Upgrade time - Opinions Sought

[TheBenior]

I also recommend boutique builders, if you've got any over there.

In the US, we've got Cyber Power PC and I Buy Power, who are terribly named, but let you configure pre-built systems from a wide variety of parts. Since they purchase parts wholesale, it can be difficult to beat their prices when building yourself (unless you're cannibalizing parts from an existing rig).

[drew]

The build-it-yourself doesn't bother me too much. I haven't scratch-built one in 5 years (this machine).

The other problem is that my "case" is non-standard. So, even if I did buy one pre-built, I'd have to dismantle it all anyway.

[Blerpa]

I'll probably go Dell. There are no pre-built configurable online shops in here mostly, the few that are there are more overpriced than Alienware (!!!).
I may go for an XPS 8700 Dell. Although it is a 900/1000 euro difference to a 1200 euro of the Alienware... and the AW one gets extreme i7 CPUs over normal i7 ones and better case solutions for adding HDDs and other stuff later.
Also... one of my friends works in France for Dell Italia (yes, they moved all their italian sale team to France to contain costs - woah) and it could be so that he could have access to some internal discounts.
Let's see about that. Doesn't hurt that Dell 1 year assistance sounds better than anything offered by OEMs in Italy bar none.
Still, I don't have the time nor the interest anymore to buy one on my own. Add and update stuff? Ok, I can be content with that.

I'm going desktop... otherwise I'd be looking at Lenovo for laptops. Or Razer for gaming laptops (BAH).

[Jason]

CORSAIR HX Series HX850 850W ($190)
ASUS Z97-PRO LGA 1150 Intel Z97 Motherboard ($190)
Intel Core i7-4770K Haswell Quad-Core 3.5GHz LGA 1150 ($340)
G.SKILL Ares Series 16GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) ($150 (thinking about 32gb))
Samsung 840 EVO MZ-7TE500BW (SSD) ($250)
EVGA GeForce GTX 770 DUAL 4GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express ($410)

Probably don't need such a monster GFX card, I doubt I'll be doing a ton of gaming (it's been over a year since a single minute of game has been played).

I guess this is more aimed towards CAD and photoshop. Which, I may forgo a little GFX grunt and replace with more RAM.

The GFX card is the only real variable, at this point.


Planning on making the current bits into a media server/huge DVR.

Well that proves it... you did find a lady.

[drew]

[drew]

Plot thickens. i7-4790K was just released yesterday. Same as the 4770k in cost, but base clock of 4.0, as opposed to 3.5.

SOLD!

[Yw-slayer]

VALUE?

[drew]

Next gen for the same cost as last gen... VALUE!

[drew]

Ordered.
EVGA EVGA Z97 FTW LGA1150
Core i7-4790K
Samsung 840 EVO-Series 500GB SSD
G.SKILL (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 2133

That should tide me over.

Re-using GTX680, 750W PC Power & Cooling PSU, and Noctura CPU fan/sink.

I'll piece together the HTPC over the next month or two.

[Alan P]

Should be a great system Drew. 680 still does well at 1080p