What PC should I get?

[GDotcom 1]

I'm looking to get a brand new powerful desktop or all in one PC. I'm using a few laptops with Windows 7 for Web development and bot creation (mostly with UBot but a few I coded myself). I want to run a lot of heavy stuff and I'm sticking with Windows. I'm looking in the I7 processor range or higher. I've seen a few nice ones online but I'm not about to buy something this big of an investment online. I don't really have a price range or a cap. I just wanted some opinions. Any thoughts on hardware/brand etc? Thanks guys.

[the_way 52]

ssd drive is a must now, it makes a nice pagefile speed

[☠ℬαłłℓℯωℯ♭☠ 10]

This is something that is definitely worth doing your homework on. I currently run an i-7 tower with tons of RAM and 3x - 27" HD monitors and it has been far better than running a single pc/monitor or multiple PC's. At any given time I have probably 20 to 50 windows open (♬Blame it on my ADD♬) with memory and cpu intensive apps always open (ie. several VB 2008, VB 2010 windows, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Outlook with 20k or more emails stored, multiple chat apps, tons of browser pages open, etc.). When I decided that it was time to ditch the old PC and get something new, I did a lot of homework and it paid off. There are a few key components that you will need to take into consideration when buying a new machine:

 

CPU - i7 CPU is definitely the way to go, in real world benchmark testing, the higher end i7 cpus beat the higher end AMD cpus. A good resource for finding the best CPU that will meet your computing needs and for comparing with other CPUs can be found here: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html.

 

Memory - While the more the merrier can be true, it's not the whole story. You can have tons of memory but if it isn't fast, then you will never see the full potential of the rocking CPU that your PC comes with. You can compare Memory speeds here: http://www.memorybenchmark.net/.

 

Hard Drive - A hard drive is also crucial to your system's speed and performance, you can have the fastest cpu and memory in the world, but they will only take you so far when you are pulling data from the Hard Drive or writing to it. SSD (Solid State Drives) Are definitely preferred because of many factors. For instance, the don't have moving parts so they are quieter, will last much longer than a regular HD, boot a lot quicker, draw less power, are up to 30% faster than regular HD's, and magnets will not wipe the data unlike HD's. The down side is that they typically have a lot less capacity and can be extremely expensive but if money is no object, then that is a great option for you. You can compare Hard Drives here: http://www.harddrivebenchmark.net/

 

Video Card - This is often ignored when people are after speed with a machine, but it plays a role in the latency of the pc. If you have a high end graphics card, it's going to be doing most of the work for handling the graphics and using it's own resources (memory, etc) rather than the pc's. But that's not the only consideration, if you are a developer and do a lot of work on your pc, then having multiple monitors is an amazingly great way to boost productivity and stay organized, so if you have the space and the funds, you may want to keep that in mind. A decent source for comparing GPU's out there can be found here: http://www.gpureview.com/videocards.php. Also, if you decide to go with multiple monitors, be aware that many Radeon GPU's support 3 or more monitors on one card right out the box, but GeForce cards often don't support more than 2 monitors and require 2+ video cards for 3+ monitors which can be pretty expensive and not all towers and PSU's support that. Anyways, if you go with multiple monitors, I'd definitely recommend Displayfusion. That software is awesome for multiple monitors, it only costs $25 and comes with free lifetime updates, which they rollout often.

 

PSU (Power Supply Unit) - You have to be careful with the pc's that get rolled out. They often come with PSU's that barely support their own capabilities and the moment you upgrade, you exceed the ability of the PSU. There are many different PSU's and brands out there to choose from and the PSU will affect the performance of your machine so do your homework. Key things to remember, there's no such thing as to much power (getting a 1,000 watt PSU for a machine that only pulls 500 watts, typically won't cause any ill affects like putting too much power out or raising energy costs, yet leaves plenty of room for future upgrades), Check for reviews of any PSU you intend on buying, it might save you alot of headaches - keep in mind, many reviews are from noobs that don't understand the product and often cause their own hardships, so be careful to discern between those. Get an 80 PLUS PSU. Learn about 80 PLUS, it's worth the time: http://www.plugloadsolutions.com/80pluspowersupplies.aspx. Also, keep an eye out for PSU's at newegg.com, they always have some decent deals on them there.

 

The things mentioned above are the most crucial parts of a fast machine, there are other things to consider too when buying a fast and capable machine such as custom built vs. Do it yourself vs. Pre-built store bought machines, USB 2.0/3.0, Cache, Motherboard (you might want to look into this a bit more as it can be critical on the efficiency of the system), Bios, Sound card, Optical Drives, Cooling systems and fan (liquid tends to be the best and cooling is extremely important for fast machines). But this should help point you in the right direction. Also, it's worth noting that there are some pretty amazing technologies that are in the works by both AMD and Intel that will leave current CPU's in the dust, but who knows when these will make it to the market. Good luck.