Thoughts on this computer?
polycounter lvl 18
It's been 10 yrs since I last bought a pc.. Guess it's 'bout time to pick up a new one
It'll mostly be used as a workstation. Viewport performance is important, as well as render speeds.
Being able to play new games again is a bonus!
Thoughts on this one? Am i missing out on some must-haves? Would you choose something else @ that budget? etc..
http://pc.ncix.com/ncixpc_new/ncixpc.cfm?uuid=BEDDE810-1841-4B92-8C8D6E5F5CBDECE7-5789978
(I have no building knowledge, so grabbing separate components is not much of an option for me)
It'll mostly be used as a workstation. Viewport performance is important, as well as render speeds.
Being able to play new games again is a bonus!
Thoughts on this one? Am i missing out on some must-haves? Would you choose something else @ that budget? etc..
http://pc.ncix.com/ncixpc_new/ncixpc.cfm?uuid=BEDDE810-1841-4B92-8C8D6E5F5CBDECE7-5789978
(I have no building knowledge, so grabbing separate components is not much of an option for me)
Replies
Unless you plan to do crazy overclocking (or are super anal retentive about system noise) there is no need for watercooling etc, (and watercooling in itself is a risk, what if it leaks all over your hardware?)
The general specs there are quite good, its just that you can get the same performance and pay a lot less for it.
-edit, sorry I didn't see the fine print, even if you can't/don't want to build your own, you should be able to find a similarly speced pre-built system for less. Sorry I can't give any recommendations there as I build my own systems.
there are dozens of really great tutorials out there that are step by step (Newegg's come to mind). I hardly had any knowledge of what different components were even called but I managed to build my rig with no major problems. if I had bought a pre-made rig with the same specs it would have been almost twice the price
In any case, just for the sake of running the numbers...
I used the pcpicker website to see how much it would cost if I just grabbed the same components and built it myself.
http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/3DrRe
less than a $100 difference, unless I'm missing something here?
Yeah the only reason I'd buy a pre-made computer, and am going to buy a pre-made computer is watercooling. I really can't be arsed doing that, specially when it's the whole system.
It says 16GB on mine.
Ah yeah its less of a difference than I thought, I was thinking the 4770 and the 780 cost a bit less than they do, that price is actually very good for a pre-built system.
You could trim a bit here and there but it won't make a huge difference.
Disregard previous advice.
Yeah, that would be the last thing I'd want to have happen.
I'd be content with just the normal heatsink that comes with the cpu.
Let that soak in and marinate for a minute.
Get a cheaper case and save $50 easily. When you build your own you can manage getting the best bang for you buck a lot better.
Though I have to agree with the statement that it's not hard to build the system yourself. Today there are many good videos on this subjet.
Btw: does it have to be a mATX case and a CPU that you can overclock? If not you can save a lot of money: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/3DDvf or you could go directly with 32Gbyte memory.
Difference to your build: Xeon 1230v3 (-$90), ASUS H87 board (-$58 ), Crucial 240 GByte SSD (+$10), non hybrid 2TByte Seagate HDD (-$40), noise dampened ATX case (-$50), 80 plus gold PSU which is nearly silent even under full load (+$35).
Overall -$222
Get a good aftermarket heatsink and the pc is really quiet. Here is a good video about building a similar build in the same case (from a well known canadian guy - actually from british columbia like you, maybe he could build the pc for you, hehe): [ame="
Yeah, I would skip the watercooling unless you really know what you're doing and know how to maintain such a system. Again if you're not going to overclock, and having a totally silent system isn't a goal, you can get by with standard air cooling.
If you're not OCing, you can also pick some slightly different components, a lower end motherboard, the non "K" version o the I7 (I7s overclock automatically when needed, the K version is unlocked so you can push them even further).
But even then these changes won't make a huge difference, you can change a variety of components here and probably drop $200 at max. To really cut it you would have to go down from a 780 to a 770 or 760 TI.
770 gives you 77% of the performance of the 780, but at about 62% of the cost, so a little better value, this would be the easiest place to cut off a couple hundred dollars. But you're getting less performance, and if you only buy a computer once every 10 years, you can easily justify paying a little more to get a bit more performance now.
The cost is probably similar for here.
Not completely sure on the difference between the xeon v3 and i7. I understand that they use the same architecture?, but perhaps one of them runs on less wattage or is more reliable?
Thanks for the vid, i'll have a look at it over lunch.
(Edit: Thanks Earthquake. Looks like we posted at exactly the same minute. :icon60: A lower-end motherboard along with a 3770 might be more reasonable in my case)
Xeons do not have the on-board video chip, which you do not need seeing as you will use a dedicated GPU. So generally you can go with a similar spec Xeon for less money. Xeons are also meant to be rock solid/stable, so its a good choice for a workstation.
In this case though, the closest performing Xeon is basically the same price (Intel Xeon E3-1270 v3).
No problem. I actually checked after initially posting and I think the 3770 and 4770 is at basically the same price, you'll save like $30 or something, so again not really a big deal.
Look for an H87 vs the Z87 motherboard if you're not OCing, you might save $50 or so there.
Yeah well... YOUR BEARD IS TOO SHORT.
:icon60:Thanks for mentioning that, Skamander & Earthquake
The h87 might lack the SLI capability, at least the MSI version does. I don't mind spending a little more here for the future prospect of tossin' in an extra GPU
Anything else that I should pay attention to or add?
ZacD:: yeah.. I'll go with the larger SSD
I'll be heading down to the store tomorrow afternoon...
Also, if you think about it, lets say 3 years down the road, you can pick up another identical card (if you can find one), for an unknown amount of money, or you could just buy a modern card that will be 2-3x faster than your current one at the same price or less than you originally paid.
I always advise against spending extra money for OCing, SLI, or anything you "might" do in the future. If you're going to do it for sure, spend the money, if not, save the money. Personally every time I've purchased things with that mentality I never do the "maybe someday" thing. So now I only buy what I know I will use today.
If you don't mind paying more than ~$270 I would go with the mainstream CPU 4770 or 4770K (the Xeon 1270v3 would be ~$30-60 more compared to the 4770er without giving you more power). Also keep in mind that the integrated GPU can be useful if your dedicated card should ever malfunction. It can help you bridge the time until the dedicated GPU is RMA'd.
Btw: found out that you can choose every part that you want at ncix and if you add this to the shopping cart: http://www.ncix.com/detail/pc-assembly-and-testing-with-6c-7842.htm they build and test the pc for you (+$50).
EDIT 1: +1 for EQs last post. Absolutely agree with that.
EDIT 2: I hope I don't make your decision harder with saying this: one nice feature of Z87 boards is that you can set a fix turbo clock for the CPU (some H87 boards have that function as well, but Intel isn't amused about that which could mean that the feature gets removed with a patch) - even with Xeons. This means all cores can run at the max turbo clock of your CPU instead of only 1. For example the 4770 has normaly 3400 Mhz on all cores, but with a fixed turbo the 4770 becomes a CPU with 3900 Mhz on all cores.