Suggestions for a new build on $1000 budget

[elconejito]

Originally posted by: 100Core
...snip...
And I have full intentions of building a very safe, malware-proof system for this guy.
...snip...

You've got plenty of advice from others about the build itself, but I figured I'd chime in on this point here.

BE VERY CAREFUL OF WHAT YOU PROMISE OR IMPLY.

I get people asking me all the time "What is the number one program out there to GUARANTEE that I don't get a virus?" The answer is there is NONE. Many people just don't get that.

I (knock on wood) haven't gotten a virus/malware for as long as I can remember. But I'm very careful with what sites I visit, use firefox with AdBlock and NoScript, keep current on updates, use good anti-virus/anti-malware, scan frequently, etc, etc, etc.

---But most people (read "regular users") don't do this---
And even then, you can have all the software installed you want and *still* get a virus. I've seen it. Over and over again. "Why didn't Norton catch this?" "Why didn't MacAfee catch this?" "Why didn't Kaspersky catch this?" "Why didn't NOD32 catch this?"

Watch out that this guy doesn't follow good internet practice, gets some spyware on his machine and then blames you saying "Hey I thought you said this computer was safe!" when he hasn't updated his AV in 6 months.

My $0.02

 

[sgrinavi]

If your buddy is anything like the Drs. that I deal with he is going to want to say he has 'the best' even if he doesn't need it. I would put him in an i-7 systems with a 60 GB Vertex for his apps and, since it is an office system his storage requirements will be fairly low, a single WD6400AAKS for his data. Load up the RAM and give him a big RAM disk for his temp files. A decent, quiet, video card to finish off the build.

Set him up with a couple of external HDDs for his backups,

$450 MB & CPU
$200 Vertex
$ 75 Data Drive
$100 GPU
$ 75 RAM
$ 75 PSU
$100 OS

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: sgrinavi
If your buddy is anything like the Drs. that I deal with he is going to want to say he has 'the best' even if he doesn't need it. I would put him in an i-7 systems with a 60 GB Vertex for his apps and, since it is an office system his storage requirements will be fairly low, a single WD6400AAKS for his data. Load up the RAM and give him a big RAM disk for his temp files. A decent, quiet, video card to finish off the build.

Set him up with a couple of external HDDs for his backups,

$450 MB & CPU
$200 Vertex
$ 75 Data Drive
$100 GPU
$ 75 RAM
$ 75 PSU
$100 OS

sgrinavi I haven't followed i7 prices for a while, but can you really get an i7 + mobo for $450 now? I likes if true.

The OS, for $100? I couldn't even get XP 32bit OEM that cheap, surely this guy needs 64bit Vista to use the ram and be current, can you get 64bit vista for $100? Again, I likes if true.

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: Idontcare

Originally posted by: taltamir

Having 100 open tabs in IE does not count.

Why not? have you ever visited a wiki before?, you just keep on opening tabs ...

I know exactly what you mean...I refer to it as "chasing the rabbit down the rabbit hole". Usually I just find the Mad Hatter at the end, then IE8 crashes and all my tabs are lost.

thats why you use firefox or chrome, if they crash all your tabs are restorable 🙂

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: Idontcare

Originally posted by: sgrinavi
If your buddy is anything like the Drs. that I deal with he is going to want to say he has 'the best' even if he doesn't need it. I would put him in an i-7 systems with a 60 GB Vertex for his apps and, since it is an office system his storage requirements will be fairly low, a single WD6400AAKS for his data. Load up the RAM and give him a big RAM disk for his temp files. A decent, quiet, video card to finish off the build.

Set him up with a couple of external HDDs for his backups,

$450 MB & CPU
$200 Vertex
$ 75 Data Drive
$100 GPU
$ 75 RAM
$ 75 PSU
$100 OS

sgrinavi I haven't followed i7 prices for a while, but can you really get an i7 + mobo for $450 now? I likes if true.

The OS, for $100? I couldn't even get XP 32bit OEM that cheap, surely this guy needs 64bit Vista to use the ram and be current, can you get 64bit vista for $100? Again, I likes if true.

yap... and you can get 3x2GB of DDR3-1600 for 60$ now too.

 

[100Core]

Set him up with a couple of external HDDs for his backups, $450 MB & CPU $200 Vertex $ 75 Data Drive $100 GPU $ 75 RAM $ 75 PSU $100 OS

With all the peripherals/software I dont think I can get an i7 sytesm AND a Vertx/Intel SSD for 1k, like some of the recent posts have suggested (ive tried several configurations on the egg) . If I had to pick one of these two luxeries, which would you recommend? This was basically my original question when I posted!

To save you reading all the previous posts, my goal is to maximze overall everyday performance/productivity. (no gaming) (probably not much intensive software)

 

[aigomorla]

i7 920 D0
Giggy X58-UD5 or Asus P6T6 Workstation series. [these are very durable boards]
3 x 2gig anything cheap that clocks to 1600mhz @ no more than 1.6V or less
PC Power & Cooling 750W Silencer Series OR
Enermax Revolution series OR
Seasonic S12 or M12 600W OR
Corsair HX620 OR... (in short a QUALITY PSU)
[Im assuming your not gonna use SLI or Xfire here right? or we need to look at different PSU's]
Forget the SSD's Mirror RAID 1 on 2 1TB HD's OR Raid 5 on 3 Hard drives

(i honestly think your more into the SSD then the person your building this computer for.)

 

[sgrinavi]

Originally posted by: 100Core

Set him up with a couple of external HDDs for his backups, $450 MB & CPU $200 Vertex $ 75 Data Drive $100 GPU $ 75 RAM $ 75 PSU $100 OS

With all the peripherals/software I dont think I can get an i7 sytesm AND a Vertx/Intel SSD for 1k, like some of the recent posts have suggested (ive tried several configurations on the egg) . If I had to pick one of these two luxeries, which would you recommend? This was basically my original question when I posted!

To save you reading all the previous posts, my goal is to maximze overall everyday performance/productivity. (no gaming) (probably not much intensive software)

I don't think newegg is the best place to get a i7 & x58 board. Ewiz runs some great specials Right now you can get a GA-EX58-UD3R for $165 - Their 920's go for $260 ish. If you are not OCing the system then you can get a low end board of a good line and have it be rock solid.

Personally, if I had to choose between an SSD or an I7 it would be the SSD all the way, I can not tell you how happy I am with mine, it has been, without a doubt, the best single upgrade I have made in years. The entire system is snappy - all those little reads and writes happen NOW. Adobe, Excell, Word all open in a few seconds, it is as close to NOW as you are ever going to get. Combine that with a RAM disk and he will be happy regardless of the processor.

Whatever you do don't put his OS on a RAID 1 or RAID 5, it will bog the system down. A RAID is NOT a back-up solution, he is still going to need something external and be trained on how to use it and lock it up. The only real reason to run a RAID 1 or 5 is to minimize downtime - A drs personal PC is not going to be mission critical; he is probably going to do some email and some spread sheets, a letter or two here and there. If he loses a couple of letters the world is not going to come to an end.

The ONLY reason to go with the I7 in this case is so you can tell him he has the best, newest, greatest. If you don't think you can squeeze the I7 then a q9450 or a e8400 on a decent p45 board would be my next choice. I would not go for the q9650 or the e8600 as he will not see one bit of difference.

Originally posted by: Idontcare

sgrinavi I haven't followed i7 prices for a while, but can you really get an i7 + mobo for $450 now? I likes if true.

The OS, for $100? I couldn't even get XP 32bit OEM that cheap, surely this guy needs 64bit Vista to use the ram and be current, can you get 64bit vista for $100? Again, I likes if true.

For sure on the MB/920 for $450 - Last time I looked around you could get a CC of Vista in the $100 neighborhood, has it gone up? Maybe I should list the brand new one that I have sitting in my drawer over in the FS forum... LOL

 

[taltamir]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16832116470
122 for vista home premium... key is that its "upgrade", he needs to have a previous ms os... like say, the one on his current personal computer?

if you can legally consider yourself an OEM...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16832116488

99$ for vista 64bit home premium. and its NOT an upgrade but a brand new license.

 

[konakona]

Originally posted by: Scholzpdx
Kind of side topic but you are never really going to use more (at the extreme most) than 30 tabs at once. Anything more and you have them open for the hell of it. In that case, drive your car in circles, just for the hell of it.

Oh I do routinely, every day. But that's just me being my eccentric self, it works well for what I am doing 🙂 For most general use, more than 30 tabs would either render the titles to small to be legible (chrome) or not show all the tabs without resorting to the scroll button (firefox, IE). Hell, I know people who oppose to use tabs even when I try to tell them its their habit of opening multiple browser windows that makes their computers to come to a crawl.

as for the OP, I get a gut feeling you would be much better off getting him the Dell, unless this doctor guy is not a total computer illiterate and cares to learn a thing or two.

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: konakona

Originally posted by: Scholzpdx
Kind of side topic but you are never really going to use more (at the extreme most) than 30 tabs at once. Anything more and you have them open for the hell of it. In that case, drive your car in circles, just for the hell of it.

Oh I do routinely, every day. But that's just me being my eccentric self, it works well for what I am doing 🙂 For most general use, more than 30 tabs would either render the titles to small to be legible (chrome) or not show all the tabs without resorting to the scroll button (firefox, IE). Hell, I know people who oppose to use tabs even when I try to tell them its their habit of opening multiple browser windows that makes their computers to come to a crawl.

IMO tabbed browsers are the best innovation of internet browsers since the creation of browsers in the first place.

Originally posted by: taltamir
if you can legally consider yourself an OEM...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16832116488

99$ for vista 64bit home premium. and its NOT an upgrade but a brand new license.

I thought all you needed to satisfy to legitimately own an OEM OS version is that at time of purchase you also purchase a HD or mobo or CPU from the same reseller of the OEM licensed software. At least that's what I've been told for every OEM windows OS I've bought since 1996 (win95).

LOL, with my Win95 OEM purchase I actually bought an original unused 8088 CPU for $2, a bundle actually offered by the reseller themselves to satifsy MS's OEM resell criterion at the time.

Originally posted by: sgrinavi
Personally, if I had to choose between an SSD or an I7 it would be the SSD all the way, I can not tell you how happy I am with mine, it has been, without a doubt, the best single upgrade I have made in years. The entire system is snappy - all those little reads and writes happen NOW. Adobe, Excell, Word all open in a few seconds, it is as close to NOW as you are ever going to get. Combine that with a RAM disk and he will be happy regardless of the processor.

Whatever you do don't put his OS on a RAID 1 or RAID 5, it will bog the system down. A RAID is NOT a back-up solution, he is still going to need something external and be trained on how to use it and lock it up. The only real reason to run a RAID 1 or 5 is to minimize downtime - A drs personal PC is not going to be mission critical; he is probably going to do some email and some spread sheets, a letter or two here and there. If he loses a couple of letters the world is not going to come to an end.

The ONLY reason to go with the I7 in this case is so you can tell him he has the best, newest, greatest. If you don't think you can squeeze the I7 then a q9450 or a e8400 on a decent p45 board would be my next choice. I would not go for the q9650 or the e8600 as he will not see one bit of difference.

Best advices are contained in this post. No amount of CPU horsepower can compare to the feeling of system snappiness that comes with replacing your spindle-drive with an SSD.

By far the best way to generate the perception of "value" in your doctor friend is to setup his OS/apps drive on an SSD (or two, in raid0 of course).

Whether you go for Intel or AMD, he's not likely to notice the horsepower difference between anything above a PhII 940 level of processing capability (at stock).

As with the SSD versus CPU question, the value opportunity here for you is to deliver a quieter system. Don't OC the bejesus out of the CPU, run it at stock with a nice quiet aftermarket cooler like a Tuniq or equivalent. No need to go overkill on a CPU clockspeed that the doctor won't use or value while at the same time giving him a 60db spaceheater in his office.

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: konakona

Originally posted by: Scholzpdx
Kind of side topic but you are never really going to use more (at the extreme most) than 30 tabs at once. Anything more and you have them open for the hell of it. In that case, drive your car in circles, just for the hell of it.

Oh I do routinely, every day. But that's just me being my eccentric self, it works well for what I am doing 🙂 For most general use, more than 30 tabs would either render the titles to small to be legible (chrome) or not show all the tabs without resorting to the scroll button (firefox, IE). Hell, I know people who oppose to use tabs even when I try to tell them its their habit of opening multiple browser windows that makes their computers to come to a crawl.

as for the OP, I get a gut feeling you would be much better off getting him the Dell, unless this doctor guy is not a total computer illiterate and cares to learn a thing or two.

increase the hight of your task bar, it can now hold more than a dozen windows... open 30 tabs per window 🙂

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: IdontcareBest advices are contained in this post. No amount of CPU horsepower can compare to the feeling of system snappiness that comes with replacing your spindle-drive with an SSD.

By far the best way to generate the perception of "value" in your doctor friend is to setup his OS/apps drive on an SSD (or two, in raid0 of course).

Whether you go for Intel or AMD, he's not likely to notice the horsepower difference between anything above a PhII 940 level of processing capability (at stock).

As with the SSD versus CPU question, the value opportunity here for you is to deliver a quieter system. Don't OC the bejesus out of the CPU, run it at stock with a nice quiet aftermarket cooler like a Tuniq or equivalent. No need to go overkill on a CPU clockspeed that the doctor won't use or value while at the same time giving him a 60db spaceheater in his office.

Well... that depends... if his doctor friend drives a harley than he might think "noisy means its more powerful" ;p