Computer selection - please advice

[ArtMech]

Or buy me an airline ticket to the EU and I'll get on hardforums for you:laughing::laughing:

I'd better wish you to come here so we'd have some fun together. :thumbsup::laughing:

 

[Western]

:laughing: The guy's on that forum crack me up, they are good at "tech" and take it purdy darn serious, but they love helping folks out. They spot problems with builds fast and are grweat at giving you great alternative to components.

 

[dmccarty]

....
I dont know that PSU, I would double check if I where you on the quality of that brand. PSU is often over looked for quality and a big problem area for PC troubles.
Antec, Corsair, Seasonic, Enermax make great PSU's and get one that is Gold or Silver certified, cot more, but that's the heart of your PC bad PSU can fry a PC.
...

Plus a Billion. Remember I had a power supply in a local built PC catch on fire. Seeing flames shooting out the back of the power supply will wake you up quick. Spend some money on the power supply.

If going for a locally built system, make sure the case is one of the good ones. Get a case that supports multiple size mother boards and allows easy access to the system components. Once you have a good power supply and case, you can just swap out mother boards and drives as needed.

Later,
Dan

 

[ArtMech]

If going for a locally built system, make sure the case is one of the good ones. Get a case that supports multiple size mother boards and allows easy access to the system components. Once you have a good power supply and case, you can just swap out mother boards and drives as needed.

Later,
Dan

Although it was named a manufacturer Chieftec, but in reality it is a Corsair 600 W PSU in that 6th version. I've found out that later with them.
While checking the Dell desktops, I've noticed many versions have 300-350 W of power. Maybe it's good enough for current versions installed, economical, but it won't fit correctly upgraded ones. We also had a talk about it with the Dell seller. It's normal, that they can't change anything.
And I've learned your lesson concerning the fire you had. :firefighter: Oh yeah, you were really lucky that day thanks to the rain.
Yes, we spoked about a case too with another company (1a.lt). Current case (below) probably will not fit, 'cause there is no place for USB 3.0 ports at the front. Good point on the access to the components.

http://www.1a.lt/images/upload/000037/11575649xl.jpg

Dennis, thank you for pushing me to register to the Hardforums, I'm really intrested in that. :laughing: Just right after I'll be ready. Have read a few threads there. Great.

 

[Western]

Good deal, better to ask then find out later!! Hardforums has some great guy's and info and if you let them, they will help you put the perfect PC together for you. Then build it yourself or have the custom shop do it.

Nice thing about custom ,no crapware on your PC.

On PCU's, most general manufacturers use halfassed, junk in their mainstream PC's, psu is often where the skimp. You can paymore for better like Alienware ect tra, but you get what you pay for in most desktops.

Dan is 100% right on the case, spend some there and use it forever, a good case will run from $100 up US. One with filters for the fan can save you $$ too in the long run.

 

[ArtMech]

Hardforums has some great guy's and info and if you let them, they will help you put the perfect PC together for you. Then build it yourself or have the custom shop do it.

One with filters for the fan can save you $$ too in the long run.

Hardforums advice and help will be exactly what I'll need when the idea of custom computer will start to be realized. Right now I'm nearly to end my net search in Poland. Nothing special I could find there, at least what I'm thinking I need according to my vision.
I didn't know the filters could be installed on a fan. It's a good decision.

 

[Western]

The filters are on the PC cases. Here is the one I have. Corsair Graphite Series 600T CC600TM Mid-Tower, Corsair Graphite Series 600T CC600TM Mid-Tower Gaming Case - Newegg.com If you read throught the specks, you will see there are removable filters in front (intake) and in the rear for the PSU

FWIW, out of curiosity I tried to find the OEM for Chieftec PSU's found this quote, seams if it's a turbo or GPS model your good to go. They are not Seasonic's, but are supplied by the same manufacture from what I was able to find out.

"Chieftecs are either

1...Channel Well (Chieftec Turbos)
2...Delta (Chieftec GPS-series)
3...Sirtec (Chieftec APS and some others)

I rate them from best to worst in that order. I'd trust the Channel Wells and Deltas. Sirtecs I've only had bad units of, but they were Thermaltake (Purepowers). I have three Delta made Chieftecs (400 and 550W), 2 to 3 years old and they work fine.

Corsair source their PSUs from Seasonic and Channel Well. Antecs Signature series are Delta and have recieved rave reviews. Don't just look at the brand, find out who the OEM is. "

 

[dmccarty]

One with filters for the fan can save you $$ too in the long run.

Oh, man, I forgot about the case filters! That is really important! :duh: I burnt up a graphics card in one of my systems and I think it was because of dust. We have one dog now but we have had as many as three big dogs in the house and they seem to produce quite a bit of dander/dust. I think that graphics card burnt out because of dust. The brand name system did not have filters.

My current HP desktop does not have filters either. I noticed the fan was getting really noisy a year or so ago and I opened up the case. The CPU fan was full of dust. :shocked: Cleaned it up and it was quiet again. The cases I have in my wishlist on NewEgg have plenty of filters and can run quite a few fans.

Later,
Dan

 

[Western]

Dan, you got that right, enough dust for long enough may ruin the bearings in a cheap fan!! I have 9 fans in my case right now, the case I mentioned earlier.

 

[ArtMech]

Good deal, better to ask then find out later!! Hardforums has some great guy's and info and if you let them, they will help you put the perfect PC together for you. Then build it yourself or have the custom shop do it.

Nice thing about custom ,no crapware on your PC.

OK, so my drama continues :laughing::laughing:
Don't know, why but my registration to the Hardforums failed. It's 10 days now since I tried to register and got the negatve answer (to be concidered as a spam). Have sent an e-mail to them and got no response yet.

Well but I'm not doing nothing. Found a nice guy in one more shop (KK Kilobaitas) with 14 years of experience. To my doubt am I not disturbing him, maybe better to send an e-mail with questions, he answered: "no, no!" Vice versa, he likes to talk first while finding out customer needs. And that is EXACTLY what I need too according to my understanding of sales/purchase policy as described in one of the previous replay.

So, to shorten the write up I tried to select the following one (will name it as 7th) Kompiuteris "EVOLIUCINIS i7" / Intelｮ Core

NAME: EVOLIUCINIS_i7
PROCESSOR: Intelｮ Core i7-3770K UNLOCKED 3.5~4.5Ghz 22nm (NEW 3rd generation Ivy Bridge family 4 core processor)
MOTHERBOARD: Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H or MSI Z77A-G41 (NEW Intelｮ Z77 chip for the 3rd generation processors) / USB3.0 / SATA 6GB
MAIN MEMORY: 8GB 1600Mhz (2x 4GB) Dual channel DDR3 KINGSTON HYPER-X
HDD (GB): 2000GB SATA3.0(6GB) 7200RPM
VGA: MSI NVIDIAｮ GeForce GTX660OC 2GB or Radeonｮ HD7850 2GB DDR5 SAPPHIRE/MSI (ask at sales desk for the VGA available)
NIC INTEGRATED: GbE LAN (10/100/1000 Mbit)
CASE: Aerocool Strike-X One
PSU: 700W ATX Silent 120mm
OPTICAL DRIVE: DVD+-RW 22x SATA
INTEGRATED MEMORY CARD READER: available
AUDIO CARD: 7.1 CH HD Audio / Realtek ALC887 codec
JUNCTIONS: 2x USB3.0 + 4xUSB 2.0 gale, 3xUSB 2.0 priekyje, PS/2, RJ-45, audio output at the front, S/PDIF, HDMI, DVI, VGA, HDMI
OS: not included
WARRANTY: 24-36 months
PRODUCT code: 120919_c/ EVOLIUCINIS i7
PRICE: $1086

The guy asked me to come back on Wednesday (when he'll have more time), and we will together select all the components I really need for my work, but not for my imagination. Although he has mentioned above desktop on stock and could sell it to me, but according to my requirements seems it must be a bit different unit, so we'd both be satisfied from our points of view. Examples, i7-3770K I wouldn't need, better without "K", what means not much, just a bit boosted, but tangible more costly. Same with GTX 660 OC, but in this case if a bit more costly, than better "Ti". Then SSD etc.
To my question about filter, he said never thought about it although he has a dog at home. I asked, maybe he has a dog who never moults? :shocked::shocked: He looked at me ironically showing he doesn't understand what I'm saying. :laughing:

OK. You fellows must be sick of my write ups. I'm not asking for your help or comparisons anymore. This is just for your info including those, who are looking for new computers and have same issues like me. I'm really thankful for the advices you already gave me and for the questions about devices you guys trained me to ask at the shops. I will continue sharing the info up to the final result.

 

[troutsqueezer]

Honestly, unless your needs are very specific, like extensive video processing or extreme CAD situations, my impression is you are over-thinking it. Any of the systems you have brought to light so far will likely do just fine for you. If you find a shortcoming in one component, you can always upgrade just that component. Just stay away from AMD processors (coming from a retired Intel employee and current stockholder)

 

[dmccarty]

OK, so my drama continues :laughing::laughing:....

I would tell you to buy the danged computer already!

Except I have not bought mine either! :laughing::laughing::laughing:

I do not like to spend money. No, I do not!

I have been tracking the price of the laptop I think I will buy and the price moves from 10-28% off list price. Usually 10-25%. Over the weekend, there was a sale that was 25% off that ended Monday. They extended the sale to the end of the month but the price was ONLY 20% off. :laughing::laughing::laughing: This allows me to procrastinate even more!

However, last night I was thinking of another reason to have the new system and I kinda, almost, sorta, maybe, wished I had ordered the systems over the weekend. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Sounds like the new store is going to work a closely with you to go over the exact components and specification you might need. That is good. I am still debating with myself on some of the features I want/need and these are not always easy choices.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

Someone just sent me this link.

System Build - PCPartPicker It allows you to select components to build a system and it lists the cheapest place to buy the parts. You really have to know what parts you want to buy thought but you already have the list. I don't know if the price will help you but they components are rated which is interesting.

Later,
Dan

 

[ArtMech]

... my impression is you are over-thinking it...

But Dan says it's correct to go over the components :confused3:. Moreover nearly all the guys advise to think about each bloody computer part, nearly in each reply :confused3:. I don't like this job, but I'm just obedient to all of the nice advisers here. :confused3: Including you, Dennis. :confused3:

And still I do not regret! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[Western]

Your making good progress and I agree about not needing the "K", that is for overclocking and you really wont need that with 4 cores. Also when using overclocks, your PC temps can be higher, so cooling becomes more important. Dont think you need the Overclocked VGA either..for what your doing.

Price looks far on that build. I would get the WIN 7 64 bit OS for sure.

 

[ArtMech]

Someone just sent me this link.

System Build - PCPartPicker It allows you to select components to build a system and it lists the cheapest place to buy the parts. You really have to know what parts you want to buy thought but you already have the list. I don't know if the price will help you but they components are rated which is interesting.

Later,
Dan

Your list is very helpful, I've checked each component to that list. My "final" :laughing: main parts' list yesterday was as follows:
1. Processor: Intel Core i7-3770 Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I73770 - Newegg.com
2. Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V PRO Intel Motherboard - Newegg.com
3. Memory: Kingston HyperX 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model KHX16C9/8 - Newegg.com
4. SSD: OCZ Vertex 4 VTX4-25SAT3-128G Solid State Drive - Newegg.com
5. Hard Drive: Western Digital WD Black WD1002FAEX Internal Hard Drive - Newegg.com
6. Video Card: GIGABYTE GV-N66TWF2-2GD GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - Newegg.com
7. PSU: VS Series
But today I was friendly asked by a salesman to wait for 1.5-2 more weeks. Why? See just below, in the answer to Dennis.

Your making good progress and I agree about not needing the "K", that is for overclocking and you really wont need that with 4 cores. Also when using overclocks, your PC temps can be higher, so cooling becomes more important. Dont think you need the Overclocked VGA either..for what your doing.

Price looks far on that build. I would get the WIN 7 64 bit OS for sure.

Thank you But my salesman is going to go to the conference where the new generation of processors HASWELL will be introduced which will replace IVY BRIDGE family.
Haswell (microarchitecture) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Soon thereafter (max 2 weeks later) these new processors will be dropped in the market here, a guy confirmed. He said their cost insrease in about $25-$40 comparing to current Ivy Bridge price. Motherboard will be also different. So it's better to wait for the news to come.
Knowing nothing what can I do else, I agreed to wait. :confused3:

Dan, my final parts list yesterday is equalized to total suspense of order today. :confused2:

 

[troutsqueezer]

I worked on Haswell before I left Intel. I'm sure you realize that right on the heels of Haswell, already well on the path to production, is a host of processors even more powerful and energy efficient, right? As soon as you bite the bullet, there will be another, better product for sale. That's the nature of the business. That's one reason why I stated you might be over-thinking this.

 

[ArtMech]

I worked on Haswell before I left Intel. I'm sure you realize that right on the heels of Haswell, already well on the path to production, is a host of processors even more powerful and energy efficient, right? As soon as you bite the bullet, there will be another, better product for sale. That's the nature of the business. That's one reason why I stated you might be over-thinking this.

Dennis, how could I disagree with you? I'm sure you knew that coming. Same goes in car business. And in many others. It's a simple coincidence something new in IT came on at the time when I need to purchase it. You could see I was not hunting. I'm only a poor swimmer in a wildwater looking for a riverside rock to grab so to get out of it. :laughing::laughing:

 

[ArtMech]

Sorry guys for incorrect forecast. My salesman was very optimistic, but later on he has corrected the Haswell date of introduction here. Now it'll be June in my area. Motherboard issue is unknown yet.
One of the shops already has a desktop for sale I (would) need - i7-3770, GTX660, PSU750W... But I refused on behalf of Haswell. I'd be glad if you'll kill me if I'm wrong.
I'll keep you informed on the process as promised.

 

[dmccarty]

I ordered my laptop earlier this month and it showed up earlier than expected on Friday morning. I patiently waited until I was off the clock and got some other stuff done with the kids to open the box. Woo HOO!!!

Boy, did they $%^&*()_ up the system. The power supply has a two pronged connector that fits into the laptop. The laptop connection is round and the two prong plug will not fit. After a couple of hours talking to the company I realized that the laptop had the connection for a lower wattage power supply. I remembered that my old work supplied laptops had the round connector which were at least 65 and 135 watts. The new models are 170 watts. Looking at online reviews I found a photo that confirmed the connection should accept the two pronged plug so I have the right power supply but the laptop was not built correctly. :confused3::shocked:

HOW they managed to $%^&*() that up is worrisome. :confused2: After I realized what was wrong, I spent more time getting a return number. They scheduled a pickup at our house and said I would be sent labels to put on the box. Well, the email never was sent so I spent more time on the phone today getting the email then I took a bunch of photos of the problem and the system packaged up including the labels. What a PITA. We have bought quite a few laptops over the years from this company for our family and thankfully this is the only time there has been a mistake.

At this point I have wasted a good five hours dealing with this mess. Not really happy about that lost time since I had better things to do. Monday I am going to call up and see if I can get a new order for the same configuration with the price adjusted to reflect their FUBAR. I doubt I will get a price reduction but I am surely going to try. Interestingly, they would not allow me to escalate to a manager on Friday. We shall see what happens on Monday when I try to order a new system.

All in all, of the three things that go delivered on Friday, if one of them had to be messed up, I am glad it was the laptop otherwise we would have had some unhappy kids. I would rather have to deal with this nonsense than have my kids disappointed.

Later,
Dan