Best PC to buy?
 

I'm sure this thread is somewhere on here but I couldn't find it. I am in the market for a new computer. I am not sure if I am going PC or Mac, but that's not what this thread is about. If I am full on going PC, which company is best? I've had Gateways in the past and not been insanely impressed. I've heard Dell has gone downhill quite a bit.

Also, are these new all-in-one touchscreen PCs worth a shit or are they just a gimmick?

If it helps, I'll be using the computer for film and sound editing and light visual effects as well as some gaming.

Any thoughts?


Rep to legit advice. (And probably funny advice too)

Go through one of the hundred companies that lets you select the parts they have and build it for you. That way you know exactly what you're getting and it will be easily upgradable/modifiable.

Something like http://www.cyberpowerpc.com

Depending on how computer savvy you are, assembling your own computer would be the best value. You can then customize your components to match your needs. There was a thread about custom builds are here, will have to see if I can find it.

If you are not comfortable assembling yourself, this is also a great option. The key is being able to select your parts, so you can get the best machine to fill your needs.

Whats your spending limit? Or how much do you want to spend?

Here is the thread about home built computers, might find some options in there:

http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=246652

I'd like to spend no more than 1300 or so. I can possibly go higher, but that's my goal.

I like the idea of building myself, but I'm finding the link Pants posted fairly intimidating with it's number of technical options so maybe that's a little ambitious.

That's a nice budget. Do you need a monitor?

Yeah. And I'd like it to be as close to 20" as possible if not bigger. That's a big help from an editing standpoint. Memory and a good processor are important too for reasonable rendering speed. It'll be handling pretty big video files.

Building it yourself is almost always the best way if you are willing to study up a little bit. You get quality components throughout the machine. Many times general computer manufacturers get really cheap on things like motherboards, hard drives, and memory. If you build yourself you can can use quality components that will support future upgrades and will be easy to replace if something goes bad. Also, if you build yourself you don't get a machine with a stupid preloaded version of windows and bunch of crapware.

Man you can build an absolute stud machine for that much money. I just built a $600 rig and I can't really think of anything that I wanted that I didn't include (that price excludes monitor and video card - I already had those).

Get a:

Quad Core
24"

I'm building a quad core video editing machine myself this month so any hardware recommendations would be appreciated. I'll be picking up a new CPU, Mobo and RAM. I'll need a mobo with room for a Radeon 4890 and a video capture card on the PCI-E x1 bus....not sure what to get.

Yeah, he'll need to add $200 for a solid 22" inch monitor. Not sure what kind of GPU one needs for heavy video processing and effect rendering, though.

What are the specs on your new rig, if you don't mind me asking?

I'm a total novice at building a computer. The most I've done is upgrade memory and video cards. I'm a pretty quick study, though. I'll definitely look into it. I've got a couple friends that have done it so maybe they can give me some pointers.

If you are going to be editing film and/or gaming, then you should probably get the best graphics card you can afford, and a lot of good quality RAM as well. With your budget, you should be able to get a system that fits your needs.

If you have done memory and video cards and are comfortable with that, they you should be able to build with no problem. Just take it slow, and use a very methodical approach, and double check everything before you fire it up. :thumb:

With the film editing, you might want to look at a six core. Those extra cores tear it up on encoding.

With that budget, six cores would be no problem. Either that or get a quad core and a motherboard that will unlock the other two cores, that would save some cash and get you similar results as well.

Hadn't considered this. Link to a reasonable six-core CPU?

My processor:

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition
It's a good overclocker too, if you are into that sort of thing.


From this post:
http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showp...29&postcount=4

In this thread:
http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showt...ix+core+phenom

Not sure what you consider to be reasonable in terms of price, but the most expensive six core newegg has is $189:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103913

and on the lower end of their pricing is this one at about $160:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103851

The first one is a black edition, and those are more open to overclocking and tinkering, etc, so it would be worth the extra 20 bucks if you can swing it.

If you are looking at Intel, the price goes up real quick
This one is about $600;

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116402

Cool. I am considering building a new rig as my desktop in getting long in the tooth, but I need to build on a budget if I do.

But Intel has the advantage of the huge memory bandwidth.

Jeez, why are Intel's six core CPUs so expensive?

I'm better off buying that Phenom six core than an intel 4 core, then?

Probably, unless you have a huge budget. Like Loochy said above, the Intel's have huge memory bandwidth, and that does make a difference. Whether that is worth an extra 400 bucks depends on the user.

Hey Loochy, how would you rate your motherboard so far? The one you have is one I have been looking at. Any complaints at all?

Hmmmm....I'm thinking this and this?

mobo


CPU

No complaints. Everything worked smoothly on the first install. I haven't done any overclocking yet, so I don't know how well it does at that. It's got all of the controls in BIOS that you'd need. The reviews on Newegg say it's a great overclocker. It also has the core unlocker, so you could try one of the quad cores and open up 2 of the cores if you were so inclined.

Also, a lot of the reviews on Newegg mentioned RAM compatibility issues if you don't buy compatible sticks, but I had no problems.

Summary: no problems whatsoever so far, but I haven't really stressed it or anything yet

Without a deep inspection, it looks fine to me.

Follow the newegg reviews and let them be your guide.

You'd love that processor.

I haven't been able to max mine out at 100% yet. :thumb:

What are you using to OC?

What specs should I be most interested in when evaluating a video card?

Nothing yet. I did one of those automatic overclocks with AMD Overdrive, but that was just for fun so I could see what it could do. I reset everything back to stock. When I get some time I'll sit down and do a true BIOS overclock.

Look at the benchmarks at places like Tom's Hardware and Guru3d.

I know the stock heatsink and thermal paste leave much to be desired. If you start seriously OCin that bad boy, keep an eye on your temps. What are you using to cool that machine?

You want fast core clocks and fast memory clocks coupled with as many pipelines as you can afford.

Memory size and interface. Max resolution. Chipset (obviously). DirectX. OpenGL

Card dimensions

Wow, RAM IS CHEAP!

4GB of DDR3 for 50 bucks?

Yeah, I'm still using the stock cooler, which is another reason I didn't up any voltages when I did the quick overclock test. I did have a tube of Arctic Silver 5 laying around, so I used that instead of the crappy thermal pad.

This is my case and it provides amazing airflow:

HAF 922

Inflow: 200mm fan in the front, 200mm fan on the side, 120 mm fan on the bottom

Outflow: 200mm fan on the top, 120 mm fan on the top rear

I was not thinking of spending that much on a case (was shooting for 50 bucks or so), but the one you have seems very impressive, and might be worth the extra cost.

YES! I'm glad you said that! My old case was a mid tower and my 5850HD was so long that it pushed up against the hard drive cage. There was barely room for the power cable into the back.

Make sure you get a case big enough to fit your card!

The case I have now is significantly longer than a normal mid tower, but it's not as huge as a mid tower. You want enough room to let the air flow around and not get stuck.

I actually got it at Fry's for $10 cheaper than that. I had to add 1 of the 200mm fans and 1 of the 120 mm fans myself though.

I'd venture to say that core clock and memory clock is much more important than memory size.

With importance to 3d gaming, you don't think memory size and speed are relevant?
I cannot compute.

And the clock speed can be changed...

That's because your core clock and your memory clock are too slow.

heh

but seriously, all of these things are important when choosing a vid card...

If I'm content with low resolutions, less RAM and high clock would suffice.

I was saying that less of faster memory with a faster clocked GPU is probably better than more slower memory with slower speed GPU. Memory size is important, but don't just go "OMG IT HAS 2GB IT MUST BE GOOD!"

That's all, player.

That's why I just said to look at the benchmarks. There are too many little things to nitpick about if you aren't really knowledgeable about the subject.

:thumb:

I like ur style!

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f8...fs/29njwg8.gif