Drew Wutka
DWUTKA at Marlow.com
Mon Jun 13 11:22:51 CDT 2011
I concur with John here. From a business standpoint, if you are supporting a large network, you can't afford to build each machine. But in a single or only a few environment, you will get better prices with building your own machine, then a single purchase from a manufacturer like Dell. The machine I built in January, that I posted about on OT, cost me about a grand, and similar hardware, actually.... lower level hardware (my machine has more ram and bigger hard drives), cost about 1,600 from Dell. Originally, the machine I built only cost $650. That was the case, the motherboard, an i5 Quad Core, 8 gigs of RAM, video card, and two 500 gig hard drives. I already had a 500 watt power supply, only component I didn't originally buy. A few days later I bought three terabyte drives, 8 gigs more of RAM (maxing out that motherboard). That was almost $300. And more recently I popped another terabyte drive in (making my 'data' drive a RAID 10, vs a RAID 5), bought a new 850 Watt power supply, and a nice UPS (put the total closer to 1300, the ups was almost 200). There has already been suggestions to use a SSD OS drive, I personally have not done that. The mirrored drives for the OS are pretty fast. While SSD drive are definitely faster than their mechanical counterparts, they are still limited by the bus they operate on. Plus, SSD drives do have longevity issues, and are not recommended for RAID's. I always prefer RAIDS for safety reasons.... ;) Drew -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of jwcolby Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2011 12:12 PM To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT: Shopping for a new comp I would advise building your own. You may or may not save money but you learn what is required to do so (it is easy) and you are no longer afraid of digging in and upgrading. I have not purchased a desktop since 1988. I build my own and upgrade them to keep them fast enough. I recommend AMD because the motherboards tend to be usable for many years with just a processor upgrade. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.667 457 Intel processors are fine but there are just too many different processor sockets etc. Upgrading to a faster processor may or may not even be possible. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.661 393 http://www.newegg.com/Store/MasterComboStore.aspx?StoreID=7&name=DIY-PC- Combos John W. Colby www.ColbyConsulting.com On 6/11/2011 9:26 AM, rockysmolin at bchacc.com wrote: > Dear List: > > It's time. My current development box is 4-5 years old. Dell P4, 3GHz, > XP, limited to 2 GB RAM. And the HD is pretty small (<100 GB, IIRC - > I'm not at home at the moment - in Chicago, actually), though it was > huge at the time. Been a very solid workhorse but (like me) is slowing > down. I think part of the problem is that I have more stuff open than I > used to so there's some swapping going on. > > I could dump the HD, reformat and reload I suppose. > > My 14 y.o. wants a more powerful box, too and needs better graphics than > he has. So I told him with the right GPA at the end of the year I'll > get him a new box, too. > > All we need are the boxes, BTW - got plenty displays and external HD. > > I need speed, not a lot of graphics, and no need for huge HD storage. > Any new box will have a big enough HD for me. > > But the new crop of multi-core processors is unfamiliar to me. > > We'll probably take a field trip to Fry's but if Dell has a good price I > usually order from them and have it delivered. > > What would you advise? > > TIA > > ROcky > > > > > -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com The information contained in this transmission is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain II-VI Proprietary and/or II-VI Business Sensitive material. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender immediately and destroy the material in its entirety, whether electronic or hard copy. You are notified that any review, retransmission, copying, disclosure, dissemination, or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited.