Question Ram, Processor or both?

Patton2131

Junior Member
May 22, 2019
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In my home biz I require having -4- windows open on -2- monitors. Each of the 4 windows has 3 or 4 tabs open at a time (so 12-16 tabs total). I've got 1gb internet speed available from our local vendor.

My work does not involve video, graphics, rendering or anything more challenging that being logged into gmail, using pdf's and entering data into online portals. Ease of work process has shown all these open windows and tabs (Chrome) to be required.

I'm shopping for a new desktop that will allow me the fastest upload and download possible.

Finally, the QUESTIONS are:

1) Do I really need an i7 or will an i5 be sufficient.

2) 16gb seems readily available and affordable - is it necessary to go up to 32gb?

Thanks in advance.
 

Markfw

Moderator Emeritus, Elite Member
May 16, 2002
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First, yes, 16 gb should be sufficient.

But if you want the fastest, you may consider a Ryzen with a M.2 SSD. I don't have benchmarks, but I love mine and they scream.
 

ehume

Golden Member
Nov 6, 2009
1,511
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It's the SSD that makes your computer fast. 16GB is more than enough RAM. I think that a fast quad-core will beat a slow 8 core, but SSD is your low-hanging fruit.
 

ehume

Golden Member
Nov 6, 2009
1,511
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Thanks - you've restored my faith in the sales guy at Best Buy who also indicated SSD vs my existing HD would really be the primary driver of his buying decision.
Whoo, baby! He was absolutely correct. I swapped my wife's 500GB HD, and her 2008 Dell acted like a spring chicken -- until the case on/off wore out in 2018 and we could not get in to fix it.
 

Thunder 57

Platinum Member
Aug 19, 2007
2,647
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Thanks - you've restored my faith in the sales guy at Best Buy who also indicated SSD vs my existing HD would really be the primary driver of his buying decision.

SSD for sure. They are cheap enough these days. I would say 500GB minimum, 1TB if you think you will need the extra space or want it to last longer.

8GB of RAM would probably be OK. It'd be silly these days to go with that though, so definitely 16GB. RAM is super cheap compared to a year or two ago.

Looks like you are getting a prebuilt so options are probably mostly i5 or i7. An i5 should be plenty. You may want to see if they have any Ryzen 2400G's though, as that would also do well and may be cheaper.

Just reread your original post, and saw you were most concerned about upload/download speeds. None of these items will have an impact on that. How is your desktop connected? Wired or wireless? Right into your ISP's equipment or do you have a router in between?
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,226
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Thanks - you've restored my faith in the sales guy at Best Buy who also indicated SSD vs my existing HD would really be the primary driver of his buying decision.
Wow, someone at BestBuy that "knows" about the advantages of an SSD. Props to them.
 

Shmee

Memory & Storage, Graphics Cards Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 13, 2008
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SSD is definitely a must, from 8 to 16GB RAM is good. An i5 or Ryzen 5 or better sould be fine. A lot of prebuilt desktops don't come with SSDs though, so you may need to do an upgrade.
 

gorobei

Diamond Member
Jan 7, 2007
3,654
980
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the up/download thing needs some elaboration, if this is for stock trade orders then thunder57 is right about network/isp hardware being something to look at.

otherwise get a nvme m.2 ssd (either the samsung pro or the newer wd black) for absolute best speeds. 16 gb ram, maybe a ryzen5 2600.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,226
9,990
126
Oh, I didn't catch the "I need upload and download as fast as possible"... meaning stock trader / quant trader?

Get a low-latency fiber-optic internet connection, maybe even Comcast's 2Gbit/sec metro-E based connection. It's pricey though, but could be worth it. Otherwise, try to get FIOS, Google Fiber, or Sonic.net if in Cali.
 

Patton2131

Junior Member
May 22, 2019
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0
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SSD for sure. They are cheap enough these days. I would say 500GB minimum, 1TB if you think you will need the extra space or want it to last longer.

8GB of RAM would probably be OK. It'd be silly these days to go with that though, so definitely 16GB. RAM is super cheap compared to a year or two ago.

Looks like you are getting a prebuilt so options are probably mostly i5 or i7. An i5 should be plenty. You may want to see if they have any Ryzen 2400G's though, as that would also do well and may be cheaper.

Just reread your original post, and saw you were most concerned about upload/download speeds. None of these items will have an impact on that. How is your desktop connected? Wired or wireless? Right into your ISP's equipment or do you have a router in between?

YES, a prebuilt is my preference. CPU is hardwired into cable modem. Thanks for your thoughts.
 
Feb 4, 2009
34,494
15,729
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Oh, I didn't catch the "I need upload and download as fast as possible"... meaning stock trader / quant trader?

Get a low-latency fiber-optic internet connection, maybe even Comcast's 2Gbit/sec metro-E based connection. It's pricey though, but could be worth it. Otherwise, try to get FIOS, Google Fiber, or Sonic.net if in Cali.

And wired not WiFi
 

Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
20,736
1,377
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Prebuilt, strong system? Techbargains at the moment lists this :

Dell Inspiron 5676 Desktop
Standard MidATX (excellent platform for maintenance/upgrades)
Ryzen 2700 8C/16T 3.8/4.1Ghz CPU
AM4 X370 Motherboard by Dell (respectable, dual M.2 SSD slots AND a MiniPCIe for Wifi/BT, only serious negative is only two DDR4 slots)
16GB DDR4 Dual Channel 2400 Memory (meh, but it's fine)
256GB M.2 nVME Boot SSD (yaaay, seems to bench ~2200/1800 read/write)
1TB 7200RPM 3.5" 128MB Cache HDD (mediocre, but fine for bulk storage)
AMD Radeon RX580 4GB GPU (excellent, won't lag for any video purposes including up to 3 4K Displays!)
460W ATX PSU (mediocre, but totally sufficient for what it is)
LED Lighting, USB 2.0/3.0/3.1/C/MultiCard Reader/Wifi AC+BlueTooth 4.1/KB/Mouse
Windows 10 Home License

For the $ on a prebuilt, it's pretty solid.

Just going by Amazon pricing for a DIY general equal :

Basic Case : $30
B450 Mobo : $50
16GB DDR4 : $60
Ryzen 2700 : $210
256GB M.2 nVME : $45
1TB 7200 HDD : $45
460W Basic EVGA PSU : $35
Wifi AC + Bluetooth PCIe : $35
Radeon RX580 4GB : $140
Windows 10 Home : $100
Basic KB/M : $14

$764

So, even if you got a free Windows license or something, you're still coming out at about the same price.

Obviously other good deals to be found, but this is pretty decent :)

TechBargains Deal.png
 
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Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
20,736
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Damn, forgot to mention, with Gigabit internet service, you're going to want a really good NIC to have the best results.

I've found these to be stellar buys : https://www.amazon.com/Intel-1000-D...it+pcie&qid=1558688152&s=gateway&sr=8-3-spell

This is a hardware-controller based NIC with REALLY good throughput/latency. That's one thing the Intel mobos usually have over AMD boards, the NICs on the premium ones are Intel Gbit, which are just better than the various cheap stuff typically seen in cheaper Intel boards or AMD boards of even fairly high end pricing. I guess people don't pay that much attention to the NIC, so mobo makers scrimp on them somewhat.

But as this is a standalone product meant for heavy network use, it definitely serves a purpose and is what I like to call 'non-slacker' hardware. It won't bog your OS/CPU/RAM down as much as your lighter IC integrated ones, and it also supports duplexing with compatible hardware as well with the 2nd port (effective doubling of network transfer speeds).

If you want to make the most out of your Gbit internet service, this is a solid thing to consider.
 
Mar 11, 2004
23,031
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I'll echo what others have said, 16GB is probably enough (and by the time it wouldn't be you could possibly find 32GB memory that you could upgrade to for reasonable price), get an SSD, preferably m.2/nVME. I'd strongly recommend more cores though as I think that will matter more than clockspeed, and for that I think your best value is a Ryzen 2600-2700 series CPUs (Intel has 6 and 8 core chips that are good too, just pricey and their 8 core is a bit power hungry so an OEM build is likely going to be overbuilt otherwise and thus cost more).

I'd recommend getting the license key and a fresh copy of Win10 (by that I mean, download the latest build, put it on a USB 3.0 thumb drive, and then do a fresh install and use the license that comes with the PC) so that you can skip the bloatware of the system. Not sure if you'd need any of the features of Pro over Home for Win10 but might be worth considering upgrading (I think its usually pretty cheap and you can do it through Microsoft itself I believe as sometimes the OEMs want like $50-100 for that).

SSD is definitely a must, from 8 to 16GB RAM is good. An i5 or Ryzen 5 or better sould be fine. A lot of prebuilt desktops don't come with SSDs though, so you may need to do an upgrade.

Often you'll get better value by adding your own, although I'm curious if there might be issues (like if you don't order it with one, you might get a board that doesn't support nvme drives). Seems that Dell that Arkaign linked has dual slots so maybe they don't pull shenanigans like that as much these days.