Sulphur on 7/12/2011 at 12:43
Nothing as satisfying as DIY, is there? :p
Hyperthreading does give you a modest performance bump in the apps that support it; you'll have to gauge the price/performance ratio depending on how often you're going to use the application(s) in question that can leverage it vs. everything else in your workflow. If you're going to be doing heavy duty video work/3D rendering/etc., an i7 makes sense. And tons more RAM.
Whenever I get a PC done to spec, I just hop down to the vendor I've used for the past 8 years and they assemble most of it free of charge as a courtesy for buying all the parts from 'em. Works out way, way cheaper than getting a pre-built machine.
gunsmoke on 7/12/2011 at 14:11
Quote Posted by EvaUnit02
Lemme guess, you're also one of those pedants who throws a tizzy whenever they hear someone referring to gun magazines as clips?
My philosophy has always been as long as someone knows what you mean, you're at least communicating effectively. So, whatever. But I have friends that are hardcore fanatics (firearms, drag cars, bikes, hunting, history, etc..) that you simply have to use their vernacular.
Yakoob on 7/12/2011 at 14:25
Quote Posted by Sulphur
Whenever I get a PC done to spec, I just hop down to the vendor I've used for the past 8 years and they assemble most of it free of charge as a courtesy for buying all the parts from 'em. Works out way, way cheaper than getting a pre-built machine.
Actually, looking at both ibuypower.com and newegg prebuilts, it actually seems cheaper to get a prebuilt than if I buy all the part separately...
Muzman on 7/12/2011 at 16:31
For what its worth, I don't think I've ever used anything but a stock cooler on anything I've built myself. I've only dabbled with overclocking AMDs though and then only mildly. The only time I ever had any genuine heat problems was when fans got old and gave out and then I replaced them with the same models. Given where I live, it's not as though heat isn't a big consideration. It's true I like to build carefully, keep things clean, give things a break if I think I hear too many fans going at full tilt for too long. And it's also true I haven't had any situations where it's mission critical that the machine is running and it's 42 degrees outside (and probably inside. I'd be getting too many errors in my head to actually use the thing at that stage anyway). But that's my humble experience. Milage likely to vary.
Also I was going to get an i7 initally as well, but went for an i5 2500 to save some bones. It is a hefty production box, or meant to be. But Toms (
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sandy-bridge-core-i7-2600k-core-i5-2500k,2833-15.html) benchmarks that sort of thing as well, in case anyone's missed it. It's different from actual use, true, but it's interesting how marginal and varied the differences often are.
It's working alright so far anyway. Could be faster, but when was that ever not the case. If you're doing major 3d or After Effects stuff you're really not going to get much help from a "normal" system anyway. Which is why people build monster Xeon boxes with 4 cpus and 64 gig and so on. But Premiere and other CUDA supported things get a lot more help from the graphics card. So it depends what you're doing.
Sulphur on 7/12/2011 at 17:06
Quote Posted by Yakoob
Actually, looking at both ibuypower.com and newegg prebuilts, it actually seems cheaper to get a prebuilt than if I buy all the part separately...
Never used those (because I'm not in the US, derp derp :D), but the branded prebuilt ones usually cost a bomb. I'm going to have to defer to people who've used Newegg before about this one.
Mr.Duck on 7/12/2011 at 18:03
I gotta be honest, I've always admired the cost-benefit that a properly built desktop can achieve, but since I'm usually a one-pc kind of guy, my next purchase shall be another lappy. The one I currently have has served me well :)
Sounds like a very cool machine that you are setting up to build, Yakoob :)
EDIT: Oh dear, didn't see the links you posted Yakoob....damn, these look nice.
Do they deliver?
Need a US P.O. Box, dammit!!! :D
zajazd on 7/12/2011 at 19:39
Quote Posted by Yakoob
Actually, looking at both ibuypower.com and newegg prebuilts, it actually seems cheaper to get a prebuilt than if I buy all the part separately...
Yeh. I don't know about the western world, but here in eastern europe building one's own pc equals cookie cutting - very little or no economy. It's more the process than economy that appeals to builders. Of course the big brand pcs are always overpriced.
lost_soul on 8/12/2011 at 01:42
One of the other nice things about building it yourself is that you can cheat and re-use old parts where it won't impact performance. For example, I'm still using old DVD drives. Also, you don't get stuck with some 500W PSU from a company like SuperMegaExtremePower that in reality can only deliver a constant 350W. I went with an 80+ silver rated PSU.
Also, a few months ago we had to replace a PSU in an old system but the size was proprietary. Watch out for scams like that. Those units end up being four times as expensive as a traditional ATX one is.
Yakoob on 8/12/2011 at 07:29
Oooh great link, and kinda confirms my choice if i5. It looks like the only major difference is video encoding/rendering. But that's the kinda stuff I leave in the background while I make myself a sandwich, or leave overnight if I have a lot of files, so time isn't that big of a factor. As long as the suite itself runs decently I'm happy.
Quote:
One of the other nice things about building it yourself is that you can cheat and re-use old parts
Not applicable. The only desktop I have is a 10+ years old one sporting a P4 and Geforce 4 Ti. Nothing salvagable from there really.
EDIT: Darn tried PMing Bikerdude but he has PMs disabled. Anyone know how to contact him? I edited the OP to include my latest part choices.
Eldron on 8/12/2011 at 13:38
Quote Posted by Sulphur
He's getting the Hyper 212 fan on it according to the list, which I'd recommend because it does a pretty good job with a moderate OC. The default Intel cooler barely gets by on stock clock settings, IMO - load temps with it get to ~75 degrees and higher easily enough.
Barely?, they're perfectly fine at stock, even with the shitty thermal-pad.
