Is pc building a dying trend?

[Eug]

I would never consider a prebuilt from Dell or any other name brand because the parts might not fit, PSU might not have enough power, or something I haven't thought off. A prebuilt from Newegg might work though since the motherboard model and psu is listed.

If you buy a mid-range mid-tower from the big companies it should not be an issue. The issue is when you buy a slim machine, which would use a smaller PSU and doesn't allow for full height cards.

 

[rsbennett00]

If you buy a mid-range mid-tower from the big companies it should not be an issue. The issue is when you buy a slim machine, which would use a smaller PSU and doesn't allow for full height cards.

This. My hp tower came with a 620 watt PS and has powered a radeon 6990 and gtx 970. I'm not aware of any card longer than the 6990.

 

[BeeBoop]

If you buy a mid-range mid-tower from the big companies it should not be an issue. The issue is when you buy a slim machine, which would use a smaller PSU and doesn't allow for full height cards.

I'm not so sure about that.

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2337513/nvidia-gtx-970-980-work-dell-xps-8700.html


Edit:
Maybe HP is more upgrade friendly? I've always had bad luck with Dells. That link has 63 pages of complaints on Dell's official website.

 

[Eug]

Well we haven't bought Dell in a while. My dept buys Lenovos now.

 

[rsbennett00]

I'm not so sure about that.

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2337513/nvidia-gtx-970-980-work-dell-xps-8700.html


Edit:
Maybe HP is more upgrade friendly? I've always had bad luck with Dells. That link has 63 pages of complaints on Dell's official website.

I've always had bad luck with dell machines as well, going back to 1997. They have fantastic business support, dunno about consumer support, but I wouldn't buy a consumer HP either. Buy a workstation HP and you get business support whether you are or not and they will even overnight parts directly to you if you tell them you can handle the swap.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Just put together a machine today to act as my main Linux machine, while my current machine will be Windows only. I'll have a KVM to switch between instead of dual booting.

Also bought a case to move the components of the other machine. Both machines will be in two identical 4U rackmount cases. Talk about going against the minimalistic trend.

 

[StrangerGuy]

This. My hp tower came with a 620 watt PS and has powered a radeon 6990 and gtx 970. I'm not aware of any card longer than the 6990.

OEMs can sell a killer prebuilt for cheap where all you have to do is to plug in an aftermarket video card, but even then it still won't be considered not a worthy gaming system by "enthusiasts" for fantastic reasons like you can't adjust the RAM voltage.

 

[lxskllr]

OEMs can sell a killer prebuilt for cheap where all you have to do is to plug in an aftermarket video card, but even then it still won't be considered not a worthy gaming system by "enthusiasts" for fantastic reasons like you can't adjust the RAM voltage.

You (usually)need to adjust ram voltage to overclock.

 

[StrangerGuy]

You (usually)need to adjust ram voltage to overclock.

Who the hell cares about overclocking RAM for Intel rigs except for the e-penis chasers. For my own custom PC overclocking RAM or even the CPU itself is not something remotely in my list of priorities these days.

 

[lxskllr]

Who the hell cares about overclocking RAM for Intel rigs except for the e-penis chasers. For my own custom PC overclocking RAM or even the CPU itself is not something remotely in my list of priorities these days.

Because it's free performance. You do it to get more for your money, and it's de rigueur for a serious pc gamer. It also gives you more options going both ways. More options are always better than fewer options, which is one of many reasons I don't buy Apple.

 

[Thump553]

I probably built a dozen systems but I don't think I have done one in the last decade. Odds are I won't ever again unless cobbling together a Frankenstein from various boxes laying around counts.

But even "manufactured" desktops are a dying trend-I've been looking to replace both my home and office computers for over a year and decent sales are very few and far between. The hot products these days are tablets and laptops-both of which have extremely limited lifespans. I'm typing this on on a five year old desktop that has plenty of life left in it for a nongaming user.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Because it's free performance.

Right.

And people who says overclocking is "free" performance are also the same people who would never admit the fact there is always some extra initial cost to even enable the OC in the first place.

 

[olds]

My wife prefers laptops so obviously we buy those. Everyone has been a Dell and not one of them has had a problem. Just took her 5 or so year old Studio 17 and added an SSD and Windows 8.1. I had previously added more RAM and a second 500GB hdd. It runs fine for her and she loves it.

I prefer gaming desktops. I build those. For $1.5k-$2k I can build a rig that would cost $2k-$3k from a vendor. And I get exactly what I want.

My last build was a gaming set up I built into a HTPC case so I could put it into my entertainment center. I use my 60" plasma as my monitor.

For friends and family, I recommend they buy pre-built. That way I don't have to be tech support.

 

[Ketchup]

Memory overclocking hasn't had any real value in quite some time. I think it's funny that my last two boards have had more overclocking features than I would ever use, but it was the older rigs that could have really used them.

 

[lxskllr]

Right.

And people who says overclocking is "free" performance are also the same people who would never admit the fact there is always some extra initial cost to even enable the OC in the first place.

What initial cost is that? A bit more for a quality board, and a little extra electricity? Big deal. Also, if I can overclock, I can also underclock. Sometimes good enough is good enough, and reducing heat is more important than maximizing performance.

 

[olds]

I buy fast parts and don't overclock. To me the risk isn't worth the gain. But I have overclocked in the past and I don't care if you overclock.

 

[Kaido]

What initial cost is that? A bit more for a quality board, and a little extra electricity? Big deal. Also, if I can overclock, I can also underclock. Sometimes good enough is good enough, and reducing heat is more important than maximizing performance.

Better heatsink/fan. My pricing never really worked out that well as far as improved cooling vs. just buying the better CPU...the good HSF's are always like $50+ with a good CPU fan or two.

But when I started, my first chip was a 1.4ghz Tbird, I don't think there was anything faster at the time. Getting that puppy up to 1.6ghz made my month back then :wub:

 

[StrangerGuy]

What initial cost is that? A bit more for a quality board, and a little extra electricity? Big deal. Also, if I can overclock, I can also underclock. Sometimes good enough is good enough, and reducing heat is more important than maximizing performance.

$340 4790K 4.4GHz stock + $70 Asrock non-OC mobo

vs

$240 4690K stock + $100 Z98 mobo + $70 air cooling and maybe it won't reach 4.4Ghz at the end of the day and no hyperthreading.

So much free performance right? "But the expensive mobo has more features" doesn't work either when like 95% of people will not even be hampered by the limitations of mobos with the lowest end chipset.

 

[lxskllr]

Better heatsink/fan.

Can't remember how much I paid for the cooler I'm using now; might have been $80 for everything. It more than made up for the ~30% easy overclock I got. I could have pushed it, but no point in getting greedy. I ran it like that for 6 years, then dropped it to reduce heat. I left it down due to a bulging cap on the board, and lack of gaming. I'm now just cruising, and will probably run this box into the ground before upgrading. When I upgrade though, I'll get every option I can when selecting components.

 

[rsbennett00]

I prefer gaming desktops. I build those. For $1.5k-$2k I can build a rig that would cost $2k-$3k from a vendor. And I get exactly what I want.

That's the myth we are trying to debunk.

If you were to build one today, what parts exactly would you use?

 

[olds]

That's the myth we are trying to debunk.


If you were to build one today, what parts exactly would you use?

I haven't looked at parts lately. When I built this last rig, I looked at pre-built unit from Alienware and others. But I wanted a HTPC case with an ATX mobo.

 

[shortylickens]

I used to enjoy putting machines together. Especially in the Socket A days.

Now: I only replace something that is totally dead. And that only happens once in a great while.

 

[StrangerGuy]

I used to enjoy putting machines together. Especially in the Socket A days.

Now: I only replace something that is totally dead. And that only happens once in a great while.

Those days were different, <$100 CPUs and push them for >50% OCs beyond the then insanely overpriced flagship chips for the price of a decent aftermarket cooler was an complete no-brainer deal. Now with OCing Haswell CPUs? The value proposition is entirely dead for most.

 

[shortylickens]

No I mean I'm fucking lazy.

 

[BUTCH1]

OEMs can sell a killer prebuilt for cheap where all you have to do is to plug in an aftermarket video card, but even then it still won't be considered not a worthy gaming system by "enthusiasts" for fantastic reasons like you can't adjust the RAM voltage.

Gamers avoid using embedded graphics because they are not meant for ANY serious gamer. Dell, HP, ect knows that 90+% of what they sell is not going to be used for gaming enthusiast so they use the on-board graphics. Thing is it's not so simple as just buying a decent video card and stuffing it in a Dell because Dell will NOT have a beefy enough PS to power it so you would need to replace that as well, (if possible as OEM manufacturers are do not care about ATX standard sized PS's and it might not be possible to install a higher-output unit).