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Buying my first Desktop PC

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Flopsy:
I've had a look into this recently and discovered that there is a lot of things now to factor in when buying a Desktop PC.

I'm looking to stop relying on laptops for power now and look into buying a more powerful machine.
My current laptop is: Intel Core i5-7200u (7th Gen), CPU 2.50GHz  2.71GHz  with 8GB RAM but that is not powerful enough for me and I feel I want to upgrade to an i7 at the very least or equivalent with at least 16GB RAM.

I would also like it to be a Desktop PC (or a Gaming PC) and I am willing to splash out on it if necessary but I want to make sure I make the right decision before I bite.

I'm not the biggest tech geek out there when it comes to computer specs and some things baffle me.
- I'm not sure what the difference between a SSD and a HDD means, some even have both!
- What would the advantages of having a Gaming PC over a standard Desktop PC be?

I'm reaching out to those who have bought powerful computers already and I would like to know what kind of spec I'd need to never have any issues with streaming, recording and just never having slow down. Obviously I would make sure it is up to date with antivirus and such.

Here's some examples of PCs I've come across and like the look of

HP Pavilion 27-r007na 27" All-in-One PC - Blizzard White
Windows 10
Intel® Core™ i7-7700T Processor
RAM: 16 GB / Storage: 2 TB HDD
Quad-core
2.9 GHz / 3.8 GHz (Turbo Boost)
8 MB cache
(A typical Desktop PC - Monitor and stuff included)

HP OMEN 880-112na Gaming PC
Windows 10
Intel® Core™ i7-8700 Processor
RAM: 16 GB / Storage: 2 TB HDD & 256 GB SSD
Hexa-core
3.2 GHz / 4.6 GHz (Turbo Boost)
12 MB cache
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070
(A typical Gaming PC - just the tower)

Both are around the same price (£1299-£1349)

So what do you lot think, are these specs good or should I keep searching?

IchoTolot:

--- Quote ---I'm not sure what the difference between a SSD and a HDD means, some even have both!
--- End quote ---

In basic words: Everything on an SSD works faster.

That's why I'm 100% advising you to get a desktop pc that has both. --  Why both?

You really want to have a small SSD harddrive for your operating system and most important programs -- but only the most important ones!

Example: My windows boots up in ~ 20-30 seconds being on an SSD.

SSDs are more expensive than standard HDDs and that's why a combination is usually the best option. The SSD ensures the core systems load fast while you use a huge HDD to store stuff and run normal non-priority programs on it.


--- Quote ---2 TB HDD & 256 GB SSD
--- End quote ---
   That for example sounds good to me ;)

Again: Do not use the SSD to store a lot of unimportant stuff. Use it to store important programs that shall run fast -- Windows is the prime example here.



I don't see the Graphic Card on the first PC's spec. Personally I got an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060.
Your 2nd spec has a 1070 which is a significant boost in power but also in price (~ 200€ usually). It's the question if you need the power badly. A 1060 can run nearly all games on high graphic settings, but a 1070 can ensure you to be able to reach ultra settings on nearlly everything for longer. It's also a question what games you are aiming to play -- if you are not interested in all the AAA games from the big developers who are pushing the boundarys in graphics than a 1070 might be overkill.

Otherwise the machines seem indeed powerful. But I would tend to the 2nd one because of the SSD/HDD combination (you really wan this trust me) and the graphics card being specified (if the 1st one only has on-board graphics stay away from it if you want to run games). 

Overall, keep searching -- you do want to make a good purchase for that money and not simply take the first thing you find! Compare performance and prices among possible candidates.

namida:
The second one you've listed should be perfect for your needs. Avoid that first one; as IchoTolot said, it appears to lack a dedicated GPU. Onboard GPUs are generally very weak compared to dedicated ones, especially in Intel machines (they're not as bad in AMD machines, but still much weaker than a dedicated GPU); and a GPU is the most important factor (even more so than the CPU) for most gaming. (NeoLemmix is a weird exception here, because it renders its graphics entirely on the CPU. Most games do not work this way.)

Also, do keep in mind that gaming laptops exist too, if you prefer laptops. Just do your research with reading the reviews, to make sure they aren't overheat-prone when used for gaming. Alienware generally make very good quality, high-spec, non-overheat-prone gaming laptops, but they also come with a very premium price tag. And make sure the laptop you get has a dedicated GPU - it wouldn't matter if you had one of those 18-core Intel i9 CPUs; you'd still have bad gaming performance if the graphics are running off an Intel HD chip rather than a mid-range-or-better GeForce or Radeon. ;) (And here, it wouldn't help NeoLemmix either - higher-core-count CPUs tend to have less performance per core. NeoLemmix doesn't take advantage of multi-core CPUs to much extent - I believe that the way the sound library works, it will use a second thread (which will likely run on a seperate core) for audio, but that's it; everything else happens in a single thread, on a single core.)

mobius:
Great help guys :thumbsup:

I can't say much but;
I've used HP products for several years now and they've been very good; having few problems compared to previous PC's I've had.

I wouldn't consider whether or not it has a 'package deals' when choosing one option over the other. If it only comes with the tower and no monitor/mouse etc; fine. All those things even monitor's can be bought very cheaply. I bought my 50+ cm monitor for around 20$ on ebay.

Simon:
I want completely silent hardware. Everything else has become secondary for me.

SSDs are silent, I didn't get a spinning drive anymore and live with 256 GB, this is too little for most people.

Streaming is CPU-heavy. Any modern CPU should be fine. If you want passive CPU cooling (large rib-cage cooler instead of small fanning cooler), you must design the tower and maybe even the mainboard around it. I got my machine from a vendor that specializes in silent machines.

I stream Jazz at 1200x800 at 60 fps software-encoded by an 1.5-year-old i5 with 4 cores at 3.9 GHz and never drop any frames. Have quality internet.

-- Simon

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