When to buy a pc and what to buy (big budget)

HashBrownHamish · May 2015

So i'm currently working towards getting myself a massive desktop for doing 3D and gaming.

Now i don't know which is the best period for buying PC's so that is why i'm asking here and the question should i wait for windows 10 also comes to mind.

I'm also looking to get the best around. I'm looking to go all the way to 1500 Euros and maybe more if i get more work.

What do you guys recommend in the way of pc dealerships and what hardware do you think is best ? (also i heard about these hexacores are they worth the extra cash?)

PS: I live in France so any US dealerships and other are out of the question

Punio · May 2015

I believe Windows 10 is a free upgrade for Windows 8 users

HashBrownHamish · May 2015

Punio wrote: »

I believe Windows 10 is a free upgrade for Windows 8 users

Ah ok well thanks for that info at least ^^

Seiyaru · May 2015

What is your price point? that will help people give you a good build for that range of price.

HashBrownHamish · May 2015

It's there, 1500 Euros but i'm cool going all the way to 1800 Euros if necessary

Fuiosg · May 2015

I suppose the first question is are you building or looking for a premade?

HashBrownHamish · May 2015

if i build i'm scared to make a screw up so preferably premade but i suppose i can learn

ZacD · May 2015

http://www.logicalincrements.com/ change your country, and that's a good starting point,

thomasp · May 2015

hexacores make sense for rendering but i would not personally want to trade clock speed for more cores. that's for a machine that is primarily used for working interactively, not a render box.

you might also require equipment other than the PC. screen(s), wacom, backup solutions?

1500 isn't quite such a massive budget to be honest.

you'll probably have to cut some corners.

kanga · May 2015

For a top of the line Boxx workstation you are looking at 6,000 bucks

I think you can get a really decent workstation for 1,500 euros though. What works best for me is getting a computer built by a local shop. I have had a processor and HD blow out on my station. The shop replaced the processor for free and slipped a SD into my comp for a low price, both times all within the space of a day. There is nothing worse than waiting for months while your computer gets fixed in some far off location. Having a custom machine made has the added benefit that the shop knows it and usually has replacement parts on hand.

What most people dont do is check out the hardware requirements for the software they will be using. Companies like Autodesk have whole lists of test info available for customers complete with a graded recommendation ratings to help with configuration. Think about all the things you want to do with your machine, like will you dabble in sound production, then your sound setup should reflect that, those kinds of things.

Good luck and have fun with your new robot!
Cheerio

GhostDetector · May 2015

You should try to build your own computer (you'll cut some assembly charge that inevitably goes into the final price of premade computers)
https://pcpartpicker.com/

Do research, and ask find/ask people about this stuff (reddit maybe?)

Torch · May 2015

Overclockers do some nice deals (although I am not a PC building whiz, so the more hardcore PC builders may disagree,) :-

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/index.php

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-054-OG&tool=3

Ausun · May 2015

Right now the obvious cpu to get is the i7-4790k. Very soon Intel will launch their Brodwell lineup where the top cpu is the i7-5775C. AFter the summer around september I think Intel will launch another new generation called Skylake. The top Skylake cpu is called i7-6700. All these cpu's have 4 cores and 8 threads. So there are coming a lot of new stuff from Intel in the coming months, but it's difficult to say how much of a performance bump they will give, but expect around 15% from i7-4790k to i7-6700.

If your software uses many cores it could be worth going for a 6 core cpu, but you'll need a motherboard with x99 chipset and DDR4 memory and that could be a bit difficult to fit within your budget.

Both AMD and Nvidia is expected to release new graphicscards over the summer. They will be top of the line and likely difficult to fit within your budget. But existing cards will get cheaper. I'm personally looking to buy a GTX 980 after the summer once the price have come down. The GTX 970 on the other hand is already pretty good value and what I would recommend if you want to buy now.

But I think it is only a good idea to play the waiting game if you currently have a computer that does what you need it to do. If you go and get a i7-4790k and a GTX 970 now it will still be a beast of a computer.

EarthQuake · May 2015

Yeah I would go with the 4790 as well, anything higher than that and you're paying more for not much gain. More expensive mobo, more expensive ram, and as others have said, if your apps aren't really well optimized for multi-threading, a 6 core cpu with a slower clockspeed will tend to be slower than a 4 core of roughly the same generation/efficiency.

HashBrownHamish · May 2015

Awesome thanks for all the replies ^^ With all the stuff supposedly coming out this summer i will wait and save a bit more and probably stick to quad core and get the pc custom built by either me or pay the extra charge to make sure everything works correctly

When to buy a pc and what to buy (big budget)

Replies