New PC Recommendations

[cozski]

Hey, I hope this is ok to post in here for a bit of advice. I'm currently selling my existing PC, the specs of which you can see here (http://www.adverts.ie/desktops-and-monitors/hp-pavilion-t370-uk-desktop-pc-p4ht-nvidia-graphics-card/1879886) because it doesn't really work quick enough for what I use it for. I'd like some advice if possible on getting a desktop PC that either has Ubuntu already installed or is compatible with the latest version of it. I don't game on my PC and the most demanding thing I do is editing images in a variety of programmes including GIMP, Darktable, Shotwell, UFRaw, etc. Above and beyond that I browse the internets, play the odd movie and listen to music/podcasts, etc. So all in all it doesn't have to go like **** off a shovel but it would be nice to have something a bit quicker than my current set-up.

If possible I'd prefer a refurb/reconditioned/2nd hand but if the economics dont make sense I'll opt for new. I dont need a monitor, have plenty of external storage and other peripherals. Upper limit on spend would be around 500GBP/800 USD/630Euros, excluding p+p. I suppose I'm just looking for some pointers on the key specs I should look for in supporting my needs and/or a link to a specific offer/sell.

Thanks in advance to any help. Cheers. R.

[mips]

I'm currently selling my existing PC, the specs of which you can see here (http://www.adverts.ie/desktops-and-monitors/hp-pavilion-t370-uk-desktop-pc-p4ht-nvidia-graphics-card/1879886)

That link provides a link to the hp site with a list of all possible models in that range so it does not tell us yuor specs at all. Try posting a link to your exact model else it's pointless for us to try an make any sort of comparison.

For your budget you should be able to get a pretty decent PC.
Would you be comfortable with building your own? This way you get to pick the best components.

[cozski]

That link provides a link to the hp site with a list of all possible models in that range so it does not tell us yuor specs at all. Try posting a link to your exact model else it's pointless for us to try an make any sort of comparison.

For your budget you should be able to get a pretty decent PC.
Would you be comfortable with building your own? This way you get to pick the best components.

Sorry about that... I'll pst the exact specs when I get home. I don't really fancy building something myself but happy enough for some-one else to and factor that into the costs. Thanks for the reply.

I think these (http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c02638447&lang=en&cc=us&contentType=SupportFAQ&prodSeriesId=359570&prodTypeId=12454)are the specs for the system I have... I added a bit of memory and a Wi-fi card but all in all I think it's pretty much as is states here (http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c02638447&lang=en&cc=us&contentType=SupportFAQ&prodSeriesId=359570&prodTypeId=12454).

[mips]

Sorry about that... I'll pst the exact specs when I get home. I don't really fancy building something myself but happy enough for some-one else to and factor that into the costs. Thanks for the reply.

I think these (http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c02638447&lang=en&cc=us&contentType=SupportFAQ&prodSeriesId=359570&prodTypeId=12454)are the specs for the system I have... I added a bit of memory and a Wi-fi card but all in all I think it's pretty much as is states here (http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c02638447&lang=en&cc=us&contentType=SupportFAQ&prodSeriesId=359570&prodTypeId=12454).

Do you have a list of local component stores in Dublin as well as online? Maybe we can put together a list of parts for you they could assemble.

[cozski]

Quick perusal gave me the following:

http://www.elara.ie/
http://www.komplett.ie/Komplett/site/KomplettHome.aspx
http://www.pcp.ie/
http://www.misco.ie/
http://www.rtech.ie/itbits.ie/

Are these the kinds of places you're thinking of?

[Frogs Hair]

If you are looking for components here is another site. http://www.scan.co.uk/

[cozski]

If you are looking for components here is another site. http://www.scan.co.uk/

Thanks for that :)

[mamamia88]

Do you have a craigslist equivalent in Ireland? People sometimes sell computers for dirt cheap on there that are perfectly fine. Some people think just because windows is getting slow that the computer is old and just go out and get a new one

[cozski]

Do you have a craigslist equivalent in Ireland? People sometimes sell computers for dirt cheap on there that are perfectly fine. Some people think just because windows is getting slow that the computer is old and just go out and get a new one

We don't have a Craiglist and the places that are popular for selling tend to be Gumtree.ie and Adverts.ie

My experience of Irish online selling though is that people over-price everything. I live between Belfast and Dublin and so both provide buying/delivery opportunites and the UK nearly always offers better value.... so worth considering.

[mips]

I'll try and have a look at all those links tomorrow sometime and then comment.

[mike acker]

I'll try and have a look at all those links tomorrow sometime and then comment.

NewEgg Supply Co (http://www.newegg.com/DIY-PC-Combos/PromotionStore/ID-33) probably has a kit for you.....

or you could buy a book on building your own PC...
Building the Perfect PC (http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920010197.do)

i am giving you a bookstore reference as Amazon is trying to push their Kindle edition

[mips]

NewEgg Supply Co (http://www.newegg.com/DIY-PC-Combos/PromotionStore/ID-33) probably has a kit for you.....

The OP is based in Dublin,Ireland (It's not part of the USA just yet.)

http://help.newegg.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/124/session/L3RpbWUvMTM1Mjc5NTU4OS9zaWQvSk9vTzY5Ymw%3D


Does Newegg.com ship internationally?

Published 04/02/2012 07:49 AM | Updated 10/18/2012 02:30 PM

Newegg.com does not ship internationally. We ship within the United States and to Puerto Rico and APO/FPO addresses only.

I think a lot of us would love a newegg in our countries but for now we will have to do without it.

[Statia]

The OP is based in Dublin,Ireland (It's not part of the USA just yet.)

Newegg.com does not ship internationally. We ship within the United States and to Puerto Rico and APO/FPO addresses only.

I think a lot of us would love a newegg in our countries but for now we will have to do without it.

It's even worse than that, they also want you to pay using a credit card or bank from within the USA. How moronic is that? I once tried to order from them, had an USA address to ship to, but they did not want my money, because my Visa card was issued outside the USA. Only American company I have ever encountered that refused to accept my money.

[mips]

It's even worse than that, they also want you to pay using a credit card or bank from within the USA. How moronic is that? I once tried to order from them, had an USA address to ship to, but they did not want my money, because my Visa card was issued outside the USA. Only American company I have ever encountered that refused to accept my money.

I see they accept Paypal, wonder if that would work? The again I want nothing to do with paypal, they still have some of my money.

[cozski]

I'll try and have a look at all those links tomorrow sometime and then comment.

Hey, thanks for that... I really appreciate any thoughts about this and general advice.... thanks :)

[cozski]

Thanks to the other comments and advice too.... appreciated. I was once in Munchen and I was buying Whisky, or at least planning to but couldn't do so unless my card was issued in Bavaria. Being a German card wasn't good enough.... had to be Bavarian German. Makes you wonder....

[mips]

Hey, thanks for that... I really appreciate any thoughts about this and general advice.... thanks :)

Sorry, have not gotten round to it yet, hopefully soon. Hope you are not in to big of a rush.



Thanks to the other comments and advice too.... appreciated. I was once in Munchen and I was buying Whisky, or at least planning to but couldn't do so unless my card was issued in Bavaria. Being a German card wasn't good enough.... had to be Bavarian German. Makes you wonder....

Hehe, I reckon a lot of Bavarians don't consider themselves to be German. This one guy that lives here is quite adamant that he's Bavarian & not German :biggrin:

[Statia]

I see they accept Paypal, wonder if that would work? The again I want nothing to do with paypal, they still have some of my money.

I think I remember they would not accept that either, since my Paypal account is linked to my European bank account.
It is really the dumbest business decision ever and the customer service representative I chatted with did not know the reason(s) behind it.

[mips]

.... and the customer service representative I chatted with did not know the reason(s) behind it.

Asking someone that works in a call centre "Why?" is an exercise in futility I have found.

[Artemis3]

The OP is based in Dublin,Ireland (It's not part of the USA just yet.)

http://help.newegg.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/124/session/L3RpbWUvMTM1Mjc5NTU4OS9zaWQvSk9vTzY5Ymw%3D

I think a lot of us would love a newegg in our countries but for now we will have to do without it.

The shipping is not the problem (plenty of remailers for that), the thing is they don't accept foreign cards, you need to have one from an american bank :P And yes, i know people who went and opened one just for that, get a savings account with visa debit card or something.

I find it simpler to purchase parts in Amazon, just make sure your remailer and your seller are not in the same State... horrible taxes.


Now what the OP needs can be done quite cheaply. It appears to be image processing/editing, so lets throw some nice 4g+ of value ram and a modern processor. I'm betting something ivybridge or sandybridge will do just fine, no games no need for discrete card.

So my advise would be:
An I5 with an intel board, I7 or I3 depending on budget, at least 4g of ram, perhaps 8g depending on budget.

Example:
MB H67 90$ http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Desktop-Board-Micro-ATX-Factor/dp/B004Q7JRJI/
CPU I5 200$ http://www.amazon.com/Intel-i5-2500K-Quad-Core-Processor-Cache/dp/B004EBUXHQ/
RAM 8g 37$ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003N8GVUY/

[mips]

Ok I've only gone to the Elara site so far and I've gone over your budegt by 50 euros because I selected a 104 euro SSD, if you remove the SSD and use a normal hard drive or an existing hard drive you have it will come in under budget.

http://ompldr.org/vZ2FncA/elara.png

Now what you could do is comapare the same components on the other sites to see who is cheaper. To assemble the system for you I don't think they will charge much. It's a kickass build by the way, you could always add a dedicated GPU in future if you wish as the PSU is more than enough.

[cozski]

Sorry, have not gotten round to it yet, hopefully soon. Hope you are not in to big of a rush.




Hehe, I reckon a lot of Bavarians don't consider themselves to be German. This one guy that lives here is quite adamant that he's Bavarian & not German :biggrin:

I know somelike that from Leeds... keeps insisting he's a Yorkshireman, not an Englishman ;)

[cozski]

Ok I've only gone to the Elara site so far and I've gone over your budegt by 50 euros because I selected a 104 euro SSD, if you remove the SSD and use a normal hard drive or an existing hard drive you have it will come in under budget.

http://ompldr.org/vZ2FncA/elara.png

Now what you could do is comapare the same components on the other sites to see who is cheaper. To assemble the system for you I don't think they will charge much. It's a kickass build by the way, you could always add a dedicated GPU in future if you wish as the PSU is more than enough.

Hey, really appreciate the time and effot on this from you! There's no mad rush at all so don't be concerned with that.

Okay, so it would appear that yourself and the poster who put this (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=12354283&postcount=20)up have given it some thought. Do they correspond at all? I'm not technically savvy enough to know what he/she has suggested compared with yours.... they are right though that the emphasis on photography editing is my main focus... my cursory reading between SSD/HDD would suggest that SSD trumps HDD and for the extra dollar I'd be happy with that.

In terms of assembly, is it likely that the distributor of all these parts will do it for me? Is that how it generally works? I hope that's not takign advantage of your good nature and contributions so far.... looking forward to your reply :)

[cozski]

The shipping is not the problem (plenty of remailers for that), the thing is they don't accept foreign cards, you need to have one from an american bank :P And yes, i know people who went and opened one just for that, get a savings account with visa debit card or something.

I find it simpler to purchase parts in Amazon, just make sure your remailer and your seller are not in the same State... horrible taxes.


Now what the OP needs can be done quite cheaply. It appears to be image processing/editing, so lets throw some nice 4g+ of value ram and a modern processor. I'm betting something ivybridge or sandybridge will do just fine, no games no need for discrete card.

So my advise would be:
An I5 with an intel board, I7 or I3 depending on budget, at least 4g of ram, perhaps 8g depending on budget.

Example:
MB H67 90$ http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Desktop-Board-Micro-ATX-Factor/dp/B004Q7JRJI/
CPU I5 200$ http://www.amazon.com/Intel-i5-2500K-Quad-Core-Processor-Cache/dp/B004EBUXHQ/
RAM 8g 37$ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003N8GVUY/

Hey, thanks very much for the reply on this... appreciated. I have partly responded in a follow up to another post. You can see it here (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=12362370&postcount=23)and I hope that explains where I'm at with this.... cheers again... :)

[mips]

Okay, so it would appear that yourself and the poster who put this (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=12354283&postcount=20)up have given it some thought. Do they correspond at all?

In terms of assembly, is it likely that the distributor of all these parts will do it for me? Is that how it generally works?

Similar but I listed the newer Ivy Bridge cpu instead of the older Sandy Bridge. The motherboard I listed is also of a higher speck using the Z77 chipset.

That depends entirely on the dealer, some will assemble it for you at a small fee (some do it for free) while others would not do it at all.

[cozski]

Similar but I listed the newer Ivy Bridge cpu instead of the older Sandy Bridge. The motherboard I listed is also of a higher speck using the Z77 chipset.

That depends entirely on the dealer, some will assemble it for you at a small fee (some do it for free) while others would not do it at all.

Okay, well thanks for this.... I'm going to take the specs and contact thm and see what's possible... I really appreciate the time you've taken to give me a decent recommendation... sincerely :P I'll let you know how I get on.

[mips]

Okay, well thanks for this.... I'm going to take the specs and contact thm and see what's possible... I really appreciate the time you've taken to give me a decent recommendation... sincerely :P I'll let you know how I get on.

Cool stuff, I would like to know what they have to say.

[Bandit]

IF you havent looked at Apple yet I would consider taking a look at a iMac or MacBook Air. They are lower cost then in the past and perform top notch..

[mips]

IF you havent looked at Apple yet I would consider taking a look at a iMac or MacBook Air. They are lower cost then in the past and perform top notch..

I would not touch an iMac purely due to having very little upgrade path should you ever want to do that in future. Then for a diyer like myself the bew macbooks with are almost impossible to work on yourself should you ever want to replace a battery, lcd panel etc. Once out of warranty you are gonna pay a hefty apple tax if something goes wrong.

That's just me, for most people they should be fine though.

[Bandit]

I would not touch an iMac purely due to having very little upgrade path should you ever want to do that in future. Then for a diyer like myself the bew macbooks with are almost impossible to work on yourself should you ever want to replace a battery, lcd panel etc. Once out of warranty you are gonna pay a hefty apple tax if something goes wrong.

That's just me, for most people they should be fine though.

The coming 21inch iMacs supposedly coming this month has been reported impossible to upgrade. They have ram chips and such fused to the motherboard and such. However the 27" models coming next month have been reported to both RAM and HDD upgradable and IIRC you will have 4 ram slots -vs- two on the 21 inch model. Yet knowing both facts I am aware of their lack of upgradability. I personally recommend you get what you want in them from the factory and dont worry about upgrading any internal components. The price on the Air and iMacs have came down reasonably in comparison to the performance boost they have received. Two years ago I would have LOL at the thought of a Air book due to poor performance, but with this joker now equiped with a dual core 1.8Ghz i5 and Intel 4000 graphics, 128MB SSD(flash as they call it) and 4GB DDR3-1600 its smoking fast. Mine is just the base line 13inch model at 1199.00. But my point is that I compared it to ASUS and other makers of the Ultra Books and its slightly higher about 100-200 bucks, but its not infected with Win8. OSX these days is SOOO much like modern Linux desktops but with commercial support. As far as the iMacs, well I look at them as I would a Laptop hardware wise, but they come with the high end Quad Core i7s, 8GB DDR3-1600 and nVidia Graphics baseline.. For about 1200 bucks, its a lot of PC for the money and they are high quality items. Even the stinking packaging they come in is to nice to through away. :lolflag:
But each their own. I am not pushing Macs on anyone, but just wanted to keep everyone aware their is an alternative to Win and Lin. OSX is so close to modern Lin DE's its kind of funny..

[SantaFe]

We don't have a Craiglist and the places that are popular for selling tend to be Gumtree.ie and Adverts.ie

My experience of Irish online selling though is that people over-price everything. I live between Belfast and Dublin and so both provide buying/delivery opportunites and the UK nearly always offers better value.... so worth considering.

http://dublin.craigslist.org/

There's one in Scotland as well. ;)

[Bandit]

...........my cursory reading between SSD/HDD would suggest that SSD trumps HDD and for the extra dollar I'd be happy with that.

Although I would go with a Samsung 830 series SSD, they have proven more reliable and extremely fast. Mine read just over 500MB/s ad writes just over 420MB/s. Its a 256GB model. But what ever brand and model you choose, they are all faster then HDDs.

Most folks get a 128 or 256GB SSD and then a 1TB HDD for extra storage. You can even set them up as JBOD and concatenate the drives so they appear to look as one drive. You can do this and assign you boot files, system files and programs folders to the SSD while all your /home folder/files to the HDD. Apple does this with their lol "Fusion drive", but its all very simple to setup.
Of course if you dont care about 2 drives showing up, Linux will let you just assign your /home folder to the HDD (possible sdb) and keep all your other folders on the SSD (sda).

[cozski]

http://dublin.craigslist.org/

There's one in Scotland as well. ;)

Ha! Thanks for that.... I really thought we didn't have one, so just goes to show I shouldn't make assumptions ;)

[cozski]

Although I would go with a Samsung 830 series SSD, they have proven more reliable and extremely fast. Mine read just over 500MB/s ad writes just over 420MB/s. Its a 256GB model. But what ever brand and model you choose, they are all faster then HDDs.

Most folks get a 128 or 256GB SSD and then a 1TB HDD for extra storage. You can even set them up as JBOD and concatenate the drives so they appear to look as one drive. You can do this and assign you boot files, system files and programs folders to the SSD while all your /home folder/files to the HDD. Apple does this with their lol "Fusion drive", but its all very simple to setup.
Of course if you dont care about 2 drives showing up, Linux will let you just assign your /home folder to the HDD (possible sdb) and keep all your other folders on the SSD (sda).

Hey, thanks for the advice, much appreciated. I'm holding off until just after Xmas before getting the new desktop but will let you know what spec I end up with. Cant wait :P

[cozski]

Hey, just following up on this.... I went to a PC Specialists in my hometown in England to get a quote on a similar build and this is what they priced up:

AMD FX4130 X4 Core 3.8GHz, AM3+ Processor
MSI 760GA-P43 FX DDR3 Motherboard
16GB DDR3 1333MHz Memory (2x8GB)
Samsung 120GB" SATA III Solid State Drive
Powercool X-Viper 850W Modular 80+ Bronze Active 14cm Fan Single Power Supply
Build Charge £35

Total Ex VAT: £400.01
Total VAT: £79.99
Total inc VAT: £480.00

Does this look like an equivalent, better or worse spec and as it's coming in for less than the elara.ie quote is it worth it, in anyones opinion?

Thanks for any feedback.

[Erik1984]

Price seems a bit high at first but a small local shop can have advantages over online purchase or big chain stores. Seems reasonable compared to what I payed for a system at a local shop. I payed more if I convert the GPB price to € for an i5 with no SSD (did include a 1.5 GB HDD)

The 850W power supply seems overkill, think you can get something off the price if you take a 400W or something. Don't know which components you will be adding yourself, depending on that you could need more power.

Regarding the components: Will you add a non-SSD disk and GPU? Because those are not included in your current setup and that AMD chip doesn't seem to have an itegrated GPU (or does it?).

[prodigy_]

You don't need a 850W power supply. 500W is already overkill for this setup unless you plan to add a couple of video cards later.

[Ximaceo]

Hi cozski, here my recommendation:

... I don't game on my PC and the most demanding thing I do is editing images in a variety of programmes including GIMP, Darktable, Shotwell, UFRaw, etc. Above and beyond that I browse the internets, play the odd movie and listen to music/podcasts, etc. ...
With both system you can work perfectly.

Intel Core i5 3570K has a integrated GPU,
MSI 760GA-P43 FX DDR3 Motherboard has a integrated AMD graphics.

Downgrade PSU to 500W


... have plenty of external storage and other peripherals. ...
SSD is enough

[cozski]

Well thanks for all those additional comments/thoughts/suggestions.... I'm going to go for some of those and hopefully I'll have something up and running in the next few weeks..... really appreciate all the contributions. Cheers :)

[MoebusNet]

If you want a new desktop PC with Ubuntu already installed and a warranty:

https://www.system76.com/desktops/

I have been quite happy with the notebook I bought from them; support has been prompt with any questions I have.

I believe System76 is available for UK customers. Might be worth checking out.

[mips]

Does this look like an equivalent, better or worse spec and as it's coming in for less than the elara.ie quote is it worth it, in anyones opinion?

Thanks for any feedback.

It's worse than the spec I provided above and it seems pretty expensive if you ask me.

[cozski]

Hey, thanks for that... I am familiar with System 76 and did consider them but I've finally gone for a local independent vendor in ym hometown... the deal looks good and shipping costs to Ireland are low, so looking forward to getting it. I'm pretty happy to install my own OS - currently using Mint and really loving it.

[cozski]

Really? I've donwgraded the 850w to a 400w which has shaded another £80 of it.... however, the no longer have the MSI motherboard originalyl quoted and have suggested an MSI 760GA-P43 FX DDR3 Motherboard with no prive change.... any thoughts? All in now with P&P it's coming to £420 but waiting for me to say yes before they build.

[cozski]

It's worse than the spec I provided above and it seems pretty expensive if you ask me.

Really? I've donwgraded the 850w to a 400w which has shaded another £80 of it.... however, they no longer have the MSI motherboard originally quoted and have suggested an ASUS M5A78L-M USB3with no price change.... any thoughts? All in now with P&P it's coming to £420 but waiting for me to say yes before they build.