Computer- buy or build

Building (DIY) may be more fun, but doesn't necessarily save you money. If you have a specific result in mind, you need to determine whether or not a pre-built PC can satisfy that. With DIY, you have more options, the biggest of which, imo, is how much future customization/expansion you want to have.

My go-to resource for many builds has been https://pcpartpicker.com/. I'm by no means an expert, but I've put together many PCs over the years for myself and others, and I've always enjoyed the process!

A good PowerSpec from Micro Center could do the trick, Doesn't come loaded with all the extra crap you don't need. Kinda like building one without building the tower. Just a thought.

I have two of them, and love them..

Edit: Don't look like they carry as many as they once did, maybe covid has been the issue in getting parts..

Just a heads up...GPUs are a VERY impacted commodity ATM.
Between COVID, supply chain disruptions, shipping delays, scalpers, and a resurgence of crypto-currency, GPUs, if you can find them, are going for 2-5 times more than their MSRP...usually on the higher end of the spectrum.

CPUs and memory are still not quite as impacted but many in the sector are watching Taiwan (TSMC is a major silicon provider in the marketspace) as they are experiencing the worst water shortages in years and the fabs are having to ship in water as restrictions on water usage tighten.

It is definitely not a buyers market for the DIYer at the moment. Rarely do I ever recommend pre-built over DIY, but I would point you in the direction of someone like xoticpc.com or the like to get a computer specced exactly how you want without the stigma that is associated with pre-built brands like Dell and HP (they aren't bad at all but they do make compromises to meet price point/profit margins).

I had no idea on the GPU's, I'm sure that is why the low numbers of PowerSpec from Micro Center. Guess I should be super happy I purchased the two we have..

I would generally recommend build but right now is about the worst time to do so so a prebuilt is the way to go. Parts availability is gonna get worse before it gets better. Don't see an end anytime soon

stangman67 wrote: »

I would generally recommend build but right now is about the worst time to do so so a prebuilt is the way to go. Parts availability is gonna get worse before it gets better. Don't see an end anytime soon

I agree. I was hoping to purchase a 3000 series gpu but I have given up for any time this year. I refuse to pay scalper prices and hope they all burn in H E L L.
No resentment here

vmaxer wrote: »

I’m sorry I failed to mention how it will be used. I’m not a gamer, I guess the most demanding use is Photoshop. I use my computer mostly for Microsoft Office programs and internet. Once in a while I may edit a video or two. I would like it to last a long time with the ability to upgrade. No restrictions on size, a full tower is ok.
The GPU’s do seem to be an issue at the moment, no idea when that will change.
Thanks for the input.

Video editing is by far the most demanding of what you mention. Doing that fluidly (depending on resolution, length, and how often) could make the CPU the largest expense of the system but your i7-6700 is probably plenty for doing that occasionally. A lot of folks don't realize that some i3 CPUs are faster than some i5s and some i5s faster than some i7s. I Google "passmark i3-3220", for example and look for the cpubenchmark.net result for it. Unless you're running multithreaded software (you'd know if you were - most video editors are) the critical factor in software performance will be not the total CPU processing power but the single thread speed as listed in the test results for that CPU.

You don't need an expensive GPU, if any. I like nVidia GeForce because their drivers of late are more stable. Among the gaggle of motherboards now, ASUS and MSI are really good.

Samsung is the only SSD brand I buy due to their quality and longevity. Larger SSDs have a longer life as the limitation is usually the TBW (terabytes written to the drive) rather than years or start/stops like spinning drives. Also Steve Gibson, of Spinrite fame, in extensive recent testing of a broad variety of SSDs, says that the Samsungs have substantially tighter performance, meaning fewer read and write errors through their lifetime and potential reliability well beyond their rating. I have one friend/client whose Samsung SSD is now 26% beyond its rated lifetime, yet still performing flawlessly. I will be replacing it as soon as I and they are vaccinated, but the wife of the couple is 92 and diabetic, so I've been limiting contact with them as much as possible - plus she does little on the computer and even that is backed up to my office nightly.

The other place to not skimp is the power supply. I like the Silencer Series, originally from PC Power & Cooling, then OCZ, now Firepower. I also only use APC battery backups. Power loss is one of the surest ways to crash Windows. Please everyone, use a battery backup, change the battery every three years, and cable it to the computer (usually USB) so it can tell the computer to shut down or hibernate when the battery runs too low in an outage.

If you want to run Microsoft Windows consider using a server version. The extra cost will buy you far better quality control in the updates, especially over the deplorable Windows 10, and much better QC of the hardware drivers.

Finally, for a prebuilt system, I only resell and recommend the HP Workstations and Server series. These include the Z220, Z240, Z420, Z440, and now Z2 and Z4 series for single stations. Reasons for this include their warranty (3 years), quality drivers, and use of ECC memory.

Well, this is a lot more than I intended to say, but maybe it will help others down the road as well. :-)

Being an IT warehouse manager I see the inventory early. Good luck getting a GPU/Video card, I'm being told Labor day or later for stock to balance out. Monitors are drying up. We currently have 3 models on back order with no ETA.

I've been on the EVGA wait list since September for the 3080 cards. I was lucky to get a 3070 from a friend that knows a scalper. He sold it to me at cost $600.

billbillw wrote: »

mrloren wrote: »

I've been on the EVGA wait list since September for the 3080 cards. I was lucky to get a 3070 from a friend that knows a scalper. He sold it to me at cost $600.

I've been on the EVGA waitlist for the 3060Ti and the 3060 since they were released. Not one email from them...

I have been on their list for months with zero activity.

I managed to get a 3070 on release day and my local Best Buy "insider" gave me a heads up on a shipment of 7 6800/6800XTs that they received. I was 2 blocks away at my dentist getting ready to leave and went straight there. The guy in line ahead of me got the last 6800XT, I grabbed the last 6800.
I would like to pick up a 3060 for my Plex/stream server but I am not paying what the scalpers are asking. Been signed up for all of the programs that offer "digital" wait lists since the beginning and haven't gotten a single email yet.

The 3070 is being used for my AI/machine learning lab machine.
The 6800 performs better with my UW 34" 1440P Acer Predator monitor on games.
Both machines are running 5800Xs

The new Plex server build is going from a pair of Dell R630s with dual 12c/24t Xeon E5-2690 v3s and 192GB of RAM to a single 3900XT 12c/24t, 64GB of RAM build as both of my current Dell servers are barely being taxed (2-5% max CPU usage with barely 10% RAM usage under load).
But I needed something that I can move the LSI MegaRaid card that manages my 48 bays of mass storage into.