Need Advice On Replacing Desktop Computer

madspeed · Jun 18, 2014

Looks like the old gateway desktop finally bit the bullet. Time to replace and/or upgrade. Looking for your thoughts and input. Still need a desktop due to my wifes business needs. Will only need to replace the tower, have a large screen monitor that will continue to be used. Whats the go to pc these days??

horse sence · Jun 18, 2014

Man i will be doing the same very soon . Gateway even . I have a large screen monitor that i will be keeping also ,those little screens are a waist of a good pic. I lost count of how many times i have had this one crash.

85_SS_302_Coupe · Jun 18, 2014

Lots of nice store bought options out there for pretty cheap, but I prefer to build one. Noobz gave me a crap ton of help through PM on my recent build as I've been way out of touch and had no idea where to start...it's been years since I did any of this but it's really not very hard. If I can do it anyone can.

ximportdriver · Jun 18, 2014

madspeed said:
Looks like the old gateway desktop finally bit the bullet. Time to replace and/or upgrade. Looking for your thoughts and input. Still need a desktop due to my wifes business needs. Will only need to replace the tower, have a large screen monitor that will continue to be used. Whats the go to pc these days??

If you are open to Apple, I would highly recommend a Mac Mini. You can use your current USB or Bluetooth peripherals and your display.

My dad just made the switch to the Mac Mini, and he loves it.

madspeed · Jun 18, 2014

horse sence said:
Man i will be doing the same very soon . Gateway even . I have a large screen monitor that i will be keeping also ,those little screens are a waist of a good pic. I lost count of how many times i have had this one crash.

Power surge/power outage finally got mine. power supply is shot as is the motherboard, might as well update while I'm at it. This one is about 10 years old

rbohm · Jun 18, 2014

i say build your own desktop. they are easy enough to assemble, and you have have all the bells and whistles you want for less money than a store bought computer. for instance imagine a C drive in the terabyte range, and a second or even a third hard drive also in the terabyte range. you could have something like 12 terabytes of storage capacity all internal, and still have a couple of dvd-rw drives.

Ronin38 · Jun 19, 2014

Building is a good option, but if you're not in the mood for it I've found some good buys on Dell's refurb. site. I've had a few of them (even bought some for work a few years ago) and they all ran fine.
I have an HP tower now and it's also good, despite being Win. 8. First thing I did was to install Start Menu8!

VibrantRedGT · Jun 19, 2014

I built my own gaming / office PC for the very first time a few months ago. If you buy good stuff now you can keep upgrading for years and years. I did mine on a $750 budget and came in a $740. Most bought at TigerDirect.com.

Case- ThermalCooler, forgot the number, $59. Came with three 120MM Fans.
Motherboard- MSI Z77 / 1155 - bunch of companies make this, $124.
CPU- Intel i5 / 3570k - Can overclock this one up to 4.7Ghz if need be, $199. I run mine at 4.2Ghz.
GPU- Sapphire HD6870 - I like AMD graphic cards, $100 used. Just upgraded this to Sapphire 7970 (R9 280x).
PSU- Corsair 750W - Don't skimp here, 750W is the minimum, $75.
RAM- 4G is fine now days, I run 8G as a minimum, it's cheap $59.
HD- Western Digital 500G, $65. A Solid State Drive (SSD) is even better if in your budget.
CD-ROM- Bought a basic LG / DVD unit for $29. It's a gamer not a movie machine.
Accessories- 240MM exhaust fan for the top, 120MM side exhaust fan (case came with 3), $20.
OS- Already had Microsoft Windows 7 / 64 bit. Great for gaming, work, home, etc, $0.

Total- $740

I run triple 24" HD Monitors with all this.

The Z77 Motherboard comes with 7.1 RealTek Surround Sound, SLI is you want to run 2 GPU cards together, comes with an OverClock genie app (can even do it on your smart phone) and more. Very important to get a good main board.

Red_LX · Jun 19, 2014

Well, if you're not looking for something as hardcore as that, I'd recommend checking out factory refurbs at tigerdirect.com.

I replaced my computer about a year ago with a refurb small form factor computer from there. I kinda understand why I got it so cheap, and that's because SFF computers aren't very moddable.

I can't remember all the specs now, but if I recall it has a 3.0 gHz processor and 1 TB hard drive. I also upgraded it with a lower-end Asus video card with 1 GB RAM, and bumped the main RAM up to 2 gb. I wanted it to run World of Tanks and it will, so that's good enough for me. Best part was that I got the CPU, a 20" LCD monitor and the upgraded RAM and video card for less than $500.

It's no gaming PC, but it will run World of Tanks and World of Warplanes with no hiccups, and those are pretty graphically demanding even on the low settings.

horse sence · Jun 19, 2014

My CD drive bit the big one so if it goes down again i will not be able to
re install .My re writable drive also quit ,it keeps coming up, insert disk ,and i already inserted the disk Going to insert my foot and see if it recognizes that

85_SS_302_Coupe · Jun 19, 2014

Here's mine. I don't remember the total but it was about 3x what I planned on spending

Noobz347 · Jun 19, 2014

ximportdriver said:
If you are open to Apple, I would highly recommend a Mac Mini. You can use your current USB or Bluetooth peripherals and your display.

My dad just made the switch to the Mac Mini, and he loves it.

Not in a million years! Sure, Microsoft OSs have their faults but nothing quite like running yesterday's CPU, and a bloated OS, while having difficulty with compatibility (hardware and software) and possibly having to install Microsoft Office over the TOP of the Apple OS to boot... All while paying a PREMIUM to be told what you can and cannot do by the Apple Store.

Thank You,
Signed, "No"

Noobz347 · Jun 19, 2014

VibrantRedGT said:
I built my own gaming / office PC for the very first time a few months ago. If you buy good stuff now you can keep upgrading for years and years. I did mine on a $750 budget and came in a $740. Most bought at TigerDirect.com.

Case- ThermalCooler, forgot the number, $59. Came with three 120MM Fans.
Motherboard- MSI Z77 / 1155 - bunch of companies make this, $124.
CPU- Intel i5 / 3570k - Can overclock this one up to 4.7Ghz if need be, $199. I run mine at 4.2Ghz.
GPU- Sapphire HD6870 - I like AMD graphic cards, $100 used. Just upgraded this to Sapphire 7970 (R9 280x).
PSU- Corsair 750W - Don't skimp here, 750W is the minimum, $75.
RAM- 4G is fine now days, I run 8G as a minimum, it's cheap $59.
HD- Western Digital 500G, $65. A Solid State Drive (SSD) is even better if in your budget.
CD-ROM- Bought a basic LG / DVD unit for $29. It's a gamer not a movie machine.
Accessories- 240MM exhaust fan for the top, 120MM side exhaust fan (case came with 3), $20.
OS- Already had Microsoft Windows 7 / 64 bit. Great for gaming, work, home, etc, $0.

Total- $740

I run triple 24" HD Monitors with all this.

The Z77 Motherboard comes with 7.1 RealTek Surround Sound, SLI is you want to run 2 GPU cards together, comes with an OverClock genie app (can even do it on your smart phone) and more. Very important to get a good main board.

Nice case! You need a larger, slower turning fan in the back.

VibrantRedGT · Jun 19, 2014

Noobz347 said:
Nice case! You need a larger, slower turning fan in the back.

Adding up my fans- 1 top, 1 back, 1 left side, 1 right side, 1 on CPU, 2 on GPU.
Total- 7

No wonder it sounds like an airplane on my laminate floor.

Noobz347 · Jun 19, 2014

VibrantRedGT said:
Adding up my fans- 1 top, 1 back, 1 left side, 1 right side, 1 on CPU, 2 on GPU.
Total- 7

No wonder it sounds like an airplane on my laminate floor.

Larger, slower spinning fans helps a lot if the noise bothers you. They generally push more air too. That opening in the back of your case is setup for a larger fan.

Adieu · Jun 19, 2014

http://pcpartpicker.com/

About to build a new one for the first time in years. Built my own forever, but when Windows 7 came out I just bought a nice HP and went with it. Now 8gb of ram, and a 2gb Chinese-made Radeon video card, and a 2.6ghz AMD quad-core just aren't enough anymore... Been a good run though, had this thing five years, but it's struggling with World of Warcraft and Star Trek Online at this point, so I know it's time to change out pretty much everything but the hard drive and power supply (1TB hdd inside and already upgraded the hell out of the power supply when I swapped video cards the first time a few years back).

I started trying to find parts on my own, but the terminology has changed so much since the good old days of single-core processors and one basic kind of RAM that I needed help and one of my STO buddies suggested that site, I've got my build planned, just saving up the cash now since I don't want to put it all on credit cards (making payments on a depreciating asset and all that jazz).

VibrantRedGT said:
Adding up my fans- 1 top, 1 back, 1 left side, 1 right side, 1 on CPU, 2 on GPU.
Total- 7

No wonder it sounds like an airplane on my laminate floor.

My old single-core gaming rig I built before my HP had 11 total fans in it. Two in the power supply, on on the CPU, one on the GPU, an extra fan for the graphics card, and six in the front of the case (all six of those were about 1" in diameter). It was a Soyo Dragon case with four 5.25" external bays, and I was having some cooling issues with some racing games at the time, and I found two old 5.25" bay "hard drive super cooler" fan setups in the bargain bin at Goodwill Computer Works down in Austin Texas... fixed my problem for $4. I made sure all the fans in the front were pulling cold air in and that that big power supply fans were blowing hot air out, and the constant airflow though the case fixed it. I still have that old rig, sitting in storage collecting dust... maybe I'll build the new one in it's case with an OEM copy of Windows 7 and just do a clean install on this old one and give it to my mom or something.

horse sence · Jun 19, 2014

74stang2togo said:
http://pcpartpicker.com/
maybe I'll build the new one in it's case with an OEM copy of Windows 7 and just do a clean install on this old one and give it to my mom or something.

that would be nice ...but please don't call me mom

Adieu · Jun 19, 2014

horse sence said:
that would be nice ...but please don't call me mom

So... you WANT a five-year-old HP system with a craptacular Chinese-made (bought it on Ebay and I swear my old 512mb card was better but all the tests I can run say it's not and I'm sure it's a counterfeit and not the real deal) video card in it that and wasn't even that good of a system when it was new?

horse sence said:
please don't call me mom

Should totally be a CT for you. @Noobz347 should make this happen... lol

horse sence · Jun 19, 2014

74stang2togo said:
So... you WANT a five-year-old HP system with a craptacular Chinese-made (bought it on Ebay and I swear my old 512mb card was better but all the tests I can run say it's not and I'm sure it's a counterfeit and not the real deal) video card in it that and wasn't even that good of a system when it was new?

Should totally be a CT for you. @Noobz347 should make this happen... lol

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I hunt you down !!!

TheRican · Jun 20, 2014

OK well this thread devolved. What's the use case here for your system?

That will determine best route.

Need Advice On Replacing Desktop Computer

madspeed

Colonel Mustard

horse sence

85_SS_302_Coupe

it sucks (I know) to be on the receiving end

ximportdriver

madspeed

Colonel Mustard

rbohm

Ronin38

Blow all the things!

VibrantRedGT

"STANGNET'S PENGUIN SMACKER"

Red_LX

I’m not much help unless you’re looking for ****!

horse sence

85_SS_302_Coupe

it sucks (I know) to be on the receiving end

Noobz347

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

Noobz347

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

VibrantRedGT

"STANGNET'S PENGUIN SMACKER"

Noobz347

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

Adieu

Easy there, this ain't a dating site.

horse sence

Adieu

Easy there, this ain't a dating site.

horse sence

TheRican

Emo Extraordinaire

Need Advice On Replacing Desktop Computer

Colonel Mustard

it sucks (I know) to be on the receiving end

Colonel Mustard

Blow all the things!

"STANGNET'S PENGUIN SMACKER"

I’m not much help unless you’re looking for ****!

it sucks (I know) to be on the receiving end

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

"STANGNET'S PENGUIN SMACKER"

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

Easy there, this ain't a dating site.

Easy there, this ain't a dating site.

Emo Extraordinaire

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