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Old 04-28-2014, 06:57 PM  
lewdog lewdog is offline
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New Desktop Tower
I'm in need of a new desktop computer tower. I have a 20" Samsung monitor so I only need the tower. My current HP is about 7 years old and the display driver keeps crashing, even when uninstalling and installing again, it's running slow, and crashes multiple browsers on a consistent basis.

The max I want to spend is $500. I don't play games on it but I do stream sports. Other than that, I don't use it much for anything but browsing the net.

I'm not a tech guy so any help would be appreciated in pointing me to something that will perform well without breaking the bank.
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Old 05-04-2014, 07:19 AM   #106
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Originally Posted by lewdog View Post
We have a laptop and I want a tower for my office/man cave where my monitor and TV sit next to each other.
That's cool.


I hit the jackpot and got a fairly powerful Dell tower with Win 7 and an I5 for a little over 400.


BUT, it was during Christmas and Black whatever day online. You did the right thing by asking these guys, they really know what they are talking about.
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Old 05-04-2014, 08:30 AM   #107
lewdog lewdog is offline
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Originally Posted by htismaqe View Post
If that's the case, why not invest in something a little more powerful then?

When you're talking about low-end computers, there's really no reason to get a desktop, even if that's ideally what you need in your physical space.

Desktops are all about performance, IMO.
I will also say $500 isn't a max budget but just a rough figure. What about the link Hometeam posted on the last page? What do I look for specifically in terms of "performance" criteria when reviewing all these towers?
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Old 05-04-2014, 08:38 AM   #108
htismaqe htismaqe is offline
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I will also say $500 isn't a max budget but just a rough figure. What about the link Hometeam posted on the last page? What do I look for specifically in terms of "performance" criteria when reviewing all these towers?
The one hometeam post is great. If you're not dead set on staying under $500 though, you could always go back to some of the other ideas, like the ones kccrow was kicking around.

One example would be to use a higher-performance processor and add even more memory. This would help future-proof you, as they mentioned.

Another example - go with a dedicated video card vs. integrated graphics. It's more expensive but it can afford much better performance in the long run and it's easier to fix/upgrade if you ever need it because it's just a card rather than built in to the CPU.

And if you're dead set on a desktop, I would absolutely invest in an external hard drive to backup and store your data...
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Old 05-04-2014, 11:02 AM   #109
kccrow kccrow is offline
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lew,

Perhaps someone can correct me if I step out of line here, but I'll try to give you a run down of what I would do now that I've taken some time to think about this.

What you do now doesn't require a ton of performance. Performance matters most for higher end games, and you can research benchmarks on just about anything. Anandtech and Tom's Hardware are great places to start.

If I had to make recommendations, Intel is better than AMD in terms of CPU performance as you go up the ladder. Intel, though, is more expensive and in some cases the performance gains aren't great enough to offset price. What you do, streaming video is probably the most intensive thing you do, and that has a lot to do with CPU performance and not as much to do with GPU performance. I think you'd be better off getting a better CPU than go out and get a top of the line graphics card. CPU + Internet Bandwidth affects playable resolution. If you want to hit 1080p, you're going to have to have a better CPU. Intel's onboard HD chipset works great with Netflix, so I'd have to assume whatever else you're playing will as well.

I think you'd be happy going with an Intel Core i5 machine with no dedicated GPU at this juncture. For starters, as software developers begin to use more than 2 cores, you'll have some "future proof-ness" to your rig. I'd just make sure it has a PCIe x16 slot in the event you ever want to add a dGPU. I have a Core i5 4570 paired with an AMD HD 7850 GPU, and its a great setup, but that doesn't mean it is what you need right now. I will say, if you ever need to render OpenGL or want to take advantage of anything Adobe, you'd be best off going with an AMD based GPU, but it doesn't sound like that is something you do right now.

I know the target for RAM is 2GB per Core in the video realm. I'm not sure you HAVE to go with 8GB (the i5 is quad core) because it doesn't sound like you do anything too intense. 4GB should be sufficient. RAM will assist in rendering things faster, but won't affect playback quality with the exception of possible stuttering. If you do a lot of multitasking and work with large spreadsheets and/or databases, you may want to consider 8GB. You can get a system with an i5 and 4 or 8 GB Ram all day long for $600 or less.
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Old 05-04-2014, 11:22 AM   #110
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Here's an interesting option you might consider. A refurbished mac mini for $509. HDMI output for streaming to your TV included.
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Old 05-04-2014, 11:33 AM   #111
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Originally Posted by patteeu View Post
Here's an interesting option you might consider. A refurbished mac mini for $509. HDMI output for streaming to your TV included.
Ugh. I'm so not an Apple fan, but he might like. My opinion is if you want a Mac, buy a PC for a third the price and install Ubuntu, since Apple rips everything off from *Nix GPL anyhow.
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Old 05-04-2014, 11:46 AM   #112
lewdog lewdog is offline
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No Apple here but thanks for the suggestion.

I've bounced this off some tech buddies I know and they've said they'd help me build something over the phone if I buy something that needs putting together. They've given me some scenarios. I'll try to post them here in a few hours and let you guys weigh-in. Everyone's been a big help so far here.
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Old 05-04-2014, 12:03 PM   #113
lewdog lewdog is offline
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Scenarios from my Tech bros in real life. Keep in mind none of them live near me but said they'd help me put it together over the phone. Most recommend Intel for sure.

Scenarios #1
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3BXOq

Scenario #2
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3BYyU
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Old 05-04-2014, 12:05 PM   #114
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I just setup a couple of workstations with these: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-ins...20i3&cp=1&lp=1

Its a 4th Gen Core i3 (dual core with hyperthreading, so very much like an i5 chip) and runs quick, quiet and clean.

I also upgraded one with an SSD and buddy, that's great.
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Old 05-04-2014, 02:38 PM   #115
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Seriously, if all that you are going to do is internet and streaming, get a basic computer for cheap.

It even has an HDMI output, but the rest of the computer is limited as far as upgrading.

http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-36...-small-desktop


Whoops, it's windows 8. My bad.
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Old 05-04-2014, 06:07 PM   #116
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Ugh. I'm so not an Apple fan, but he might like. My opinion is if you want a Mac, buy a PC for a third the price and install Ubuntu, since Apple rips everything off from *Nix GPL anyhow.
Not true.
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Old 05-04-2014, 06:19 PM   #117
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Not true.
Apple's OSX is actually based on BSD which is a UNIX.

UNIX runs on RISC processors, which why OSX did not run on X86 for so long.
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Old 05-04-2014, 06:50 PM   #118
lewdog lewdog is offline
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My friends are convincing me to put one together and that they will help.

Any thoughts on the two scenarios I put up earlier?
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Old 05-04-2014, 09:49 PM   #119
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My friends are convincing me to put one together and that they will help.

Any thoughts on the two scenarios I put up earlier?
Nothing wrong with it IMO.

Try this one on for size lew... http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3E95r

This i3 is a tad bit more but it is 1 - Faster, and 2 - Has the HD 4600 graphics chipset instead of the HD 2500...

The other thing here is the MB, ASUS is a better manufacturer in my experience and they include on this board a GPU Boost that you can set through the UEFI that will enhance Intel's integrated graphics chipset, plus this board supports HD 4K if you ever go that route. It's just a slightly better build for a few more bucks. Plus, changing to this i3 requires the 1150 board instead of the 1155 board, so you'd have to pick another MB anyhow.

I used the 7200 RPM 1TB drive from your 2nd build rather than the 5400 RPM 750 GB drive from your 1st build because 1 - its faster, and 2 - its 1TB instead of 750 GB.

I picked GSkill RAM because they are a rock solid, awesome manufacturer that I have had a ton of great luck with compared to all others. Everything else is identical.
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Old 05-04-2014, 10:27 PM   #120
kccrow kccrow is offline
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Lew... If you do plan to build your own, watch something like this...
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