They do ship as well. It’s just a matter of getting it quicker/cheaper if you are near a physical store, and being able to take it in for service instead of having to pack & ship it can be convenient.
I really couldn’t be happier with my desktop I got from them (i7 K series, 16 GB RAM, GeForce 1080, 480 GB SSD) for $1200. Crazy.
Bumping one last time (I promise!). I’ve been peripatetically shopping for a replacement desktop (home use, no real gaming, some HD streaming) that will have the following properties:
Mid-tower or tower (for expandability)
Boots fast (hence an SSD)
16 GB or more of RAM
Relatively Quiet
Supports two monitors
Will last- hence good cooling, no overclocking, etc.
I’ve narrowed my choices down to two distinct systems:
Case- Corsair Carbide Series Spec-01 (Mid-Tower)
Motherboard- ASUS TUF Z370 PLUS GAMING ATX w/ RGB, USB 3.1, 3 PCIe x16,
3 PCIe x1, 6 SATA3, 2 M.2 SATA/PCIe [Intel Optane Ready]
CPU- Intel® Core™ Processor i5-8500 3.00GHz 9MB Intel Smart Cache
LGA1151 (Coffee Lake)
Memory- 16GB (8GBx2) DDR4/3000MHz Dual Channel Memory (ADATA XPG Z1)
Primary Hard Drive- 500GB WD Blue Series SATA-III 6 Gb/s SSD - Seq R/W: Up to 545/525 MB/s, Rnd R/W up to 100/80k (Single Drive)
Power Supply- 600 Watts - Thermaltake SMART series 600Watts 80 Plus Gold high-efficient Power Supply
CPU Cooling- CyberpowerPC Asetek 550LC 120mm Liquid Cooling CPU Cooler (Single Standard 120MM Fan)
Video Card- GeForce® GT 1030 2GB GDDR5 (Single Card)
CD- ASUS 24X Internal multi DVD-Writer / 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R
(BLACK COLOR)
OS- Windows 10 Home (64-bit Edition)
Noise Reduction Technology- Power Supply Gasket
The 600W power supply from Cyberpower is on sale as a $0 upgrade from a more modest 450W supply, so no need to comment on the overkill.
I want to thank those who pointed out that a decent sized SSD can be my sole HDD. I was fixated on having at least 1TB, but my current 1TB drive is less than half full (and could be emptier if I did a little spring cleaning).
As I said above, it is not a question of budget. It is a question of getting value for what I buy. There is about 300 bucks difference in price and the only question is whether the additional price gives additional value.
The Cyberpower is probably a bit quieter (but how much quieter). My current PC sometimes sounds like a jet getting ready to take off, so I am sensitive to relative noise.
I will probably keep this PC for at least 5 years and I’m fully aware that the bane of electronics lifetime is heat, so maybe the liquid cooling is worth it. But is it sufficiently better to make a measurable difference in a system I have no plans to overclock?
The Microcenter PC has a few more “amenities” (wireless, bluetooth, a card reader) but are the components all going to be high quality (not a lot of transparency on what brands are being used). Is PowerSpec a builder with a good reputation?
The biggest difference between the two is the video card. On the plus side, no video card means one less board to fail, less heat, probably less noise. On the other hand, will I find miss the video card enough to end up buying one?
I’ve discovered that Microcenter is only about 40minutes in light traffic, so I can order and pick up mid-day sometime this week. Cyberpower has about a three week order-to-delivery schedule, so that’s a negative.
I will make a decision and buy this week. Either click a button or walk in and pick up a box. I genuinely have not decided.
Does the motherboard have space for expansion, should you wish to change your mind and add a large platter drive? You say you don’t need the space, but movies, videos (like HD TV shows), pictures, songs, et al, eat it up.
I picked up a WD Gold 4TB off ebay for not much, and I couldn’t be happier. Of course the OS is on the Intel SSD, as are what games I play.
Is watercooling idiot-proof (not calling you one, peccavi) enough for the regular consumer? I’ve just heard enough horror stories about leaks that I’m leery. Especially if you aren’t interested in gaming or serious 3d rendering. (And with a 1030, you’re not.)
The newer processors—I have a Ryzen 7—will indeed not run on another OS besides Win 10 or some Linux distro, without a lot of pain. I’ve read in PC mag or Tom’s Hardware about guys who’ve gotten theirs to run on Win7, but it didn’t sound trivial. Or I suck, one of the two. Anyway, Win 10 is OK. I still like Win 7 more, but w/e.
Help me out guys: I thought a big advantage of going with a pre-built desktop was that they didn’t price the GPU premium into the cost of the total build? If so, then if s/he doesn’t care about gaming, could peccavi get it much cheaper rolling his/her own, with better components to boot?
EDIT: Oh, and try newegg and slickdeals as well, to see what they’re willing to quote you. I bought my system’s motherboard bundle off newegg and found the price to be much less than say amazon or fry’s or anyone else.
Not really. A good part of it is the GT 1030 that you have no use for. The rest is the slightly faster processor and memory with a higher speed. But you’re not doing anything that will really take advantage of that. Also, the i5-8400 will boost up to 4.0 GHz as needed.
I’d just go with the Micro Center model for what you need. I also wouldn’t worry much about noise since you’re not overclocking or running a GPU (so no GPU cooler fans). That system looks like it only has two fans in it – one on the heat sink and a case fan up front. Even if you added a water cooler, you’d still need a fan to push air through the radiator. Not worth it for your use case.
The board has four SATA slots so adding another drive if you want in the future should be trivial.
This one will do you just fine. The only thing to note is that if you do want to install a gaming GPU down the line you will need to upgrade the PSU.
+1 to the Microcenter machine.
Agree that the Microcenter machine should suit you fine. The only thing I’d want is a little more detail on the SSD included in the package. And why do new systems still include USB 2.0 ports (rather than USB 3.0)?
At worst, I’d suspect it could be one of their Inland Professional house brand drives which are still pretty well reviewed.
peccavi, HD streaming is absolutely not going to cause extra fan noise. The CPU doesn’t even work hard at it anymore; the integrated graphics card takes care of it using a dedicated sub-chip that uses minimal power and generates no consequential heat. Liquid cooling is fine but unnecessary. Honestly, your computing needs are so trivial that they can be met by a 5-year-old smartphone, much less a current-gen desktop processor. I would bet you $50 you can take out the case fans altogether and still never overheat or hear the PSU and CPU fans spin up sufficiently to worry. You don’t need a bigger power supply. You’ll probably be using 100-120W. Get a power meter to measure it if you don’t believe me.
Save the $300. Use it to replace something 5 years later if anything breaks. They probably won’t. You can also use it to buy an extended warranty right at Microcenter, but it’s not worth it for a $700 machine. It will be worth $200 in two years.
There is no such thing as a “premium” computer. They are all commodity junk worthless after a couple of years, and name brands are not worth it unless you are seeking the top 5% in performance or a superbly designed laptop. For the PC desktop market, there is absolutely no reason to go with Cyberpower. They are more expensive, slower (to build and ship and repair), and ill-tailored for your needs, being a gaming brand that relies on word-of-mouth trickle-down to sell to normal people. It’s like asking your F1 racing friend which family sedan you should get. Don’t. Just get a Toyota. That’s the Powerspec machine. It’ll be totally fine.
Judging from the amount of familiarity with current PC tech as conveyed in the OP, I would suggest not going the DIY route.
Unless you really want a new hobby that much.
I’ve reserved the Microcenter PC. I’ve got 3 days to pick it up, which is good, since the drive time to the store is anywhere from 40 minutes to 3 hours, so I can pick my time.
Thanks to everyone for your help. Since the 1999, I’ve owned 5 desktops and 4 laptops and this is the first computer I’ve walked into a store and bought.