Mailorder shops for self-configured PC systems recommended in this thread: Australia http://www.techbuy.com.au/custom-pc.asp Denmark http://www.mm-vision.dk/vishovedgruppe.asp?menu=computer Germany https://www.csl-computer.com/ Netherlands http://www.alternate.nl/ Original post: I need a new computer but I don't know much about the current market and technology, so I definitely don't want to build something myself. Looking at the 'entry class' to the 'high end section' I saw a lot of things I really don't need (cases looking like spaceships, LEDs of all kinds of colors and other gimmicks, huge HDs, ...) I need something for work (multimedia capabilities) and a little bit of gaming (not state-of-art gaming with highest visual quality. So more specifically: - decent CPU power - decent GPU power - rather big RAM - rather small HD (best 2 of them) - maybe SSD - DVD RW (BlueRay not really needed) - USB 3.0 & 'Firewire' - Win7 Everything else: the cheaper the better. Any recommendations?
I have a quad core i5 myself, which is OK for my purposes. There is no i5 with less then 4 cores so 4 cores it is. I think I have a Corsair power supply with a big 120mm fan, turning at 800rpm, which makes is silent. It also has cables you can disconnect, so you can only click in the ones you need, makes a clean case. I have the 120GB version of Corsair CSSD-F240GBGS-BK SSD, which is great and VERY fast Serial ATA/600. Found out the 120Gb is a bit to small though, so 240 would be my recommendation. You will be needing a big HD for storage though. Western Digital is always my choice of Hard disks. In my last 2 computers I had GeIL memory, which seems to me to be good value for money, check you mainboard to see what speed it can hold and get that, you can get 16Gb for a little over 100 euro these days, so that should not be to much trouble to get. GPU, well I'd say a Nvidia GTX660, right in the middle of the spectrum. what brand, well I would go for the same brand as your mainboard, should not matter, but some how that always feels right for me. DVD RW, any will do I guess, I usually go for a cheap one USB 3.0, well any modern mainboard will have that for sure. not sure about your setup, but a USB 3.0 HUB on your desk might be useful, still need to get me one myself as I have a USB 3.0 portable harddisk. Win7 for sure, win8 sucks I would suggest to get large 120mm fans if you need one in there, I only have the one in my power supply and that works OK, I also have a big 120mm one on my CPU, also spinning slowly, for less noise. You could also go for AMD processor and GPU, bu it has been a long time since I had one of those. I got my dad one from an online PC shop who builds them, there is a little less high end stuff in there as I mentioned above, especially with fans and power supply, but a very descent PC. I usually buy my stuff at the Alternate, which has a German website as well: www.alternate.de
We bought our computers form these guys: http://www.mm-vision.dk/vishovedgruppe.asp?menu=computer They, in my opinion, offer great hardware at an affordable cost. We picked a low-end machine, and stuffed some extras in there (like a good video card and extra RAM). It should give you an idea of what you can get. Depending on what you need, SSD would be my choice for an HD, but then again, I'm a database guy and SSD + DB = win.
The Samsung 128GB SSD Pro is my choice for C drive. A bit small but insanely fast and should retail for less than 10ped per GB. Put Windows and Entropia on this and dump everything else on a terabyte HDD.
Tyvm all, I really like how this somewhat turned into a listing of recommended mail order companies for self-configured PCs. I'll add the list to post#1, maybe there are even more recommendations? Arh, can remember their ads from years back when I still read magazines. I was looking around a lot and finally ordered one from https://www.csl-computer.com/ It was a preconfigured package and I just added more RAM, a SSD, bigger/better power supply and an "ultra-silent kit". - Intel® Core i7-4770, 4x 3400 MHz - Ultra-Silent-Kit - 32768 MB DDR3-RAM, 1600 MHz - 1000 GB, Seagate®/Toshiba/WD®, SATA - Festplatte: 256 GB SSD Toshiba HG5d (500 MB/s | 440 MB/s) - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650, 1024MB GDDR5, DVI, HDMI - 600 Watt beQuiet! 80 PLUS Silber - 24x Multiformat DVD-RW - Windows 7 Professional ~15k PED Not at all high-end stuff but the board, case & power supply allow for a high-end GPU to be added. I don't really need a big HD because rarely used stuff is on an external NAS. Might replace the HD with another bigger SSD when they become more affordable but next upgrade will rather be GPU.
I have to admit that my own approach to this was somewhat weird. But seeing how new machines needed more and more energy I vowed to stick with my computer until a decent setup below 100 watts was possible. Nearly 2 years back I was astonished that there was indeed something available, so since then I am using an Acer Aspire 7750G notebook and it really can do everything I need. I spent far too much time in my life fiddling with hardware parts and really dislike that by now, so I am quite happy using a notebook and just not caring about upgrading or any such silly stuff.
