Helping kid with a build

[sapphirescales]

I've built custom systems for photographers--here's the most recent one. It's under $1k because she already had an SSD and I just recycled that. IMHO getting a Samsung EVO SSD is a really good idea if Adobe programs are involved. That whole build came out beautiful. Stable, fast and QUIET--seriously, you can't hear it all.

For older kids though I don't know that it really pays to build from scratch. I sent this to the last client that asked for that:

"If he wants to go with the newest specs, he might be better off buying one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/CYBERPOWERPC-GXiVR8020A2-Desktop-i5-7400-802-11AC/dp/B01NBL8BER ($720) https://www.amazon.com/CYBERPOWERPC-GUA4500A-FX-6300-GTX1060-Desktop/dp/B01ICLADUA ($850) https://www.amazon.com/CYBERPOWERPC-Supreme-SLC8420A-Desktop-i7-7700K/dp/B01MT10ZRK ($1500)

There would be no labor or build time involved with those, obviously. So, to be completely fair to you guys...he could theoretically get a new system for slightly less than I could build one, and probably faster."

Yup, and he'll be back in to see you in 6 months because the crappy $14 power supply died and blew up half the rig along with it. These computers advertise good specs for the money, but they cut corners where it really counts. They put in the cheapest crappiest $40 motherboard (mATX in a full size ATX case), and the worst off brand Chinese SSD's. They come with stock coolers so the computer overheats and cases that are so cheapo that they warp over time and short out your components.

I love computers like this because gamers always come in to my shop asking why their 6 month old computer is dead and half the parts literally burned out when the PSU lights on fire and smoke comes out the back. I tell them the truth, that they got scammed. Then I offer to build them a REAL computer for about double the price and I use good quality components. Then I see them 7-10 years later and build them another one.

Nothing is more profitable than building (or rebuilding) desktops. And once they go cheap once and get burned, they NEVER do it again.

 

[MDD1963]

isnt the i9 coming out soon?

Edit: I'm not saying with that budget he wants an i9 but I can only imagine some other processors dropping in price as they come out. I might end up getting one of those new i7-7820X when its released: http://www.anandtech.com/show/11542...by-lakex-time-line-preorders-and-availability

the 10 core behemoth known as the 7900x draws about 250 watts at stock clock speeds under load....and upwards of 350 watts OC'd to 4.6 GHz or so.,.nice!

 

[Porthos]

the 10 core behemoth known as the 7900x draws about 250 watts at stock clock speeds under load....and upwards of 350 watts OC'd to 4.6 GHz or so.,.nice!

For those with enough disposable income to blow $1000 on just the processor alone.

 

[CLC]

I just built 2 of these last year and if you add a video card in the mix you can stay under $1000 and have a great little rig. The price is 604.39, if he doesn't care to have a really fancy case that leaves you money for a decent video card. I'm sure there are updated versions of the following parts but they will do what he wants it to do and perform quite well. Get a case with good cooling along with the wraith cooler and you can do a little overclocking, I would advise overclocking the memory.

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  • 2 x ASUS M5A99FX PRO R2.0 AM3+ AMD 990FX + SB950 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
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  • 2 x Gigabyte Ultra Durable 2 GV-R523D3-1GL (rev. 2.0) Radeon R5 230 Graphic Card - 625 MHz Core - 1 GB DDR3 SDRAM - ...
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  • 2 x EVGA 110-BQ-0600-K1 BQ 80 Plus Bronze Semi Modular 600W Power Supply
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  • 2 x AMD FX-8370 with AMD Wraith Cooler Vishera 8-Core 4.0 GHz (4.3 GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 125W FD8370FRHKHBX ...
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  • 2 x PNY CS1311 2.5" 240GB SATA III TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) SSD7CS1311-240-RB
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  • 2 x ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
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  • 1 x CORSAIR Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2400 (PC3 19200) Desktop Memory Model ...
  Price $604.39 from newegg.

 

[ohio_grad_06]

Nobody has said it, so I will. On that budget, I'd be looking at AMD Ryzen.

He could be into a Ryzen 1400 quad core with hypterthreading and a board it looks like for just over 200.

Most other prices look above. If it was me, I'd probably try at least to go for the 1500 though for the better cache etc.

I would say maybe opt for a 1050ti instead of the r230s though. Then he could do some gaming if he wanted.

From everything I'm reading, these chips are basically going to lose a little to an i5 on single threaded applications, but will eat them alive when you start talking multithreaded workloads. So the Ryzen r5 on a budget is a decent buy. You get a little of the i7 multithread ability, but still a decent IPC and lower prices. I think that's where I'd look on that budget.

Also, that EVGA, decent power supply. I have one in my own gaming system.

I do realize this is an older thread, but still good information.