StarDestroyer.Net BBS

OK, I'm not up to building myself a new computer at the moment, so what I'd like to know is if anyone has any tips where to get a nice high-end system with good cooling. The system would mainly be used mainly for photoshopping and games. I'm willing to spend around $1500, $2000 max.

Any suggestions to "build it yourself" will be deleted mercilessly.

Dalton wrote:OK, I'm not up to building myself a new computer at the moment, so what I'd like to know is if anyone has any tips where to get a nice high-end system with good cooling. The system would mainly be used mainly for photoshopping and games. I'm willing to spend around $1500, $2000 max.

Any suggestions to "build it yourself" will be deleted mercilessly.

I've heard alot of good stuff about ibuypower.com

GamePC is also a pretty good place to buy stuff from but they have a higher price premium than IBuyPower (plus they do some noise reduction if you want). IBP's selection isn't very good, either, but they are cheap.

For the highest in quailty and Cost you can't go wrong with Alienware, they even inculded everything from customised cases to tossing in ghosted verisons of the default install so you can be back up and running after a format in about ten minutes.


Gamepc will build your computer for you for another hundred bucks and they have decent prices.

Dalton wrote:OK, I'm not up to building myself a new computer at the moment, so what I'd like to know is if anyone has any tips where to get a nice high-end system with good cooling. The system would mainly be used mainly for photoshopping and games. I'm willing to spend around $1500, $2000 max.

Any suggestions to "build it yourself" will be deleted mercilessly.

Do you distrust local system builders? A competent local system builder can easily build a fast, well-cooled machine for that kind of money. The one I use charges $35 for assembly, which is quite reasonable considering that they assume the risk if anything goes wrong, they have to troubleshoot if the motherboard turns out to be defective, etc. You specify the components, they build it for you.

Or are you set on getting a national brand-name?

Darth Wong wrote:

Dalton wrote:OK, I'm not up to building myself a new computer at the moment, so what I'd like to know is if anyone has any tips where to get a nice high-end system with good cooling. The system would mainly be used mainly for photoshopping and games. I'm willing to spend around $1500, $2000 max.

Any suggestions to "build it yourself" will be deleted mercilessly.

Do you distrust local system builders? A competent local system builder can easily build a fast, well-cooled machine for that kind of money. The one I use charges $35 for assembly, which is quite reasonable considering that they assume the risk if anything goes wrong, they have to troubleshoot if the motherboard turns out to be defective, etc. You specify the components, they build it for you.

Or are you set on getting a national brand-name?

I think he meant that he doesnt want to build the computer by hand alone, rather that he wants to buy a pre-assembled computer.

Darth Wong wrote:The one I use charges $35 for assembly...

I've always wondered how these guys make money at all. They charge so little for their services, and things can fuck up so easily.

Anyway back to op, my brother who has built several computers for friends takes a list of parts, goes out and buys them, assembles them, and charges $50. So, why not go with a list of parts around to local computer stores and get price quotes on how much it will cost for them to build it for you. Maybe its not so easy if you live in a small town, but meh.

Brian

brianeyci wrote:

Darth Wong wrote:The one I use charges $35 for assembly...

I've always wondered how these guys make money at all. They charge so little for their services, and things can fuck up so easily.

Support, probably. They can do things like spyware removal and whatnot regularly and can charge $30/hr or so for that.

Personally, I use Cyberpower, and I don't think you can find a better deal around.

Darth Wong wrote:Do you distrust local system builders? A competent local system builder can easily build a fast, well-cooled machine for that kind of money. The one I use charges $35 for assembly, which is quite reasonable considering that they assume the risk if anything goes wrong, they have to troubleshoot if the motherboard turns out to be defective, etc. You specify the components, they build it for you.

Or are you set on getting a national brand-name?

That's actually a good idea, Mike. I'll consider it.

Thanks all for your suggestions. I'm still considering what to do here so we shall see what we shall see.

brianeyci wrote:

Darth Wong wrote:The one I use charges $35 for assembly...

I've always wondered how these guys make money at all. They charge so little for their services, and things can fuck up so easily.

Things can only get fucked up easily if the person building the machine is pretty much inept. With modern components it's pretty much plug and go, with only a few things being truly troublesome for even newbies (such as jumper positions).

Posting this here rather than starting a new thread. My current computer is running quite hot, and I have a nice Zalman here that I want to install (after I get a better case, of course). When I install this thing, it needs to be braced so it doesn't snap the mobo. The question is, do I screw the baseplate onto the risers and thus to the side, or solely to the heatsink assembly?

Dalton wrote:Posting this here rather than starting a new thread. My current computer is running quite hot, and I have a nice Zalman here that I want to install (after I get a better case, of course). When I install this thing, it needs to be braced so it doesn't snap the mobo. The question is, do I screw the baseplate onto the risers and thus to the side, or solely to the heatsink assembly?

Doesn't that flash video show exactly how to mount it?

Anyways, there's more to cooling than just putting on a big HSF, you need to ensure there's enough airflow in and out.

phongn wrote:

Dalton wrote:Posting this here rather than starting a new thread. My current computer is running quite hot, and I have a nice Zalman here that I want to install (after I get a better case, of course). When I install this thing, it needs to be braced so it doesn't snap the mobo. The question is, do I screw the baseplate onto the risers and thus to the side, or solely to the heatsink assembly?

Doesn't that flash video show exactly how to mount it?

Yeah, but I just wanted to clarify that one bit.

phongn wrote:Anyways, there's more to cooling than just putting on a big HSF, you need to ensure there's enough airflow in and out.

I know. Eventually I'll move this monster downstairs where the airflow will probably be a lot better.

Darth Wong wrote:

Dalton wrote:OK, I'm not up to building myself a new computer at the moment, so what I'd like to know is if anyone has any tips where to get a nice high-end system with good cooling. The system would mainly be used mainly for photoshopping and games. I'm willing to spend around $1500, $2000 max.

Any suggestions to "build it yourself" will be deleted mercilessly.

Do you distrust local system builders? A competent local system builder can easily build a fast, well-cooled machine for that kind of money. The one I use charges $35 for assembly, which is quite reasonable considering that they assume the risk if anything goes wrong, they have to troubleshoot if the motherboard turns out to be defective, etc. You specify the components, they build it for you.

Or are you set on getting a national brand-name?

I don't know about your local guys, but mine charge an arm and a leg and refuse to use AMD.

One local outfit charge £50 flat rate for spyware removal...about $88 dollars.

I suggest you take a look at Monarch computers.com. There a computer parts store but they also build totally custom systems, the build cost is IIRC 59 bucks. They have extremely good reviews

You could go either Falcon or Alienware.

Though a caveat for both, they are definitly much more game orientated.

InnocentBystander wrote:I don't know about your local guys, but mine charge an arm and a leg and refuse to use AMD.

You obviously have shitty local system builders. The last machine I had built was an AMD Athlon64 3000+ system with an Asus MB, 2GB Kingston RAM, and a pair of 10k Raptor SATA drives. They assembled and tested it for $35, and when I opened it up, I found that they had neatly bundled and routed all of the cables with tie-wraps in order to keep the inside of the case neat.

If cooling is a perpetual problem, take a look at this chart:

http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/2004122 ... ry_big.gif

And when buying your next PC, try to find one that has a relatively low heat dissipation rating, relative to its speed. For example, make sure that you get something with a 90nm core.

Just don't get Intel. Don't get Intel. *repeates*

What you want is one of those nice Venice or Winchester cores, 3000+,3200+,3500+ are all based on those and have great heat dissapation.

Since your planning on using it for art work I won't suggest the Pentium M, those are reletively slow at that kind of stuff.

Darth Wong wrote:If cooling is a perpetual problem, take a look at this chart:

http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/2004122 ... ry_big.gif

And when buying your next PC, try to find one that has a relatively low heat dissipation rating, relative to its speed. For example, make sure that you get something with a 90nm core.

I don't think that's the right link

InnocentBystander wrote:

Darth Wong wrote:If cooling is a perpetual problem, take a look at this chart:

http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/2004122 ... ry_big.gif

And when buying your next PC, try to find one that has a relatively low heat dissipation rating, relative to its speed. For example, make sure that you get something with a 90nm core.

I don't think that's the right link

It's the right link. It has anti bandwith stealing stuff on it though... you have to have a referer of tomshardware.com to see it.