Considering buying a new computer?

Discussion in 'General Off-Topic' started by jstrapper, Jul 17, 2012.

  1. jstrapper

    jstrapper Active Member

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    The purpose of this thread is to share specs, stories, and suggestions about computers or customer service that you've had experience with. Maybe it will help others in their quest for their own machine. I'll share my story first:

    I know that some of you are probably brand name manufacturer haters, at least as far as computers, and to some extent that can be understood. However, the level of end-user support from brand name companies can be hard to surpass. This is my story about Dell.

    About a year ago, I purchased a Dell XPS 17 L702X. If you care at all, the specs follow; if not, skip this part:
    Dell
    XPS 17 L702X
    Processor: Intel Quad-Core i7 2630QM @ 2.0 GHz (I know, it's rather slow, but it OCs to 2.9)
    RAM: 8GB installed
    Hard Drive: 1TB HDD (2x500GB)
    GPU: GeForce GT 555m 3GB dedicated VRAM (Not the best, but OCs easily by 30%+. The 3GB is the best part)
    Backlit keyboard
    Some Logitech wireless mouse

    That setup put me back around $1400. Not bad considering it's a dedicated media notebook with pretty excellent stock specs for that price.

    Anyway, the point of this thread was mainly the support. Now, with this notebook, I didn't purchase an extended warranty or anything like that. I just went with what came with it. Recently, I've been using hardware monitors to monitor the temps on my CPU and GPU. It's more than a year old now, and I figured I should just to be safe. I found out they have been getting dangerously high. I'm talking 94 degrees Celsius. That's over 200 degrees Fahrenheit. I could have cooked breakfast on it. The amazing thing is, the GPU has never throttled, and there has been no instability and no crashing whatsoever. Despite this, it's not healthy for your machine to run at these temps, so I called Dell to be safe. I talked on the phone with a guy for ~30 minutes. He took me through some simple diagnostics to find out that nothing is wrong on my end. What happened? He agreed to completely replace my motherboard, no questions asked! That means GPU, heat sink, etc. Completely replaced for free on a standard warranty that cost me nothing! I've even taken apart the back case to clean the fan myself, and he didn't care. Want to know the better part? I don't even have to ship it to their warehouse. Dell is sending a specialist to my house to install the new motherboard for me, free of charge! Talk about customer service!

    Anyway, that was my story. I'm now pretty impressed not only with the performance of my machine, but with Dell's customer service. Have you had an awesome customer service experience? Or do you just want to share about your machine's specs? You can use this thread if you wish.
     
  2. Ldawg216

    Ldawg216 Active Member

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    Would you recommend the computer you have right now to a person who wants a good computer as well as a decent gaming computer? My brother has been hunting down a computer for a bit now, and we do need another windows/non-mac computer.
     
  3. jstrapper

    jstrapper Active Member

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    Yes I would recommend it highly. For all multimedia purposes, it far exceeds expectations. The nvidia Optimus technology allows for seamless graphics switching according to what you are doing (unless you get the 3D screen instead... which would be dumb...) plus the quad core and 8g of ram will allow you to be running videos, productivity applications, an internet browser with several tabs, and many other things all at the same time... while rendering videos in the background... while playing minecraft lol. As far as a decent gaming computer goes, this computer fits that bill. As far as I'm concerned, it meets all of the standards for a casual gamer. Now, without modifications, including overclocking the GPU, it cannot run a demanding game like Battlefield 3 or such on ultra settings while maintaining a playable fps. But you can play a demanding game like that fine on medium settings or minecraft perfectly. If you DO want to get the best performance out of it, the GPU overclocks extremely well, but be prepared to take extra measures to cool it. You don't really have to worry about overclocking the CPU, as Intel Turbo Boost pretty much does that for you. Oh yeah... it also has the option of a 1TB HDD (pretty good for a notebook)... so you will never run out of space unless you record minecraft videos every day with fraps for a week.

    The only thing I have to say negatively is that, compared to a MacBook, it will of course boot up slower. I give mine 10-15, even sometimes 20 seconds to boot up, compared to 5 or 10 for my mac. Actually one more thing would be, if there is a faster processer (e.g. > 2.0GHz, go for that. For gaming, the most important thing in a laptop is your graphics card, and then your processor speed. 3.0 would be more than enough, especially with TB)

    When it comes down to it, though, you should look for yourself at the different sites and customize machines. As mine is a year old, other options may have become available. They may also have become cheaper. Best of luck. Also sorry for the stupidly long post lol.
     
  4. Hail_a3

    Hail_a3 Stars of the Forums

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    I have a story too!

    About 3 years ago (Summer of 2009) I bought a Laptop. I was just graduating high school and needed something that met the specs for my University's Engineering program. I SERIOUSLY wanted a MacBook Pro, but the Engineering dept did not recommend it because of software compatibility issues (come to find out, 90% of the software could be run straight from a Mac, and the rest from BootCamp). I decided to go with a Dell because of a family member's discount. I ended up with a Laptop meeting the specs recommended and spent nearly $2000. It was a great Laptop for the first 6 months, then things went down hill. I have replaced 3 HDD's, 2 motherboards, and gone through 2 different sets of memory (ddr2, 8gb. Second time was out of my own pocket). Dell hasn't been the best when it comes to quality parts, but their service was OK. If I could do it again, I would have gone a different route for the money, but here are my specs:

    Dell Studio 1555

    320gb HDD (Running an 80gb right now tho... )
    8gb RAM (DDR2... $$ :( )
    2.4 Intel Core2 Duo (I bought my laptop the last year these were being put in the machines... )
    BR player/DVD RW
    ATI (er... AMD now) Mobility Radeon HD4500 512mb dedicated.
    Backlit Keyboard (just for you jst! :) )


    Not a BAD setup, but not a $2000 setup either. For around $1500 you can get a pretty good "gaming" laptop with better specs than this (and probably more durable). I haven't had many issues since my warranty expired, but that could be because I have already replaced the RAM and the HDD since. Anything you get will last and can be made better on a cheap budget, so long as you take care of it. A tip I can give you: if you know anything about computers, stay away from the bigger names. My laptop was expensive simply because it said "DELL". Anyway... That's all I got..
     
  5. jstrapper

    jstrapper Active Member

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    Yeah... I know some people have bad experiences with big names, but like you said, you can get a good gaming laptop for around $1500. I did, for under that, and it was a Dell. Like h41l said, you just have to take care of it. Run proper antivirus (contrary to popular opinion, McAfee and Norton aren't terrible at their jobs, they are just very controlling. I.e. don't use them, lol.) Use a good free software like malwarebytes, avg free, something along those lines. If you run everything off of a flash drive, I recommend ClamWin. Keep your registry free from errors and your temp files clean to avoid slowness (CCleaner is great for doing both of these). The important thing to do before all of this is look at exactly what you're getting. Make sure you are getting good hardware for your money. Customizing a lot of machines online and on different sites (Not just Dell (or Alienware) or HP, but also look at tigerdirect and places like that. You can even get a good deal at Costco sometimes...) can help you to get a good feel for that. I still stand by my choice of my Dell. It's great. I love it. If I could have sex with it, I don't think I would, but it's still awesome.

    P.S. H41l, as you most likely know by now, Summer '09 was not a great time to buy anything but a top of the line computer... and even then... ;)
     
  6. Dzyriq

    Dzyriq Just another humble Overseer

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    Dell machines are good I would say but they are a little bit expensive. Why? Answer: Dell has a very good service level and it costs money to maintain that level of service. I don't have a Dell myself but I know a whole lot of people who have had one and none of them has ever complained about their service level.

    Harware can always fail and if you want to get up and running quickly again get a Dell good service is well worth the money when you need it.
     
  7. Natbyte

    Natbyte Overseer

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    Thumbs up for Dell, I have a couple of Alienware laptops (Alienware is Dell owned) any time I have had issues they have always stepped up to the plate to resolve, the only real issue once was one shipped with a DOA power supply which is no good when you are itching to fire up you new gaming baby ;)
     
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  8. Pocnet

    Pocnet Forum Legend

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    Well, once, my mac's charger wasn't working for some reason (nothing physically happened to it) and I contacted customer support by e-mail, and they didn't reply yet. It has been 1 month. yay..
     
  9. Exavious

    Exavious Forum Legend

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    Dell had good customer service and if your looking to buy compact gaming -laptops- they are the way to go both in price, quality and customer service. However if your looking to get a good gaming desktop it is better to build one yourself and hand pick the quality gear you want inside and outside. For the same amount of money it would cost you to get a Alienware with all its fancy light shows and cool chassis you can put together a desktop with better quality gear and get more bang for your buck. I tend to not go the laptop route with gaming as you cant really upgrade those later on with new parts because they are built very compact and only fit what they absolutely need and everything is so close and compact that heat is a real issue on your parts when under real stress.
     
  10. Exavious

    Exavious Forum Legend

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    Okay, so I've been planning on putting together a new gaming desktop and would like to know what you guys think and any concerns and/or advice you would have on improving performance without raising cost or lowering cost while keeping performance. Budget is $1,000 - $1,300.

    ~~~~~
    Case: Corsair Carbide Series 500R Atx Mid tower - $129.99
    PSU: PC Power and Cooling Silencer MK III 600W Modular 80PLUS Bronze Power Supply - $89.99​
    MOBO: ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - $179.99
    CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K - $229.99
    RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Profile Desktop Memory Model CML8GX3M2A1600C9 - $54.99
    GPU: EVGA 01G-P3-1460-KR GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - $179.99
    Heatsink: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R2 Continuous Direct Contact 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler - $34.99
    HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive - $119.99
    Dvd/CD drive: ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM - $19.99
    I will also be buying some Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound for the Heatsink, Window 7 64-bit OEM,

    My current subtotal comes to
    1,216.82​
    Thats also including a few extra things such as HDMI to Mini-hdmi cable to use my HDTV and a gaming keyboard.
     
  11. Conanto

    Conanto Well Known Member

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    what about a SSD ? makes it runs faster and smoother :D
     
  12. jstrapper

    jstrapper Active Member

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    Wow you did a really good job with your research. :) The case is great and the motherboard impressed me a lot.

    Also it was nice to see you found a good Ivy-Bridge. However, I don't really think you will see that much of a performance increase vs. a Sandy-Bridge right now, and it will unfortunately run hotter (shouldn't be much of an issue with all of your fan/cooling capacity). Also, the i5 still has hyper-threading disabled, whereas it is enabled on most i7s. So for applications that run better with additional cores, an i7 would be better, as you would have 8 virtual cores as opposed to 4. It's not the same as having 8 physical cores, but it allows the operating system to duplicate some of the resources from each core, so it's still significantly faster processing than an i5 quad-core. Initial testing showed results of around 20 seconds faster processing by the i7 than the i5 when converting mpeg-2 to h264, and almost 60 seconds when scanning 334MB with AVG. You could probably expect to halve those differentials because of the speed of yours, and it's ability to be overclocked due to the unlocked multiplier. Also, the longer you keep this machine, the more you will appreciate Ivy. It will make upgrading your GPU that much more rewarding in terms of performance. Basically, your choice will probably be better in the long run, whereas a current i7 will be better in the short-term. That doesn't really matter though, since Intel will probably have an even newer architecture within the next few years, haha :p

    As for the RAM, I was going to say that you probably don't really need 16GB (I've honestly never seen a machine use any more than 6 at any one time) but it's good to have for the future, and the more the better for your HD. If you plan on increasing it in the future, since your motherboard has 4 slots, you may want to consider 2x8 instead of 4x4. It will be more expensive, though. The GPU is great for that price. The core/shader clock speeds are excellent. I looked at some 600 series, but I couldn't find anything compatible with your motherboard that also had better speeds and was around the same price. HDD is fine; WD is a good brand. You don't have to go with a SSD, but like Conanto said, they are faster, safer, and don't make noise. It shouldn't matter if you don't repeatedly beat your machine. SSDs are obviously smaller and more expensive, too. And if you go with 16GB of RAM, you will be fine with a HDD because you can dump more access to RAM instead of your HD anyway, so the slightly slower access speed won't matter. Optical is good. I see you have CD/DVD-RW, but are you sure you don't want BD-R? It will be more expensive, but you might want that flexibility later down the road. Although come to think of it, mine has BD-R and I really haven't used it more than a few times. It just depends on if you like to watch movies at your computer. Lastly the thermal compound is fine. Arctic Silver 5 is really good, but you may also want to look at Tuniq Tx-3, Shin-Etsu, and Indigo Extreme just to see if you like any of those. Compare idle and load temps.

    Overall, you did a fantastic job with your research. You've found some great equipment for an impressive price. One question though: is your HDTV mini-HDMI? Because your motherboard has HDMI.
     
  13. NemoD98

    NemoD98 Well Known Member

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    Funny all this about about Dell customer service. I have a totally different story...
     
  14. Exavious

    Exavious Forum Legend

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    @Conanto: I didnt go with a SSD due to budget. They are more expensive and I can get a 1 TB for fairly cheap that is high quality. Later on down the road I may go with a SSD when the price has come down or get a small SSD later on to use solely as a boot drive to load my OS on and pull data from the HDD.

    @Jst: thanks for the detailed thought on my build :) much appreciated. I went with the i5 for both price and power. While yes a i7 might be better its not so much better it warrants me spending a good chunk more for something likely to be outdated on the next Tock of Intel's development of their line of processors. As far as a BD-r drive honestly id hardly never us it and they are a lot more expensive, so when work on a budget not ideal. Can be added in later if I find a real need for one. In regards to the Mini-Hdmi, my GPU uses a Mini-HDMI and my TV is HDMI. One of the extra things im purchasing is a HDMI to Mini-HDMI cable http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812816074.

    I have been talking the build over with a real smart tech guy on newegg's forums in regards to my build. Decided to tweak my build a bit to lower cost while maintain quality and performance. On his suggestions I will be changing the PSU from a http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021 to a http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703036. The change to PSU is a step down to a Modular 600w -80 plus- PSU as opposed to the 750w non-modular -80 plus- He said the gear I have doesn't come near needing a 750w and i can save $20 and get a modular PSU by stepping down. Which i will be doing :) Also will be changing my HSF from the Zalman to a CoolerMaster http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099 to save $10 and because the Zalman's fan can not be replaced in the future if it breaks, requires new HSF. The Cooler master also allows installation of a secondary fan should i need it. The Last change he suggested that i'm also doing is changing the ram from the 16 gig http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145347 to an 8 gig http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233186 low profile ram that does not stand so tall so i clear my HSF. He said for my gaming requirements 16gig is just going to be overkill and not needed, that 8 gigs will more than do the job and save me more money on my build. So far knocked build down from 1,288.82 to 1,216.82.
     
  15. Conanto

    Conanto Well Known Member

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    Exa, when you build your super pc, can you record it? and show us the video :D
     
  16. Exavious

    Exavious Forum Legend

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    hardly super :p its decent. Doubtful I will record, other than my phone I have nothing to record it with and im not going to go buy a eye cam for my laptop just for that ;) Might take a few pics though just for you.
     
  17. Harbrezan

    Harbrezan Member

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    Exa you're getting some good prices on that equipment. But, NewEgg is the place to go :D

    My desktop was two years old last month. I've had Dell and HP, but I went with this HP due to Dell not having anything I wanted in BestBuy. It's coming up on some upgrades, but for now it still does the trick. And, don't shit your pants, I'm still an AMD fan. Other than burning up two motherboards, it has done pretty well.

    CPU: AMD Phenom II Quad Core 820
    GPU: ATI Radeon HD 5570 w/ 1GB DDR3
    RAM: 8GB DDR3 (not sure of the brand, standard HP shit i guess)
    HDD: Western Digital 1TB & Western Digital 500gb external
    Keyboard & Mouse: A logitech G110 with the backlit keys & G1-G12 programmable buttons, and for now a basic Microsoft "wireless mobile mouse 6000" (lol thats what they call it)

    And my monitor is a 32" Philips HDTV. Just because I wanted to be able to multitask with my PC, Xbox 360, and our satellite provider. Soon to have a 2nd monitor, pref the same size along with a new motherboard, CPU, and probably another 4GB of ram.
     
  18. Happy_Cookies

    Happy_Cookies Well Known Member

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    All Aboard the Mouse Mobile! Chu Chu!
     
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  19. jstrapper

    jstrapper Active Member

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    @Exa: No problem at all, I'm happy to :) One thing I was just thinking of was that, if you wanted to, you could go with a small SSD (128 or 256GB) and then a medium HDD (500GB or even 1TB if you wanted). You could put your OS and all of your applications on the SSD, and then all of your files and documents and such on the HDD. That would give you significantly faster boot up/shutdown speeds, and much faster access speeds for your applications and games and stuff. You might even notice that web pages load a little bit faster. Since the OS boot up/shutdown and applications are all that really matters in terms of accessing your static memory quickly, a small SSD would be good for that.
     
  20. Exavious

    Exavious Forum Legend

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    just for you Conanto :) didnt record but got a pic of it for you.

    Gaming rig.jpg
     
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