Never quite (completely) happy with my PC purchases...

[2is]

Does it matter?

If you understood the concept of how forums, sub forums, threads and replies work in conjunction with one another, you wouldn't need to ask that.

 

[monstercameron]

If you understood the concept of how forums, sub forums, threads and replies work in conjunction with one another, you wouldn't need to ask that.

No need to be snarky, this has been a rant-vent thread.

 

[RussianSensation]

No offense RS, but I think that you are being wildly optomistic about selling things in five years.

You don't have to stick to the strategy I outlined. It could be upgrading every 2.5-3 years. You just have to choose what works for your needs and try it out.

I've tried to flip a brand-new Sandy Bridge i3 3.4Ghz rig I bought for $180 (list $400), and I can't find a buyer locally.

Do you live in a very low populated area? This is a huge factor. When I had to work in places with < 1 million people it was a lot tougher to sell anything than in Toronto where the Greater Toronto Area has 6+ million people. I guess my strategy of reselling works for me since there are so many people looking to buy something used for cheap. I suppose you could try eBay.

I also have an Ivy Bridge i3 3.4Ghz rig that I upgraded to 8GB RAM and an aftermarket PSU. (I was planning on making it a gaming / DC rig, but AMD's drivers kept giving me problems. That, or the mobo in that rig is flaky. I don't know for sure, other than it didn't get along with my HIS 7790 1GB card.) Paid $330, list is $500 before the upgrades, and I can't find a buyer for that one either.

You shouldn't be expecting to make $ off PC hardware. My advice was only to sell it more often to minimize your cost of ownership. In this example you'd buy a $330 rig, use it for 2 years and sell it for $150, not try to flip it for $500.

Basically, desktops are dead. Nobody wants them. And no-one is going to want a used and worn out desktop mobo and CPU in five years.)

You could consider buying a MacMini then. They are very small, allow you to hook up an external display and retain their value very well. I have little trouble selling 3-5 years old i5/i7 CPU+mobo combos for $150-175. For you it should be even easier since not everyone has access to a MC in the US, giving you an advantage already.

Look at this: i5-2500K 4-year-old processor has 11 bids at $102.50 already. Right now MC has i5 4690K for $179.99, so let's say $195 after tax for you.

With a mobo deal, you can pick up i5 4690K and Asrock Extreme 4 Z97 for $265, or say $290 after tax.
http://www.microcenter.com/site/brands/intel-processor-bundles.aspx

As I linked above, a 4-year-old 2500K is going for $102 on eBay without the mobo. Therefore, it should not be that difficult to sell the i5 4690K or 5690K in 4-5 years with the $85-100 MC motherboard for $125-$150. Therefore, you pay $300 for i5+Z97/Z170 (Skylake) and sell them for $125-150 in 4-5 years, giving you an ownership cost of ($300 - $150)/4 = $37.50 per year 4 over years OR ($300-$125)/5 = $35 per year over 5 years. I would advise you start with Skylake though as Haswell is 2-year-old tech so it's going to be much tougher to sell it in 5 years from now since it's essentially nearly 2-years "behind" as of now.

A lot of us have been doing this for a long time and we aren't any more gifted at posting an ad on eBay than you! If desktops don't interest you, then just utilize the upgrading more often strategy for whatever electronics you buy. Generally speaking at some point it's worth it to sell the part and get 30-40% of the value and invest it towards something newer, especially if that component doesn't perform to your expectations.

BTW, the case you want to buy points to exactly what everyone has been trying to tell you. You try to save a couple bucks here and there but then you automatically set yourself up for extra costs and dissatisfaction later. That miniITX case is $60 but has poor expandability and a weak PSU (120W!). Just get a good miniITX case to start with that gives you ample room for an i7 + 120mm radiator options, and even a 980 will fit in there! In addition you can upgrade up to 600W PSU, not limiting you to future upgrades for the next 10 years!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811163252

Also, because this Silverstone case is very popular among the miniITX crowd, it'll be easier to sell it for $50 in 4-5 years if you want to while the case you'll buy will be worth about $0 because it's too specific to your taste. The same goes for a Silverstone SFX PSU.

Quit worrying about the latest and greatest. I'm running a fx6300 stock and am happy.

That's a good point. For someone like Larry, a desktop with an A8-7850K will provide him with a faster CPU+GPU than anything he has for $120, or even the A8-6800K CPU+Mobo deal for $90.
http://www.microcenter.com/site/products/amd_bundles.aspx

He is actually THE perfect customer for AMD's APUs if intending to build a budget desktop system. Alternatively there is always the option of the G3258 + OC to 4.5Ghz and just pick up a used AMD/NV card. R9 270 went as low as $100 many times. Shouldn't be that hard to find a used 7850/7870 for < $100.

 

[RussianSensation]

Perhaps if you don't want to show income but want to make $500-1000 a year extra so that you can have "free" computer/tablet upgrades, you should consider scouting slickdeals.net and other such sites for major discounts on high-end audio equipment to flip. When I say major, not like $100, but 50-60% off.

For example, Sennheiser HD700 which normally sells for $650-700 went as low as $325:
http://www.hotnewdeal.com/2014/11/20/19515_Sennheiser_HD_700_Audiophile_Headphones_Like_New/

The cheapest listing on eBay I see is $499 for them and the buyer pays shipping:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SENNHEISER-...49803169?pt=US_Headphones&hash=item1c46f8eda1

What you would do is find a smoking hot deal on a hugely popular high-end audio part (DAC/AMP/Headphones) and then wait 3-4 months until the wave of flippers sell them on eBay and put yours up. You should be able to net $100-200 off such deals. If you create 2-3 accounts, you could buy 1-2 each time and over 12 months, you should be able to get yourself $500-1000 in profits from selling headphones/audio and that will pay for all the GPU upgrades you want.

I've done this for years with Klipsch X10, Ultimate Ears Triple Fi 10s, and this year I have Sennheiser HD598s, and Sennheiser IE800s that I got on major discounts. That's free $ doing very little work in selling them in 3-4 months after the early flippers run out of stock. You just have to be patient and keep looking for the next smoking sale.

Alternatively there is always an option of moonlighting a 2nd job in the summer paid in cash on weekends perhaps, maybe buy a truck + snowplow and clean snow during the winter season on weekends. There are lots of outside the box ideas to think about if you want extra income to satisfy your hardware upgrade needs.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

^^^Jesus man, what's any of that got to do with this thread?^^^

It seems we're talking about hardware outlays, different devices, life-cycle, wants, needs, the money and IT "assets" -- stocks and flows. At least -- I thought so.

Now I see where RussianSensation is telling Larry to get a snowplow to pick up spare change. That's . . . OK . . . too.

Keep your chin up, Larry!! Ah feel your pain!!

Incidentally. Low-end parts and devices have their application. Venturing into the "new mobile" options, it could be easy to feel dissatisfied with an initial purchase of some kind. It's always going to be a case of new choices and mistakes. The consumer model of learning and adjustment isn't that different than the business model.

 

[VirtualLarry]

You don't have to stick to the strategy I outlined. It could be upgrading every 2.5-3 years. You just have to choose what works for your needs and try it out.

I know that you're trying to help, so let me preface this post with a Thank You.

Do you live in a very low populated area? This is a huge factor. When I had to work in places with < 1 million people it was a lot tougher to sell anything than in Toronto.
I guess my strategy of reselling works for me since there are so many people looking to buy something used for cheap. I suppose you could try eBay.

I live not far from Boston, pretty high population density, but the desktop parts market is oversaturated. I got responses to my "C list" ads, but none of them were serious. One guy kept saying that he wanted that laptop, when I clearly described it as a desktop. One guy said he wanted it, so when I suggested a meetup place (in a public place), he disappeared. They're all scammers. "C list" is like a hive for scammers. It's not like it used to be, it used to be a legit way to unload parts.

You shouldn't be expecting to make $ off PC hardware. My advice was only to sell it more often to minimize your cost of ownership. In this example you'd buy a $330 rig, use it for 2 years and sell it for $150, not try to flip it for $500.

Nobody wants it! At least, not for any reasonable amount. They all want it for free!

You could consider buying a MacMini then. They are very small, allow you to hook up an external display and retain their value very well. I have little trouble selling 3-5 years old i5/i7 CPU+mobo combos for $150-175. For you it should be even easier since not everyone has access to a MC in the US, giving you an advantage already.

Maybe Macs retain their resale value better, but I certainly don't want one myself. And I DO live near a MC, making resale of desktop parts much harder.

As I linked above, a 4-year-old 2500K is going for $102 on eBay without the mobo. Therefore, it should not be that difficult to sell the i5 4690K or 5690K in 4-5 years with the $85-100 MC motherboard for $125-$150.

You're not getting it. Maybe availability of boards is scarce where you are. Where I am, desktop parts / PCs ARE NOT SELLING.

I bought some Athlon II X4 combos a few years back, when MC was giving free mobos with purchase of $100 CPUs. I bought some cheap but nice-looking cases, some HDDs, always searching out the best deals on new parts. I put together three systems to sell, and I tried to sell them for two years at the MIT Flea. I managed to sell ONE. I STILL HAVE one of those rigs.

DESKTOPS AREN'T SELLING, THEY HAVEN'T BEEN FOR A FEW YEARS.

And there's enough people selling off their "old" (x58 or newer) gaming rigs on "C list", for peanuts, that there's no market for flipping desktops.

Haswell is 2-year-old tech so it's going to be much tougher to sell it in 5 years from now since it's essentially nearly 2-years "behind" as of now.

Yeah, now imagine 5 years from now. No-one will want it, it will be like S775 stuff.

A lot of us have been doing this for a long time and we aren't any more gifted at posting an ad on eBay than you!

Well, I haven't tried doing ebay. Mostly failed attempts at "C list". It seems the only thing it's good for is hook-ups and giving away free junk.

BTW, the case you want to buy points to exactly what everyone has been trying to tell you. You try to save a couple bucks here and there but then you automatically set yourself up for extra costs and dissatisfaction later. That miniITX case is $60 but has poor expandability and a weak PSU (120W!). Just get a good miniITX case to start with that gives you ample room for an i7 + 120mm radiator options, and even a 980 will fit in there! In addition you can upgrade up to 600W PSU, not limiting you to future upgrades for the next 10 years!

And why would I want an i7 and a 980? Ok, maybe DC, but: 1) I can't afford those parts, 2) I'm not a hardcore gamer, and 3) that Mini-ITX case I picked out is small and works well, and the 120W PSU is more than adequate for a basic desktop. That's all I really need. Something to Skype and browse and listen to music. If I'm buying mini-ITX, why would I be looking for "expandability"? If was looking for that, I wouldn't be buying mini-ITX! And why would anyone try to shove WC parts into an ITX build?

Also, because this Silverstone case is very popular among the miniITX crowd, it'll be easier to sell it for $50 in 4-5 years if you want to while the case you'll buy will be worth about $0 because it's too specific to your taste. The same goes for a Silverstone SFX PSU.

I hate to break it to you, but you're insane. (Edit: for clarification, I meant that in a nice way. I guess I should just say you're "off-base"?) No-one is going to want to buy a five-year old case or PSU.

That's a good point. For someone like Larry, a desktop with an A8-7850K will provide him with a faster CPU+GPU than anything he has for $120, or even the A8-6800K CPU+Mobo deal for $90.

He is actually THE perfect customer for AMD's APUs if intending to build a budget desktop system. Alternatively there is always the option of the G3258 + OC to 4.5Ghz and just pick up a used AMD/NV card. R9 270 went as low as $100 many times. Shouldn't be that hard to find a used 7850/7870 for < $100.

Again, I don't game, AMD's Kaveri APUs are still overpriced, even with discounts, and I actually did purchase three FM2+ / A4-6300 mobo+CPU combos already, to have for builds for customers. After using the A6-5400K APU rig I built for a friend, I don't really want an AMD APU rig. They're slow. Piledriver may be marginally better than Bulldozer, but it still isn't faster than an E8400, a 10-year-old CPU.

 

[crashtech]

I seem to be able to sell parts OK, but systems can't be given away anymore.

 

[coolpurplefan]

If you want to lol, I just completed a computer with an Intel i5-4570 (3.2 GHz quad-core) and 8GB of 1600MHz RAM. I compared it to an Intel Core2Duo E8500 3.1 GHz with 2GB of 1066 MHz RAM. After a 2 and a half hour recording using Camtasia 7, the E8500 machine took over 6 hours. It took 2 hours and 45 minutes with the i5-4570 (with the very same hard drive). I was relieved on the one hand that I had something faster, then all of a sudden, I felt like I wanted an even faster machine right away.

Because of the cost, I may very well wait 18 months to get an Intel Skylake processor and Windows 10. But this time I might go for an SSD.

I'm still surprised the 4570 didn't go much faster as someone here on the boards once told me a 4670 would probably do the same in 20 minutes. Well, the 4570 didn't do that. (I may as well have figured otherwise as benchmarks put the 4670 about twice as fast as the E8500 anyway even if I was probably looking at gaming benchmarks. I guess I was doing some wishful thinking when I was hoping a quad-core would do it faster than it did.)

EDIT: For those who remember me saying I wanted to buy an i5-4670, when I saw the "games that were being played" with prices on the newegg.ca web site, I decided to go ahead and buy the i5-4570. They had put the i5-4690K at $230 if I remember correctly. Well, the i5-4670 which is compatible with my board (without a BIOS flash) was $240. I went ahead and bought the i5-4570 at $209 (partly because I want to buy some Rockshox forks for a mountain bike frame I bought hehehe).

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Shouldn't take long to set up your little 'store" on EBay.

This is the "decision-scape" of the bidnis.

You build PCs. You acquire extra parts. Some stuff fails; other stuff gets stored in the parts locker. Time passes. The parts lockers fill up. You try to do "green recycling" periodically.

You can --

Sell off the spare parts.

Build computers out of the parts and sell those.

Donate computers (if you can, because non-profits probably don't want parts).

If you can only get $10 for something, you need to figure out the minimum postage or shipping when you sell it.

Mainstreamers and maybe some other categories aren't going to buy used parts. Enthusiasts who upgrade annually might not be eager, either.

The people who buy used parts are either looking for something in particular, or they've discovered a way to "stay digital" without buying the new, latest greatest. There are all sorts of reasons people might buy 2- or 3-gen-old parts -- or computers. But a lot of folks just go to COSTCO or Fry's or order your average $500 desktop.

So surely, the market for used parts is limited -- but there.

 

[escrow4]

If you want to lol, I just completed a computer with an Intel i5-4570 (3.2 GHz quad-core) and 8GB of 1600MHz RAM. I compared it to an Intel Core2Duo E8500 3.1 GHz with 2GB of 1066 MHz RAM. After a 2 and a half hour recording using Camtasia 7, the E8500 machine took over 6 hours. It took 2 hours and 45 minutes with the i5-4570 (with the very same hard drive). I was relieved on the one hand that I had something faster, then all of a sudden, I felt like I wanted an even faster machine right away.

Because of the cost, I may very well wait 18 months to get an Intel Skylake processor and Windows 10. But this time I might go for an SSD.

I'm still surprised the 4570 didn't go much faster as someone here on the boards once told me a 4670 would probably do the same in 20 minutes. Well, the 4570 didn't do that. (I may as well have figured otherwise as benchmarks put the 4670 about twice as fast as the E8500 anyway even if I was probably looking at gaming benchmarks. I guess I was doing some wishful thinking when I was hoping a quad-core would do it faster than it did.)

EDIT: For those who remember me saying I wanted to buy an i5-4670, when I saw the "games that were being played" with prices on the newegg.ca web site, I decided to go ahead and buy the i5-4570. They had put the i5-4690K at $230 if I remember correctly. Well, the i5-4670 which is compatible with my board (without a BIOS flash) was $240. I went ahead and bought the i5-4570 at $209 (partly because I want to buy some Rockshox forks for a mountain bike frame I bought hehehe).

For rendering should have gone non K 4790. I'd bet money that would knock another 45min+ off the total.

 

[eton975]

For rendering should have gone non K 4790. I'd bet money that would knock another 45min+ off the total.

Nah, Xeon E3-1230v3/1231v3.

 

[cbn]

I've tried to flip a brand-new Sandy Bridge i3 3.4Ghz rig I bought for $180 (list $400), and I can't find a buyer locally. I also have an Ivy Bridge i3 3.4Ghz rig that I upgraded to 8GB RAM and an aftermarket PSU. (I was planning on making it a gaming / DC rig, but AMD's drivers kept giving me problems. That, or the mobo in that rig is flaky. I don't know for sure, other than it didn't get along with my HIS 7790 1GB card.) Paid $330, list is $500 before the upgrades, and I can't find a buyer for that one either. At this point, I would accept what I paid for them.

I would look into selling those desktops on ebay then. Shipping may or may not be high, but at least you are guaranteed to get rid of them.

P.S. Regarding Ebay sales, I've noticed that every one of the LGA 775 pre-built rigs I was watching on auction eventually sold. So even LGA 775 still is in demand.....but I imagine one potential problem could be shipping costs.

 

[cbn]

Why Mini-ITX over Micro-ATX? You pay a premium for mobos, cases and PSUs.

For a small desktop that takes very little power... why not just make one high-performance rig...

IMO, someone needs to make a slim form factor Micro-ATX case with riser (for standard size video cards). Then we can put our G3258/uATX combos in there.....or maybe one of these $85 FX-8310s etc.

 

[cbn]

You should probably sell all that and buy a real computer. You want SFF, check out my sig rigs.

You've mentioned doing computer support and consulting for cash - a much better business model, IMO, would be to offer free advice on which computer they should buy from Best Buy, and then offer in-home setup for half whatever Geek Squad charges. There's no money in assembling parts - and then you turn around and have to warranty crap. No thanks.

After that, charge $30/hour for training.

Soft skills, man. Training and support are where the money is. Screw this "fixed income" noise. :thumbsup:

P.S. - when you buy a computer to flip for a profit, don't forget to flip it for a profit.

This sounds like a great idea.

P.S. Desktops might be becoming more niche, but at the same time the amount of compute per dollar is increasing. But who is training people how to make use that cheap compute (eg, $85 FX-8310) for non gaming purposes?

 

[RussianSensation]

It's all about buying good products to begin with. It's a lot harder to sell an Athlon X4 in 3-4 years than an i5/7 because the former was outdated on day 1 but the latter is still fast for some people. The way to sell old cases, heatsinks and PSU is simple - you bundle them for in a prebuilt OCed rig and hide their prices in the total cost.

For example, some people don't know how to overclock and don't have the $ for the fastest i5. Here you put up a case with an older but high quality 500-600W Corsair or Seasonic PSU (people trust high quality PSU), overclock an i5 2500K to 4.5Ghz, and such a system will give 90% of the performance of a max overclocked 4690K. Why wouldn't someone on a budget buy that for $200-250? They would in a heartbeat. I'll also throw in my 120GB SSD and maybe raise for price another $20-30 but since I only paid $60 for it, it's not a big loss to me.

Instead of selling the i2500K mobo combo for $150, PSU for $40, heatsink for $30, SSD for $30, you just sell the entire system. I once sold my Q6600 @ 3.4 Ghz system this way to a college professor who said his daughter needed a cheap computational rig for university science labs. The other key point is to look at prices of similar rigs/parts and never price yours above theirs. I undercut the market 10-20% to start with and it sells fast.

I mean I sell all of my GPUs and CPUs in less than 3 weeks. That's being conservative because there are people calling and emailing me with offers on day 1-2 already. Since modern i5/7 are still fast in 3-4 years, it's honestly easy for me to find budget gamers who can't afford the latest and greatest but want a new gaming rig for some new game. For basic browsing, email, facebook, C2D E6600 +
SSD is great, much faster than my i7 3635QM 3.4Ghz IVB laptop with a mechanical hard drive. Most people who complain their 5 year old computer is too slow have no idea that an SSD upgrade is all they need.

Used audio, car and PC markets do exist.

 

[beginner99]

Just stop buying all the junk?

And you dont need LGA2011-3.

Why on earth would you run DC on a tablet? Or run DC at all, specially considering you wish to be "green". Tho you already used uncanny amount of energy on your throw away purchases.

Exactly. It's the same as the people that switch from an old to a new Prius. With that in effect they waste more energy and produce more CO2 than the guy that keeps his Porsche Cayenne for longer.

Half of the pollution a car creates over it's lifetime is from the manufacturing process (mining of the iron, creation of steel, their transport,...). You never save energy by buying a new car. The opposite is the case because you "fuel" production and hence the economy and hence more pollution.

 

[jhu]

Exactly. It's the same as the people that switch from an old to a new Prius. With that in effect they waste more energy and produce more CO2 than the guy that keeps his Porsche Cayenne for longer.

Half of the pollution a car creates over it's lifetime is from the manufacturing process (mining of the iron, creation of steel, their transport,...). You never save energy by buying a new car. The opposite is the case because you "fuel" production and hence the economy and hence more pollution.

This is incorrect.Here's an analysis from UCLA

 

[WT]

I'm like Larry with my parts buying obsession lately. I don't buy often, but when I do, its totally out of control. In the past 2 weeks, I bought 4 PSUs, 3 boards, 4 CPUs, 1 GPU, 1 mid-tower case, probably 12GB of RAM, 2 DVD burners and a wireless headset ... there's more, but that's what I remember off the top of my head.

In the past, I used to upgrade just my main rig. Any upgrade parts would flow downhill, so after 3 years the main rig would eventually morph into the workbench rig. Workbench rig would then become the test rig. I rarely sell stuff and have no gamer friends, so my pile of parts is getting ridiculously large. None of it is newer stuff, but keep in mind that when it comes to a typical computer, even my slowest rig will best 80% of the family PCs out there.
I'm now buying parts to upgrade the older PCs, which is a big no-no. I should be investing in the main rig to upgrade the box I use 85% of the time, and let the trickle down occur naturally. I justify this by having specific uses for each rig:

Main rig - games, games and more games
HTPC - movie viewing
Workbench rig - research errors/issues on customer PCs (KVM between the two to clean malware or repair a hosed OS
Test rig - rotating parts box; used to test questionable hardware (currently testing a 4870x2) and dual booting with Win 8.1 and Win 10 tech preview

I understand completely how Larry feels ... I am doing the same thing in fact. It gives me something to do, otherwise I would be playing games more often. Due to me not getting any younger, I can't compete in FPS games anymore, and carpal tunnel would soon start up if I played RTS games like I used to.
As far as buying more parts, I am done for now in the hopes that I can post and sell a lot of what I built in the past month locally via CL and hopefully make some $$ to upgrade the main rig in June of next year for my B-day.

 

[RussianSensation]

^ I don't understand the point of 4 desktops. You can build a MicroATX HTPC with a 5820K OC + 980 for games, drop 2 SSDs with 2 OSs that you can test games/errors/etc. on 1 and use the other for games. Get a 5-6TB drive for media/movies. Sounds like a total waste of $ and space, no offense. I mean if it makes you happy it doesn't matter what we think but I'd rather have 1 fast desktop, 1 great laptop/tablet (unless your work gives you one free every 2-3 years) rather than 3-4 outdated PCs.

This reminds me of people on head-Fi.org that over 20 years will get 50+ headphones. Why? Instead of wasting all that time, just get Shure SE846/Sennheiser IE800/JH 13 Pro HF for on the go, then something like Sennheiser HD700/800 or LCD-2 for in-home listening and be done with it. You only need 2-3 awesome heaphones for everything. Instead they go through a bunch of $100-300 heaphones for years, then they move up to $400-500 level and in 10 years the $1000 level. Same idea with desktop/tablet/laptop. Get a decent one right away and you just need to update key parts as they age. Peace of cake.

Honestly you can browse the Internet really well on a $350-400 used Note 3 even. I have a friend who has nearly every Apple product: iMac, iPad, MacBook Air, Apple TV, iPod, iPhone. People nowadays don't know what they want it seems. For example, I don't want to buy a tablet and a smartphone so I'd rather get a 5.5-5.7 inch phablet phone. I personally don't want 10 devices in my house. I'd rather have 2-3 good ones. I don't understand why there needs to be a distinction between a workstation, HTPC and a gaming desktop anymore. You can drop a Titan Z + a 5960X into a MiniITX case for crying out loud.

 

[jhu]

I have a friend who has nearly every Apple product: iMac, iPad, MacBook Air, Apple TV, iPod, iPhone. People nowadays don't know what they want it seems. For example, I don't want to buy a tablet and a smartphone so I'd rather get a 5.5-5.7 inch phablet phone. I personally don't want 10 devices in my house. I'd rather have 2-3 good ones. I don't understand why there needs to be a distinction between a workstation, HTPC and a gaming desktop anymore. You can drop a Titan Z + a 5960X into a MiniITX case for crying out loud.

It's good to be an Apple stockholder.

 

[WT]

^ I don't understand the point of 4 desktops. You can build a MicroATX HTPC with a 5820K OC + 980 for games, drop 2 SSDs with 2 OSs that you can test games/errors/etc. on 1 and use the other for games. Get a 5-6TB drive for media/movies. Sounds like a total waste of $ and space, no offense.

In my case, each is in a different location in the house. My workbench and test rig are bookends on a large 6' wide wooden work table, hooked up via DVI KVM. I have space on the bench to work on customer laptops and 2 more desktops to work on them on the side. A pair of 22" LCDs takes up a lot of space, more space than my main rig's hutch can offer.

The HTPC is in the rec room - I could never game from the sofa with a wireless interface .. it just doesn't work well to do that. It is great for sitting there with popcorn and watching movies.

Main rig is put in a hutch that I can close the doors on and make it disappear if we have friends over. A comfy chair and a desk with storage was my priority here. While I understand your interest in combining that all into one box, it just doesn't work for me personally. I used to host LANs back in the CoD2, UT 2004 and Quake 3 days, so it was convenient when everyone could use an existing box to play.

I mean if it makes you happy it doesn't matter what we think but I'd rather have 1 fast desktop, 1 great laptop/tablet (unless your work gives you one free every 2-3 years) rather than 3-4 outdated PCs.

I love to have redundancy in my environment. That Windows KB3004394 bug bit me this week, and my main rig was out of action for a day, so I had the ability to move to another box until I got #1 fixed. Most guys will take quality over quantity ... I am one of the guys who goes for quantity over quality. As long as I get 40+ FPS in-game, what does it really matter to be honest ?

Besides, I love building rigs to sell locally. I totally geek out when I have all these parts around me, and I look forward to building something out of nothing. I take great pride in my quality of builds, and at some point I am proud of whatever I sell to someone, knowing that they got a good deal and I can thin out the parts pile while doing it.

 

[escrow4]

^ I don't understand the point of 4 desktops. You can build a MicroATX HTPC with a 5820K OC + 980 for games, drop 2 SSDs with 2 OSs that you can test games/errors/etc. on 1 and use the other for games. Get a 5-6TB drive for media/movies. Sounds like a total waste of $ and space, no offense. I mean if it makes you happy it doesn't matter what we think but I'd rather have 1 fast desktop, 1 great laptop/tablet (unless your work gives you one free every 2-3 years) rather than 3-4 outdated PCs.

This reminds me of people on head-Fi.org that over 20 years will get 50+ headphones. Why? Instead of wasting all that time, just get Shure SE846/Sennheiser IE800/JH 13 Pro HF for on the go, then something like Sennheiser HD700/800 or LCD-2 for in-home listening and be done with it. You only need 2-3 awesome heaphones for everything. Instead they go through a bunch of $100-300 heaphones for years, then they move up to $400-500 level and in 10 years the $1000 level. Same idea with desktop/tablet/laptop. Get a decent one right away and you just need to update key parts as they age. Peace of cake.

Honestly you can browse the Internet really well on a $350-400 used Note 3 even. I have a friend who has nearly every Apple product: iMac, iPad, MacBook Air, Apple TV, iPod, iPhone. People nowadays don't know what they want it seems. For example, I don't want to buy a tablet and a smartphone so I'd rather get a 5.5-5.7 inch phablet phone. I personally don't want 10 devices in my house. I'd rather have 2-3 good ones. I don't understand why there needs to be a distinction between a workstation, HTPC and a gaming desktop anymore. You can drop a Titan Z + a 5960X into a MiniITX case for crying out loud.

I always have 2 PCs, one for games, and one for the rest. You have redundancy for one, and the second box is silent and sips power, for second.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

That's actually the reason for the "slop" in my inventory. I don't like moving all my data, files and software to a new rig unless it's near-perfect. And I have to have the access to those files for business and personal reasons at all times. So -- yes -- I end up keeping two rigs solely to myself, and replace one while relying on the other in that process.

 

[cbn]

I always have 2 PCs, one for games, and one for the rest. You have redundancy for one, and the second box is silent and sips power, for second.

That is basically my strategy:

1. Larger more powerful PC for heavier "enthusiast workloads" and general work (connected to multiple monitors)

2. Smaller and more quiet secondary PC for lighter "enthusiast workloads" (connected to TV).

For #2, I am looking to compare my budget LGA 771 Xeons (and GT 630) in a refurbed Pre-built SFF PC to any new low power desktop processors coming from Intel and AMD on various metrics. At first this may seem a bit apples and oranges, but when I factor in cost the LGA 771 and GT 630 will likely be cheaper than the new Intel and AMD low power budget desktop processors. Of course, that still leaves performance, noise and power consumption as a few of the remaining metrics (certainly the new tech will do well in the last two categories).

 

[KingFatty]

I get a kick out of upgrading old stuff, or trying to extract "betterness" from it. Recently decided to splurge and replace the $10 RAM on my TV laptop with $30 RAM, and also swap the $12 CPU for a $30 CPU. The laptop is an old Dell Vostro 1500 I've had since 2008, faithfully serving as my TV entertainment device.

If I were sane, I'd just buy a new laptop or put a desktop there. But I like the fun of keeping this laptop alive and serving my needs every day. I use it more than my gaming laptop because it's very awesome to surf the net from my recliner.

Oh, and also, I'm a huge fan of Steam's ability to run a game on my powerful gaming PC and stream the output (and my mouse inputs) to/from my puny old laptop for gaming in the living room on the big screen TV from my recliner while using a nearly silent old laptop.