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Budget Holiday PC

13

Comments

  • RidelynnRidelynn Member EpicPosts: 7,383


    Originally posted by Gdemami
    If someone is recommending you going with on-board GPU for gaming rig, you know you need to ignore that person.GPU > SSD anyday for gaming.

    Any computer without an SSD is slow for everything, not just gaming.

  • jpnolejpnole Member UncommonPosts: 1,698
    Originally posted by Ridelynn

     


    Originally posted by Gdemami
    If someone is recommending you going with on-board GPU for gaming rig, you know you need to ignore that person.

     

    GPU > SSD anyday for gaming.


     

    Any computer without an SSD is slow for everything, not just gaming.

    Still, an SSD is not required to build a blazing fast gaming PC. They are pretty nice for faster boots and loading times but on a budget, Gdemami's statement is true.

  • paulythebpaulytheb Member UncommonPosts: 363

    Ok, now I have a whole new issue.

    Maybe, I should start a new thread, but I'll try this here.

    A friend is willing to give me his old Dell pc. It works, but I don't know a lot of the technical details yet, it is running window 7. I just have to do him a favor.

    So I don't care what the case says or looks like, i know it is pretty big.

    I'm thinking okay now I got a free case and dvd rom drive at the very least.

     I might be able to get by with the hard drive for the short term. I think its only like 120 gig but it'll do for a start.

    So I'm thinking that saves me more than a hundred bucks right there.

     

    So I would need a new PSU, CPU/mobo, and a GPU. Maybe a bigger fan. Then just add a SSD as soon as I can afford it.

     

    Would  I also need a new OS to go with the new guts?

    Is this just more headache than it is worth? Or is this actually gonna save me a few bucks?

    Is there a pitfall here I don't see?

    ( Note to self-Don't say anything bad about Drizzt.)

    An acerbic sense of humor is NOT allowed here.

  • KilraneKilrane Member UncommonPosts: 322
    Without knowing more about that old Dell, the only thing I would even consider salvaging would be the optical disk drive. So, basically that saves you $20.00 USD.

    Chances are high that the optical drive is the only thing worth while in the old Dell PC, in my humble opinion.
  • GdemamiGdemami Member EpicPosts: 12,342


    Originally posted by paulytheb
    Ok, now I have a whole new issue.Maybe, I should start a new thread, but I'll try this here.A friend is willing to give me his old Dell pc. It works, but I don't know a lot of the technical details yet, it is running window 7. I just have to do him a favor.So I don't care what the case says or looks like, i know it is pretty big.I'm thinking okay now I got a free case and dvd rom drive at the very least. I might be able to get by with the hard drive for the short term. I think its only like 120 gig but it'll do for a start.So I'm thinking that saves me more than a hundred bucks right there. So I would need a new PSU, CPU/mobo, and a GPU. Maybe a bigger fan. Then just add a SSD as soon as I can afford it. Would  I also need a new OS to go with the new guts?Is this just more headache than it is worth? Or is this actually gonna save me a few bucks?Is there a pitfall here I don't see?

    You did not provide enough details about the hardware inside of that Dell but on the general note:

    1) OS is on these pre-built machines in form of OEM licence - licence is bound to hardware and isn't transferable. You will likely need a new licence anyway.

    2) The hardrive is small.
    Modern games easily take up to 20-50GB of space and with windows taking up 30 GB, there won't be much left. For the same reason I would be reluctant to recommend the use of any smaller SSD, even 240 GB SSD isn't all that much.

    3) All ain all, you are getting a case and dvd drive.


    Try to find some designation on the case to find out more about the model so people can look it up and see whether some other parts will be salvagable.

  • MikehaMikeha Member EpicPosts: 9,196
    Originally posted by jpnole
    Originally posted by Jockan
    Originally posted by Quizzical
    Originally posted by Jockan

    Not a problem.  $602.93

     

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157479

     

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136276

     

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202099

     

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156301

     

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139059

     

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113286

     

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820721107

    You've got no memory and no OS.  Add those in and you're basically at $800, which is way outside of the budget.

     

     

    For some reason the link for the memory did not get saved in my wish list but add $70-$80 for 8GB memory and its puts it at about $680. I dont add OS's to builds, I just build the PC it self. 

    Why wouldn't you add the OS to a build? It is required. Makes no sense TO ME.

  • jdnewelljdnewell Member UncommonPosts: 2,237

     


    Still, an SSD is not required to build a blazing fast gaming PC. They are pretty nice for faster boots and loading times but on a budget, Gdemami's statement is true.

    My thoughts exactly.

    It is all a matter of whats important to the OP. I have an SSD in all my PCs and wont build one without. But I am not on a tight budget either.

    An SSD will make the PC overall faster and more responsive. But once you are loaded up into a game the SSD makes no difference outside of saving a few seconds on a loading screen.

    For me a GPU > SSD for a gaming PC. If the OP was building a PC not meant for gaming or for light gaming I would agree to prioritize an SSD for certain.

    On my gaming PC I have my OS and a couple of games on the SSD. The rest of my games are on an HDD. There is virtually no difference in performance no matter where they are installed. Load times are it.

    For me running graphics on High settings with a decent frame rate trumps booting into windows faster or windows tasks being faster.

    Gaming being the key word in gaming PC and SSD is nice but not necessary.

    IMO. Your opinion may differ.

  • MikehaMikeha Member EpicPosts: 9,196

     

    I use a 120GB SSD for an OS drive and a 240GB SSD for a game drive.

  • paulythebpaulytheb Member UncommonPosts: 363
    Originally posted by Gdemami

     


    You did not provide enough details about the hardware inside of that Dell but on the general note:

    1) OS is on these pre-built machines in form of OEM licence - licence is bound to hardware and isn't transferable. You will likely need a new licence anyway.

    2) The hardrive is small.
    Modern games easily take up to 20-50GB of space and with windows taking up 30 GB, there won't be much left. For the same reason I would be reluctant to recommend the use of any smaller SSD, even 240 GB SSD isn't all that much.

    3) All ain all, you are getting a case and dvd drive.


    Try to find some designation on the case to find out more about the model so people can look it up and see whether some other parts will be salvagable.

     

    I'm assuming for my purposes that it is all junk except for the case, dvd drive and hard drive. (Hard drive would be replaced in a month or so.) Even I know Dell PSU's are junk, and the rest is too outdated to think about saving.

    But I'm also getting a flat screen monitor, keyboard ,mouse, and speakers. Basically free. Not having to pay for these items up front  ,along with a case and dvd drive,  does affect my budget for better "guts" components.

    The only purpose in keeping the small hard drive short term would be to insure the rest of the NEW system components worked on arrival. This would help mitigate the chance of something arriving DOA, I would at least know right off the bat and could return it.

    I think he upgraded the RAM at one point too. So, I might get lucky and be able to use that for like a month as well, again just to make sure everything is working right. Won't know for sure til I get it home if the RAM will match up to a new Mobo. or will be worth bothering.

    I will post the system info once i get it home here in a few days. I don't care if I have to use a few used parts, as long as it is not going to hurt my performance at the end of the build. No one is going to see it but me anyways.

    I might end up not using anything but the monitor. Just trying to see where I can shave off a dollar or three.

     

    P.S. I figured I would still need an OS, doesn't hurt to ask about it though.

    ( Note to self-Don't say anything bad about Drizzt.)

    An acerbic sense of humor is NOT allowed here.

  • QuizzicalQuizzical Member LegendaryPosts: 25,499

    I wouldn't assume that the case will be fine.  Dell loves vendor lock-in, and will use non-standard form factor parts so that the only way to upgrade some components is to buy it from Dell, where they can charge you double what the upgrades are worth.  I don't know if they did exactly that on the particular model that your friend bought, but they do it on some models.

    The case might be fine, but check it before you assume so.  In particular, you'd have to check case dimensions, the screw hole locations on the motherboard, and the airflow to make sure that there is room for multiple, good sized case fans.

  • paulythebpaulytheb Member UncommonPosts: 363
    Originally posted by Quizzical

    I wouldn't assume that the case will be fine.  Dell loves vendor lock-in, and will use non-standard form factor parts so that the only way to upgrade some components is to buy it from Dell, where they can charge you double what the upgrades are worth.  I don't know if they did exactly that on the particular model that your friend bought, but they do it on some models.

    The case might be fine, but check it before you assume so.  In particular, you'd have to check case dimensions, the screw hole locations on the motherboard, and the airflow to make sure that there is room for multiple, good sized case fans.

    +1 !

    Thanks!

    I was a little concerned about this, I thought I had read something to this effect before.

    Wont know til I go pick it up, if it all ends up being useless junk, well I'm still getting a monitor ,keyboard and mouse.

    In that case maybe I'll turn it into a media machine and hook it up to the T.V. down the road.

    (In other words just putz around with it.)

    ( Note to self-Don't say anything bad about Drizzt.)

    An acerbic sense of humor is NOT allowed here.

  • JJ82JJ82 Member UncommonPosts: 1,258
    Originally posted by paulytheb

    +1 !

    Thanks!

    I was a little concerned about this, I thought I had read something to this effect before.

    Wont know til I go pick it up, if it all ends up being useless junk, well I'm still getting a monitor ,keyboard and mouse.

    In that case maybe I'll turn it into a media machine and hook it up to the T.V. down the road.

    (In other words just putz around with it.)

     Yes it will all come down to what he bought. If he bought a gaming machine its going to be locked down to the point of madness,  I remember looking inside my friends XPS...holy hell. No chance of using that case for a new MoBo and parts without breaking a lot of stuff in it.

    Still, don't give up, there is a chance he has a really old one before they started doing that.

    "People who tell you you’re awesome are useless. No, dangerous.

    They are worse than useless because you want to believe them. They will defend you against critiques that are valid. They will seduce you into believing you are done learning, or into thinking that your work is better than it actually is." ~Raph Koster
    http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/10/14/on-getting-criticism/

  • GdemamiGdemami Member EpicPosts: 12,342


    Originally posted by Jockan
     $596 wtih OS. $30 rebate on GPU which would make it $566. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130679http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832416776http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231460http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438012http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131545http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156301http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113286http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820721107

    Very solid build if that SSD is replaced with regular 1TB drive for the same price.

    I would consider changing the platform to i3 since intel offers much better upgrade later on if needed. That would be 0 - 20 USD price difference, depending on motherboard.


  • ThebeastttThebeasttt Member RarePosts: 1,130
    Originally posted by Gdemami

    Very solid build if that SSD is replaced with regular 1TB drive for the same price.

    I would consider changing the platform to i3 since intel offers much better upgrade later on if needed. That would be 0 - 20 USD price difference, depending on motherboard.

     

    Replacing the SSD with an obscene amount of storage that you'll never even come close to using is pretty much the worst advice ever. SSD is one of the most noticeable changes you can possibly make to your system.

  • GdemamiGdemami Member EpicPosts: 12,342


    Originally posted by Thebeasttt

    Replacing the SSD with an obscene amount of storage that you'll never even come close to using is pretty much the worst advice ever. SSD is one of the most noticeable changes you can possibly make to your system.

    120 GB drive, seriously...?

    It was already discussed above, so I am not going to repeat what was already said.

    SSD is a luxury, not a core component.


  • MikehaMikeha Member EpicPosts: 9,196
    Originally posted by Gdemami

     


    Originally posted by Thebeasttt

    Replacing the SSD with an obscene amount of storage that you'll never even come close to using is pretty much the worst advice ever. SSD is one of the most noticeable changes you can possibly make to your system.

     

    120 GB drive, seriously...?

    It was already discussed above, so I am not going to repeat what was already said.

    SSD is a luxury, not a core component.

     

     

     

    its mainly a OS Drive where you can still install your OS and a couple games until you can get a larger SSD Drive. Like I said earlier, I use a 120GB SSD as a OS Drive and a 240GB SSD as a game drive. It really depends on the persons needs. For me I don't see my self ever buying another regular hard drive period but that's just me.

  • GdemamiGdemami Member EpicPosts: 12,342


    Originally posted by Jockan

    For me I don't see my self ever buying another regular hard drive period but that's just me

    "that's just me" does not mean it will work for others as well.

  • MikehaMikeha Member EpicPosts: 9,196
    Originally posted by Gdemami

     


    Originally posted by Jockan

    For me I don't see my self ever buying another regular hard drive period but that's just me

     

    "that's just me" does not mean it will work for others as well.

     

    Where did I say it will work for everybody? I already said that it depends on the person needs.

  • QuizzicalQuizzical Member LegendaryPosts: 25,499

    There's a philosophical decision here, and I think it's very important to acknowledge it.  Which would you prefer:

    a)  A computer that is snappy and responsive in everything you do, and greatly reduces the amount of time that it makes you wait after you ask it to do things.  All the games you want to play are playable and run smoothly at moderate and sometimes high settings, but rarely at max settings, so you have to turn things down a ways to make a lot of games playable.  You can still enjoy all of the game mechanics available and won't be at a competitive disadvantage, but the games won't look as good.

    b)  A computer that is sluggish in everything you do, whether gaming or otherwise.  Loading programs takes a while, booting up takes a while, loading screens in games take a while, and there's a slight but perceptible delay between when you tell a program to do something and when it actually does it in many programs.  However, when you're playing games, once you're in the game, everything runs smoothly and you can run basically all games at high settings and sometimes max settings.  At least until the next loading screen, at which point you get to wait a while for things to load, before returning to excellent performance once everything has loaded.

    Option (a) is prioritizing the SSD, while option (b) is prioritizing the higher end video card.  There isn't a canonical "right" answer here.  Ultimately, the decision should be made by the person who has to live with the consequences of it:  the person who is going to use the computer.

    I'd certainly prefer option (a) myself.  I'm pretty sure that Ridelynn and Jockan would, as well.  Gdemami, however, has a strong preference for option (b).  That underlies the difference in recommendations that you're seeing on this thread.

    -----

    Also at issue is just how much storage you need.  This varies wildly from person to person.  The reason I've been recommending a 240 GB SSD rather than 120 GB is that for most gamers, 120 GB just isn't enough space.  If you're a one-game-at-a-time sort of person and tend to uninstall the previous game whenever you install a new one, 120 GB probably will be enough for you.  If you like to keep 20 games installed and bounce between them a lot, 120 GB definitely won't be enough and even 240 GB might not be, either.

    You can get both an SSD and a hard drive, and that's what many people do.  But that adds to the cost.  If 120 GB isn't enough for you, but 240 GB is, then I'd recommend a 240 GB SSD and no hard drive.  If 240 GB isn't enough for you, then a smaller SSD together with a larger hard drive is the combination to recommend.  But more and larger drives pushes the price tag upward.

    -----

    Both of these are choices that you have to make because of budgetary constraints, of course.  On a $1000 budget, you can get a larger SSD and also a hard drive, as well as a very nice video card and a faster CPU, too.  On a $1500 budget, you can have very good everything, including a high end CPU and video card.  But on a $600 budget, there are choices to be made as to what you're willing to sacrifice and what is the priority.

  • GdemamiGdemami Member EpicPosts: 12,342


    Originally posted by Quizzical

    That underlies the difference in recommendations that you're seeing on this thread.

    Yes, the difference is that the one, build with SSD, is a wrong recommendation while the other is wtg.

    You are only recommending your very niche bias which does not stand for any general advice nor purpose, potentionally very harmful.

  • RidelynnRidelynn Member EpicPosts: 7,383


    Originally posted by Gdemami
    Originally posted by QuizzicalThat underlies the difference in recommendations that you're seeing on this thread.

    Yes, the difference is that the one, build with SSD, is a wrong recommendation while the other is wtg.

    You are only recommending your very niche bias which does not stand for any general advice nor purpose, potentionally very harmful.


    Because pie is clearly the right choice, there is no room for cake. Thank you for posting from Soviet Russia.

    The OP can make their own choice, and if that's a HDD, that's fine, it's their build and their money. I won't say it's wrong, I'm just offering my opinion on the matter.

  • PerramasPerramas Member UncommonPosts: 83

    I have used both HDD and SSD and the difference in time is measured in seconds. On my HDD system I am at my desktop and ready to roll within thirty seconds of turning the power on. Same deal with most games on my HDD system I am playing within thirty seconds of hitting the exe icon. The longest wait I have had is with Star Citizens. With that game it can take sixty-five to seventy-five seconds to change between my hangar and the dog fighting module.

    So if you are on a tight budget skip the luxury of an SSD and save money by getting an HDD.

    FUncom putting the FU in fun since 1993.

  • RidelynnRidelynn Member EpicPosts: 7,383


    Originally posted by Perramas
    So if you are on a tight budget skip the luxury of an SSD and save money by getting an HDD.

    I don't think you are saving money, SSDs are a lot less expensive now than they used to be. So much so they are competing with HDDS in price. I hadn't been paying close attention until just now, but wow are SSDs a lot lower in price than they used to be.

    You gain speed, but you do lose capacity for about the same price.

    Capacity over about 100G is a luxury too - it saves you from having to juggle installs and uninstalls. It's a nice luxury, but so is fast bootup and start times, fast cache response, fast OS response, and everything else.

    So I guess the choice isn't really about saving money, because you aren't really.

    It's about capacity vs speed. Not saving money any more really. So I guess the entire GPU vs SSD thing is a non-issue any more, it's more about do you want to install/uninstall stuff on a really fast computer, or just leave everything on a drive on a slower computer.

  • jdnewelljdnewell Member UncommonPosts: 2,237

    Or he could go with option C

    Wait 4 more weeks when he gets paid again and get a larger SSD or SSD & HDD at the same time. All while skipping the integrated graphics and getting a decent GPU.

    Personally I would be willing to wait 4 weeks and get the Cadillac instead of opting for the Pinto. Delay gratification and save to get something where you dont have to cut corners... Hmmmm.......Sounds weird but may be worth a try.

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