My last two desktop computers, both from Velocity Micro, picked up this irritating “feature” of shutting down on me - well, one just shuts down entirely, and the other locks up - after a seemingly random amount of time doing serious CPU work, although on occasion the lockups happen while nothing significant is running. Needless to say, it’s hard to play something like Kerbal Space Program if the computer is going to lock up five minutes into the launch. No, I am not overclocking them.
I assume a lot of you have “no-name” brands; what brand would you recommend? Also, is there any particular feature/upgrade I should be including, or staying away from? (For example, should I pay for the “better” cooling? Is an 850W power supply really necessary?) I am into serious number-crunching, including Blu-Ray generating, but not necessarily into “get my frame rate as high as possible for every game I play.”
I see you’ve gotten no response, that’s probably because most of the name brands have gone through so much turmoil and cost-cutting that it would be hard to recommend any particular type. Quality is hit-or-miss these days.
Are Dells still any good? That is one possibility.
Personally I always build my own, that way I have complete control over the specs and if I put it together then I also know how to replace parts if something goes wrong. Building your own also uses more modular components, factory-built PCs often use unusual size power supplies and other parts.
Here are a couple good sites to browse regarding building your own:
I agree that there’s not really much to choose from among the off the shelf brands. I like Dells ok and I’ve generally had good luck with them. My current machine is a Dell and I’ve upgraded the gpu and added an SSD. I’ll probably upgrade the cpu for my next birthday. Buying a Dell as a base machine and then upgrading as you go can be a good strategy if you don’t want to lash out all at once.
It sounds like your previous machines were having power supply or motherboard problems. How much wattage you need depends on your components. They tell you how much in their specs, so you just add it all up. 850w is a lot, but not excessive depending on how many monitors or gpus you’re rolling with.
Power shutdowns can also be a sign of overheating. I’ve never bothered with liquid cooling but you’ll want to make sure the case has good airflow, lots of fans, and is generally kept in a cool room.
If I were buying a new gaming machine today, I’d want one with an i7, 8gb ram minimum, an nVidia gpu with at least 2gb vram, and an SSD for the boot partition. If money was no object, I’d probably get a Falcon NW Talon.
Good point on the overheating. OP, if you haven’t already it would be a good idea to unplug and vacuum out your existing PC, or if you’re not comfortable opening it up at least give the outside a good vacuuming, paying special attention to fans.
A lot of people say not to use a vacuum on a PC because of static discharge, but I’ve used them for decades. As long as you aren’t shuffling your feet around (which can build a static charge) and touch the metal case of the PC to discharge any static before touching the vacuum to the PC you should be fine. Remember the circuit boards are delicate, use something like a paintbrush to dislodge any built-up dust on them with the vacuum nozzle nearby to suck up the dust.
I’m thinking about Cyberpower. My first thought was to go to a “local” company like Digital Storm (it’s “only” 50 miles away, so if I need to send it back for warranty repairs, I could drive there rather than (a) look for a box and (b) pay for the shipping), but it didn’t score too well on Yelp.
Here’s what I am considering:
Corsair Obsidian Series 450D Mid Tower Gaming Case w/ USB 3.0 & Full Side-Panel Window, plus Maximum 120MM Color Case Cooling Fans
MSI Z170A Gaming Pro ATX motherboard w/ Programmable Lighting, USB 3.1, 3 PCIe x16, 4 PCIe x1, 1 SATA Express, 4 SATA3, 1 Ultra M.2
800W Power Supply
Intel® Core i7-6700K 4GHz 8MB Intel Smart Cache LGA1151 CPU
Asetek 550LC 120mm Liquid Cooling CPU Cooler
16GB DDR4/2400MHz Dual Channel RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 2GB GDDR5 PCIe 3.0 x16 Video Card
250GB Samsung 850 EVO Series SATA-III 6.0Gb/s SSD as the C drive
2TB (2TBx1) SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM HD as the D drive
LG 14x Blu-Ray burner, plus an LG 24x Blu-Ray reader
Windows 10 Home (64-bit Edition)
The current cost is $1470, but that’s with some sale prices.
Best bang for the buck is the GTX 970, not the 950. You could well be disappointed with gaming on the 950.
However, in your OP, you say that you’re into serious number-crunching. How serious is serious? How multi-threaded are your number-crunching apps? The i7-6700 has 4 cores and supports 8 threads, but you can get Xeon CPUs with up to 18 cores supporting up to 36 threads. Those Xeons are NOT cheap!
Be careful with the PSU. Don’t get a no-name one as a bad PSU can destroy everything else. Make sure you get a quality brand. Seasonic are a good manufacturer: they produce their own range of PSUs but OEM for many others. 800W is overkill for what you are intending but will permit you to add a second GPU in due course.
Take a peek over here, recent game room thread about upgrades. A couple personal opinions on your build:
[ul]
[li]The intel processor is a good investment, lots of anecdotal evidence suggesting the current crop is miles ahead of AMD[/li][li]Spending the extra money on a DDR4 mobo and RAM seems like a good use of money[/li][li]Asetek does not show up on newegg or pcpartpicker, I’d be weary of doing business with them[/li][li]I agree with Quartz GTX970 is the way to go WRT GPU[/li][li]If you do decide to go for a GSync compatible GPU, a GSync monitor might also be in order[/li][/ul]
My “number crunching” consists mainly of (a) running gambling simulation programs or programs that have to go through billions of combinations, so faster is better, (b) generating Blu-Ray files for burning, and (c) things like Kerbal Space Program and Orbiter. I don’t think I need a Xeon. My current system has a 4.7GHz 8-core CPU, but I don’t really need one that powerful.
Is there such a thing as “too big of a power supply”? I don’t want to buy one and then find out down the road that it turned out to be too small (say, if I want to change the video card for some reason).
Fight my ignorance, how do you find out that someone is an OEM for someone else? Is there a site that lists those relationships or something like that?
Not really. It should only draw as much as it needs, otherwise all your components would fry with excess power or else it’d be shooting out lightning bolts or something The rating is the maximum amount the PSU can output under ideal conditions. Note that it’s actual DRAW will be higher since PSUs lose power via resistance and heat. It might be drawing 550W to output 500W.
The only real “too much” is (A) PSU’s tend to be inefficient when delivering smaller loads (~20% of their output) so you might wind up using more power than you would with a smaller PSU (not much more though; you might lost 3-5% efficiency) and (b) overspending on something you’re not going to use. I’d be more concerned with getting a quality supply, 80+ Gold rated, since lesser brands cheat on what the rating actually is.
Cyberpower has Corsair (CX, CSM, and RSi series), Thermaltake, and “standard 80 Plus Certified.” Do I risk trusting the company putting in a mystery brand “80 Plus Certified” PS? The Corsairs add up to $100 to the price, depending on the series.
I’d certainly take the Corsair over the Mystery Box – there’s a reason why the OEM mystery PSU is $100 cheaper. “Standard 80 Plus” is the lowest tier of 80 Plus certification.
“Superclocked” is most likely just that it’s overclocked from the factory. EVGA is a reputable, well regarded manufacturer and you’ll get some extra performance out of it. For $13, why not.
I believe that the CS is a step above the CX. CS is Gold rated, the CX is bronze. The “M” after the CS stands for modular, where the cables come off at both ends so you only plug in the cables you’re actually using in the system, both for aesthetics and for air flow purposes… Non-modular PSUs usually have a bunch of unused cords attached to the PSU and flopping around the bottom of the case. Not at all familiar with the RSi you mention.
Even the CX, which is more of the budget tier Corsair, would still be better than a grey mystery PSU in my opinion. Thermaltake is overpriced and under-performing.
Pardon the bump, but I didn’t think this needed a new thread.
Anyway, Cyberpower PC is offering one for a decent price, but it has some available upgrades that I am not sure if I should get or not.
First, the motherboard is an MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX, but I can get an ASUS Z-97C or Z-97K instead. Are any of these much better, or much worse, than the other two?
Second, it comes with a “stock” NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB video card, but it can be upgraded to an EVGA FTW or Superclocked Edition of the 970.
Third, the power supply is a “generic” (brand name not mentioned) 80 Plus, but I can get a Thermaltake Toughpower 80 Plus Gold in its place.
Also, while this isn’t exactly an upgrade, is it worth paying for a “mouse mat” as opposed to putting the mouse directly on my computer desk’s top (which is from IKEA, so I assume it’s particle board)?
The rating is the maximum amount the PSU can output under ideal conditions. Note that it’s actual DRAW will be higher since PSUs lose power via resistance and heat. It might be drawing 550W to output 500W.