Buying a new Workstation

[»Lynx]

OKay, so I've been looking around at workstations and I've been thinking about going for the Dell 8100. Here is the build configuration that I've decided I liked:

 

Components

Intel® Core™ i5 Processor 650 (3.20GHz, 4MB) (add £76.50 for corei7 2.80 8MB)

Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64bit- English

OS Media : MUI Windows 7 Home Premium (64 BIT) Resource DVD

Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Word Starter, Excel Starter)

1 year of coverage included with your PC

McAfee® Security Centre - 15 Month Protection - English

Dell ST2310 23" Full HD Widescreen Monitor - UK/Irish

6144MB (2x2GB) (2x1GB)1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel Memory

2TB Dual Hard Drive Raid 0 "Stripe" (2x1TB - 7200rpm)

1GB ATI® Radeon™ HD 5670 graphics card

DVD +/- RW Drive (read/write CD & DVD) with Roxio Easy CD and DVD Burn software

Dell™ USB Entry Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY)

Dell 2 Button USB Optical Mouse

Dell 1525 Wireless PCIe Network Card 802.11n

NO - Dell may NOT telephone me in relation to my order and related products and services

Accessories

No Speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)

Integrated HDA 7.1 Dolby Digital Audio

Services & Software

DataSafe Online Backup 2GB 1 year

Also Includes

No Accidental Damage Support

English - Documentation with UK/Ire Power cord

D05X8103

Studio XPS 8100 DT Order - UK

Datasafe Local 2.0 Basic

1 year Next Business Day Hardware Support included with your PC

73W Processor Heatsink

One free Dell Expert call to help with your PC queries within 60 days of purchase

Studio XPS 8100 Resource DVD

 

That comes to £820 + tax = £963GBP however I've also found some 10% cashback offers online, so it would bring it to somewhere around £860. It's been a long time since I've even looked at computers to see if it's cheaper to build yourself, so I am asking you guys, is it really cheaper to build yourself (considering shipping charges for many items) and on average in your experience how much cheaper?

 

Edit: Also, for any Brit posters, who are good providers of PC hardware?

 

Also, would anybody avoid refurbished PCs (even when they offer 3-yr warranty)? as it seems to save a bit.

Edited July 14, 2010 by Lynx

[Dr Brain]

It's been a while since I've bought a computer, but I can comment on peripherals.

 

I don't know about you, but I cannot work with only a single monitor. I'm looking to go to three in the next few months, actually. It's just a matter of buying a video card that will support it (yes, yes, I know it can be done with two video cards, but then I'd have to change my motherboard and PSU). If you ever use a dual monitor setup, you'll never go back. For me, I do my work on the primary, and have reference windows open on the secondary. For me, this is either Altium Designer (circuit board design) and some device datasheet, or Eclipse and an API reference.

 

Logitech mice with the free wheeling scroll wheels are amazing. I'd *never* buy anything else. If logitech ever stopped selling them, I'd buy them on ebay. That's how good they are. I prefer wired mice so I don't have to deal with batteries (http://amzn.com/B002B3YCQM), but they have quite a large offering of wireless mice if that's how you lean. Every logitech mouse I've bought (for myself and others) in the last 10 years has been a high quality device and lasted for a long time, well worth the extra bit they cost.

 

I can't use Dell keyboards because I have to pop the keys off and switch the layout to Dvorak, and dell keys have different angles in each row... but most people don't have that problem.

 

If you do any 3d CAD or modeling, a 3dconnexion space navigator is extremely helpful. Well worth the high price tag. Rather useless if you don't do 3d work, though.

[op2rules]

3 Monitors FTW.

 

Brain you use DVORAK? Awesome!

 

As for Lynx, go for GTX460, you'll be happier in the end. And go for an x58 board, not that crap.

[»Lynx]

Cheers, I plan on buying a secondary monitor and the Logitech MX5500 keyboard and mouse when I have the spare cash, until then I'll have to make do. The graphics card really isn't a big deal to me as I don't really play games on my computer (other than Subspace...) I only use it for work. Also, why an x58 board? What's wrong with the board that's on the dell already?

[L.C.]

[MB] ASUS P7P55D LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel ($134.99)

[CPU] Intel Core i5-650 Clarkdale 3.2GHz 4MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 73W Dual-Core Desktop Processor BX80616I5650 ($179.99)

[RAM] G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ ($149.99)

[GPU] XFX HD-567X-ZNF3 Radeon HD 5670 1GB 128-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support ($99.99)

[PSU] CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC ($89.99 + $1.99 shipping = $91.98)

[HDD] Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal (2 x $89.99 = $179.98)

[WIFI] GIGABYTE GN-WP01GS IEEE 802.11b/g PCI Wireless Adapter Up to 54Mbps Wireless Data Rates 64/128 bit WEP, WPA, 802.1x, AES ($16.99 + $2.99 shipping = $19.98)

[ODD] ASUS Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Burner ($18.99)

[LCD] Acer P235Hbmid Black 23" 5ms HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 50000:1(ACM) Built-in Speakers ($199.99 + $8.99 shipping = $208.98)

[OS] Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Full ($154.99 + $1.99 shipping = $156.98)

 

Undecided:

[CHASSIS] Pick one that doesn't have a power supply

[KEYBOARD] Pick one

[MOUSE] Pick one

 

Total: At least $1,241.85 USD, plus $100 USD to $250 USD; At least 973.6948 EUR, plus 78.4068 EUR to 196.0170 EUR

 

 

 

:\ And you would need a friend to ship it overseas (sort of included that in the above total, but tbh I don't know how much continental shipping costs -- probably too much because my cousins usually take hardware with them for friends overseas when they go on a vacation overseas).

 

 

 

EDIT: Also, if I were you, I would be reposting this thread at hardforum.com and seeking help on this from there.

Edited July 14, 2010 by L.C.

[»Lynx]

Nice post LC, but it's looking a lot cheaper just buying right from dell. I managed to find a £300 off deal, which can be used with a 10% cash rebate, which makes it around £400 cheaper, with corei7 860, GTX gpx card and 8gb ram with 2TB raid0 and a 23" 1960x1080 5ms monitor, bringing the final cost to around £1000 flat. The only catch is that I'd need to buy it today, but I suspect that deal will crop up again sometime soon (i've only got £960).

[L.C.]

Well, do whatever you feel you must.

 

I personally have better experience with custom built machines versus 'manufactured' machines. But again, do what you must. I don't think Newegg ships to UK, so you would have some trouble (I think) getting ahold of the hardware I linked to anyway. But maybe there is a "NewEgg Europe equivalent" -- if there is, I suppose someone at HF would know.

 

Good luck!

[»Lynx]

I've decided to go for the dell offer. Here's the final specs:

 

Module Description Show Details

Base Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 860 (2.80GHz, 8MB)

Microsoft Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64bit- English

Memory 8192MB (4x2GB) 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel Memory

Keyboard Dell™ USB Entry Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY)

Monitor Dell ST2310 23" Full HD Widescreen Monitor - UK/Irish

Video Card Graphics Card - Single 1GB Nvidia GeForce GTS 240

Hard Drive 2TB Dual Hard Drive Raid 0 "Stripe" (2x1TB - 7200rpm)

Mouse Dell 2 Button USB Optical Mouse

Optical Devices DVD +/- RW Drive (read/write CD & DVD) with Roxio Easy CD and DVD Burn software

Sound Cards Integrated HDA 7.1 Dolby Digital Audio

Speakers No Speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)

Shipping Documents English - Documentation with UK/Ire Power cord

Gedis Bundle Reference D05X8104

Standard Warranty 1 year Next Business Day Hardware Support included with your PC

Services and Support 1 year of coverage included with your PC

Order Information Studio XPS 8100 DT Order - UK

Dell System Media Kit Studio XPS 8100 Resource DVD

Thermal Cooling 95W Processor Heatsink

Accidental Damage Support No Accidental Damage Support

Online Backup DataSafe Online Backup 2GB 1 year

Call Dell Experts One free Dell Expert call to help with your PC queries within 60 days of purchase

Telephone Contact NO - Dell may NOT telephone me in relation to my order and related products and services

DataSafe Datasafe Local 2.0 Basic

Microsoft Application Software Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Word Starter, Excel Starter)

Protect your new PC McAfee® Security Centre - 15 Month Protection - English

Operating System Recovery Options OS Media : MUI Windows 7 Home Premium (64 BIT) Resource DVD

 

I found a £299.99 off deal, which I combined with a 10% off deal to bring the final price from £1,303 to £920. Just need to get myself a webcam, a better mouse and keyboard and this should do me for the next few years.

 

Cheers for the help, guys.

[Yupa]

Dell mice are still okay last I checked (for ordinary mice, which I personally prefer over million-key ubermice), but they've definitely boned their keyboards.

[»Purge]

Jeez, dual RAID terabyte hard disks? What kind of work do you do?

[Yupa]

1TB disks have been pretty cheap for a while now; the processor will cost more.

[»Blocks]

In my experience, it is cheaper to build than to buy pre-built, but only if you don't directly pay for your operating system.

 

Putting two drives in RAID 0 essentially doubles your risk of logical drive failure. If you want the speed, I'd suggest getting an SSD.

[»Lynx]

Yeah I intend to remove the raid config as I'll be using that space anyway.

[Corey]

The hell is dvorak

[Samapico]

The hell is dvorak

JFGI

[»Lynx]

Dvorak is a keyboard layout.