 990FX 4PCI-E16 1PCI CrossFireX 6 SATA 6GB/S Motherboard: CBPO - 229.69 (http://ca.asus.com/en/Motherboards/AMD_AM3Plus/Crosshair_V_Formula/) This is the current "Bad boy" of the AM3+ World, lots of features and great reviews. Part 1 complete
4. The Processor or CPU, this is completely up to you. There is LOADS of options out there, you have 2 main branches though. You are either going Intel or AMD, this may seem a little daunting but really its not. It comes down to a few simple factors, cost, speed and socket (775, 1366, AM2, AM3 Etc). A. Cost: AMD beats Intel hands down, no one can argue that. B. Speed: Intel beats AMD in most things, except gaming. C. Socket: Is the socket still valid? Is there a major change coming for the sockets (Do your research)? Intel likes to make completely new CPU Sockets, making you update most of your components (Mobo, RAM etc). AMD tries to make there new CPU Sockets backwards compatible, eg: AM4 = AM3/AM3+/AM4 Mobo, AM3 = AM2/AM2+/AM3 Mobo etc etc. 5. RAM, this is all based of what your board will support. Most Mobo's will have a QVL (Qualified Vendor List) with them that will tell what RAM is support for the Mobo. When it comes to RAM there are TONS of options, to many to go into in detail but there are a few things you should know: A. Almost all Mobo's are now DDR3, make sure you read the RAM type to verify its not DDR2 or lower. B. DDR3 Memory comes in 2 types, Triple Channel RAM (3 Sticks) and Dual Channel RAM (2 Sticks). READ THE MOBO MANUAL OR SPECS, it will tell you which type you need. This is based mainly off the socket for the CPU on the Mobo This is my rule of thumb for RAM "If you wont use it, don't get it" What that means is if you are not doing MASSIVE Video and Music editing, you don't need 16+ Gigs of RAM. Don't waste the money, 4-6 Gigs is more then good enough for your average user/gamer. 5. Harddrive/Internal Storage, this will dictate how much crap you can put onto your system. For this there is plenty of options as well, I always use Western Digital drives for any system I use or build. There are a few things you need to look at for this before going gung hoe on that 8 TB's of internal storage, here is a short list of things to consider: A. As previously stated "Will you use it?". Have a lot of internal storage is not always needed, using external storage drives for important stuff (Family pics, video etc) is always good because you can put them into a fireproof safe and if something happens (Fire, Computer stolen, HD Fails) you have a backup. B. SSD versus Mechanical. SSD's (Solid State Drives) are amazingly fast for reading and pretty good for writing, they also deteriorate the more they are written and modified on. I recommend using a small SSD (60 to 120 GB) for your OS Drive, you only put the OS on it due to the OS is the one program on your system that is least likely to be modified often. Mechanical Drive, this is the one with the moving parts inside. These are the standard and most companies have 3 standards for them, I will use WD's as an example. Top line is the Black line (Fast, Loud and runs hot), Standard is the Blue Line (Standard all around, my fav) and Econo is the Green Line (Recommended for STORAGE ONLY!), each has its perks and problems. I recommend using a 1 or 2 TB Black or Blue for internal storage and frequently used games/programs. You can also put other programs on the OS Drive drive if you wish to speed up the load times (Adobe Elements, Corel VS Pro X4), just remember to store the library's for said programs on your internal mechanical drive Another thing to remember is the connection for the drive, is it SATA, PATA etc etc. Most drives are SATA2 or 3, if the Mobo you choose has SATA3 its backwards compatible with SATA2, difference is read/write speed. SATA3 is almost 3 times faster then SATA2, both SSD and Mech have both options. (If you want more info on HD's just ask) Part 2 Complete
...or go for an iMac 27" with Quad-core i7 processors and 16 Go of ram. Empty the box, plug the power cord in the wall and you're set! Dunno what prices are elsewhere, but mine set me back something like $2,800 CAN including OS and other software plus 2 years of AppleCare (cheaper configurations available). Pretty awesome machine. I know that the prices are 10-20% better if you pick from the refurbished/repacked/cancelled-order section of the Apple Store (warranty and what not exactly as if you bought a new one). As for software & games & stuff, I heard from the friend of a friend of a friend's friend's cousin's girlfriend's neighbor that it's really easy to DL all the latest and coolest programs and games since Mac community loves to share and the OS isn't open to 1% of the viral threats present in PC DLs (list of DLed/cracked stuff available on demand).
Thx Dev. No I will never own a Mac. I did tech support for them and I will never touch one unless I become a music artist. And I can't play instruments.
Mac is for idiots that cant think for themselves or have more money then brains, don't bother saying "Mac hater!" or "PC Fanboy". I worked for Mac and know the components used in them, for the prices you pay.... Its not worth it. Your paying for the right to use a fairly simple to use and decent idiot proof OS. You want the OS, just make a Hackintosh. As to the whole virus thing..... Seriously, you ain't that gullible are you? It because there isn't enough of them in use for it to be a prime target, seriously though? Who is going to put all the time and effort into a peice of mal/spy/virus ware to effect less then 15% of global users? . THAT IS THE ONLY REASON, trust me, there is no magic anti-anything. Almost all security settings on any Mac (10.6 or less. Don't know about Lion, haven't ripped it apart yet.) are EASILY bypassed with a few simple commands in a very easy to access mode on almost all Mac's Only real good thing about Mac, is Apple Care. It fucking rocks, unless your system breaks. Then it can be a little more.... Difficult LOL Also most PC Components come with a STANDARD 3-5 Year Warranty and some with lifetime ones But hey, what do I know? I haven't been building and servicing systems (Both Mac and PC) for almost 15 years..... OHHH WAIT! Yeah.... I have.
