Time to Buy a New Computer. Want fast and reliable.

marty

1 MW
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
2,810
Location
Buffalo, New York USA
Just got back from Best Buy and Office Depot. Saw a lot of black shinny computers. They all look like cheap cheesy plastic.

Old computer is homemade by local computer place. (they are gone) Windows XP in a super tall sturdy beige tower. Was a fast computer in 2001.

Want new computer to be fast and reliable. Quiet is important. Don't want a lot of flashing lights. Want 2 or more USB ports on the front and lots more on the back. New big monitor also. Want a computer that will do Photoshop, Illustrator, CAD, video, and more, with newer programs in 5 or 10 years. Any suggestions or ideas will be greatly appreciated. Should I buy ready made or have it built?

$500 to $3000
 
Fast you will get if you are used to 2001 speed. No need to spend a lot to have a pretty fast computer now, with quite a few usb ports. Even the cheapies come with two in front and 4 or more in back. The dual core processors were the fast ones last year when I bought a new desktop. Now they may be cheap. They are all quieter nowdays too.

One thing that did piss me off when I upgraded last year was that my favorite photo program won't run on windows vista. Grr. and the schmucks at compupic seem to have no intention of putting out a version that will run on vista. So you might look at that, before you buy. I'da just bought a new hard drive for my old computer, running xp if I'd known compupic wouldn't run.
 
Even the off-lease $90 refurb boxes are pretty damn fast these days. From my perspective. I'm running some CAD stuff on one of those, I think its 2.8ghz 1gig ram etc. If were forced to buy new, I'd probably get like a $500 dell. "Low end" but still relatively smokin' fast. You could probably even get a decent LCD thrown in for that price. Plastic isn't necessarily a bad thing, I hate the old heavy steel cases.

On the quiet part, I think you'll have to diy something about that. Everything I've seen makes annoying fan/HDD noise. Add a few additional fans and undervolt them all to 7v or build a secondary enclosure.
 
dogman said:
Fast you will get if you are used to 2001 speed. No need to spend a lot to have a pretty fast computer now, with quite a few usb ports. Even the cheapies come with two in front and 4 or more in back. The dual core processors were the fast ones last year when I bought a new desktop. Now they may be cheap. They are all quieter nowdays too.

One thing that did piss me off when I upgraded last year was that my favorite photo program won't run on windows vista. Grr. and the schmucks at compupic seem to have no intention of putting out a version that will run on vista. So you might look at that, before you buy. I'da just bought a new hard drive for my old computer, running xp if I'd known compupic wouldn't run.

Torrent + dual boot. Or virtual computer, if you're so inclined (A virtual computer would "boot up" within Vista, so you'd have both OS's running simultaneously). if you need XP for one program, who cares about windows udpates?
 
I bought a Compaq Presario desktop SR5130NX for about $400 and it's been good for 3 years. I never turn it off and it's been pretty reliable except for a weird noise every now and then. I'm pretty happy with it overall.
 
I got one similar to this:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5633691&CatId=31

But It had windows 7 bundled, and I added 4 gig more ram and a second burner. It is a beast, never chokes on Anything. It came well documented for assembly if you are familiar with building your own. Even if you are not, its a great place to start if you think you are ready to try.

There are sometimes some pretty good deals in the bare bones sections of tiger direct. I pretty much stick with intel stuff because I'm more familiar with it, plus I know how to get support with tech issues.
 
Here is another option,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.354210

The Asus motherboard is ultra-high quality, has large passive heat sinks on everything to stay running cool and quiet. The Intel i5 750 (2.66 GHz Quad core) should take care of your needs for many years to come. The case is way overkill for cooling with four 120 to 140mm fans included and space for a fifth. It also comes with a fan controller to turn down the speeds to keep it quiet. I like how they put the power supply on the bottom so it don't have to suck the heat from the CPU which will keep the large 120mm power supply fan running slow and quiet. 4GB of memory should get you going but if you need more, there are another set of memory slots to fill.

I like the Asus board for the USB 3.0 which is great for very high speed external drives.

The kit does not come with an optical drive, you have to add the DVD-RW or Blu-Ray variants yourself. Another very fast video card that has 3 monitor outputs is the MSI Hawk Radeon R5770 ($150 to $200) It has a huge thermal pipe heat sink with two fans to keep it cool. (Adjust fan speed and noise through the software)
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. Here are some preliminary thoughts on parts and pieces to build a computer. Most parts are copied from a computer I saw on eBay. I never built a computer before. Who needs support from Dell? I can just bang my head on the wall when it don't work. What you all think about this computer?
P183_quarter.jpg
________________________________________________________________________________________________

Antec P183 Black Aluminum / Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Model #:p183
Item #:N82E16811129061
CASE
$179.99 -$30.00 Instant $149.99
________________________________________________________________________________________________

EVGA 141-BL-E757-TR LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX X58 SLI LE Intel Motherboard - Retail
Model #:141-BL-E757-TR
Item #:N82E16813188049
MOTHERBOARD
$239.99
________________________________________________________________________________________________

Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail
Model #:BX80601920
Item #:N82E16819115202
PROCESSOR
$288.99
________________________________________________________________________________________________

COOLER MASTER Intel Core i7 compatible V8 RR-UV8-XBU1-GP 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - Retail
Model #:RR-UV8-XBU1-GP
Item #:N82E16835103055
CPU COOLER
$74.99
________________________________________________________________________________________________

CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model TR3X6G1600C7D G - Retail
Model #:TR3X6G1600C7D G
Item #:N82E16820145253
12GB MEMORY
2 X $274.99 -$20.00 Instant $509.98
________________________________________________________________________________________________

Corsair P128 CMFSSD-128GBG2D 2.5" 128GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - Retail
Model #:CMFSSD-128GBG2D
Item #:N82E16820233087
128GB SOLID STATE HARD DRIVE
$375.00
________________________________________________________________________________________________

Western Digital AV-GP WD10EVDS 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Model #:WD10EVDS
Item #:N82E16822136496
1TB HARD DRIVE FOR STORAGE
$89.99
________________________________________________________________________________________________

EVGA 012-P3-1178-TR GeForce GTX 275 CO-OP PhysX Edition 1280MB 448+192-bit GDDR3
PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported ... - Retail
Model #:012-P3-1178-TR
Item #:N82E16814130527
VIDEO CARD
$369.99 -$30.00 Instant $339.99
________________________________________________________________________________________________

U.S. Robotics USR5670 56Kbps Fax modem - Retail
Model #:USR5670
Item #:N82E16825104001
FAX MODEM
$16.99
________________________________________________________________________________________________

PLEXTOR 24X DVD/CD Writer Black SATA Model PX-880SA LightScribe Support - OEM
Model #:pX-880SA
Item #:N82E16827249054
CD / DVD BURNER
$44.99
________________________________________________________________________________________________

CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC
Compatible with Core i7 ... - Retail
Model #:CMPSU-650TX
Item #:N82E16817139005
POWER SUPPLY
$119.99 -$20.00 Instant $99.99
________________________________________________________________________________________________

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
Model #:FQC-00765
Item #:N82E16832116758
OPERATING SYSTEM
$139.99
________________________________________________________________________________________________

ViewSonic Graphic Series VG2230wm Black 22" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor Height & Tilt Adjustments
- Retail
Model #:VG2230wm
Item #:N82E16824116060
MONITOR
$259.99 -$40.00 Instant $219.99
________________________________________________________________________________________________

LITE-ON SK-1688A/B Black PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard - Retail
Model #:SK-1688A/B
Item #:N82E16823107119
KEYBOARD
$6.99
________________________________________________________________________________________________

Logitech MX Air Silver/Black 8 Buttons 2.4 GHz Cordless Laser Rechargeable Air Mouse - Retail
Model #:931633-0403
Item #:N82E16826104089
RECHARGEABLE AIR MOUSE
$139.99
________________________________________________________________________________________________

SABRENT 5ft. USB to Parallel ( Printer IEEE 1284 ) Cable Model SBT-UPPC - Retail
Model #:SBT-UPPC
Item #:N82E16812156005
PRINTER CABLE
$9.99
________________________________________________________________________________________________

Subtotal: $2,607.85
________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
Seems a tad overkill.

Planning for more than 2yrs is very optimistic, IMO.

NewEgg is good, Tiger is good, also check MicroCenter
 
Yep, need me a new one also. 1.67Ghz ain't cutting it nomo. I like making home movies/family music videos but my video processing is painfully slow. Quad would be nice. Was planning on getting either Psystar hackintosh desktop or making a one with a netbook but netbooks are too slow, and I just have too many other projects at the moment.

Hey, dogman, ever thought of dual boot? XP on one partition Vista on another?
 
Dee Jay said:
Yep, need me a new one also. 1.67Ghz ain't cutting it nomo. I like making home movies/family music videos but my video processing is painfully slow. Quad would be nice. Was planning on getting either Psystar hackintosh desktop or making a one with a netbook but netbooks are too slow, and I just have too many other projects at the moment.

Hey, dogman, ever thought of dual boot? XP on one partition Vista on another?

Look at Psystar web site http://store.psystar.com/ Looks like they made there own software, now all they got is a court battle and no computers for sale :| Looked at and played with Ubnntu http://www.ubuntu.com/ But I think it is a hassle to get it to work with all my programs. Photoshop, CAD, etc. Why don't you software writers make a good reliable operating system that works with all the programs that run on Windows.
 
marty said:
Why don't you software writers make a good reliable operating system that works with all the programs that run on Windows.

Beccause Window's proprietary technology (obfuscated and encrypted) has heavily deterred that. :wink:

However, WINE is an attempt at emulating the Windows API so that windows programs can work on Linux(Ubuntu and other operating systems). The last time I saw, though, they were only at 60% of programs that operated without "major" problems.
 
Fanless sounds great. If I ever drop real coin on a box again, It will be one of those fanless ones.. and teh quietest hdd. Laptops are convenient but damn, they are even louder than a really loud desktop when the fans start wailing!
 
Buy ready-made. There used to be a price advantage to custom building a system, but that has dwindled down to almost nothing. And buying a system that is exactly the same as a hundred thousand others can make troubleshooting a lot easier when you want to find help from the Google.

No sense buying more computer than you're going to use. A $500 computer today will easily play videos and do basic CAD.

If you think you might want to do some GPU intensive modeling (Maya, SolidWorks, etc) you'll need a graphics card from the Nvidia Quadro or ATI FirePro/FireGL product lines. Expect to spend somewhere around $1700-2500 and buy something like the HP Z800 series:
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/e...0-wkstn&psn=desktops_workstations/workstation

If you're not going to do GPU intensive 3D modeling, then you're probably better off getting a $300-$500 computer. Even if you feel the need to replace it in three years, and then if you replace that one three years later, (highly unlikely if you made a 2001 computer last nine years) the $500 computer you buy six years from now will be more powerful than the $2500 computer you're considering buying today. Get one with an Nvidia or ATI graphics card with an HDMI port, and I'd get an HDMI monitor too. Avoid graphics processors from anyone besides Nvidia and ATI.
 
wow, you guys got money. i waste mine buying ebike junk.

instead got this old toshiba laptop on CL for $75. 2Ghz, 1meg ram, 30 gig disk, XP, old school from 2005 and the DVD/DC rom was dead. guy complained he had to hang the AC adaptor cord over the back of the screen to make it stay on too. i figured just a bad connection where the jack goes into the plug, found a DVD/CD rom drive from almost identical toshiba parts for $15 on CL. ended up having to take it apart twice, before i discovered a cold solder joint where the positive solder pin from the plug mates in the motherboard. i could just barely see the crack when i twisted it a little through the shellac/sealer. scratched it off and ended up cutting off my AC adapter cord below the jack, and stripped it back and soldered it directly onto the motherboard and drilled and cut a crack for the cord through the backside joint of the plastic cover pieces. from junk to spunk.

i woulda never done this stuff before i started hangin here (or wouldn't have had a clue if had anyway):
 
dnmun said:
wow, you guys got money. i waste mine buying ebike junk.

instead got this old toshiba laptop on CL for $75. 2Ghz, 1meg ram, 30 gig disk, XP, old school from 2005 and the DVD/DC rom was dead. guy complained he had to hang the AC adaptor cord over the back of the screen to make it stay on too. i figured just a bad connection where the jack goes into the plug, found a DVD/CD rom drive from almost identical toshiba parts for $15 on CL. ended up having to take it apart twice, before i discovered a cold solder joint where the positive solder pin from the plug mates in the motherboard. i could just barely see the crack when i twisted it a little through the shellac/sealer. scratched it off and ended up cutting off my AC adapter cord below the jack, and stripped it back and soldered it directly onto the motherboard and drilled and cut a crack for the cord through the backside joint of the plastic cover pieces. from junk to spunk.

i woulda never done this stuff before i started hangin here (or wouldn't have had a clue if had anyway):

It's just having the right tool for the job. If the old $75 toshiba does what you need it to, then it's absolutely perfect, especially with the 'engineered' power jack, that's awesome. :mrgreen:

I'm still running a bunch of old Pentium 4 boxes, they have upgraded hard drives and do almost nothing but grab backups of people's desktop computers on their local network at night. Linux is nice and lightweight when installed without a GUI, so they don't have to be powerful machines.
 
marty said:
Look at Psystar web site http://store.psystar.com/ Looks like they made there own software, now all they got is a court battle and no computers for sale :|

I couldn't access both http://store.psystar.com/ and the main psystar site.

According to wiki "On January 16, 2010, Psystar announced that they would be appealing the lawsuit put in place on December 15."

Man I was very close to ordering their desktop but according to one review Psystar uses cheapy parts to keep their prices down. Before they went belly up I thought DIY with the highest quality parts would be the way to go.

gotta do a bit more research now.

My wife ordered the PowerBook G4 without researching what's hot. Little did we know that Apple would dropped this weakass Power PC chip and go Intel in just a few months time 'doh!
 
8) I think this is what I will do:

- go Quad

- go dual boot XP / OSX

- go wireless keyboard & mouse

- get the best video card w/HDMI

- get a small CPU case with the minimum amount of expansion bays (going Firewire and USB all the way!)

- get the strongest fan and cooling system (noise will not be an issue and I'll tell you why)

- fabricate the longest HDMI Firewire and USB cables

- lock that CPU up in the coolest part of the house

- run those fabbed cables from the CPU and extend the wireless antenna to the living room where HD monitor keyboard and mouse sits. Plug Firewire and USB to hubs..

And there you have it, noise free computing!

come to think of it..the only things I really need to plug would be:

* DVD burner
* USB audio interface
* USB Speakers
* SD chip
*
*

What would the latency be with this kind of set up and how could I reduce it? Beef up the USB FIrewire interface?
 
USB Active Booster Extension Cable
http://www.datapro.net/products/usb-active-booster-extension-cable.html
FireWire Active Booster Extension
http://www.datapro.net/products/firewire-active-booster-extension.html

Didn't even know they existed till now..

So tell me, why do tech geeks feel the need to have the CPU case by their side like a faithful pet? :roll:

*chuckle* :lol:
 
If you want to buy a new computer that will be usable in "5 years time" then forget about XP as it is now 9 years and three operating systems old, instead get onto Windows 7 professional or ultimate version - they both include Windows XP mode (downloaded addon after you install O/S) which is windows XP in a virtual O/S.
 
Kal said:
If you want to buy a new computer that will be usable in "5 years time" then forget about XP as it is now 9 years and three operating systems old, instead get onto Windows 7 professional or ultimate version - they both include Windows XP mode (downloaded addon after you install O/S) which is windows XP in a virtual O/S.

Thanks for the tip, Kal ! I'm not up to speed on computer stuff and still stuck on XP :oops: I just hope Windows 7 isn't too different from XP or I'll be tearing my hair out like I did when I migrated to OSX :evil:

:D
 
Maybe not the fast half of "fast and reliable" like the thread title says, but I broke down and bought an aspire nettop for $200 and seems to work well. Comes fairly well equipped for the money, 1gb ram, 1.6ghz atom, hdmi, xp home, etc. Like a Honda Fit or similar compact, very efficient, cheap, SMALL, and gets the job done. I'll mess with it some more tonight, but so far I like it. Another option for you guys looking for a new computer, oh and it uses only 65W max!
 
Computer is done. Been using it for a while now. Bought everything from Microcenter. Guy at Microcenter was knowledgeable. We walked around and put all the parts in a shopping cart. Putting it together was a good lesson in computers. Giant case has a bunch of fans and is very quiet.

This stupid thing has daemons in it. It has been nothing but trouble. I have a feeling that all the problems are caused by Windows 7. When I look at Microsoft website for help I see that I need to contact the manufacturer. Because I am the manufacturer, I have spent months talking to my self. When all my JPG pictures changed to a little icon with mountains and water, I called the Microsoft guy in India. After 3 phone calls, 2 guys and about 6 hours of my time wasted, all they could tell me was reinstall windows. (again!) Microsoft was kind enough to not charge me for the time they spent trying to fix there defective software. With some prayer and SP1, Windows 7 seems to be working for now. Windows XP was the best.

Intel® Core™ i7-930 Processor (8M Cache, 2.80 GHz, 4.80 GT/s Intel® QPI)
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=41447

GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.gigabyte.us/Products/Motherboard/Products_Spec.aspx?ProductID=3317

CORSAIR XMS3 12GB (6 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model TR3X6G1600C8 G
http://www.corsair.com/products/corei7/default.aspx

Corsair Reactor Series CSSD-R120GB2-BRKT 2.5" 120GB USB 2.0 & SATAII Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
http://www.corsair.com/products/ssd_reactor/default.aspx
micro center part # CSSD-R120GB2-BR
SOLID STATE HARD DRIVE FOR WINDOWS

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?DriveID=792
HARD DRIVE FOR STORAGE

BFG Tech BFGEGTX275896OCE GeForce GTX 275 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.bfgtech.com/bfgrgtx275896oce.aspx
micro center part # BFGRGTX275896OC

Pioneer Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 40X CD-R 32X CD-RW 2MB Cache SATA CD/DVD Burner LabelFlash Support - OEM
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Shop/DVD-Burners/Serial-ATA/ci.DVR-218L.Shop

Zoom 3030 56Kbps PCI Bus (Plug & Play) Dial-Up Internal Modem
http://www.zoomtel.com/products/dial_up_internal.html
TELEPHONE JACK MODEM TO SEND FAX WITH NO PAPER

CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.corsair.com/products/tx/default.aspx

COOLER MASTER ATCS 840 RC-840-KKN1-GP Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case
http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?product_id=2870

ViewSonic Value Series VA2323WM Black 23" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 DC 20000:1 (1000:1) Built-in Speakers
http://www.viewsonic.com/products/desktop-monitors/lcd/value-series/va2323wm.htm

Logitech M505 Silver 3 Buttons Tilt Wheel Wireless Laser Mouse
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/mice/devices/5870&cl=us,en

Inland U-Touch Keyboard
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0228207
THIS $5 KEYBOARD SUCKS. REPLACED WITH LENOVO KB-0225
03.jpg
 
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