Desktop Buying Advice?

[CLW]

Perhaps I'm odd but I actually like/prefer using a desktop over my laptop. My laptop is nice for traveling but when I am home I like/prefer using my desktop.

My desktop is now nearly 6 years old and has recently started getting slower and doing "dumps" (at random times the screen just turns blue and give a big long explanation on what happened). I power down and back up and it works for a day or two only to require a rinse/repeat at some point.

I think I'll likely be in the market for a new desktop once I move and get my job situation figured out. Any of you guys have any suggestions/recommendations?

[JBHuskers]

You looking very high end or something to surf?

[CLW]

You looking very high end or something to surf?

Probably closer to "high end". I am really hoping that my job search pans out to where I can afford to splurge and buy the following for a gaming setup:

(1) HDPVR or some sort of HDMI capture card (Black Magic Intensity Shuttle)

(2) A 2nd 27" monitor to go with my current monitor so that I can have both my CPU and PS3 on at the same time (if the Component to HDMI converter doesn't work I'd need a monitor with Component inputs)

(3) A new desktop to make highlight videos and stream live games on sites like JTV

(4) Any programs necessary for #3.

(5) A set of decent gaming headphones

(6) Speakers for my computer monitor(s) that would hopefully also work when my PS3 is on.

[oweb26]

Well I can tell you what I am currently building and it might give you some ideas but my current build is more towards the high end as I actually plan on using this one for awhile:

ASUS P6T motherboard
Intel Core i7 960
Tri-channel DDR3 (12GB) total <-----using every slot available pretty much
2 Radeon HD 6970 cross fired
Corsair 1000 wt power supply, might go back down to a 750 not that big of a price difference though
Obsidian 800D Case
27' LCD monitor and probably a second monitor more than likely smaller.
1TB HD & an 80GB Dedicated HD

I wont list the disck drives or anything as they aren't that special

I have purchased everything except the video cards and the screen. Go figure the two most expensive pieces. lol
I am not in a big rush so it might not be until Sept or later when I finish as I am having a baby in June so money is going to baby stuff for the time being.

[oweb26]

Probably closer to "high end". I am really hoping that my job search pans out to where I can afford to splurge and buy the following for a gaming setup:

(1) HDPVR or some sort of HDMI capture card (Black Magic Intensity Shuttle)

(2) A 2nd 27" monitor to go with my current monitor so that I can have both my CPU and PS3 on at the same time (if the Component to HDMI converter doesn't work I'd need a monitor with Component inputs)

(3) A new desktop to make highlight videos and stream live games on sites like JTV

(4) Any programs necessary for #3.

(5) A set of decent gaming headphones

(6) Speakers for my computer monitor(s) that would hopefully also work when my PS3 is on.

The build I just posted is capable of all that and more. You can probably drop one the video cards, or just buy the 5970 which has 2GB of video Ram but is crazy expensive.

[CLW]

Yeah I have heard allot of people say "have someone build you a CPU" instead of buying from Dell; HP; etc... The problem is I have virtually ZERO clue about what specifics I would want in a CPU. I.e. all that stuff you listed above I have no clue what any of that means.

Basically, I use my CPU to surf the web; email and I'd like the ability to stream/post video with my capture card.

I do NOT use my CPU for gaming as I do my gaming exclusively on my PS3.

[oweb26]

I didnt have a clue either I just did alot of research and followed others builds, Yeah I dont think you will as much juice as the one I listed but you will need a decent one to capture video.

I would say just get a decent setup from Dell,HP or whatever. You will more than likely need the one that says gaming in the footnote but you really cant game on it. lol

Maybe the one that is designed with movie editing in mind, without something to look at I'm purely speculating right now.

[gschwendt]

Actually capturing the video with the HD-PVR isn't all that intensive because all of the processing is actually done on the device itself. WHere you'll need to make sure you have a decent rig (though doesn't have to be all that fancy) is when you're editing videos. Here's my current setup and I can play pretty much every PC game on Very High and then also run my video editing smooth as butter.

MSI 870-G45 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard Link
AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition Thuban 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor Link
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Link
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 768MB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Link

As for the software you'll need for editing HD-PVR videos, you'll want Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10... not just because it's quite a good piece of software at a reasonable price but also because Sony designed one of the proprietary formats that the HD-PVR uses (M2TS).

[morsdraconis]

Actually capturing the video with the HD-PVR isn't all that intensive because all of the processing is actually done on the device itself. WHere you'll need to make sure you have a decent rig (though doesn't have to be all that fancy) is when you're editing videos. Here's my current setup and I can play pretty much every PC game on Very High and then also run my video editing smooth as butter.

MSI 870-G45 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard Link
AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition Thuban 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor Link
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Link
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 768MB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Link

As for the software you'll need for editing HD-PVR videos, you'll want Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10... not just because it's quite a good piece of software at a reasonable price but also because Sony designed one of the proprietary formats that the HD-PVR uses (M2TS).

+1

Pretty much exactly what I was going to post though I was going to recommend going with MSI products as much as possible as they are VERY good manufacturers when it comes to video cards/motherboards.

The 1090T Black Edition is SWEET (currently my processor as well). I only have 4 gigs of ram instead of 8 (will be solving that soon) but even with 4, it's ridiculously fast at video processing and such.

As for the GTX 460, as you can see from the link, Newegg no longer carries the 768MB RAM versions, but I bought the 1GB RAM one and I'm QUITE happy with it. Video gaming has never been so wonderful.

You could definitely purchase the above, with this case, this power supply, and 2 of these case fans to replace the default ones that come with the case and you'll be golden.

Price Breakdown

[CLW]

O.K. if I go the route of buying all the parts seperately who do I get to put them all together and make them work? Also would I also need to purchase Windows seperately?

[gschwendt]

O.K. if I go the route of buying all the parts seperately who do I get to put them all together and make them work?

You. Seriously... these days, everything is color coded and ridiculously easy (especially compared to even 15 years ago when I started really messing around with it). All you need is a phillips screw driver. So long as you buy all of the right components to work together, you really won't have any difficulty.
I didn't watch all of it, but this looks like a really good walkthrough of putting together a PC

Also would I also need to purchase Windows seperately?

Yes. I would recommend Windows 7 64-bit ($100).

[CLW]

Wow that is quite a bit cheaper than some of the desktops from the manufactuers I was looking at:

http://www.dell.com/us/p/studio-xps-9100/fs ($1000 - $2300)


http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/sh...gh_performance

($600 - $1550)

[morsdraconis]

Yeah, putting together a PC is really easy. There's really only a few things you need to watch out for and the video goes over all of them except that you need to make sure that the case has what the video calls standoffs. They screw into the side of the case and are what lines up with your motherboard to keep it in the air away from the metal part of the case (metal touching the top or bottom of the motherboard is VERY bad). The cases usually come with them pre-screwed in, but sometimes not so you need to make sure that they are.

Also, forgot to add a SATA harddrive to the above, but newegg has plenty of them of varying sizes (I personally have a 650gb SATA drive that isn't even anywhere close to being full and I'm one pirating mofo when it comes to music/games/software ).

[morsdraconis]

Wow that is quite a bit cheaper than some of the desktops from the manufactuers I was looking at:

http://www.dell.com/us/p/studio-xps-9100/fs ($1000 - $2300)


http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/sh...gh_performance

($600 - $1550)

Exactly. Buying a computer from a manufacturer is, for the most part, a total ripoff. Pretty much buying one from anyone that's not Alienware (one of the most expensive places to buy PCs from) is asking for shitty aftermarket parts in at least two of the most important parts of the computer (REALLY shitty Motherboards are the normal spot for manufacturers to skimp on and screw you over with along with shitty powersupplies).

[CLW]

I'll definitely have to look into it. I presume there would also be "reputable" sources (I'm thinking Ma and Pa computer repair stores) that would also build one for me for the price of parts + some fairly reasonable labor charge which would still be better and cheaper than buying from HP/Dell?

[oweb26]

You can honestly do it yourself. The hardest part is installing all the damn drivers and then its not really hard as it is time consuming. Take the computer build challenge man.

[CLW]

You can honestly do it yourself. The hardest part is installing all the damn drivers and then its not really hard as it is time consuming. Take the computer build challenge man.

Yeah I know allot of people do it. However, I always think of pro se litigants who think they can do law w/o a license or some idiot that thinks they could do a surgery w/o going through medical school; residency; fellowship etc... b/c they saw some program (Greys Anatomy) on t.v.

Perhaps I am just thinking it HAS to be more complicated than it looks. Have all of you guys built your own PCs?

If so, how long did it take you / how long would it take a complete noob who's only experience working on PCs was when I had to replace the memory on my Dell a few years back and the Indian service rep walked me through the process? (which was actually pretty easy just flip the little "latch" and pull out pop in new push down the "latch" and make sure everything was lined up properly)

[gschwendt]

10-15 years ago, you'd be right that it was much harder than it should have been. Today though, they specifically design it so that things really only work one way. So long as you order all of the right parts (just give us a run down of everything you're ordering and we can confirm for you), then you really can't screw it up so long as you half a sense of carful.

I've been building PCs for 15 years and never once bought a "brand-name" PC... only brand-name stuff I bought was my netbook and you can't really build one of those.

Hell, with replacing RAM, you're more experienced than a lot of the rest of the world. I promise you, it really isn't that much more difficult. You just put all of the pieces together (like that video shows), plug it in, put the Windows DVD in the drive, then when it boots up, it will read the DVD and begin Windows installation from there.

I'll even volunteer that you can call or text me if you get stuck during the process.

[CLW]

10-15 years ago, you'd be right that it was much harder than it should have been. Today though, they specifically design it so that things really only work one way. So long as you order all of the right parts (just give us a run down of everything you're ordering and we can confirm for you), then you really can't screw it up so long as you half a sense of carful.

I've been building PCs for 15 years and never once bought a "brand-name" PC... only brand-name stuff I bought was my netbook and you can't really build one of those.

Hell, with replacing RAM, you're more experienced than a lot of the rest of the world. I promise you, it really isn't that much more difficult. You just put all of the pieces together (like that video shows), plug it in, put the Windows DVD in the drive, then when it boots up, it will read the DVD and begin Windows installation from there.

I'll even volunteer that you can call or text me if you get stuck during the process.

Be careful what you wish for as I'll have you on speed dial and take up all of your cell phone minutes when I forget to plug the power cord in.

[gschwendt]

Be careful what you wish for as I'll have you on speed dial and take up all of your cell phone minutes when I forget to plug the power cord in.

I'll give you the burner cell phone that I always have on me in case of psycho women