I sure need some advice ...

[terratoma]

Okay, so this is how it is: I have zilch computer skills_I mean none whatsoever. But I do read; have read lots of posts on this forum, as well as numerous reviews of hardware. I don't begin to understand much of it and the varying opinions leave me somewhat confused and bewildered. I want a computer and just need some good advice and guidance. (I'll try not to become your worst nightmare.) Here are some specifics that might help:
1. I am not going to buiild the computer. (See numerous reasons above.)
2. I've been advised not to buy a computer from Dell, HP, etc.
3. I was advised that I'll "pay through the nose" if I buy from a computer gaming company.
4. There are two businesses here in the Roanoke, Virginia area that custom builds computers. They have said that, under no circumstances, will they "overclock" the computer. Am not sure what "overclocking" is or whether it's necessary; I certainly won't be doing it. (Again, see first paragraph.)
5. I'll use the computer as follows:
a. Store a modest number of photographs of my daughter's wedding, new granddaughter, etc. Hopefully will learn how to print these pictures.
b. Rip music from CDs, develop playlists and create CDs for my personal use.
c. Play an golf simulation game from the late 90s that I thoroughly enjoy.
d. At sixty-six years of age, retired, failing vision and time on my hands, would like to try my hand at some older games (flight simulator, for instance), some recent games and games yet to be produced.
e. Budget: is not a factor. I can and will pay whatever is required for a quality machine that will provide the performance needed and require no tweaking from me. (You see, I'm learning new words like overclocking and tweaking. I don't really know what they mean but ...) As I said, I will pay whatever is needed ... $3000, $4000, ... But I do want to "get my money's worth" and don't want any unnecessary bells and whistles that might be offered.
f. Time constraints: none
I hope this provides something of a starting point. If you don't boot me off this forum, I'd like advice and suggestions on the the hardware. This list could get long, so let me run some things I've read by you.
Processors: it seems that Intel's i7-920, 17-860 and 15-750 are favorites among a lot of you, as well as reviewers. My interpretation is that while the i7-920 is more "powerful" (?), the two Lynnfield's compensate for this by using TurboBoost more effectively. (?) And while the i7-860 and i5-750, as well as their socket and motherboard, cost less, the i7-920 can be "updated" more readily. (I may be all wrong about this.)
From the reviews I read, and assuming that the most expensive parts are not always the best or what is needed, I'd like your pros and cons on these motherboards:
For the 1366 socket: ASUS's P6Tor P6T Deluxe; Gigabyte's GA-EX58-UD3R, X58A-UD3R or X58A-UD5; and MSI's X58M or X58 PRO-E.
For the 1156 socket: ASUS's P7P55D, P7P55 Deluxe or P7P55 Premium; Gigabyte's GA-P55-UD4P or P55A-UD6; and MSI's P55-GD80 or GD-85. The reviewers pretty much all say good things about these items (but then they tend to say some positive things about all the items they write about. So I'm not sure which is the best. Does this make sense?)
These might not be very good options; am hoping you'll weigh in with advice. Thanks!
Gary
P.S. I hope you won't mind if I ask about other parts of the computer later.

 

[Athadeus]

Hi Gary, welcome to the AnandTech forums. I find it interesting how much research you seem to have done given your minimal requirements. I'll respond to some of your questions in no particular order.

Most of the tasks you have listed could be accomplished with a $600 Dell setup with the computer, monitor, mouse, kb, and an all-in-one (printer, copier, scanner, etc.). You could also spend 4 g's on a Falcon Northwest system and see practically no benefit.

There is nothing wrong with Dell, HP, Gateway, Toshiba, Sony, Asus computers. With your budget I would avoid Acer and stay away from eMachines like the plague. I personally think HP has the best consumer support of the bunch. There are a lot of smaller companies that make good systems too that you could order from, or get one locally at that shop. I am not aware of any reputable computer manufacturer currently that will significantly overcharge.

I recommend buying a system locally and getting in home installation and have them attempt to install and configure your legacy software so it works. Also have them adjust the font dpi settings up to improve text readability. Please let us know which recent games you are interested in, because I am skeptical that you require anything near the performance of the hardware you mentioned. Also, will you be the only regular user of the computer? And how many computers have you owned before?

You'll probably have a bunch more responses before I'm up tomorrow. You obviously have a real interest in computers, and this is a great place to learn a lot quick. I just think you should not overwhelm yourself with the details until you have more of the basics down. Enjoy the learning experience though!

Jeff

 

[larslake]

Welcome Gary.. Your best bet would be just calling up Dell Computers and telling them what you would like. Getting a local builder to put something together for you means low-end components and possibly lower-end support. As far as Intel or AMD Cpus and Mainboards, in a gaming or general purpose system, there's no noticeable performance differences between the two. I would suggest a good High Def. Monitor or Dell's 2209wa (eIPS) monitor, 8 gig of ram with windows 64bit. Any 2 or 4 core cpu at 2.4G or above with a good L3 cache will work just fine. A really good AMD system with good monitor can be built for about $1000.00 USD. Expect to pay a little more when buying from Dell.

 

[sgaliger]

I completely agree w. the above posters, a Dell would suit you just fine. Any system above $1000 w. a monitor would do anything you need. $1500 would do much more than you need. A couple of things I would recommend based on your parameters: 1. Get Windows 7 professional, not Home Premium. That is because it has XP emulation mode which allows you to run old XP games. Home premium does not have that. Second, pay extra for the best extended warranty, unlimited support etc. That way, you will always have someone to help you and get things fixed.

As far as your questions on things like motherboards etc. they really aren't pertinent to the tasks you are doing. Most motherboards will have a solid perfectly usable system at the lowest price point. From there on out, what you are paying for is upgraded features such as increased video-card slots (meaningless to you); over-clocking capabilities (ditto) raid capabilities (ditto) etc. So while MB X may be better than MB Y, none of those differences will have any meaningful impact on your performance.

Just a couple of suggestions.

 

[yh125d]

You actually sound like an ideal candidate for a pre-duilt from Dell/HP. Whoever told you to stay away from them probably is remembering the time 4-7 years ago when they were slow, overpriced, and just plain bad. Now, they're simple, easier to understand than build-it-yourself's, cost effective, and have great warranty/service, comparitively. If you piece one together yourself, and something breaks, it is a lot more complicated and a bother to deal with the different manufacturers of each part. Whereas with a Dell, you just tell them whats wrong, and they fix it. Done deal.

I'd take a look at Dell's Studio XPS line. Even the cheapest Studio XPS 8100 at $649 could easily handle your tasks for years to come. I'd pick the upgraded XPS 8100 for $1150 for you, with a Core i7 860, 8gb DDR3, included monitor and better GPU. This would be more than plenty fast for several years. The only weak point here is the GPU. It will play your older games very well, but if you get into flight sims of the past few years you may wish to upgrade to something stronger, which if that time comes, is a very simple upgrade that could be done pretty cheaply (100-150)

 

[terratoma]

Thanks, everyone, for your input and advice. Jeff, you asked some specific questions which I'll try to answer. I'll be the sole user of the computer. My first computer was a system built by a friend (when there were no windows environments ... oh, the days of the "true" floppy diskettes and the DOS commands!! lol) Then there was a Gateway in the mid-90's (?) and finally the Dell, purchased early in 2005, and which I'm currently using. The hard drive and CD drive had to be replaced within a few months and I was unable to record cds using the Windows Media Player. (A friend who is the computer tech for the local libraries tried to determine the problem and ended up downloading a different version, which also didn't work. They would play music, rip songs but would not burn them.) As far as games, I'd like to try some that I've seen used in benchmark reviews: Crysis Warhead, Left4Dead, Far Cry 2, etc. Some other reviews that sound interesting are Call of Duty 4, Mass Effect 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Resident Evil, among others. Some years back I played a Halo game and Half Life; I believe that sequels to both have come out and would like to try them. (As you can probbly tell, I have a lot of free time on my hands!) But, more than anything, I'd really enjoy Flight Simulator X. Played some earlier versions but the players on the flightsim post have said that this latest version is by far the best. I saw some screenshots and they are definitely right. And it was their comments that have resulted in me asking the questions. Most of the people on their forum say that flightsim X is a "CPU hog". They said that, in order to use the highest settings for the graphics features, together with the numerous add-ons that can be added, ( and to get at least 45 frames per second), I would be better off having a computer built with specific hardware, as opposed to getting a Dell or HP.
If the type of games I intend to play makes any change in your recommendations, I'd appreciate hearing from you. Thanks,
Gary