I hear computers are going to be a big thing (recommend a PC for me)

In My Humble Opinion
21

I was in the market for a new PC a few months ago. I really didn’t want a fancy, cool-looking gaming PC and would have been happy with an old-fashioned white box. (Remember those? Many generic PC builders sold desktop systems in generic white or beige boxes. Now they’re all trying to be too cool for school.) But all the manufacturers seemed to be selling only to serious gamers. So I gave up for a while.

As it happens, though, I ended up buying a Dell XPS system (with a cool aluminum front cover) for far too much money. It’s supposed to be enough PC for a virtual reality system, and I haven’t played with that for twenty years. So I may need to find out where the industry has gone in the interim.

22

The cheaper liquid cooling you see on CyberPower, etc are AIO (“All in One”) kits. It comes as one complete pre-filled unit, where you put the heat sink on the processor and attach the radiator to the case with a fan or two and you’re good to go. Obviously “you” in this case would be the installer and not you personally. I think CyberPower does custom liquid stuff but there’s no reason for you to go that route for a non-gaming computer that you’re not overclocking.

If the SSD is the primary drive, that’s where the OS will go and it’ll be the boot drive. Having the SSD be the boot drive is standard operating procedure and it would be really weird for a newly build system to boot off the HDD since a large part of the SSD function is to get Windows up in a hurry.

I’d stay with a smaller PSU if you’re not adding anything power hungry. The latest processors run cooler than previous generations. In the builds I suggested, I shot more for quality (Gold rating) than high wattages because your system didn’t need them and having a PSU go flaky is a drag.

Almost any modern GPU will have multiple video outs. If you’re not getting a discrete GPU, be sure the motherboard offers multiple video outs for the integrated graphics. The one I used for the 2400G does (I picked it intentionally since there’s no GPU) and I think many do, but some cheaper ones might not. It’s not something I look into much since most people use a discrete GPU.

If you’re not doing any gaming or anything else video intensive, you can really just drop any graphic options to the cheapest card offered (GT 1030 2GB) which will be fine to push your desktop to two monitors. Us computer advice nerds are, of course, enthusiasts who simply can’t believe that you wouldn’t one day fall in love with the idea of playing Laser Space Dragons III and are trying to spare you the future pain of learning that your system isn’t capable :stuck_out_tongue:

23

I should mention, just to save you any potential confusion, that using the GT 1030 card you’ll have one DisplayPort, one HDMI and one DVI out. It does handle multiple monitors but you’ll be running on DP and one HDMI unless you use an DP/HDMI adapter. Nothing wrong with that unless you have two HDMI only screens or something.

24

If you don’t game you’ll be fined with a standard PC from Dell or HP. That said, you are going to have problems with your monitors. Modern monitors use HDMI and Displayport, so motherboards and video cards have those to match. Fortunately HDMI to DVI is a direct conversion.

Consider dropping the HDD entirely and just having a 1 TB SSD.

Don’t bother with the AIO CLC kits. A big air cooler like the Noctua DH-12 and DH-14 is actually quieter, and the coolant from the CLC kits evaporates over time. If you can restrict your CPU to 95W then the Nofan CR-95C should be your preferred choice as it is totally silent. Just make sure that the case has a vent above the cooler.

25

Depending on your needs, you may also want to consider getting a laptop, rather than a desktop.

**You can use a laptop as a desktop **(I do).

Simply plug in a large external monitor, a keyboard and a mouse, and set it not to sleep or shut down when you close the lid.

Then you have a desktop equivalent - with the advantage that it’s small, quiet, has a camera and microphone, and can be used as a laptop when you travel. It also has a battery, so if the power goes off unexpectedly, it will switch to battery and you won’t lose anything.

26

The OP already has a laptop and doesn’t want another.

However, might an Intel NUC be of interest?

27

Trying to find (or customize) something through Dell & HP to meet the OP’s request is curiously hard. Dell doesn’t offer memory over 12GB in its standard desktop lines. HP’s Envy line tops out with last generation processors. I’m not sure either offers a DVD drive (though you could buy an external if its used infrequently) though I stopped toying with options after the memory/processor thing.

Granted he may not need more than 12GB (though 16GB is becoming the standard go-to amount) but I try not to second guess requests.

28

You’re right. Stupid, isn’t it?

But you can go to a white-box builder like Overclockers.co.uk and the job is trivialf,i1).

29

Thanks again. I think I have enough answers to figure out what I want.

I’m going to spend a couple of days playing with configuring boxes on Cyberpower and AVA and then I’ll come back here and post what I plan to buy before I pull the trigger. It’s going to take a couple of days because I really only have an hour or two each evening to get to this.

30

Computers are a passing fad. Go with the real, time tested solution - a hand made abacus! I hear bamboo is faster than stone, less friction.

31

I wouldn’t go anywhere near Dell. Their service people are incompetent. One of them just hung up on me when I said, after he could not or would not help me, “What the hell am I supposed to do now?” I have had a couple of Lenovos and am basically happy with them. I used to have a couple Toshibas and they were also satisfactory. I went to Lenovo at my sysop’s suggestion. Whatever you do, don’t buy a Surface. Terrible and overpriced.

32

This is on Woot today. Refurb, $469. I don’t know diddly about computers, so I might be way off, but this seems to have most of what you’re looking for.

StG

33

I strongly urge people to avoid Woot. Amazon now sells these Woot refurbished pieces of junk and the reviews there are unbelievably bad.

34

I didn’t know it was gone; my HP Pavilion HPE has been going strong for at least five years.

35

Sorry for the long “couple of days”. Real life intruded.

So, I’ve played around with configuration at AVADirect and CyberPower and come up with two systems that I think may or may not be comparable, with about an $18 price difference:

AVADirect- Intel 8th Gen Coffee Lake Celeron, Pentium Gold, Core™, H310 Chipset, Low-Noise Custom Computer Desktop ($1,109.00)
[ul]
[li]CORSAIR Carbide Series 100R Silent Edition, No PSU, ATX, Black, Mid Tower Case[/li][li]ASUS TUF H310M-PLUS GAMING, Intel H310 Chipset, LGA 1151, HDMI, microATX Motherboard[/li][li]INTEL Core™ i5-8500 6-Core 3.0 - 4.1GHz Turbo, LGA 1151, 65W TDP, Processor[/li][li]EVGA GeForce GT 1030 SC Passive Low Profile, 1290 - 1544MHz, 2GB GDDR5, Graphics Card[/li][li]KINGSTON 16GB HyperX Fury DDR4 2400MHz, CL15, Black, DIMM Memory[/li][li]EVGA 450 B3, 80 PLUS Bronze 450W, ECO Mode, Fully Modular, ATX Power Supply[/li][li]Be Quiet! Pure Rock Slim, 124.8mm Height, 120W TDP, Copper/Aluminum CPU Cooler[/li][li]KINGSTON 240GB SSDNow UV400 7mm, 550 / 490 MB/s, TLC, SATA 6Gb/s, 2.5-Inch SSD[/li][li]SEAGATE 1TB BarraCuda ST1000DM010, 7200 RPM, SATA 6Gb/s NCQ, 64MB cache, 3.5-Inch HDD[/li][li]ASUS DRW-24B1ST, DVD 24x / CD 48x, DVD-Writer, 5.25-Inch, Optical Drive[/li][li]Standard Wiring with Precision Cable Routing and Tie-Down[/li][li]MICROSOFT Windows 10 Home 64-bit DVD OEM[/li][li]AVA Basic (2-Year Labor / 1-Year Parts)[/li][/ul]

CyberPower- Gamer Xtreme 1000 ($991)
[ul]
[li]CASE:Corsair Carbide Series Spec-01 w/ USB 3.0, Side Panel Window [-5][/li][li]MOTHERBOARD:CyberpowerPC Z370 SLI Xtreme ATX w/ RGB, 802.11ac WiFi,[/li][li]USB 3.1, 2 PCIe x16, 4 PCIe x1, 6 SATA3, 2 M.2 SATA/PCIe [Intel Optane Ready][/li][li]CPU:Intel® Core™ Processor i5-8600 3.10GHz 9MB Intel Smart Cache LGA1151 (Coffee Lake) [-40][/li][li]VIDEO:GeForce® GT 1030 2GB GDDR5 [-27] (Single Card)[/li][li]MEMORY:16GB (8GBx2) DDR4/3000MHz Dual Channel Memory [+120] (ADATA XPG Z1)[/li][li]POWERSUPPLY:450 Watts - Corsair CX450 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply [+8][/li][li]FAN:CyberpowerPC Asetek 550LC 120mm Liquid Cooling CPU Cooler (Single Standard 120MM Fan)[/li][li]HDD:240GB WD Green Series SATA-III 6 Gb/s SSD - Seq R/W: Up to 540/465 MB/s, Rnd R/W up to 37/68k [-19] (Single Drive)[/li][li]HDD2:1TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 32MB Cache 7200RPM HDD [+52] (Single Drive)[/li][li]CD:ASUS 24X Internal multi DVD-Writer / 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R [+17] (BLACK COLOR)[/li][li]NETWORK:Onboard Gigabit LAN Network[/li][li]NOISEREDUCE1:Power Supply Gasket [+5][/li][li]NOISEREDUCE2:Anti-Vibration Fan Mounts [+9][/li][li]OS:Windows 10 Home (64-bit Edition)[/li][li]SERVICE:3 Years FREE Service Plan (INCLUDES LABOR AND LIFETIME[/li][li]TECHNICAL SUPPORT)[/li][li]WARRANTY:STANDARD WARRANTY: 1 Year Parts WARRANTY[/li][li]INSTANTREBATE:$50 Instant Rebate on all Intel Desktops and Laptops [-50][/li][/ul]

So, not much difference, but I’m not sure I’m not making some egregious error or missing something.

36

Can I put in a vote for that most underrated of chain electronics stores, Microcenter? If there is one near you, they actually offer pre-built desktops under their house brand (PowerSpec) at really quite amazing prices. For example, this $699 system is functionally going to be very similar to the ones you listed and you can take it in to a local store for support instead of having to ship it back to the online customizers.

As a bonus, many stores will carry refurb or returned PowerSpec units (but still with a warranty) at 15%-20% off or more. I think you can get an extended warranty for them if you’re worried, but it’s generally not worth the money, especially since you can easily replace anything on your own if you need to, this being a generic desktop with generic parts.

As a long-time PC builder, what they were able to do actually surprised the heck out of me… I got my last desktop this way and it was nearly 40% cheaper than buying the parts myself, some 20% over any identical setup from other brands they had in the store. They went from a store I had never heard of before to my first choice in buying desktops. It’s just that unique combination of 1) having a local store with its own house brand 2) insufficient fame and marketing for them to have enough name recognition 3) yet for some reason enough stock that their stuff routinely gets marked down for clearance and refurb. It gets you killer deals if you just visit one and ask the staff there about their clearance or refurb units.

Edit: Some further thoughts

  • You definitely don’t need a GPU. It’s a waste of money and electricity, and a drivers/display switching hassle. The integrated graphics (well, this and many motherboards) comes with DVI, HDMI, and VGA. Just get an adapter if you need.

  • Definitely get a desktop over a laptop, not because they have a huge difference right now, but because they are much easier to repair and upgrade. You’re buying this for multiple years, not the 2-3 that a typical laptop might last.

  • Skip liquid cooling. It’s nonsense except for overclocking gamers.

  • Don’t worry about the HDD so much. Just get at least a 256 GB SSD as your primary, then whatever else the system comes with. Hard drives are cheaper the longer you wait anyway.

37

Some counter points:
1)I’ve had/built PCs since the early 90s and I have had one PC be repaired under warranty in all that time, for random reboots. It was an NEC DX4/100. I’ve also had one power supply go south on the machines I’ve built, and that was 7 years old. So is warranty really that important?
2) As noted , I tend to run desktops for comparatively long time, and agree that being able to swap parts makes them much easier to play with.
3) If you plan on using graphics intensive content like games and HD or better movies , the onboard graphics aren’t going to cut the mustard nearly so well as a dedicated GPU. It also tends to eat into your system RAM and even with the comparatively monstrous amount of RAM you can put on most new motherboards, onboard will eat into your performance.
4) Running cooler is almost always better. Short article on liquid vs air cooling.
5) I concur on this last point.
peccavi, that Cyberpower machine looks like a winner to me.

38

Don’t think the warranty is that important, either. Better to just save the money and replace whatever breaks. You can easily do that with desktops, not laptops.

As for the graphics card, you absolutely don’t need it for anything except gaming (or other 3d graphics, but you would know if you did). The integrated cards have dedicated processors just for HD video and other common use cases, are very fast for them, use way less power, and don’t have to deal with switching back and forth (in the case of nvidia Optimus). In daily usage you would never notice the ram difference, especially with 16gb. It just isn’t worth it to get a gpu unless you’re gaming. This was already the case 5 years ago, much more so now.

I’m sure cooling isn’t going to be an issue either unless they’re gaming. Most people are using like 20% of their cpu most of the day.

39

Good ole Microcenter. That’s actually a pretty appropriate computer for what the OP wanted. Just a matter of living within range of one of their stores.

40

I could honestly say that either the Dell or HP desktop systems are fine for what it seems you need. You can go on either of their websites and basically build out what you are looking for. I don’t know why anyone would want a RW DVD today, but if you want one they will certainly sell you one. Dual monitor is no issue today, just have to pick which monitors you want…both companies will sell you pretty much everything you would want. Not sure about getting the PC and dual monitors in your price range, but that might just be me. Like I said, you can spec out a PC on both sites and see what the price will be. I don’t know about HP, but Dell has their own financing and even lease options that you might consider. I like both of their repair warranty programs and have used both. Dell has sent techs to my house to replace motherboards when the PC was under warranty, and HP is what we use at work. I usually go with the extended warranty as I’ve used it fairly often (where I live is pretty hard on PCs).

Personally, I wouldn’t go with a Mac, though I know some really love the things. Since my box is mainly for gaming, and since all of my games are PC that’s the system I go with. I think Windows 10 has been a success and I find the OS both stable and intuitive, but if you like Macs then knock yourself out. I think if you go that route you need to think about bumping up your budget quite a bit, as the dual monitor systems we have here at work usually cost about double or more your budget, though maybe if you skimp on performance you could get it down to something along the lines you are looking at.