Any PC guru's out there, looking for advice for new desktop

Suzy Wong posted:

Whereas my OS & programs complement on C: is 450GB.

But as always, YMMV.

I have a 2009 Dell XPS Tower top of the line at the time, with early i7, and maxed out bits...  the only things I have had to do are :

1) Replace the 2 original 24" monitors - luckily I bought extended warranty - as both had lines/pixel issues at year 2.5.  They were $500 a piece back then.

2) Added two 4 Port USB3 PCI Express expansion cards - USB2 was king at the time.

3) Upgraded the 1 GB primary to SSD, the 1 GB became a data slave.  Originally I went with Intel 128GB, but with OS, Software and VM's on it, it soon ran out of space ( it's now been placed in a 'usb3 travel case' and used as a fast external hard drive).  That's when I looked at the 500GB and 1TB, luckily they had come down in price so I went with the 1TB Sandisk Extreme. The only issue is the motherboard caps my transfer speed at 3 Gbits ( due to it's age ), when the hard drive can handle 6 Gbits.  But it's got a 10 year warranty and plenty of space for the foreseeable future.   I assure you, you will notice a speed improvement using the PC / opening apps / processing photos et al, as a result of going to SSD - and if you play game's it will certainly help.

So it's been more evolution / than any break fix.  And I'd do the same again too, I'm just glad the prices have come down, as it cost $3k at the time.  It's handled the Vista x64, to Windows 7 x64 to Windows 10 x64 in that time also ( yes, I avoided Windows 8 ).

Audioneophyte posted:

You pay on the front end for sure... but save it on the back....

Yes and no. I have a 2010 15" MacBook Pro (that's still going strong) that kept getting a 'grey screen of death' early when I got it, after 5 visits to the Genius bar they finally agreed to replace the logic board ( this ended up being a known issue for that model ) but after that, it has been solid. But it wasn't an easy 'we'll take care of that' resolution we've come to assume from Apple at the time, I can assure you.

your getting 6 years so far out of a mac...  double an average pc lifecycle...

I'm responding from a 13 year-old desktop PC running Windows XP. Never an issue with it. A decade ago I upgraded my RAM from 512K to 1 MB and it just keeps truckin' along. Maybe I'm in the extreme tail of the bell curve? Then again, I happily have no "smart" devices to synch. In many ways I find it more efficient than my 8.1 notebook PC and they run equally fast.

I always took Apple products as the ones with built-in obsolescence.

My name is Adam and I too am responding from a Windows Vista laptop - and hating it.

Might I suggest something a little out of left field?

Like many a would-be nerd I limped along with self-refurbished machines thrown out by friends and the office where I worked. Then I settled down to build my best computer.

The process was slightly tense as parts came from various suppliers and the responsibility for fitting them together was entirely mine. Also, some aspects of the specification were subject to potential improvement in the gap between ordering and delivery - so fast was the pace of development. 

I ended up with a potentially very good Windows XP machine in a lovely case - with huge scope for expansion. That said, I suspect that any uber-nerd could/would have ripped it to shreds but I was happy enough.

When the urge later came to upgrade - memory had changed, high capacity hard discs were now, in the main, serial ATA and video cards no longer fitted in the slots on my motherboard. With luck, I had a nice case and an over-specified power supply.

While I was living in France I ordered a Dell XPS 2710 all-in-one desktop machine - in part as a result of being impressed by the form factor of my niece's iMac.

This proved to be, and has remained, the most satisfying computer I have owned. Such a device would remove your need to bury the gubbins in your cupboard - which could be reserved for NAS, router, etc.

But there's more.
On the very first night the fresh from factory PC connected to the internet and started updating Windows and drivers. The unfortunate result of this was ----- a completely unresponsive brick in the morning.
I thought I was well buggered and wasn't all that delighted with the manufacturer. Skyped Dell Support and they entirely turned the situation around. The technician knew the machine inside out, was calm and logical. He got the machine going and then asked to take remote control - continuing to check all the important parameters and update or change all drivers and potential areas of conflict.
Yes, I was annoyed, upset and disappointed that things started so badly but Dell sorted things out - I know the importance of attempting to leave the customer more than satisfied from my time as Customer Services at Naim.

But that's not all.
Microsoft's recent kind offer of Win10 (Anniversary) update actually broke the motherboard - necessitating an out-of-guarantee replacement from Dell - and a wind back to 8.1. For the money I could buy a laptop but I like this machine and know that any PC will regain its original swiftness - if restored to its original state.
I don't feel that any intervening developments offer a must-have improvement 'for the uses I put the machine to' - Word, Outlook, audio playback, Photoshop (with Google NIK among others) and very basic video editing. It still responds quickly enough to prevent me mashing the OK button impatiently while the machine 'thinks about it'.

As if that weren't enough (!)
Short story - the repair didn't complete and ended up with the machine defaulting back to booting from the hard drive - and re-buggering the new motherboard. You might imagine how calmly I greeted this. I explained the problem to Dell.

Dell have just picked up the machine, are transporting it to Germany, will re-build and install Win 8.1 and all drivers and return the machine to me. Hell - I'd pay the repair cost to go on that trip as a holiday.

Why might this be relevant to your brave choice to build your own?

1: You don't know enough about computers and the subtle interactions between components to guarantee maximum outlay is rewarded with maximum performance.
In a list of desirables for a car one might list: V12 engine, 4-wheel drive, off-road capability, estate car load carrying, etc and end up with the subtraction of all parts.
Maximising the performance of a system requires specific knowledge of how the parts interact. Your processor may be the best you could specify but are you feeding it all it could handle? Do the hard drive cache, RAM, etc talk to each other in the most efficient way? (OK - I'm not very knowledgeable here). Sometimes it might be better to buy something that has been refined - rather than a one-off, theoretically best, configuration.

2: Support. I've built my own machines and got old dog PCs from skips to limp along. I'm presently very, very glad to hand the problem back to the manufacturer and find that they continue to support a model from several years ago - does that sound familiar?

But stop - there's less.
The machine I'd suggest you, at least, consider would (be) have been - http://www.dell.com/uk/p/xps-27-2720-aio/pd but, typically, it isn't presently available!

There are quite tasty 24" versions available - http://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspi...inspiron-24-7459-aio. I've just got used to 27" and like it.

I could easily live without the touch screen although I had thought to re-purpose the whole machine later as a music player with JRiver.

So - just a thought.

Immediate update - the 27" model won't be available for sale. But, perhaps, some points still remain valid. Or not.

Adam, for the Win 10 upgrade to physically disable the MB in your computer isn't a recommendation for Dell even if they did all they can to fix it - software damaging the hardware is a fundamental design flaw in the hardware and is a critical damnation of Dell's design capabilities.

I have to say I was bewildered by this.

That said - it may be difficult to plan for actions by presently non-existent viruses.

Adam Meredith posted:

I have to say I was bewildered by this.

That said - it may be difficult to plan for actions by presently non-existent viruses.

  Not the first time Windoze has been described as a virus!

Actually A/V packages use heuristic rules to identify virus like activity from novel viruses.

Audioneophyte posted:

your getting 6 years so far out of a mac...  double an average pc lifecycle...

Yes, the company 3 year forced lifecycle refresh is annoying, 'if it ain't broke. don't fix it'...  

Devices nowadays have a greater longevity, not the case even 10 years ago.  Back then the PC's each year were a revolution, now its evolution, this is why PC makers are suffering, no need to refresh as often as we use to.

One of the best kept secrets is considering 5-10 year old high end workstations.

I have recently migrated a HP xw8600 workstation.
These were very expensive at the time an the build quality has to be seen to be believed.

They use 2 x Intel XEON E54XX or X54XX CPUs, ECC RAM (8 slots) with SAS & SATA hard disk interfaces - room for at least 5 hard disks, two DVDs etc.
The typical CPU is around 3.0Ghz Quad core with a NVidia FX4600/5700 video card and use 1333 or 1600 Mhz FSB.
Installing Windows 10 has no problems with drivers....
Check out the contemporary brochure ca.2009 - the latest BIOS is 2012.
https://www.google.com.au/#q=HP+xw8600+brochure

The preferred versions are the HP xw8600, HP xw6600, HP xw6400 in that order.
If your passion is for AMD then the HP xw9400, HP xw9300 are worth considering. 

P.S. I3, I5, I7 etc. are never configured for dual CPU operation....
That's why the power users still utilise XEON CPUs.

Regards
Barry Hart

Thanks for all the input, again.

Looks like my better half isn't keen on something I'm going to open up and add to, so am looking at HP, omen desktop with 32GB etc, but it's coming in at 2k, then plus monitor etc. 

......time will tell if we go this route, got Oct hols first!

Arf005, if you are set on the HP, hang fire until the end of Nov when HP will do their 'Black Friday' deals, you might save a few hundred...

Arf005, if you head over to the HP site today, 15% off your new PC ;-)