Is it possible get a "future proof" budget desktop PC?
March 30, 2016 3:24 AM Subscribe
I want to join the modern world and upgrade from my Windows XP laptop to a reasonably priced Windows 10 desktop. Seems like most everything you can get in the $500 range will be plenty fast enough and have plenty of storage for the basic tasks I do. Only feature I know I'll want to add is ability to drive a 4K monitor down the road. Wondering how to be sure that'll be possible and whether there is anything else I don't know I need?
That graphics card alone will set the OP back $330 or so. Not exactly budget!
Jon: Most modern graphics cards will drive a 4K monitor quite happily - although you’ll want to make sure you buy one that can manage 4k at 60Hz - 4K at 30 Hz is painful. That means getting one that has HDMI ports that implement HDMI 2.0 IIRC - HDMI 1.4 can only manage 4k at < 30 Hz.
Gaming is a whole different matter however - if you want to play modern games at 4k then even a 970 is going to struggle.
posted by pharm at 4:10 AM on March 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
Jon: Most modern graphics cards will drive a 4K monitor quite happily - although you’ll want to make sure you buy one that can manage 4k at 60Hz - 4K at 30 Hz is painful. That means getting one that has HDMI ports that implement HDMI 2.0 IIRC - HDMI 1.4 can only manage 4k at < 30 Hz.
Gaming is a whole different matter however - if you want to play modern games at 4k then even a 970 is going to struggle.
posted by pharm at 4:10 AM on March 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
Oh, sorry - I imagined a question about gaming that wasn't there. You could probably scale back the i5 to an i3 and do fine, and a 750Ti should see you nicely.
Keep the 8 gig, and an SSD (samsung pro evo 128Gig) for your windows install would be a really nice upgrade (makes all file operations and startup/shutdown essentially instant).
posted by Sebmojo at 4:19 AM on March 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
Keep the 8 gig, and an SSD (samsung pro evo 128Gig) for your windows install would be a really nice upgrade (makes all file operations and startup/shutdown essentially instant).
posted by Sebmojo at 4:19 AM on March 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
A decent mini-brick with the right Intel i5 can run 4k for browsing / video / document editing:
http://apcmag.com/4k-on-a-budget.htm/
posted by nickggully at 5:11 AM on March 30, 2016
http://apcmag.com/4k-on-a-budget.htm/
posted by nickggully at 5:11 AM on March 30, 2016
It's absolutely possible but you'll have to open the case and put in a graphics card. You could just get an appropriate graphics card now but (a) hdmi 2.0 cards are relatively rare now and (b) the next generation of video cards, which should be lots better in every way, will be out when you'd move to 4k unless you were planning to do that this summer. So IMHO unless you're going to play games on it you'd be better off just using the integrated video until it was time to move to 4k. I will second that hi-res at 30hz blows goats.
For this plan you'd want to make sure:
(1) Your machine has integrated video! In the budget world this means no AMD FX processors. Getting a machine with a proper video card in it already is hardly the end of the world but it means you'll be spending some of your budget on a card you'll likely want to toss in a year instead of on MOAR CPU, MOAR RAM, or an SSD.
(2) Decent power supply with at least one six-pin connector free just to be safe.
In your shoes I would just order parts and build it. Certainly do not order upgrades from the manufacturer or get one with preinstalled upgrades; there's big markup on those.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:14 AM on March 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
For this plan you'd want to make sure:
(1) Your machine has integrated video! In the budget world this means no AMD FX processors. Getting a machine with a proper video card in it already is hardly the end of the world but it means you'll be spending some of your budget on a card you'll likely want to toss in a year instead of on MOAR CPU, MOAR RAM, or an SSD.
(2) Decent power supply with at least one six-pin connector free just to be safe.
In your shoes I would just order parts and build it. Certainly do not order upgrades from the manufacturer or get one with preinstalled upgrades; there's big markup on those.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:14 AM on March 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
Yeah, it's not necessary to get a video card right away. Whether or not you can manage 4k is mostly a function of the video card, so that's a later upgrade.
BUT: What do you intend to do with the 4k? Gaming at 4k is extremely intensive. (I've tried it, with a Geforce GTX 970, and it looked gorgeous but I only got like 15 FPS.) If you just want to watch 4k video or have a 4k desktop, it's plenty doable with a half-decent modern video card.
As pointed out above, it's difficult these days to build a system without integrated video of some sort, so you can just use that until you invest in a GPU. Just about every CPU out there has an on-board GPU these days.
As for specific recommendations, I was building a system for a friend a few months ago and we settled on the Geforce GTX 750 (~$90) as a decent mid-range card with 4k support.
an SSD (samsung pro evo 128Gig)
Samsung's "EVO" and "PRO" SSDs are separate product lines. The EVO is significantly cheaper. The marketplace for these is evolving fast, and 128GB is no longer an economical size to get. I recommend either the 850 EVO 250GB (currently ~$90) or the 850 EVO 500GB (currently ~$150). Either is a steal, considering that SSDs were around $1/GB just a few years ago.
plenty of storage for the basic tasks I do
If 500GB isn't "plenty", you might want to save a few bucks and get the 250GB one as well as an old-fashioned spinning-rust hard drive. Do not skip the SSD and just get a hard drive, trust me. It's the #1 performance booster out there.
As far as the base system goes, look for package deals. I recently built an "as cheap as possible" box for $110 not counting disk/OS -- the mobo/CPU were a $40 package deal at Micro Center, then the case/PSU was $50 and then $20 for 4GB of RAM. Runs pretty great, considering.
Re: future-proofing, you should be pretty well covered. Computers aren't really getting much faster these days -- SSDs removed a major performance bottleneck, and keep getting faster, but that's about it. If you're not a gamer I wouldn't worry about it. I recently replaced a 5-year-old system and it felt pretty superfluous.
Other things: I've kind of been assuming you're building this yourself. Look into the mini-ITX form factor -- they're small and cute and a bit cheaper.
posted by neckro23 at 10:31 AM on March 30, 2016
BUT: What do you intend to do with the 4k? Gaming at 4k is extremely intensive. (I've tried it, with a Geforce GTX 970, and it looked gorgeous but I only got like 15 FPS.) If you just want to watch 4k video or have a 4k desktop, it's plenty doable with a half-decent modern video card.
As pointed out above, it's difficult these days to build a system without integrated video of some sort, so you can just use that until you invest in a GPU. Just about every CPU out there has an on-board GPU these days.
As for specific recommendations, I was building a system for a friend a few months ago and we settled on the Geforce GTX 750 (~$90) as a decent mid-range card with 4k support.
an SSD (samsung pro evo 128Gig)
Samsung's "EVO" and "PRO" SSDs are separate product lines. The EVO is significantly cheaper. The marketplace for these is evolving fast, and 128GB is no longer an economical size to get. I recommend either the 850 EVO 250GB (currently ~$90) or the 850 EVO 500GB (currently ~$150). Either is a steal, considering that SSDs were around $1/GB just a few years ago.
plenty of storage for the basic tasks I do
If 500GB isn't "plenty", you might want to save a few bucks and get the 250GB one as well as an old-fashioned spinning-rust hard drive. Do not skip the SSD and just get a hard drive, trust me. It's the #1 performance booster out there.
As far as the base system goes, look for package deals. I recently built an "as cheap as possible" box for $110 not counting disk/OS -- the mobo/CPU were a $40 package deal at Micro Center, then the case/PSU was $50 and then $20 for 4GB of RAM. Runs pretty great, considering.
Re: future-proofing, you should be pretty well covered. Computers aren't really getting much faster these days -- SSDs removed a major performance bottleneck, and keep getting faster, but that's about it. If you're not a gamer I wouldn't worry about it. I recently replaced a 5-year-old system and it felt pretty superfluous.
Other things: I've kind of been assuming you're building this yourself. Look into the mini-ITX form factor -- they're small and cute and a bit cheaper.
posted by neckro23 at 10:31 AM on March 30, 2016
whether there is anything else I don't know I need?
To emphasize the earlier comments, the SSD is mandatory - once you see what it's like, you'll never be able to go back.
You can make it pretty budget-friendly by getting a small, cheap one and installing windows 10 on that, then using a big hard drive for everything else. I have a 128G SSD and a 1Tb hard drive, and that combination works great for regular use, gaming and everything in between (windows 7). Looks like the 250G ones are under 100$ now so I'd probably get that size if I were building a new computer now.
posted by randomnity at 2:33 PM on March 30, 2016
To emphasize the earlier comments, the SSD is mandatory - once you see what it's like, you'll never be able to go back.
You can make it pretty budget-friendly by getting a small, cheap one and installing windows 10 on that, then using a big hard drive for everything else. I have a 128G SSD and a 1Tb hard drive, and that combination works great for regular use, gaming and everything in between (windows 7). Looks like the 250G ones are under 100$ now so I'd probably get that size if I were building a new computer now.
posted by randomnity at 2:33 PM on March 30, 2016
I got a 480G San Disk SSD on Amazon the other day for 100$. I am building a new box and put parts on a wish list and just started buying parts when they went on sale. If you don't have a time table it can be fun. You check the list at lunch every day and periodically get fun packages. This is my first PC since 2007 and I'm excited. The SSDs are so tiny!
I am getting it for gaming so my budget is higher than yours - plus due to how long it has been and multiple moves - I had to get literally everything new, including the desk and desk chair. I read PC gamer guides, /r/buildapc, Toms Hardware and read a bunch of reviews while surfing amazon and newegg. Good luck!
(on edit - you can buy Win 7 and upgrade for free to Win 10 as long as you do it before July I think)
posted by jopreacher at 6:59 PM on March 30, 2016
I am getting it for gaming so my budget is higher than yours - plus due to how long it has been and multiple moves - I had to get literally everything new, including the desk and desk chair. I read PC gamer guides, /r/buildapc, Toms Hardware and read a bunch of reviews while surfing amazon and newegg. Good luck!
(on edit - you can buy Win 7 and upgrade for free to Win 10 as long as you do it before July I think)
posted by jopreacher at 6:59 PM on March 30, 2016
Start with Logical Increments -- they'll suggest which components make sense at every budget level, and their advice seems reasonably sensible for the most part.
Tom's Hardware (as mentioned above) has up-to-date and in-depth comparisons of various components. I always consider what they have to say before making a final decision on PC components.
Advice from both of the above tends to be somewhat gaming-centric. If you don't aspire to membership in The Glorious PC Gaming Master Race, then there are some corners you can cut (particularly in the area of video card(s)).
For future proofing: Get a roomy, standard-sized case that doesn't look like something designed by the members of GWAR. The various micro-, mini-, nano- and pico-ITX sizes are cute and all, but they're a pain to wrench on, and they limit the components you can use (sometimes in unexpected and enraging ways). Small cases can also mean you need to get a lot more scientific about cooling, should you attempt to bung components with high power dissipation into them.
A good power supply is another sound investment. If you choose well, it'll last through several iterations of upgrades (i.e., until some cavalcade of marketing weasels decides to kark around with the power connector on the mobo again).
An SSD will probably last you a couple of upgrade cycles. My experience has been that I run out of space before I get to the point where upgrading the SSD makes sense from a performance standpoint.
The processor you want will dictate your mobo and memory choices, and you'll typically upgrade all three at once (except when you just add more memory). The leading edge is for silly people with deep pockets. Use the stock cooler and don't overclock. Application mix has a lot to do with what processor makes sense.
Video cards are something you'll likely upgrade often. (Consider: your average game experience will probably be better if you buy a $100 video card once a year than if you buy a $600 video card and keep it for four years. And you'll certainly spend less money.) If you took the advice above re: power supply and case, this should be a simple part swap.
The interface betwixt mobo and video card does change from time to time, but hopefully does so less often than you'll be refreshing mobo/CPU/memory anyway.
If you're not gaming (nor doing anything else specifically video-card intensive), the whole video-card debacle is much less desperately relevant. If you just want to browse web pages and read email and maybe edit a document (with the option of a 4K desktop down the road), get a mobo with a PCI-E slot and use integrated graphics for now.
posted by sourcequench at 12:37 PM on March 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
Tom's Hardware (as mentioned above) has up-to-date and in-depth comparisons of various components. I always consider what they have to say before making a final decision on PC components.
Advice from both of the above tends to be somewhat gaming-centric. If you don't aspire to membership in The Glorious PC Gaming Master Race, then there are some corners you can cut (particularly in the area of video card(s)).
For future proofing: Get a roomy, standard-sized case that doesn't look like something designed by the members of GWAR. The various micro-, mini-, nano- and pico-ITX sizes are cute and all, but they're a pain to wrench on, and they limit the components you can use (sometimes in unexpected and enraging ways). Small cases can also mean you need to get a lot more scientific about cooling, should you attempt to bung components with high power dissipation into them.
A good power supply is another sound investment. If you choose well, it'll last through several iterations of upgrades (i.e., until some cavalcade of marketing weasels decides to kark around with the power connector on the mobo again).
An SSD will probably last you a couple of upgrade cycles. My experience has been that I run out of space before I get to the point where upgrading the SSD makes sense from a performance standpoint.
The processor you want will dictate your mobo and memory choices, and you'll typically upgrade all three at once (except when you just add more memory). The leading edge is for silly people with deep pockets. Use the stock cooler and don't overclock. Application mix has a lot to do with what processor makes sense.
Video cards are something you'll likely upgrade often. (Consider: your average game experience will probably be better if you buy a $100 video card once a year than if you buy a $600 video card and keep it for four years. And you'll certainly spend less money.) If you took the advice above re: power supply and case, this should be a simple part swap.
The interface betwixt mobo and video card does change from time to time, but hopefully does so less often than you'll be refreshing mobo/CPU/memory anyway.
If you're not gaming (nor doing anything else specifically video-card intensive), the whole video-card debacle is much less desperately relevant. If you just want to browse web pages and read email and maybe edit a document (with the option of a 4K desktop down the road), get a mobo with a PCI-E slot and use integrated graphics for now.
posted by sourcequench at 12:37 PM on March 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks for great feedback.
Just to clarify, I wasn't interested (or capable) of doing my own build--I was going for an off-the-shelf budget tower PC. In which case, I like the idea of waiting for more cutting edge video-card (i.e., buy new one at same time as I spring for 4k monitor)--do towers typically come with open slots for replacement cards?
posted by Jon44 at 4:06 AM on April 1, 2016
Just to clarify, I wasn't interested (or capable) of doing my own build--I was going for an off-the-shelf budget tower PC. In which case, I like the idea of waiting for more cutting edge video-card (i.e., buy new one at same time as I spring for 4k monitor)--do towers typically come with open slots for replacement cards?
posted by Jon44 at 4:06 AM on April 1, 2016
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Sebmojo at 3:48 AM on March 30, 2016 [1 favorite]