Buying a new Computer - Q&A

[Ruff_Hi]

I just know everyone has been waiting for a core temp update ... well, wait no longer ... I've quoted and spoilered my original pic ... here is the update after I opened up my PC (again), took off the HSF (liquid cooler H60) and reorientated it (I rotated it 90 degrees to get the tubes a little further away from my RAM) ...



Look at the difference it made! I guess they are designed to sit on the CPU one way and one way only. I ran F@H for about 5 minutes and my temp maxed out at 52c and 55c ... well below the low 60s I was getting yesterday.

[waterbat]

Sadly, you won't get that much of a computer with that money (to quote Steve Jobs: we don't know how to make a $500 computer that doesn't suck). My quick check is that you'll get an i3 computer with the on-die crappy GPU, 4 GB RAM, a 500 GB hard drive, and mediocre build quality. And the keyboard will be crappy (at least according to my keyboard preferences).

If you want to get components and build yourself, Ars Technica and Anandtech both makes system build guides for various price points.

Selrahc - is 400 euro still $600 us? I've plugged this site already, but you can try techreport.com and click on system report. The econobox will fit under that budget. you can take advantage of some deals to bring down the price. For example, look for a cheaper case, or a GPU that is on sale.

[sunrise089]

Selrehc, do you know if PC parts brought in pounds cost the same in real dollar terms, or are they more like equal in nominal dollar terms?

[Selrahc]

Selrahc - is 400 euro still $600 us? I've plugged this site already, but you can try techreport.com and click on system report. The econobox will fit under that budget. you can take advantage of some deals to bring down the price. For example, look for a cheaper case, or a GPU that is on sale.

I had a look at the March edition and summed out the recommended parts with google shopping. The total came out to £412 UK, with a US purchase price of $627. That does seem like a good place to start...

Selrehc, do you know if PC parts brought in pounds cost the same in real dollar terms, or are they more like equal in nominal dollar terms?

So it looks like £400 is roughly equivalent to $600 worth of purchasing for computer parts.

[pling]

I have been recommended PC Specialist in the past, although I've not bought anything from them myself (mostly coz I enjoy building my own machines). Their website lets you spec out your build yourself, starting from a basic build for your budget/use & letting you tweak it to your hearts content while showing how it's affecting the price. Or to say "I don't really know what I'm doing, here's what I want to use it for", and specing you a machine that'd do that (then letting you tweak it etc if you decide to). I just had a look at the sort of cheapest system they offer, and you can make yourself one that has a proper graphics card (not on board) for less than 400 quid.

[kjn]

Though that build doesn't include the OS and the keyboard. If all you're going to play is Civ and similar, you can probably save a bit on the GPU (and the hard drive) to get that.

[regoarrarr]

Thread necro and slight jack!

We were looking at getting an external hard drive. I was looking around at various options and thought I would see what your thoughts were on the matter. When I was looking around and talking to some folks at work, someone suggested also getting a NAS and/or a RAID for backup. We've been wanting to do a better job at backing up our hard drive for awhile but just haven't gotten around to it. This nearly bit us a year or so ago when our hard drive nearly went kaput.

I don't know that we need to go with an offsite monthly fee type solution - I think I'd feel pretty comfortable if we just had data in 2 places even at our house. If the house burns down (or Cincinnati is hit by a nuclear bomb, etc.) I guess that's just the risks we have to run

One suggestion I got was

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/67..._Duo.html/

As I understand it, that's 2 1-TB drives, that back each other up, and are also available as a regular storage device over the network, so we coudl transfer files potentially between computers or the iPad or if we had a "fancy" TV. Does that sound about right? It's a bit more than I was looking to spend (a "regular" External HD only costs ~$100), but I would like to get things backed up too.

Anyways, if you've got thoughts, let me know

[Selrahc]

No worries on the threadjack. I'm still looking into my options, but thanks to everybody for your help. It was a great starting point.

[kjn]

We were looking at getting an external hard drive. I was looking around at various options and thought I would see what your thoughts were on the matter. When I was looking around and talking to some folks at work, someone suggested also getting a NAS and/or a RAID for backup. We've been wanting to do a better job at backing up our hard drive for awhile but just haven't gotten around to it. This nearly bit us a year or so ago when our hard drive nearly went kaput.

If all you want to do is backup, then a RAID is a poor solution. You get two hard drives, yes, but only one controller card, power adapter, et c. And the electronics are more complicated and thus breaks easier.

So my advice is to go for real redundancy: two separate hard drives in their own cabinets. Then the two cabinets (with their cables and power adapters) can be rotated between the backup and the secondary backup.

A NAS is IMO for solving another problem, that of data management and exchange. It can serve as a checkpoint and clearinghouse for a real backup, but it shouldn't be viewed as a backup (since it's used in production). OTOH, I haven't had good luck with these types of devices, but it was some time ago I tried, and we run a mixed environment.

I don't know that we need to go with an offsite monthly fee type solution - I think I'd feel pretty comfortable if we just had data in 2 places even at our house. If the house burns down (or Cincinnati is hit by a nuclear bomb, etc.) I guess that's just the risks we have to run

I've heard plenty of good things about CrashPlan, and if you can do an online backup exchange with a friend, you don't get monthly fees.

One suggestion I got was

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/67..._Duo.html/

As I understand it, that's 2 1-TB drives, that back each other up, and are also available as a regular storage device over the network, so we coudl transfer files potentially between computers or the iPad or if we had a "fancy" TV. Does that sound about right? It's a bit more than I was looking to spend (a "regular" External HD only costs ~$100), but I would like to get things backed up too.

To me, this is the type of product that I'd be wary of. It's a server-in-a-box with lots of bells and whistles, but that also means it's quite complex. For backups, I'm a firm beliver in KISS.

[regoarrarr]

To me, this is the type of product that I'd be wary of. It's a server-in-a-box with lots of bells and whistles, but that also means it's quite complex. For backups, I'm a firm beliver in KISS.

Thanks for your thoughts. I guess I have 2 "problems" that I was looking to solve, which seem related

1) I would like an external hard drive to store pictures and other documents

2) It would be nice to have backups of that kind of stuff

Any specific recommendations (from anyone?)