Home Computer

compuease

darbday;263266 wroteis ssd just a normal hard drive as far as installation?

Yes, no drivers needed. At least for mainstream manufacturers.

ReefAquarium

BlondeFish;263189 wroteDell has the U3011 for $300 off until tomorrow and I was about to buy it, but I found out that it goes on sale regularly for less, so maybe I'll hold off on my purchases of a 30" monitor + desktop system with SSD.

My guess is the samsung/dell/hp 30" monitor all use the same panels...

Samsung SyncMaster 305T 30" LCD Monitor Review - Page 8

Hewlett Packard - HP ZR30w 30 Widescreen S-IPS Performance Series LCD Monitor - VM617A8#ABA - Powered by PriceCanada.com

When the new LED big monitors come out probably the LCD prices will fall like a dead bird.

Since you can buy 3 LED 24" monitors for under $600, I'm not sure why you want a 30"?

ReefAquarium

darbday;262906 wroteWhere do the screws go?

is it just like installing a normal drive (hardware wise)

It's exactly the same.

Remember to turn off defragmentation.

wildbill7145

Thinking of buying a new pc in the next few months if I can manage to squirrel some cash away by working weekends and hiding it from the wedding budget. Current ancient machine getting somewhat laggy. Haven't assembled a machine myself in years so would rather just buy one.

Anyone ever bought an actual machine from tigerdirect? Not just components? Checked some online reviews and found the general mix of "horrible wait times, horrible customer service" and "speedy delivery, great customer service". Rather hear back from any folks on here that have had experience with them.

They also appear to have decent deals on refurb'd setups. Not sure if I should be concerned with buying a 'slightly used' machine.

Or, should I just go to Bestbuy or Futureshop, etc.

Not sure of brand. I've always heard that HP adds proprietary software packages/hardware that you have to fiddle with. Other popular names obviously are Dell, Asus, Lenovo, etc.

Not sure of CPU, thinking of Intel I3 or I5. Would rather put $ into the main engine as other components are more upgradable over time. I don't tend to need something seriously power hungry, but don't usually like investing in 'todays technology' as it will certainly change early tomorrow morning. Rather buy something a little sportier as it becomes obsolete a little farther into the future. Any opinions on comparisons between AMD and Intel?

Not sure of memory setup, current is 2Gb. Seems pretty low, but Comp said the memory wasn't the problem with my machine which makes me think he was gently telling me my CPU was ancient and slow. He's very gentle that way. I'm sure 4Gb min would be ok.

Not interested in multi monitor setups as I don't multitable, etc. Have a fine monitor already.

Not concerned about hard drive space, current setup is fine (320Gb onboard, 1Tb WD external).

Hoping to spend between $700 to $1k. +/- but not likely -.

Not interested in a laptop whatsoever.

I'm sure this has been discussed previously, however as times change current technology/opinions on sellers do as well.

Suggestions please?

compuease

wildbill7145;265223 wroteThinking of buying a new pc in the next few months if I can manage to squirrel some cash away by working weekends and hiding it from the wedding budget. Current ancient machine getting somewhat laggy. Haven't assembled a machine myself in years so would rather just buy one.

Anyone ever bought an actual machine from tigerdirect? Not just components? Checked some online reviews and found the general mix of "horrible wait times, horrible customer service" and "speedy delivery, great customer service". Rather hear back from any folks on here that have had experience with them.

They also appear to have decent deals on refurb'd setups. Not sure if I should be concerned with buying a 'slightly used' machine.

Or, should I just go to Bestbuy or Futureshop, etc.

Not sure of brand. I've always heard that HP adds proprietary software packages/hardware that you have to fiddle with. Other popular names obviously are Dell, Asus, Lenovo, etc.

Not sure of CPU, thinking of Intel I3 or I5. Would rather put $ into the main engine as other components are more upgradable over time. I don't tend to need something seriously power hungry, but don't usually like investing in 'todays technology' as it will certainly change early tomorrow morning. Rather buy something a little sportier as it becomes obsolete a little farther into the future. Any opinions on comparisons between AMD and Intel?

Not sure of memory setup, current is 2Gb. Seems pretty low, but Comp said the memory wasn't the problem with my machine which makes me think he was gently telling me my CPU was ancient and slow. He's very gentle that way. I'm sure 4Gb min would be ok.

Not interested in multi monitor setups as I don't multitable, etc. Have a fine monitor already.

Not concerned about hard drive space, current setup is fine (320Gb onboard, 1Tb WD external).

Hoping to spend between $700 to $1k. +/- but not likely -.

Not interested in a laptop whatsoever.

I'm sure this has been discussed previously, however as times change current technology/opinions on sellers do as well.

Suggestions please?

Don't have any real opinions on Tigerdirect as I build all of my own machines, components come from another source. However $700.-$1K is plenty. You should be able to find a system to last you a while on that budget. You would be hard pressed to find a system with less than an I3, 4GB and a 500Gb drive now. A couple of suggestions, if you play any games, ie shootem up, racing, flight sims, etc, make sure you get a system that has it's own discrete video (not integrated), ram is cheap, get lots as Windows 7 really smokes with lots of room to breath. If you want real quick boot up times and fast database access times get a solid state hard drive for your O/S drive. In a lot of ways a custom built system is best as then you get a clean O/S load with none of the "trial" software that can really bloat your system. HP is one of the worst at that. The problem with a custom setup is finding someone you trust to build and support it. If you were closer I would build you one but I can't really do that with Teamviewer. :D

[deleted]

i use futureshop cause i know their system. i bought for around $800 quad core 8gb ram and so on and so forthe. what ever you get for over 500 is going to be more speed and space than youll ever use. just get one with hdmi out and vga, i know dual monitors doesn't really matter but you can get that at any price, some have it some don't. I couldn't find any other specs that were important to me.

computer prices are the same across the board aside from some random internet company i don't know about. but acer sells a version to staples and one to future shop at each price range, so does hp and so on. this way they can offer price beating vs competitors but youll rarely find matching items. at least this was the gist i got when i worked there (for a week).

i got my computer at a discount cause someone returned it. my monitor was 40 bux off cause it was a display unit. future shop is actually extremely good about returns if your resonable and polite. if something happened i could just return it for a new one within 30 days. if it broke again i could do it again or they would offer me something of equal or greater value. comes with a 1 year hp warranty too.

they have an in store warranty that costs extra. but the salesmen make commision off of it so sometimes ill hint that i want the warranty and ill get a discount on the whole deal. 100 bux for 1 or two years and if anything ever happens theyll just fix it or replace it.

make sure you burn your recovery discs.

wildbill7145

2hrs. 57min. isn't that far away when you factor in faith in the build, knowledge base of builder. Very worthy of consideration.

compuease

wildbill7145;265229 wrote2hrs. 57min. isn't that far away when you factor in faith in the build, knowledge base of builder. Very worthy of consideration.

lol, well the delivery charge might be a beer or two..... Is the snow gone yet?

wildbill7145

compuease;265230 wrotelol, well the delivery charge might be a beer or two..... Is the snow gone yet?

Snow is now completely gone. You aren't suggesting you'd deliver? I'd come to you of course. I did get lost in Milton at one point whilst travelling through. Saw a computer joint and considered wandering in and yelling "Comp! Help!" but thought better of it. Didn't know how far away the local OPP detachment was.

compuease

wildbill7145;265233 wroteSnow is now completely gone. You aren't suggesting you'd deliver? I'd come to you of course. I did get lost in Milton at one point whilst travelling through. Saw a computer joint and considered wandering in and yelling "Comp! Help!" but thought better of it. Didn't know how far away the local OPP detachment was.

The local OPP is about 5 min from my house... I've never actually delivered that far away before, but I do love the area.....

BlondeFish

What about NCIX? As a compromise between buying a Dell yet again OR taking too much time researching and building the perfect poker desktop system from scratch myself, I am thinking of buying a NCIX fully customizable system which includes assembly, testing and 1 year warranty. I am looking for the following:

- Be able to use up to 3 displays (multi-tabling poker), including probably a Dell U3011 30" monitor.
- SSD pre-installed.
- Blu-Ray drive to watch new movies.
- Are there any advantages of extra features such as USB 3.0, SATA3 or CrossFireX for a poker player? Should I choose a motherboard with such features?
- I've always used Intel processors, but is an AMD system just as good?

For example, I am looking at NCIX's NX Fusion Media Intel system with a base price of $768:

- Intel Core i3 2100 Dual Core Hyperthreading Processor LGA1155 3.1GHZ Sandy Bridge 3MB
- Gigabyte H67MA-UD2H-B3 mATX LGA1155 H67 DDR3 2PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 CrossFireX SATA3 USB3.0 Motherboard
- Western Digital WD Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6GB/S 7200RPM 32MB Cache 3.5IN Hard Drive OEM
- HDMI, DVI, VGA & DisplayPort outputs
- 4GB DDR3 Memory
- Supports 4-6 Hard Drives
- 10 USB Ports (2-3 Front)
- 2 USB3 ports
- 400W 80Plus Power Supply
- Onboard Gigabit Ethernet
- LG CH10LS20 Blu-Ray Reader & DVD Writer Combo Drive 10X BD-ROM 16X DVDRW Lightscribe SATA Retail Box

- Which SSD?
- Minimum video card required for 3 displays, e.g., Radeon HD 5770 850MHZ 1Gb GDDR5 4.8GHZ PCI-E 2XDVI HDMI Display Port?

wildbill7145;265223 wroteAnyone ever bought an actual machine from tigerdirect? Not just components? Checked some online reviews and found the general mix of "horrible wait times, horrible customer service" and "speedy delivery, great customer service". Rather hear back from any folks on here that have had experience with them.

wildbill7145

Just out of curiosity Blondefish, wouldn't it be worth the extra $50 or so to upgrade to the I5 quadcore processor? Not 100% sure, but that's what the additional cost looks like to me.

I have no idea as to the specific speed advantage of one over the other, however in purchases past I've always found buying a generation ahead is better if the added cost isn't horribly significant.

Just curious as to you or anyone elses thinking.

For that matter, I just found this little gem on tigerdirect for $829 (refurb'd, not sure if that matters):

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6655831&Sku=S445-10108

Includes Intel Core I7 processor (2.8Ghz up to 3.46 with turbo boost something or other), 8gb RAM, 500w power supply, SATA 1Tb HD.

Hang to Dry

My 2 cents:

I find that generally, if you don't want to build your own computer, you can't really go wrong with buying one pre-built from whatever place you decide on. There are two main reasons for this:
1) your usage isn't going to change much in the next few years. Surfing, email, office apps, poker.
2) those things will almost never use all the potential that your computer has.

If you're willing to do some research, you could possibly save yourself some money by upgrading multiple aspects of your system, instead of throwing out the old and starting new. Sometimes this is <$50, sometimes a couple hundred, but it really depends on how valuable your time is and what YOU want to do with YOUR computer. For that reason, I can't and won't comment directly on components.

There are a lot more things to say on this topic, maybe I'll start a new thread with a how-to build your own computer or edit this post later. More info will be here soon, but right now it's time for me to get my drink on.

Edit - I don't like the look of that intel from tigerdirect above, but that's more my personal preference, there's not much room for expansion. It will most likely do everything you ask of it though, and if that's all you're doing, it'll probably last a while. However, you could probably still cut back from that and it'd work just fine still, depending how much weight you give to certain features. eg, it's pretty small, might run pretty hot, but does that matter or do you even care? I don't care about some stuff, but can't answer that for you. You could probably pay the same amount for a slightly more ideal build, or pay slightly less for a slightly less powerful yet still adequate build.

Edit2 - and you could do it without paying for windows, if you were so inclined to that sort of tomfoolery. There's ~$124 you could put into something else

compuease

Hang to Dry;265381 wroteThere are a lot more things to say on this topic, maybe I'll start a new thread with a how-to build your own computer or edit this post later. More info will be here soon, but right now it's time for me to get my drink on.

Now this would be interesting...

Hang to Dry

compuease;265382 wroteNow this would be interesting...

Yeah, I think I will do this, I've piqued my own renewed interest in the subject. How much do you really need to pay?

compuease

Hang to Dry;265385 wroteYeah, I think I will do this, I've piqued my own renewed interest in the subject. How much do you really need to pay?

For you to build me one? :) Actually the first question to ask is what do you want to do with it...

Hang to Dry

I meant, if you carefully weighed your options for each component, you could probably cut down the specs of what you want to buy to $500 or less for a more or less strictly poker machine.

Not you being you, but you being someone who's looking to build a poker computer.

I'm making less and less sense to myself as I keep typing this. Keep an eye out for a new thread, I have a bunch of free time and very little room under my internet usage cap.

BlondeFish

Hang to Dry;265419 wroteI meant, if you carefully weighed your options for each component, you could probably cut down the specs of what you want to buy to $500 or less for a more or less strictly poker machine.

Looking forward to your thread. I never seem to find the time to do the research on how to custom-build my poker desktop system, so I'm still multi-tabling on my two-year old laptop.

BlondeFish

compuease;262738 wroteWait another year, more info on reliability and half the price for SSD.

"Are we there yet?" Shipments of solid state storage to grow.

A few consumer systems are finally starting to have SSD as a pre-installed option, including the Dell XPS laptops. If online continues to look good after this month, I plan to buy the next-generation poker desktop system with SSD, 8 GB RAM, quad core, ready to take on PT4 with lots of customized stats, more than 10 HUD pop-ups, hand ranges, filters based on M and effective stack sizes.

compuease;265225 wroteThe problem with a custom setup is finding someone you trust to build and support it.

I'll be looking at Dell, NCIX, and Compuease Inc. :)

wildbill7145

My understanding is that there is a current shortage on drives due to the floods in Thailand where Western Digital, et al. maintain their plants. Solid state drives aren't a problem however which is driving the current prices down. Forgive the pun.

Distribution chains change all of this in terms of timelines though. Just my 2c.

« Previous Page Next Page »