This time last year I made a mistake, I bought my current computer, it was 730 euro and seemed like a good deal at the time, I'm going to sell it tomorrow for 600, which isn't terrible really, 130 deprecation over 12 months.

Anyways, that means I need a new desktop. Help me build(or buy a premade) one.

I'm really unsure as to what cards/chips etc are good nowadays, except that intel has their 4th gen i7 out, so I will probably get that.

So far I have been looking at a Dell XPS 8700 with a 4th gen i7 8gb of ram for 800 euro, no monitor included, it comes with a GeForce 645 1gb, 1tb hard drive.

My budget is 900-1200 euro(maybe stretch to 1400 if an incredible deal).

I can't use newegg because they don't ship to Ireland, and I hear komplett are a rip off.

 

Do you just need a computer tower, or do you need a new monitor, mouse, keyboard, and speakers as well?

 

I have a keyboard and mouse and headphones, I'll probably get a monitor second hand locally, I think I can get a 23 inch for 100. I'll get speakers a few months after, probably.

 

You should include what you intend to do with this computer. What is your major focus? Gaming? Computation? Art (photoshop/illustrator)? What isn't your focus? What is your goal/benchmark? Do you want to just be able to run/play certain applications, or are you an enthusiast that's into getting things looking really nice...?

 

I primarily use my computer for gaming, streaming videos to a tv and social media. But mostly games.

 

What's the difference between an i7 and an i5, besides the price? Does it really make that little of a difference?

 

What's your budget?

In regards to the i7 or i5, don't bother with the i7. The i5 4670K is what you want in terms of gaming. I'd usually say get the locked version of it (i5 4670), but for some reason the unlocked is actually cheaper. Weird.

 

Budget is 1000-1200.

 

This website is one of the best tools for finding optimal builds. It has tiers based on budget/performance quality, with multiple options for some of the bits. Very useful in at least getting you started.

 

Best bit of advice is to just make a checklist of the parts you need and then what your benchmarks are going to be. You don't know what power supply you are going to need until you know your graphics card and processor, are you going intel or AMD, do you need a soundcard, and are you planning to SLI later on down the road?

As someone whose parts for their new computer are literally just arriving over the next few days, having that checklist and plan in your head will save you a lot of effort.

Also, seconding Oz here, don't buy dell.

 

Q.F.F.T.

Do you have a good discount parts supplier in Ireland who'll build your pc for free and ship it as one unit provided you buy all of the parts from them?

I usually do it that way. Less hassle. Get exactly what I want. No nasty sub-par components. Cabling done right. No telemarketing dickheads trying to up-sell printers and useless software to me. And only one retailer I have to deal with for warranty issues.

Find the right online retailer. See who other Irish geeks trust, even if you have to substitute a part you wanted for one they can supply.

That's the less adventurous method I use.

 

i7 has a slightly higher L3 cache (which slightly improves speed in regards to accessing memory), usually more cores than an i5 (though it depends on the model), i7 has hyperthreading (and some i5s do too), which is kind of a gimmick (but kind of not), that allows for 'virtual threads' on the computer (basically, you have 4 real cores but 8 threads).

Having more cores/threads doesn't do you that much good (yet), because most games are programmed with one thread/core in mind (a] multithreaded programs are expensive and tricky to develop b] many games are ported from consoles like 360, which only have 1 or 2 cores, c] most games are GPU intensive and not CPU intensive, though there are obvious exceptions {like dwarf fortress}). You won't notice a difference between a 6MB and a 8MB cache for gaming. The latest consoles (PS4/XB1) have CPUs significantly weaker than the i5, let alone the i7 (as weak as between 25%-50% of the power of the i5).

If you're downstreaming stuff, an i5 is fine. If you're upstreaming stuff, an i7 can help, but an i5 should still be fine. Basically speaking, at least, from what I've read and what we know so far, an i5 will last you the whole new generation of games. An i5 lets me have 200+ dwarfs in dwarf fortress - which is one of the more computationally heavy games around, so I can't fathom games surpassing the i5 any time soon, not with developers investing so little money into AI or complex systems...

If you want to blow money, an i7 will be great if you do stuff other than gaming, like 3d-modelling, video encoding/rendering and stuff... but an i5 is more than enough.

A pre-built computer is fine (can't expect everyone to do it, guys), though building your own is a fun experience, or at least, it is for me. If you're looking to get the most bang for you buck, you should build it yourself though. It's not all that tricky, either. It's like legos. And once you know how to put it together, upgrading/maintaining your computer yourself is easy. Just make sure to get warranties on all the parts you buy.

Newegg is great, but if you can't use them, there must be alternatives around.

 

I always use ebuyer.co.uk for parts. Good prices, and a great returns policy. I've had two mobos dead on arrival; got replacements within a few days, no questions asked, no extra cost. I'm pretty sure they deliver to Ireland.

 

What do you guys think of this and this. I'm not really sure if the second one is worth the price increase, as far as I can tell I get a beefier processor and double the ram, although isn't 16 GB ram overkill? I'v never seen any process use more than 4.

Or possibly this how do AMD processors fare against Intel?

 

If RAM is cheap, then I'd go for 16GB. 8GB is good enough for everything you're likely to do, but after two decades of messing around with computers I've never regretted buying more RAM than I thought I'd need.

Regarding those two computers... they've both got Windows 8. I've only tried it once on someone else's laptop for about an hour. I found it very difficult to use because the interface has been completely overhauled. Apparently Windows 9 is returning things to a more Windows 7-ish situation.

If there's a way to make Windows 8 behave like 7, or else you're already familiar with Win 8, then go ahead. Otherwise, I might try to buy something with Win 7 on it.

 

I'v been meaning to learn windows 8 anyways, if I don't like it or I'm having problems I'll just install 7 instead.

Edit: So it turns out I can't order from Ebuyer :/ It's a shame as I really liked that computer.

I'v been looking at stuff from ebay instead, this or this + a graphics card for 150+.

 

Didnt want to make a new thread for just a quick question.

My Partner is buying a laptop and is tossing up between these two.

Needs it for web, university work, word processing, and general stuff, nothing to exotic. Also if you happen to know of any amazing deal atm it would be great.

She wants to order today or tomorrow and just wants a nice, reliable laptop with no stress.

Sorry for the German but I assume you would get the stats by context.

Betriebssystem
Windows 8 64 Windows 8 64

Prozessor
AMD Quad-Core A8-4555M APU Intel® Core™ i5-4200U

Bildschirmgröße
39,6 cm (15,6") 39,6 cm (15,6")

Arbeitsspeicher
6 GB DDR3 4 GB DDR3L

Festplatte
750 GB 5400 U/min SATA 500 GB 5400 U/min SATA



Betriebssystem
Windows 8 64 Windows 8 64

Prozessor

Prozessor
AMD Quad-Core A8-4555M APU 1,7 GHz 4 MB L2-Cache Intel® Core™ i5-4200U (1,6 GHz, 3 MB Cache, 2 Kerne)



Arbeitsspeicher

Speicherkapazität, Standard
6 GB DDR3 4 GB DDR3L

Speicherlayout
(1 x 2 GB, 1 x 4 GB) (1 x 4 GB)

Speichersteckplätze
2 DIMM 2 DIMM


Laufwerke

Festplatte – Beschreibung
750 GB 5400 U/min SATA 500 GB 5400 U/min SATA SuperMulti DVD±RW mit Double-Layer-Unterstützung



Anzeigegröße (diagonal)
39,6 cm (15,6") 39,6 cm (15,6")



Grafik
AMD Radeon HD 8550M Discrete-Class Intel HD-Grafikkarte 4600


Netzwerkschnittstelle
Integriertes 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet LAN
Integriertes 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet LAN

Wireless
802.11b/g/n 802.11b/g/n

Anschlüsse
1 HDMI
1 Kombianschluss für Kopfhörerausgang/Mikrofoneingang
1 USB 2.0
2 USB 3.0
1 RJ45


1 HDMI
1 Kopfhörer
1 Mikrofon
1 USB 2.0
2 USB 3.0
1 RJ45