Homebuild or prebuilt

[fatbaby55]

Still tossing it around to buy a dell or build my own. I know nothing about paring up the new cpus, motherboards etc.
So I checked new egg and found this.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.584327
I am considering buying this and adding a blue ray player with it. I could purchase a graphics card if what is on the mother board is not adequate.
Any help with deciding is appreciated. It is cheaper this way but then I will have to figure out putting together and like I posted in prebuilt before it has been since jan of 06 since I built a computer which is the one I am using now. I have had no problems with it but is giving me alot of lag, pokiness and downright aggrivating. It is old and I am tired of waiting on it!
Thank you for any help, and yes I have a hard time making up my mind.
Wanda

 

[boiler1990]

What do you plan on doing with the computer, and about how much are you looking to pay for the whole deal?

 

[aznshinobi]

Homebuilt is defiantly better IMO but yeah, what are you doing?

 

[fatbaby55]

800-1000 dollars is my budget. I multi-task with photo programs, multi browsers while surfing, light gaming and I have an embroidery digitizing program that is comparable to video editing.
Okay so I go with my own build, any directions for me? What about the build I posted earlier would it be okay and difficult to put together?
Thank you for your help and time.
Wanda

 

[boiler1990]

I'm not sure that the i7-2600 CPU is really necessary, and it's quite costly for what it is. You'd probably be ok with the i5-2500, which is only ~$210, which saves you $90 on the CPU already.

If you're doing any sort of photo work, the onboard video chipset won't do what you need it to. It's just not powerful enough.

OCZ RAM isn't the most recommended on these forums, and OCZ announced that they are moving out of the memory business, so if it dies in a few years you may be out of luck.

I personally wouldn't recommend or own a Seagate hard drive. The Samsung F3 drives are great and quick. Hitachi also makes good ones (I have one that I've used for 2 years without a hitch).

You could also save on a case; Lian Li cases are made for enthusiasts, and tend to be expensive.


So here's what I would recommend:
CPU - Intel i5-2500 ($210) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115073
It's still a quad core and quite fast. You don't need the 2500K, because that has an unlocked multiplier for overclocking, and is $15 more.

CPU Cooler - Cooler Master Hyper 212+ ($27) - http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-RR-B10-212P-G1-Universal-Heat-Pipe/dp/B002G1YPH0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1295838767&sr=8-1
One of the best coolers out there, and it's less than $30. I recommend getting it from Amazon, because the shipping is free as opposed to newegg.

Motherboard - ASUS P8H67-M ($100) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131690
Asus is a good manufacturer, and this has everything necessary.

Memory - Mushkin Silverline DDR3-1333 ($40) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226092
One of the better manufacturers, comes with heatsinks, and is cheap.

Hard Drive - Samsung F3 1TB ($65) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185&cm_re=samsung_f3-_-22-152-185-_-Product
This is probably the most recommended hard drive on these forums. I personally am comfortable with Hitachi, and newegg has a 1TB Hitachi for $10 less than this Samsung that I bought.

Video Card - Asus GTX 460 768MB ($150 - $20 MIR) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121390
I'm not sure if the GTS 450 will get the job done, but the GTX 460 is a good graphics card, and I think you should be able to get your work done with 768MB of video memory (we usually recommend the 1GB, but that tends to be for gamers or CAD users).

Power Supply - Corsair CX600 600W PSU ($65 - $20 MIR) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139019
Corsair is one of the best manufacturers, and I would have recommended the 500W model, but after shipping, this one is cheaper

Case - Antec 300 ($60) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042&cm_re=antec_300-_-11-129-042-_-Product
One of the best cases I've owned. It's not really flashy, simple, and very solid. It will come with 2 fans (top and rear), and you can add 2 more in the front and one on the side.

So the grand total is $718, which is ~$20 more than the combo, but you're also getting better parts and a dedicated graphics card.
With your budget, you could also put in a solid state to keep Windows and your photo programs on in order to boost your load times. It's not a necessity, but I just thought I'd mention it.

 

[aznshinobi]

Well my build is in my siggy in the 1000$ section, that's really for an overall gaming/performance build. Just IMO. Boiler has a pretty good build for your needs.

 

[fatbaby55]

I am going to look at both builds. I noticed the difference in the i5 and i7 is hyper-threading. Isn't that a good thing for performance? As I said before I am not up to date on all new parts. I don't plan on upgrading this build, it will be like my last, I made it, used it, bandaid it up, but didn't upgrade, after 6 years I don't see the advantage to it.
Thank you both so much for helping me.
One more item is the sound card. I have always bought creative. Why? I don't really know but I used to do music files from records to cd's but with all the new technology I don't. I DO want a crisp clear sound. I have a creative speaker set up with 7.1 surround that enjoy. I love to hear the "surround" when listening to videos and my music and gaming.
I also wanted ask the advantage of blu-ray on a computer.
Wanda

 

[boiler1990]

I guess in your instance, the hyperthreading would be useful. I'm surprised that the i7-2600 is the only LGA 1155 CPU that has it. So just switch CPUs in the parts list I posted, and add $90 to the total price.

Wel,, Creative is really the only major sound card/chip manufacturer
In order to fully support a 5.1/7.1 system, you'll need to get a sound card with Dolby Digital Live Encoding. Otherwise, the card (regardless of manufacturer) will just emulate surround sound. It'll be roughly $70-80 to get a card with that.

As for Blu-ray, if you have a home theater set up and an HD monitor (1080p) or HDTV, then it is worth it. If you use Blu-ray discs for data, it's worth it. If not, stick with a regular DVD drive.
You'll also need a Blu-ray playback program, since Windows does not natively support Blu-ray discs. I use PowerDVD 10, and it works quite well. Depending on the version, it can be pricey.

 

[fatbaby55]

Thank you for the information. One thing I didn't know there was blu-ray discs for data.
Wanda

 

[HankB99]

I am going to look at both builds. I noticed the difference in the i5 and i7 is hyper-threading.

Hyperthreading is useful if you have a lot of tasks competing for the available CPU cores. It allows faster context switches. For a home user I think it provides more benefit with single core or dual core processors. If you already have 4 cores, I doubt that you will see any benefit from Hyperthreading. It would be useful for something like a web server that handles requests in separate threads which tend to be I/O bound. Allowing faster context switches would benefit overall throughput.

 

[HankB99]

Still tossing it around to buy a dell or build my own.

Dell has a pretty good reputation for prebuilt machines. If one meets your needs it can be a decent purchase. However, some are highly optimized for the intended purpose and it can be difficult to upgrade some of the parts. A custom mobo form factor may make it impossible to upgrade the mobo down the road. The PSU may not have connectors to support a gaming capable video card. You can probably add or upgrade the HD, but some cases have a fancy front panel which requires a proprietary DVD/CD drive.

The combo you picked out from Newegg will be less likely to suffer from that sort of constraint. However you can probably pick out a better combo with the help of some of the members here. An excellent place to start is this link about builds by usage. Check out this link as well.

 

[aznshinobi]

Well as of this point, any pre-builts aren't worth it.

1. Most manufacturers like HP or Dell lock their desktop bios's so they won't overclockable should you buy an SB chip. Which on a stock cooler could easily get to 4.6ghz on a decent board.
2. They cost more, for the label of "HP" or "Dell" it's like an extra 200$ for cheapo OEM parts than I could get better mainstream parts for the same price. (Course this is my opinion)
3. All the parts in pre-builts are crap if they are companies like HP, Dell, or Compaq etc . etc. They give no room for expandability and your just left to buy a new psu, a new motherboard or what have you to upgrade in the future.

 

[boiler1990]

Yeah, the reliability of a homebuilt system (assuming a decent level of troubleshooting ability/knowledge/willingness to come to Tom's Hardare ) is much greater IMHO because the parts are better.

Having built 2 computers, I will never dream of buying a prebuilt PC. I even help build my friends' computers for free so that they don't. Plus, I love it

 

[fatbaby55]

I decided to buy the dell build. I really can only say the reason why is because after reading all the links about building my own, the "decisions" on which parts etc. I just really felt overwhelmed. I haven't kept up on anything in building one, I have learned and remembered alot from the links here but got cold feet. I hate to put the money out and then not know what to do, end up paying someone to help or being so frustrated I would give up.
My husband is going to want a new one so in the mean time I will brush up on all the new possiblities out there and build his when he is ready, that is unless I give him my new one I bought and build my own then.
He will be needing one this year sometime. He is a "pogo" player so I am sure I can handle his build, LOL!
I will keep you all updated on my computer when I get it, I went with the 2600 cpu just because I could. I don't plan to update anything, like I said I can always hand it down to my husband and build a new one then.
Thank you all for all your knowledge and time you have so graciously given me. It is a real blessing to be a part of this forum and all those that contribute of their time. It really is nice to know you can get something for nothing, even if it is just advice!
I will be still reading the posts and learning here so don't stop the great work you all do!
Wanda