Model Boat Mayhem
Mess Deck: General Section => Chit-Chat => Topic started by: Martin (Admin) on November 19, 2015, 10:15:09 pm
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Well my venerable but faithfull old PC has finally bit the dust .... a moment of silence please..... sigh!
She was a good old girl, most of Mayhem came from her..... I'll remember her fondly.
So I'm in the market for a new PC.
Going with a PC again, traditional for iT bods I guess, so...
i5 or i7?
AMD or Intel?
Recommended supplier?
Christmas is coming, guess what I want..... anyone feeling Particularly generous?!?! :-))
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http://www.arbico.co.uk/ (http://www.arbico.co.uk/)
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Just get a sharp knife so that you can unpack it quickly before it gets out of date. I've had some good deals with saverstore and cclonline. Reading stuff, Intel still seem to be leading the game, but I honestly don't think that a user would be able to tell the difference without reading the startup screens. Beyond that, the more cores and memory and USB ports the better.
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My IT network guru Huw has always spent his various employers' money with these guys http://www.misco.co.uk/ (http://www.misco.co.uk/)
We still use them and they've always been excellent for quality, price and service. Iain Lewis (Component Shop) swears by E-Buyer but I've no personal experience of them.
As regards bells and whistles I don't think the make of processor makes much difference these days, except to the price. None of our various machines has an Intel processor but we don't have any problems as a consequence. Beyond that, as Malc says, if it were me I'd get as many USB ports and as much speed and RAM as can be afforded.
And it will become out-of-date even while it's being delivered... 8)
DM
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Make sure that that at least some of the USB ports are USB 3.
Colin
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Yes, USB 3.0 is a must these days.... looking for at least 6!
Last PC supplied by http://www.dinopc.com/ (http://www.dinopc.com/)
Current supplier front runner this time: http://www.cclonline.com/ (http://www.cclonline.com/)
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http://www.novatech.co.uk/pc/
these people are quite close to me and have been very good in the past.
might be worth a try?
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I tend to be lazy and just go to PC world for an HP or something similar - does everything I want.
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/desktop-pcs/desktop-pcs/hp-pavilion-550-153na-desktop-pc-exclusive-white-10138663-pdt.html
Colin
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My IT network guru Huw has always spent his various employers' money with these guys http://www.misco.co.uk/ (http://www.misco.co.uk/)
We still use them and they've always been excellent for quality, price and service. Iain Lewis (Component Shop) swears by E-Buyer but I've no personal experience of them.
As regards bells and whistles I don't think the make of processor makes much difference these days, except to the price. None of our various machines has an Intel processor but we don't have any problems as a consequence. Beyond that, as Malc says, if it were me I'd get as many USB ports and as much speed and RAM as can be afforded.
And it will become out-of-date even while it's being delivered... 8)
DM
Have Used E-Buyer along with Misco with no Problems.
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I would also suggest an SSD as your boot drive, with a normal or Hybrid drive for data storage.
Converting to SSD will make a massive difference to Boot and load times
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I have used and been very impressed with HP desktops - never had any disernable problems with them, do recommed that it is capable of 64 bit processing so that the latest 8GB ram sticks can be used and as many as you possible can get, USB 3 ports to the max, solid state drives to reduce the risk of disk failure and raid (i.e. mirror copy of whats on one), biggest hard drive possible and seagate at that, good graphics card with its own large on board ram. oh - and its a full sized unit not one of the small factor types.
more of my wish list than yours {-)
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I would go for a Dell business model, many businesses run them day in day out. my latest CAD computer at work is a Dell
Grendel
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I would also suggest an SSD as your boot drive, with a normal or Hybrid drive for data storage.
Converting to SSD will make a massive difference to Boot and load times
Interestingly, I do have an SSD in my current PC, don't trust it after twice crashing with a Windows blue screen error and both times having to rebuild the OS. >:-o Stopped booting from it in the end.
I've decided the spec. of my new Pc needs to be:
Intel i7 ( will settle for i5 depending on cost )
16Gb RAM
1Tb HDD
GTX 750 T1 video
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Rather ironic in as much as I'm still trying to get the perfect XP machine to run my ancient AutoCAD on!
The HP File Server I currently use has a crappy on-board video card which makes certain CAD ops like 'Pan' very jerky, but we can't find a better graphics card and XP driver which it will run. The card which we were sure would work has been tested OK in a desktop PC so we're certain that it's the file server which doesn't like it.
Pooters, eh? Doncha just lurv 'em?
The latest wizzy scheme is to liberate an old Fujitsu/XP Pro desktop machine from the "WEEE Condemned" store (simply because it won't run the latest accounting software that Huw's customer now uses) and try the NVIDEA card in that. Scrounging condemned machines makes me feel like one of those sorry creatures who slouches up our road, looking in the building skips and wheelie bins... :o
BTW When I was working for The Black Gas 'FUJITSU' was an acronym for something very uncomplimentary about their IT Support Unit (there - you've got the last four letters already!). I dream of SSDs, USB 3.0 and Windows 10, but they'd be probably be wasted on an old two-finger keyboard cowboy like me.
Go for it, Martin - whatever you decide I shall hate you forever...
DM
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I have used and been very impressed with HP desktops - never had any discernible problems with them, do recommend that it is capable of 64 bit processing so that the latest 8GB ram sticks can be used and as many as you possible can get, USB 3 ports to the max, solid state drives to reduce the risk of disk failure and raid (i.e. mirror copy of what's on one), biggest hard drive possible and seagate at that, good graphics card with its own large on board ram. oh - and its a full sized unit not one of the small factor types.
I've been a HP fan for many, many years, but after changing job a few years ago, I'm now a Lenovo (IBM) fan.
Lenovo Laptop outlast a HP by at least 80-100%!
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The HP File Server I currently use has a crappy on-board video card which makes certain CAD ops like 'Pan' very jerky.....
You can have my current video card once I get my new PC Dave! - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radeon_HD_3000_Series
Go for it, Martin - whatever you decide I shall hate you forever...
DM
Business as usual then! :P
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I always use E-Buyer always best price and good service.
Dave ok2
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I have an HP desktop with XP- big tower with a decent graphics card and CAD- I think its a NVIDIA card- cant remember the number.
I will try and check later.
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I've built my own PC's for years you can get a high spec machine for not a lot of money. There are some good motherboard, CPU and memory bundles on Amazon. Here's an example http://www.amazon.co.uk/AMD-Vishera-FX-8350-M5A78L-M-Motherboard/dp/B00F45JT7G/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1448035381&sr=8-7&keywords=motherboard+bundle (http://www.amazon.co.uk/AMD-Vishera-FX-8350-M5A78L-M-Motherboard/dp/B00F45JT7G/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1448035381&sr=8-7&keywords=motherboard+bundle)
If you want to compare CPU's then have a look on here. It also has a power to price comparison.
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html (https://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html)
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Okay my brain has just been frazzled by all the rams,SSD's you name it. Are well best walk back to Jurassic Park and feed the Dinosaurs.
Lost in space (probably cyber space)
Good luck Martin with your purchase I wouldn't have a clue.
Cheers,
Faz. :-)) :-)) :-)) :-)) :-)) :-)) :-))
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However good your PC is, if you haven't got a decent broadband speed you will never get the best out of it.
Colin
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Rather ironic in as much as I'm still trying to get the perfect XP machine to run my ancient AutoCAD on!
The HP File Server I currently use has a crappy on-board video card which makes certain CAD ops like 'Pan' very jerky, but we can't find a better graphics card and XP driver which it will run. The card which we were sure would work has been tested OK in a desktop PC so we're certain that it's the file server which doesn't like it.
DM
virtualbox is your friend
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virtualbox is your friend
Drop me a PM if you need any assistance with Virtual box or virtualisation as this is what I do as part of my job
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Drop me a PM if you need any assistance with Virtual box or virtualisation as this is what I do as part of my job
basically agreeing with you, for my job, there are a few ancient pieces of software that barely run on XP, let alone anything newer... having said that, runinng XP in a locked down/stripped down virtualbox VM on a modern box running windows 7 as the host, and the XP software runs better/faster than it ever did on real hardware.
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I thought, you bring an IT bod and all that, would have built your own, as I do.
I personally would go for I7, middle to top end Gigabyte board and graphics, again middle to top end memory, bags of power 750 at least, a case with plenty of slots for HDD's I have six and I'm a bit pushed for space even so; I'm wary of SSD's so will give those a miss on my next upgrade.
I have used DABS for the last few years with no problems.
LB
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However good your PC is, if you haven't got a decent broadband speed you will never get the best out of it.
Colin
This is very true I'm stuck with copper wires and BT's so called fibre optic up grade.
LB
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LB....what in the blo**y hell >>:-( does a DAB have to do in computing? ......... Derek {-)
verb...... 3rd person present: dabs
1. to press against (something) lightly several times with a piece of absorbent material in order to clean or dry it or to apply a substance.
"he dabbed his mouth with his napkin"....synonyms: pat, press, touch, blot, mop, swab, smudge;
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dabs.com
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I have an HP desktop with XP- big tower with a decent graphics card and CAD- I think its a NVIDIA card- cant remember the number.
I will try and check later.
Nvidia Quadri PCI E
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Just spotted this, seemed appropriate -
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I'm a great believer in simple PCs and having a couple of them so if you cock one up with hardware issue or virus, you can simply move to another to diagnose and download the neccessary repair.
I bought a Sumvision Cyclone micro pc - it's amazing for £100 and it does everything I need. Surprisingly fast for its rated horsepower and it's tiny, silent (fanless) and it's got lots USB, HSMI, VGA ports, built-in wireless - it's great - and cheap. Does everything I need so why waste money on some expensive gaming machine just to surf the web and write the odd e-mail?
It's also proper MS Windows (8 or 10) so it's compatible with all normal applications that I already have so no re-learning of operating systems.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sumvision-Cyclone-Officially-Bluetooth-Streaming/dp/B00XA1A3NU
:-))
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My son is after a new pc as well and his choice is to go back to win 7 but 64 bit, in most cases, a pc's only as good as the software being run on it, this one I am on now, wont update its flash player - even after removing it etc, so come winter, its getting everything put on a external and the win 7 reinstalled and updated.
HP's are good we run two 2006 units, a dc5750 and a dc5850, very few issues, still running vista and proprietry software (cad, office etc.) with spares in my loft, lol.
surprised to hear that SSD's are a problem, would have though that hdd's would have had more issues.