Advice on Desktop PC

[CM]

My 2009 desktop PC is overdue for replacement. The next one should have:

1. Top-notch sound quality for iTunes;

2. A large monitor with great picture quality for streaming TV and movies. I've haven't used a PC for this purpose in the past, so if I need special ports or equipment for this function I'd appreciate a heads-up.

I access the Internet and use spreadsheets and Word docs, but don't play games.

I probably don't want an all-in-one because I've read that a tower will provide better performance for the money, and if the monitor fails on an all-in-one then you've lost your whole computer (instead of just the monitor).

If you're tech-savvy, please advise on speakers, monitors, processors, hard-drive and RAM size, etc. I am not tech-savvy.

Thanks for any insights.

[Zaphod]

All in ones are absolutely terrible, and way overpriced, and you cant even fix whatever is ruining them. They are saddled by their worst component (ask me how I know). If you're going to watch tv movies I would suggest a 4k tv, the 65 inch samsung ks8000 was the best overall last year outside OLEDS which are too much, but dont know this year.

I am not tech savvy, but I did build this desktop a couple months ago that Im typing from and its amazing. Tried to get excellent performance with not too much cost. Took about 4 hours total, there was some wiring difficulty on my part and poor instructions on the case makers part. I tried to spend where it mattered and not where it didnt.

Monitors: 3 dell u2415 ultrasharp 24 inch monitors (3 monitors is amazing). These arent the fanciest but great bang for the buck and had the right inputs/etc...

Sound: I have a lame dell soundbar but im not doing any real music listening through the cpu, I use the TV/stream to/surround for that. Its good enough though.

Processor: i7-7700k i7 core processor, pretty great for normal surf and documents stuff, which is what I do as well.

Boot drive: Samsung 960 EVO series 250gb pcie nvme3 M.2 internal SSD: This is amazing, right into the motherboard and blazing fast. Like blow your mind.

Backup drive: Samsung 850 EVO 250gb sata III SSD. thats it for drives as this is really a working cpu, not for loads of junk to be saved on it.

Memory: Ballistix Sport (brand doesnt really matter) 8gb x2 DDR4 2400 DIMM 288 pin, motherboard can do a ton more and has 2 more open slots, but not a limiter so this is what I have for now

MB: Gigabyte ga-z270m-d3h. If I could do this over again I would get wifi built in, had to buy an expansion wifi, but was cheap/easy and allows stream to tv from cpu so not bad.

OS: Windows 10 professional. Limited bloatware, more control over installed junk like onedrive and cortana.

Those are the main things, I chose a functional cheapish case and dirt cheap peripherals like keyboard, etc...

[ENT Doc]

Zaphod wrote:

All in ones are absolutely terrible, and way overpriced, and you cant even fix whatever is ruining them. They are saddled by their worst component (ask me how I know). If you’re going to watch tv movies I would suggest a 4k tv, the 65 inch samsung ks8000 was the best overall last year outside OLEDS which are too much, but dont know this year.

I am not tech savvy, but I did build this desktop a couple months ago that Im typing from and its amazing. Tried to get excellent performance with not too much cost. Took about 4 hours total, there was some wiring difficulty on my part and poor instructions on the case makers part. I tried to spend where it mattered and not where it didnt.

Monitors: 3 dell u2415 ultrasharp 24 inch monitors (3 monitors is amazing). These arent the fanciest but great bang for the buck and had the right inputs/etc…

Sound: I have a lame dell soundbar but im not doing any real music listening through the cpu, I use the TV/stream to/surround for that. Its good enough though.

Processor: i7-7700k i7 core processor, pretty great for normal surf and documents stuff, which is what I do as well.

Boot drive: Samsung 960 EVO series 250gb pcie nvme3 M.2 internal SSD: This is amazing, right into the motherboard and blazing fast. Like blow your mind.

Backup drive: Samsung 850 EVO 250gb sata III SSD. thats it for drives as this is really a working cpu, not for loads of junk to be saved on it.

Memory: Ballistix Sport (brand doesnt really matter) 8gb x2 DDR4 2400 DIMM 288 pin, motherboard can do a ton more and has 2 more open slots, but not a limiter so this is what I have for now

MB: Gigabyte ga-z270m-d3h. If I could do this over again I would get wifi built in, had to buy an expansion wifi, but was cheap/easy and allows stream to tv from cpu so not bad.

OS: Windows 10 professional. Limited bloatware, more control over installed junk like onedrive and cortana.

Those are the main things, I chose a functional cheapish case and dirt cheap peripherals like keyboard, etc…

Click to expand...

The fact that you built a desktop on your own makes you more tech savvy than 99.99% of people out there!    You learn that on your own?  Good stuff.

[Dicast]

Any off the shelf PC should be able to stream with decent ability and a good set of speakers will do wonders for your sound.

If you are looking to stream or play 4k content you are probably looking for a higher end computer.  I ran across an article referring to computer requirements for 4k netflix streaming.

The microsoft store only listed a few computers capable of 4k and only a couple of those are just towers. see here

I'm sure there a lots of other options.

[Kamban]

Like Zaphod I build my own PC's, including pretty much all the ones in the office and in the house. So I am limited in telling what brand to buy  but here are my thoughts.

1. The most reliable motherboards are Asus and Gigabyte. The upper end boards of these last a long time.

2. For most jobs the CPU does not matter, AMD or Intel. A 6 core good AMD CPU gives a good bang for the buck.

3. Memory - Get 32GB. This is where bottlenecks occur, with insufficient memory.

4. Get SSD as the drive you boot Windows 10 and programs from. A Samsung EVO 500 GB drive is a sweet spot.

5. You can use a couple of SATA drives to store movies, audio, data. Maybe a 4TB internal and one external.

6. Have a separate mid range graphics card and not make the CPU or built in the MB graphics do the work of graphics.

7. Agree with dual or three Dell Ultrasharp monitors. In my office I have two of them lined vertically so that I can open two documents side by side and compare.

 

Most important, slim might be sleek and sexy but the biggest killer of a computer is heat and dust. So wipe the dust from outside and if you can, even vacuum the inside once a year. Keep it in a well ventilated area. A bigger case with more fans will keep the inside cool and make the computer live longer and not crash.

[Zaphod]

Kamban wrote:

Like Zaphod I build my own PC’s, including pretty much all the ones in the office and in the house. So I am limited in telling what brand to buy  but here are my thoughts.

1. The most reliable motherboards are Asus and Gigabyte. The upper end boards of these last a long time.

2. For most jobs the CPU does not matter, AMD or Intel. A 6 core good AMD CPU gives a good bang for the buck.

3. Memory – Get 32GB. This is where bottlenecks occur, with insufficient memory.

4. Get SSD as the drive you boot Windows 10 and programs from. A Samsung EVO 500 GB drive is a sweet spot.

5. You can use a couple of SATA drives to store movies, audio, data. Maybe a 4TB internal and one external.

6. Have a separate mid range graphics card and not make the CPU or built in the MB graphics do the work of graphics.

7. Agree with dual or three Dell Ultrasharp monitors. In my office I have two of them lined vertically so that I can open two documents side by side and compare.

 

Most important, slim might be sleek and sexy but the biggest killer of a computer is heat and dust. So wipe the dust from outside and if you can, even vacuum the inside once a year. Keep it in a well ventilated area. A bigger case with more fans will keep the inside cool and make the computer live longer and not crash.

Click to expand...

I kept reading about heat, etc...so I bought a much larger case than the MB needed with lots of fans, and put a fancy cooler on the processor. There is a great site pcpartpicker that lets you basically build a computer and logs all components, finds lowest prices, etc...

I really dont understand too much tech stuff, just read some things and threw it together. It is incredibly simple really. The parts all work and mostly just need to be plugged in together. Feels like cheating its so easy, anyone can do it.

 

[CM]

Thanks for the help, but I'm afraid a lot of the advice is over my head.

If I walk into a retail store, I'll be getting something off the shelf, so what do I request when the clerk approaches? What off-the-shelf (Windows) product offers the best combination of great sound, great picture, and adequate power/speed to function adequately for a number of years? I tell the clerk to get me a _____?

Alternatively, if I order online at Dell which options do I select? If I look for a standard tower with 32 GB RAM (as Kamban suggests) and a 2 TB Hard Drive or a Solid State Drive then I have only one choice: http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/category/desktops?~ck=mn&appliedRefinements=1375,49,39,1362.

 

Of course, I don't know why I would select "Solid State Drive" rather than "2000 GB & up (2TB)" from the Hard-Drive-Size drop down menu. Perhaps "not tech-savvy" doesn't adequately describe the extent of my ignorance.

[Zaphod]

CM wrote:

Thanks for the help, but I’m afraid a lot of the advice is over my head.

If I walk into a retail store, I’ll be getting something off the shelf, so what do I request when the clerk approaches? What off-the-shelf (Windows) product offers the best combination of great sound, great picture, and adequate power/speed to function adequately for a number of years? I tell the clerk to get me a _____?

Alternatively, if I order online at Dell which options do I select? If I look for a standard tower with 32 GB RAM (as Kamban suggests) and a 2 TB Hard Drive or a Solid State Drive then I have only one choice: http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/category/desktops?~ck=mn&appliedRefinements=1375,49,39,1362.

 

Of course, I don’t know why I would select “Solid State Drive” rather than “2000 GB & up (2TB)” from the Hard-Drive-Size drop down menu. Perhaps “not tech-savvy” doesn’t adequately describe the extent of my ignorance.

Click to expand...

You're going to pay a lot for what you're talking about in a store (edit: went to link and indeed you are, but it is basically similar to mine). I think my system all in was around 1200 and thats with 3 monitors, buying every cable, and top of the line processor that was brand new, memory and drives. The problem with store stuff is they usually have a couple good components but then mostly something that sounds good numerically for marketing that really makes no difference overall, and finding a good solution costs an arm and a leg.

Disc drives are slow and prone to physical corruption and breaking.

SSD drives are efficient and lightning fast, plus will last a lot longer. Really you want an M.2 SSD that is one with the motherboard in a dedicated slot for the OS and boot, it is a thing of beauty. One other ssd for backup of boot and important stuff. Then you can get a big normal one for bulk junk, since theyre cheap. Most peoples issue is they oversize which gets spendy. Even mine is slightly oversized, I dont expect to fill close to half the space as its a working desktop and not for storing stuff, etc..

What you want is a decent processor, for your uses a graphics card, at least one SSD, and good memory. Everything else is up for grabs. Those are the important things.

[VagabondMD]

I just go to the Apple Store and buy the biggest, baddest one I can find. QED

[Kamban]

CM wrote:

Thanks for the help, but I’m afraid a lot of the advice is over my head.

If I walk into a retail store, I’ll be getting something off the shelf, so what do I request when the clerk approaches? What off-the-shelf (Windows) product offers the best combination of great sound, great picture, and adequate power/speed to function adequately for a number of years? I tell the clerk to get me a _____?

Alternatively, if I order online at Dell which options do I select? If I look for a standard tower with 32 GB RAM (as Kamban suggests) and a 2 TB Hard Drive or a Solid State Drive then I have only one choice: http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/category/desktops?~ck=mn&appliedRefinements=1375,49,39,1362.

 

Of course, I don’t know why I would select “Solid State Drive” rather than “2000 GB & up (2TB)” from the Hard-Drive-Size drop down menu. Perhaps “not tech-savvy” doesn’t adequately describe the extent of my ignorance.

Click to expand...

I agree that building a computer is easy but the first one usually requires a bit of trouble shooting. By the time you are ready to put together the 5th one it becomes bit of second nature.

I looked at the Dell site and did a "put it together option" . The i7 Intel CPU, 256 GB solid state drive and an extra 2TB regular hard drive and a graphics card. Used 16 GB RAM ( you can always buy extra later and add it). Two options come to $1299 and $1399. Make sure you get Windows 10 Pro and not home. As regards to monitors I would recommend dual monitors. That way you can open two word or Excel documents in two different monitors.

http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/compare?ocs=ddcwvmxkb134s,ddcwvmxkb422s

[MEtoNC]

I used to build my own PC's as well, but purchased one of the Intel NUC's and it has been running great.  I would agree with everyone to not get all-in-one.  You do not need anything over the top if you are just going to be watching a movie or going online.

[CM]

Kamban wrote:

CM wrote:

Thanks for the help, but I’m afraid a lot of the advice is over my head.

If I walk into a retail store, I’ll be getting something off the shelf, so what do I request when the clerk approaches? What off-the-shelf (Windows) product offers the best combination of great sound, great picture, and adequate power/speed to function adequately for a number of years? I tell the clerk to get me a _____?

Alternatively, if I order online at Dell which options do I select? If I look for a standard tower with 32 GB RAM (as Kamban suggests) and a 2 TB Hard Drive or a Solid State Drive then I have only one choice: http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/category/desktops?~ck=mn&appliedRefinements=1375,49,39,1362.

 

Of course, I don’t know why I would select “Solid State Drive” rather than “2000 GB & up (2TB)” from the Hard-Drive-Size drop down menu. Perhaps “not tech-savvy” doesn’t adequately describe the extent of my ignorance.

Click to expand…

I agree that building a computer is easy but the first one usually requires a bit of trouble shooting. By the time you are ready to put together the 5th one it becomes bit of second nature.

I looked at the Dell site and did a “put it together option” . The i7 Intel CPU, 256 GB solid state drive and an extra 2TB regular hard drive and a graphics card. Used 16 GB RAM ( you can always buy extra later and add it). Two options come to $1299 and $1399. Make sure you get Windows 10 Pro and not home. As regards to monitors I would recommend dual monitors. That way you can open two word or Excel documents in two different monitors.

http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/compare?ocs=ddcwvmxkb134s,ddcwvmxkb422s

Click to expand...

Thanks, Kamban. The two you built have Windows 10 Home instead of Pro, but I presume I can change that part of the order if I call Dell?

I think one monitor will be enough. (I use two at work, but doubt I'd appreciate the second monitor for home use.) I'm looking at this one: http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-ultrasharp-27-infinityedge-monitor-u2717d/apd/210-ahgv/monitors-monitor-accessories, the Dell UltraSharp 27 InfinityEdge U2717D.

It is well-reviewed, but doesn't have an HDMI 2.0 port. Is that a potential problem?

[StarTrekDoc]

take a step back.....why do want to watch movies on the computer at home?  right thing right place right job.

i love computers and built from days of trs80 and apple ii+ but seems out of place for op.

op, why not watch and stream movies to a 65 tv with apple tv/firestick/roku  and link up with kick ****************** sound system?

then purchase a dell on fourth of july sale and be done with it?

the actual computing needs appear to be limited to finances and office stuff so limited needs beyond a standard 21-23 inch monitor with decent processor.  if you are an apple addict, just get a simple imac and be done with it...or

[hightower]

I hope I don't offend anyone but...I have an iMac and it's been an excellent computer for me  I know they are pricier than similar performing PC's, but it's a great computer.  I've been through several different PC set ups over the years, usually higher end dell's.  All of them ended up having major problems after 3-4 years.  I don't miss PC's at all.  I play Star Craft 2, edit a lot of photos (photography hobby), and stream movies on it constantly with absolutely no problems what so ever.  The speakers on it are great too, unless you want a large stereo system type set up with loudspeakers, subwoofer, etc.  The monitor on the iMacs are excellent as well. Really big and super clear/crisp.  Very nice.

I agree with above comment though that if you're not doing any gaming, photo/video editing, you really don't need a big powerful processor or expensive monitor.  An all in one might actually be a better choice for you.

[CM]

StarTrekDoc wrote:

take a step back…..why do want to watch movies on the computer at home?  right thing right place right job.

Click to expand...

Marital bliss.

We have a tv in the basement gym and a big-screen in the family room, but no TV in my upstairs office. We just ditched our lousy cable provider and we're probably going to use a streaming service (Sling?) going forward.

If I want to watch a football game but I'm not working out, it would be nice to be able to watch in my office. My wife is usually watching the Food Channel or HGTV or something other than football when I would rather watch the game. No reason to buy a third TV if I can stream to my brand new PC with a nice big screen.