Pondering buying a new PC, upgrade vs very high-end?

Gargantou

Gargantou

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Okay, so I now finally have enough money saved up that I feel I can grant myself a new PC.

My dilemma is basically this: I have no experience building PCs and I am probably going to get a pre-built one(Though from a computer store over here that let's you customize the PC and don't overcharge like Dell does, I actually went ahead and put together a very high-end PC for fun from both of them and compared prices, the Dell one ended up being around 3000 euro, whereas the one from the store I am planning on was around 2300, just as an example of the price difference between them.), but I know I have this bad habit of always wanting to spend as much as I can when I buy new things(Within my means though.)

I am wondering, is it more sensible to rather than spend all the cash I've saved up instantly on a very very good PC, spend them on a mid-range PC and use the money I don't spend to upgrade it as the years go on?

Just to be clear, I am not very knowledgeable when it comes to PCs, as you probably gathered from the fact I didn't build my own and don't plan to. Hence why I would value input on this, especially since I tend to spend a bit too much on these things.
 
Watch videos and learn how to build them. There's no reason you can't do this. Everyone had to learn how at some point.

Unless your hands have been smashed with hammers, there's no excuse.
 
Would help to post what your current specs are and what the specs are of the one you want to buy.
 
What vegeta said. For me, I find it much more gratifying to build my own. After getting everything put together and having it work is a very nice feeling. To be honest, it is almost idiot proof, as long as you are half way intelligent, you should have no problem putting on together.
 
I'll echo the sentiment that it is very easy and rewarding to build your own but if you don't want to do it I'd go with the custom computer store. 2300 euro is about $3300 US which imo is wayyy too much for a pc. The markup on cutting edge parts is exponentially high, I go with stuff that is a "generation" or two behind the latest tech and it saves you hundreds or even thousands of dollars versus shelling out for the latest stuff. Not worth it imo simply for the privilege of having better stuff than anyone for a few months at best.

So as for upgrading it can be argued either way but personally I like to save up for a new system all at once rather than upgrading individual components. When upgrading an older system you will always end up with a bottleneck. I consider hard drives an exception to that as their generations seem to occur less frequently than other technology, aside from in capacity. When upgrading RAM, using a different brand or even size or speed is often difficult, if not outright incompatible. This turns into a real problem when you can't find anywhere that sells your 2 year old RAM anymore.
 
My current specs are some Gigabyte mobo from '06, a Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4Ghz, 2 gigs of RAM(can't remember exact specs), a GeForce 7900GS, SoundBlaster X-Fi and some other not worthy of mentioning parts.

For my new PC I've been looking at a six-core Intel CPU, 12 gigs of RAM and a very high-end GPU, possibly the GTX590, but as I said before I do have a bad habit of always wanting the newest latest technology if I can afford it.

Since I am not particularly interested in upgrading and I want the computer to be able to run upcoming games on maxed settings for at least quite some time at the standard Full HD res(I.e. standard 1080p res.), since I don't buy a PC often, this current one being close to five years old, and this one really struggles running modern games decently(ARMA2, Crysis 2, Shogun 2 as examples.) As for some of the other components, a new SoundBlaster with a front-panel possibly, as well as an SSD for OS and software. I guess I could use my current 2TB HD from this PC in my new one for storage, but I was sort of planning on giving this PC to my brother since his PC is low-spec when compared to my current PC.
 
You may be aware of this (and I may be wrong) but spending the extra money to get a six-core cpu and 12gb of ram isn't going to do anything for your gaming performance vs. 4 cores and something like 6gb of ram.
 
I am not looking at only what is gonna give advantage this exact moment in time, but since I am not a huge fan of upgrading, I am also looking at the potential benefit of them in coming years since I am not a fan of upgrading, and since I am not rich I am going to want to hang on to this PC for at the very least three years, probably four-five like my current.

I guess at the same time, me not being rich is a good argument for why I shouldn't splurge on the PC.
 
I don't really think more ram and more cores is the proper way to future proof your rig. In fact there really isn't any way to do so. CPU frequency and RAM speed are more important and are really what is going to count. It's hard to code games that take advantage of 4 cores. And no game is going to need 12gb of ram any time soon.
 
Okay, let me post a PC I've put together now then.

  • CM Storm Sniper Black Edition
  • Corsair HX 1000W PSU
  • ASUS Rampage III Extreme
  • Intel Core™ i7 Quad Processor i7-960 Quad Core, 3,2Ghz
  • Corsair H70 Hydro Series CPU Cooler
  • Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600MHz 6GB CL9 Kit w/3x 2GB XMS3 modules, CL9-9-9-24
  • ZOTAC GeForce GTX 580 1536MB AMP![Pondering getting a GTX 590 since it seems to be more bang for the buck despite being around 20% extra in price.]
  • Western Digital Caviar® Green™ 2TB SATA
  • Intel® SSD 510 Series 120GB
  • Sony Optiarc Blu-Ray Burner[Might decide to go only for a blu-ray reader but that's only 20 euro less, if I just go for a traditional non-BD DVD-+RW burner that's 70 euro off though.]
  • Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro
  • Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit[I actually pay for the OS, keep that in mind.]
  • Three year warranty on all parts with the store

That amounts to 2300 euro.

I am also pondering making this the first PC that I try to actually OC and squeeze more power out of, hence why I selected that CPU cooler.
 
All I can say is... I'm quite jelly

Enjoy BF3 smooth as butter, my friend.
 
Also, the price difference on that comp if I buy it with the best prices from reliable retailers in Sweden and buy it pre-built is around 1500 SEK/150 euro.
 
That PSU is probably overkill, use a psu calculator to determine what you need (probably closer to 500-600). The money spent on liquid cooling is usually better spent on better processor with a traditional heatsink/fan (which you can still oc with anyway). Overclocking can reduce the longevity of your parts. It doesn't guarantee they will fail but it increases the likelihood. Just something to keep in mind if you want it to last 5+ years. The blu ray burner/player issue just comes down to whether you'll use it. Personally I still burn CD's way more often than DVD's and have no intention of getting a blu ray burner until they cost about 20 bucks. However if it's something you know you'll use, it would be a worthwhile investment for you. Just don't get it assuming the need will arise.
 
There's every reason in the world to go with Sandy Bridge for gaming.
Get the Core i7-2600K if you really want to have the absolute best! Even in SLI/Crossfire the P67 platform performs better than x58 with the same hardware.
And the power supply is overkill. 800 should be enough even for SLI if that's what you want.
 
I'll echo the opinions of going Sandy Bridge. In most of the 2600k benchmarks I've seen it beats out the 6 core 980x and it is something like $600-$700 cheaper.
 
That and you won't be buying into a dead socket, and hence may be able to upgrade to a much more powerful CPU later down the line instead of needing a complete rebuild. Sandybridge CPUs also overclock very well, many people are posting 4.5 to 5ghz stable.
 
What are the Sandy Bridge model names? i3, i5 and i7?

Because when I look in stores over here i5's seem to be newer than i7's, though lower prices.

The reason I went for that PSU was because I am pondering putting in one GTX 590 rather than a GTX 580, and might further down the road if the PC start to struggle more maybe go for a second GTX 590 which would be Quad-SLI then, which I just assumed would be pretty PSU-intensive.

But yeah, as I said before, I am a newbie to this stuff so your input is important to help me make sensible choices here.
 
Gargantou said:
What are the Sandy Bridge model names? i3, i5 and i7?

Because when I look in stores over here i5's seem to be newer than i7's, though lower prices.

The reason I went for that PSU was because I am pondering putting in one GTX 590 rather than a GTX 580, and might further down the road if the PC start to struggle more maybe go for a second GTX 590 which would be Quad-SLI then, which I just assumed would be pretty PSU-intensive.

But yeah, as I said before, I am a newbie to this stuff so your input is important to help me make sensible choices here.
Click to expand...

These are the Sandy Bridge processors: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...007671 600095611&IsNodeId=1&name=Sandy Bridge

i5/i7 2k---
 
Got it, sadly these pre-built comps don't seem to have them available as options yet.

If worse comes to worst I guess I could always try to build it myself and order the components individually though.
 
Gargantou said:
Got it, sadly these pre-built comps don't seem to have them available as options yet.

If worse comes to worst I guess I could always try to build it myself and order the components individually though.
Click to expand...

It really isn't very difficult. Where people get intimidated is that they've never done it before and they are handling some high dollar components. As long as you're careful and take your time you won't have any problems.
 
Okay, so I've decided to buy the components seperately and either try to build it myself or have a friend do it for me, I will be using a Sandy Bridge CPU.

Here's what I'm looking at now:

  • Cooler Master HAF X Big Tower Black
  • Corsair HX 1000W PSU
  • Antec Kuhler H2O 920 CPU Cooler
  • ZOTAC GeForce GTX 590 3072MB PhysX CUDA
  • Intel® SSD 510 Series 120GB 2,5"
  • OEM SSD 2.5" to 3.5" Bracket SATA
  • Western Digital Caviar® Black 2TB
  • Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro
  • Microsoft Windows Ultimate 7
  • Intel Core™ i7 Quad Processor i7-2600K
  • ASUS Sabertooth P67, Socket-1155
  • Corsair Vengeance™ DDR3 1600MHz 8GB CL8 Kit w/2x 4GB XMS3 modules, CL8-8-8-24, 1.5V, Vengeance Heatspreader, 240 pin
  • Lite-On Blu-Ray Writer IHBS112-37

Total price: roughly 24,200 SEK or approx. 2,700 EURO.

Now, I know this is still a lot but it's what I am currently looking and if you ignore the price tag I was wondering if anyone had any comments on it, i.e. any brand that I would be better switching for another one? For example, should I go for a Samsung writer/reader instead of a Lite-On one or does it not make a notable difference? Any obvious incompatability's? I've tried to make sure that all these things should work together fine according to what I've read.

Edit: Changed some components.
 
I don't know how true this is, but I had read/heard that you should by ram in sets of two.
 
CowPunk said:
I don't know how true this is, but I had read/heard that you should by ram in sets of two.
Click to expand...

Apparently it depends on the DDR, for example if you're gonna be using DDR2 it should be in sets of two, but since I am going for DDR3 I should have in sets of 3.

That's also why the mobo has four RAM slots, apparently it has the fourth one for a backup in case one of the RAM slots fail.
 
That is not true. You only want sets of 3 if you're on the X58 platform because it's designed for triple channel memory configurations. The other Intel platforms are dual channel so you should buy in sets of two.

You will be better off buying 2 4GB sticks of Ram.
 
Quixoticism said:
That is not true. You only want sets of 3 if you're on the X58 platform because it's designed for triple channel memory configurations. The other Intel platforms are dual channel so you should buy in sets of two.

You will be better off buying 2 4GB sticks of Ram.
Click to expand...

Oh, the guy who told me this must have been misinformed then.

I found this.

Corsair Dominator DHX DDR3 1600MHz 8GB Kit w/2x 4GB XMS3 DHX, CL9-9-9-24, for Core i3/i5/i7, w/Connector, 1.65v

That would be a better fit for me then, even though it has higher CAS latency?
 
DDR refers to the data rate of the RAM.
*whatever* channel is how many sticks it's optimised to work in. Triple channel is 3 x 1 gb, 3x 2 gb, etc.
 
It will work. Tom's Hardware just recently did an article with 8GB dual channel kits specifically for p67 which you should check out.

The best performance for price memory listed in the article is Kingston's HyperX T1
 
Quixoticism said:
It will work. Tom's Hardware just recently did an article with 8GB dual channel kits specifically for p67 which you should check out.

The best performance for price memory listed in the article is Kingston's HyperX T1
Click to expand...

Hmm, problem is over here I can't find any 8GB kit for that HyperX T1, from 6GB kit it jumps to 12GB kit.
 
Yeah, decided to go for the Corsair since it had the second highest performance value on the Conclusion page.

Anyway, I'm pretty satisfied with the way the PC is looking now so I guess it's just a matter of taking the plunge and ordering it, thanks for all the help and tips, especially the tip to put it together myself so that I could go for a Sandy Bridge processor instead!
 
Look at what your needs are. If you're gaming on say a 19 inch LCD, a mid-range GPU would suffice for example. If you are into gaming only getting an older processor would save you money and (depending) would suffice, or video-editing, 3d rendering and well Sandybridge would be good. If you want to run OSX on it, an Asus mobo would be guaranteed to work in general..but then again you are looking to run everything at 1080p so I'd say your desired outlook on parts is good, except the 12 GB Ram..thats overkill..
 
Sorry for reviving this old thread, but in case anyone gives a rats ass, here's what I went for.

Case: Cooler Master HAF X

PSU: Corsair AX 850W 80+ GOLD

Mobo: Asus P8P67 DELUXE REV B3

CPU: Intel Core i7 2600K 3,4GHz

CPU Cooler: Thermalright MUX-120

RAM: Corsair 8GB (2x4096MB) 1600MHz VENGEANCE

GPU: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 580 1536MB

Sound card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro

O/S and Software Storage: OCZ SSD Vertex3 120GB MAX IOPS

Mass Storage: 2TB Western Digital Caviar Green

DVD/Blu-Ray: Samsung SH-B123L Blu-Ray reader & DVD-writer

O/S: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Swedish OEM, SP1

Monitor: Dell U2311H 23" E-IPS 1080p/60Hz screen

Really happy with it since I got it a few weeks ago, I was unlucky though, a dust filter was defective in the case but it's fixed now.

I'm glad I went down in specs and ended up in a more reasonable price-range rather than going for overkill given that I only run a single 1080p monitor.
 
Sounds good :D Hope you don't have any more dust filter problems!
 
IIRC that HDD is 5400rpm vs the what you would want 7200.
 
That's just his mass storage. Really no reason to get 7200.
 
Then all is well. I opted for a 7200 since I'm pretty much using it for games.
 
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