Help me buy an OTS desktop PC?

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Jamfalcon
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Re: Help me buy an OTS desktop PC?

Postby Jamfalcon » 11 Sep 2011, 18:39

That would be my guess. 500 GB is below average for a premade PC these days, even though it's plenty of space for the average person.
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Re: Help me buy an OTS desktop PC?

Postby Lorithad » 11 Sep 2011, 18:42

metcarfre wrote:Not gonna build it.

I'm fairly sure we need a legit copy of Office as she'll be using it for real work.



You don't need to build it, get us to pick the parts for you if need be, have ncix build it. They'll do it for a flat fee of 50 bucks, though often they'll do it for free during certain promotional offers.

And open office is fully capable of doing "real" work. I'd suggest trying it out before knocking it down. If you don't like it, you don't have to use it. I personally prefer it over microsoft office. And since it's free, there's no risk in trying it out before you buy microsoft office.
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Re: Help me buy an OTS desktop PC?

Postby Metcarfre » 11 Sep 2011, 18:49

No, I mean my understanding is that for security or whatever reasons, to perform work on your home computer their policy requires it.

Also I just added up all the components and, as far as I can see, their cost is more than the completed build I linked to.
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Re: Help me buy an OTS desktop PC?

Postby rustak » 11 Sep 2011, 19:23

metcarfre wrote:Yo dawgs whatcha think about this one?

Dive into my piggy bank for a Geforce GTX 450, 460? Snag a ~20" monitor somewhere?

Thoughts? Am I missing something? Crappy mobo or ps?


That looks like a decent start -- the motherboard is one of Intel's standard motherboards, which are usually pretty solid. They just often won't have the tweaking potential or extra fluff features that you'll find on others, but 99.9% of those you don't really care about. Usually when places do prebuilt rigs like this, it's a little cheaper than buying the components from them separately.

For the video card, usually the GTS variants are better bang for the buck than the GTX variants; look up some benchmarks and see if the perf boost is worth the price difference. But don't get the GT. :)

For a monitor, this is where looking at Dell can pay off. Their monitors are good, and the low end ones are pretty cheap. You can get a 1920x1080 23" for about $140-$150 pretty easily.
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Re: Help me buy an OTS desktop PC?

Postby Metcarfre » 11 Sep 2011, 19:25

Thank you for the advice. I'm still trying to see where the Achille's heel is here - a bad PSU? Good advice on the GPU, thanks.

Edit; also, can someone tell me what's wrong with this monitor.
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Re: Help me buy an OTS desktop PC?

Postby Lorithad » 11 Sep 2011, 19:34

Other than the fact that the monitor is from best buy, it's not bad for the price.
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Re: Help me buy an OTS desktop PC?

Postby Metcarfre » 11 Sep 2011, 20:03

Just looking up the GTS 450 - if the GPU pulls ~ 140W, is that 400W PSU bulky enough? Again, I have no idea about these things.
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Re: Help me buy an OTS desktop PC?

Postby Jamfalcon » 11 Sep 2011, 20:07

400W is quite low, the 460 recommends a minimum of 450W. The 450, however, only recommends 400W. So it's likely usable, but you'll have to consider upgrading the PSU if you ever want to add much more in the future.

The monitor looks fine, $100 seems to be the average lower end/sale price for 20 inches these days.
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Re: Help me buy an OTS desktop PC?

Postby SilPho » 12 Sep 2011, 02:06

If you're buying a premade system the PSU should be fine. I'd like to think that they won't sell you a system that they know isn't going to work. Of course if you do add any upgrades to the machine you will probably need the better PSU.

(Not an expert, but I mostly know what I'm talking about)
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Re: Help me buy an OTS desktop PC?

Postby rustak » 12 Sep 2011, 06:09

Note that that monitor is only 1600x900 -- if you can, spend a bit extra and get something that's 1920x1080. You'll thank yourself later.
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Re: Help me buy an OTS desktop PC?

Postby Ed. » 12 Sep 2011, 06:32

metcarfre wrote:No, I mean my understanding is that for security or whatever reasons, to perform work on your home computer their policy requires it.


I'd double check that before spending because there really isnt any legitimate reason for a policy like that beyond them not knowing what they are on about.

If its a security issue office is no more secure, the open alternatives probably have a slight edge via security from obscurity, same as a mac.

So long as you save as a .odf, .doc or .docx it will be usable.

The only thing that can be an issue some of the more obscure features in Excel but 99% of people will never notice this.
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Re: Help me buy an OTS desktop PC?

Postby Tim » 12 Sep 2011, 07:51

I tried Open Office. Straight up didn't like it. To each his own, I guess.
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Re: Help me buy an OTS desktop PC?

Postby Ed. » 12 Sep 2011, 08:37

Thats fair, what bugs me is when people reject trying things, be a smart consumer.
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Re: Help me buy an OTS desktop PC?

Postby empath » 12 Sep 2011, 11:11

Damn, sorry I missed this thread until now - I heartily support the decision to go with NCIX; they were the ones I went with to get the parts for my latest 'frankenstein' (coulda gotten a built PC from them, but had half the parts lying around. :))

The 450 GTS is the vidi card I got from them last year and it's been GREAT.

I agree that the PSU could be better; maybe 450-460W and a named brand (like Antec) would make me more comfortable. Seasonic's a name I've heard of, and while 620W is more than you'll likely need, it's not TOO much power (which can cause problems of an under-utilized PSU)

Apart from a 1Tb hard drive (started recording gameplay vids - damn, *2*Tb for $60 :( ) and the aforementioned PSU diff, you've basically listed off the components in my PC here, which is running DXHR quite smoothly and prettily, so gaming is totally an option. :D

And as much as I like building (apart from hooking up all those tiny pin connectors for the case buttons/lights/USB ports), you can't beat 'We assemble it for $50'.

Glad that all these folks steered you right (IIRC, you recommended NCIX to me last year. ;) )
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Re: Help me buy an OTS desktop PC?

Postby Metcarfre » 12 Sep 2011, 11:20

Yeah, there's a couple unnamed components in the stock build - most notably the PSU - so I'll probably phone them and see if they can clear up exactly what make and model it is. I really don't need a bigger HD as I don't do any video or a lot of downloading. We have a couple couple-years-old ~150Gb WD external drives kicking around if we really need the space, but I haven't even looked at mine in a long time - and my laptop has an 80Gb capacity. In the future, I'd consider getting a smallish SSD to use as a boot/OS drive.

Now I have to convince the wife we'd be better of with it rather than this thing.
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Re: Help me buy an OTS desktop PC?

Postby goat » 12 Sep 2011, 18:34

metcarfre wrote:Now I have to convince the wife we'd be better of with it rather than this thing.


Oh god, I think I just threw up a little. I tasted blood in it.

Plus side is, PSU's are cheapy cheap to upgrade (comparatively).
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Re: Help me buy an OTS desktop PC?

Postby Lorithad » 12 Sep 2011, 20:52

A good rule to follow for power supplies, is keep the load under 80%. While a 450W might be enough, a 550W would likely last far longer.
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