Tell me about building a PC

George K · 7 Jun 2020, 12:58

Just out of curiosity, what kind of tasks that you routinely do that require that much horsepower?

When I was working, I'd always upgrade to the most powerful computer I could, because it was, basically, free.

However, I'm now using a Mac that's going to be 5 years old this year. It's working find, doing what I do with no hiccups, etc. Granted, I'm not doing video processing, serious gaming, etc.

So, what are you doing that needs that much power?

Klaus · wrote on 7 Jun 2020, 12:58

@George-K said in Tell me about building a PC:

Just out of curiosity, what kind of tasks that you routinely do that require that much horsepower?

Bragging?

Just pulling Mark's leg

mark · 6 Jul 2020, 13:45

Video / Audio (mostly audio) engineering/processing, gaming, including VR RC Helicopter simulation and of course continued development of our software.

mark · wrote on 7 Jun 2020, 13:44

Plus, a computer can never be too fast.

Klaus · wrote on 7 Jun 2020, 13:48

Well, there are a couple of applications where you always want more computer power. For instance, for many simulations, such as weather, you have a slider where can control how fine-grained your simulation is. Of course, the more fine-grained the better the results. But there's no maximum. Even if computing power would improve by a factor of a trillion, these applications would still profit from even more computing power.

Larry · 6 Sept 2020, 17:54

Here's how I built my last computer:

Drive to Wal-Mart
Pick one out.
Take it home and unbox it.
Plug it up.

jon-nyc · 9 Jun 2020, 17:56

I do better than that, I order it online and they ship it to my front door.

This is more about a project for the boy.

Rainman · 9 Jun 2020, 17:23

I do some research, then wait for a sale, like Black Friday sales after Thanksgiving.
Then, I order based also on price. If something costs more, then it MUST be better. And I know that's dumb, but I also end up with overall a powerful computer, even if paying too much.
Last one I bought (this one), I bought on Black Friday, spent a little over $2k, list price was around $4500. And, it's been great, especially since it can handle very large music files created in a DAW, withough getting overwhelmed.

Next computer I get will have a liquid cooling system. Even if I don't need it, it's cool (haha, a pun, so so clever...), and seems something to brag about whether needed or not.

I bought a 1 T external hard drive a few weeks ago, based on my Dell having two thunderbolt ports. I had no idea what thunderbolt was, did a little research, and am really happy with the new external drive which is amazingly fast. It was a bit pricey, but what the heck. I used to dump money into cars and motorcycles, all in all, this is a lot cheaper.

taiwan_girl · wrote on 9 Jun 2020, 17:23

@Rainman said in Tell me about building a PC:

I bought a 1 T external hard drive a few weeks ago, based on my Dell having two thunderbolt ports. I had no idea what thunderbolt was, did a little research, and am really happy with the new external drive which is amazingly fast.

Again, thanks to @Axtremus and @George-K , I did something similar for my (old) iMac and it almost seems like a new machine!!

Larry · wrote on 9 Jun 2020, 17:56

@jon-nyc said in Tell me about building a PC:

I do better than that, I order it online and they ship it to my front door.

This is more about a project for the boy.

Yes, i understand and agree. I was thinking more about the "my pc is bigger than your pc stuff.

mark · wrote on 9 Jun 2020, 20:07

My PC time is 95% work related. I need a PC to be as fast as possible within a relatively modest budget. I also detest the pre-installed software that comes with big name and store bought PCs.

Come to think of it, I think I had one such monster and used it for about 2 months and ditched it for a component build.

I am not putting the fastest, most cores, processor in it. I am not putting the fastest memory dimms in it. I am putting the fastest 2TB SSD I can find and the video card is very good but there are much better and much more expensive.

I try to build it to last me 10 years. Last time I did this, I met that goal. This PC is still running just fine and now sports a 2TB SSD as it's main hard disk. It runs WoW Classic like a champ. It will still be on active duty, in some capacity, after the new one is built.

mark · 8 Feb 2020, 19:31

Getting closer to the build.

Now I am having a processor debate. Stay with Intel or move to AMD. If I move to AMD the RYZEN 9 16 core is in the same price range as the Intel i9 14 core I was looking at. I also found out that this particular series of Intel processor is missing some libraries in the chipset that prevent it from being able to decode 4k BlueRay video. That seems strange to me and I am still searching for confirmation.

So looking at AMD I am now torn between the Ryzen 9 and the new 3rd generation Threadripper which starts at $1600 and has 24 cores / 48 threads. They also have a 32 core and a 64 core model that costs $3,500. lol

Copper · 2 Aug 2020, 19:58

I switched from AMD to Intel because I wanted to get the option to use Hyper-V.

If you don't care about Hyper-V, you don't care.

If you do want AMD and Hyper-V I believe there are some downloads needed to make it work and maybe some driver problems.

I'm not current on this stuff at the moment, but it might be something to consider.

Loki · 2 Aug 2020, 22:37

Jon

Let us know what you bought/buying?

Going to build for very basic email and web access use in public space in our house.

Embarrased to say that current is still on old windows and it is starting to concern me.

mark · 8 Feb 2020, 19:59

@Copper said in Tell me about building a PC:

I switched from AMD to Intel because I wanted to get the option to use Hyper-V.

If you don't care about Hyper-V, you don't care.

If you do want AMD and Hyper-V I believe there are some downloads needed to make it work and maybe some driver problems.

I'm not current on this stuff at the moment, but it might be something to consider.

I am currently running an 8 year old AMD Opteron in our server which I upgraded to Server19 last last year. I have one Hyper-V session running an instance of Server16 for testing purposes. lol

I haven't run it lately but the last couple of times I did, I am pretty sure it hung the server to the point that I had to do a hard reset. I will have to give another try. I do not have a need for Hyper-V on my workstation.

Loki · 2 Aug 2020, 20:01

I’m beginning to wonder if all I want is the most basic desktop that I should just buy it? Could be cheaper?

mark · 2 Aug 2020, 20:28

@Loki said in Tell me about building a PC:

I’m beginning to wonder if all I want is the most basic desktop that I should just buy it? Could be cheaper?

If you can put up with all the crap-ware that is installed on commercial builds.

George K · 2 Aug 2020, 21:51

@mark said in Tell me about building a PC:

@Loki said in Tell me about building a PC:

I’m beginning to wonder if all I want is the most basic desktop that I should just buy it? Could be cheaper?

If you can put up with all the crap-ware that is installed on commercial builds.

Can't you get rid of it by just reformatting the drive and reinstalling the OS?

mark · 8 Feb 2020, 21:52

@George-K said in Tell me about building a PC:

@mark said in Tell me about building a PC:

@Loki said in Tell me about building a PC:

I’m beginning to wonder if all I want is the most basic desktop that I should just buy it? Could be cheaper?

If you can put up with all the crap-ware that is installed on commercial builds.

Can't you get rid of it by just reformatting the drive and reinstalling the OS?

Typically, they don't come with install disks anymore. Even when they did, they were HP or Dell or insert your brand name here, install disks that just reloaded the crap on installation. lol

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Tell me about building a PC