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Ask HN: Should I invest in a desktop PC in 2017?

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Re: Ask HN: Should I invest in a desktop PC in 2017?

#11

Post by EduardoBautista »

mattbrewsbytes wrote: post #4

I suspect your main motivator is to want to build a PC. Chances are that the extra computational power or cores won't actually make your work faster for day to day use. Building a PC is fun and you will be able to do piece-meal upgrades as you want instead of having to replace an entire laptop because it becomes outdated. Financially it might make sense since you have one time expenses like case, power supply, periph…

> If you future-proof the motherboard purchase (buying best or high-end now) then future CPU updates would just require a new CPU.

Unless the CPU socket changes.

Re: Ask HN: Should I invest in a desktop PC in 2017?

#12

Post by problems »

mattbrewsbytes wrote: post #4

I suspect your main motivator is to want to build a PC. Chances are that the extra computational power or cores won't actually make your work faster for day to day use. Building a PC is fun and you will be able to do piece-meal upgrades as you want instead of having to replace an entire laptop because it becomes outdated. Financially it might make sense since you have one time expenses like case, power supply, periph…

> I suspect your main motivator is to want to build a PC. Chances are that the extra computational power or cores won't actually make your work faster for day to day use.

Another potential factor - If you play games or develop 3d applications, high end GPUs are much more affordable in desktop form factors than in laptop ones and generally have more horsepower than their laptop equivalents. If you do a lot of video encoding for live streaming or media creation you may also benefit from this (seriously a GTX 1080 can encode 1080p HEVC at 300 FPS).

The cost is also generally lower for comparable hardware if you do a DIY desktop than a laptop.

While this might not be relevant to OP, it may be relevant to other people in a similar situation.

Re: Ask HN: Should I invest in a desktop PC in 2017?

#13

Post by ppurka »

I would suggest going for an NUC (at least core i3). These are small, has enough computational power for the tasks you want to do, runs OK with Linux, and can run VM if you want to from time to time. You can likely reuse the SSD from the Thinkpad if it is of the right kind.

Personally, I purchased an NUC with i3 that is only marginally slower than a 2013 Dell XPS 13 with core i7 (noticable only in compile times of software). I used the SSD from the Dell laptop via an adapter, and run Linux on it.

Re: Ask HN: Should I invest in a desktop PC in 2017?

#15

Post by rocqua »

Unless you have a specific reason you need the compute of a desktop, I'd go with a laptop for the mobility.

At 550 euro there aren't a lot of great laptops as far as I know. It's basically where the 15 inch full HD segment starts. I'd look into refurbished laptops (perhaps second hand) in that price range. Preferably get something with warranty (i.e. lenovo thinkpad, or buisness dell stuff, probably any buisness line).

Re: Ask HN: Should I invest in a desktop PC in 2017?

#16

Post by majewsky »

EduardoBautista wrote: post #11
mattbrewsbytes wrote: post #4

I suspect your main motivator is to want to build a PC. Chances are that the extra computational power or cores won't actually make your work faster for day to day use. Building a PC is fun and you will be able to do piece-meal upgrades as you want instead of having to replace an entire laptop because it becomes outdated. Financially it might make sense since you have one time expenses like case, power supply, periph…

> If you future-proof the motherboard purchase (buying best or high-end now) then future CPU updates would just require a new CPU. Unless the CPU socket changes.

That's why 2017 is not a bad year for a motherboard purchase: AMD will come out with their new AM4 socket pretty soon, and Intel will probably retain the LGA 1151 socket introduced with Skylake in 2015/16 for a few more years.

Re: Ask HN: Should I invest in a desktop PC in 2017?

#17

Post by willholloway »

In my opinion there is only one answer to this question for anyone doing development:

Buy the fastest non-extreme consumer intel processor, right now thats 6700k, add at least 16gb of ram, 1 mid-size ssd, 2x 4tb drives in raid.

If you want to do any kind of GPU work add the fastest or second fastest consumer nvidia card, like the 1080 or 1070.

If you want to game get a second ssd and install windows on it. It goes without saying one should install some flavor of linux on the first ssd.

This is a sick development machine and represents the sweet spot in price/performance, saving money on your axe is a false economy.

You will also have the ability to overclock in case you come across a task that needs it.

Re: Ask HN: Should I invest in a desktop PC in 2017?

#18

Post by jagger27 »

AMD's Ryzen architecture may offer some good value for what you're looking for, at least versus Intel's offerings. It launches at the end of February.

Buying used like others have suggested is a great idea too, especially since Moore's law is completely and utterly dead. CPUs have seen single digit percentage improvement YoY for a while a now.

Re: Ask HN: Should I invest in a desktop PC in 2017?

#19

Post by microtonal »

willholloway wrote: post #17

In my opinion there is only one answer to this question for anyone doing development: Buy the fastest non-extreme consumer intel processor, right now thats 6700k, add at least 16gb of ram, 1 mid-size ssd, 2x 4tb drives in raid. If you want to do any kind of GPU work add the fastest or second fastest consumer nvidia card, like the 1080 or 1070. If you want to game get a second ssd and install windows on it. It goes wi…

Buy the fastest non-extreme consumer intel processor,

What I typically do is buying a used company workstation from eBay (they are often sold by the tens). This gets you a nice robust 4/8 core Xeon machine with a lot of CPU cache and 16 or 32 GB memory (somtimes ECC) for ~300-400 Euro. Add an SSD you are done.

They typically come with a Windows Pro license as well if you need that.

Edit: since the hardware is typically 2-3 years old and certified for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, everything typically works out of the box on Linux or FreeBSD.

Re: Ask HN: Should I invest in a desktop PC in 2017?

#20

Post by JDevlieghere »

After six year, I recently built myself a new desktop computer. My budget was a little higher, but I think it's worth sharing.

Hardware: Asrock EP2C602-4L-D16, 2x Intel Xeon E5-2670, 8x 8GB Hynix PC3-10600R DDR3 ECC, 2x Noctua NH-U12DX i4, Corsair RM850i, Phanteks Enthoo Pro

Because I bought the CPUs and the RAM second hand, they only cost me 390 euros. Even when buying all the other stuff brand new, the total was still less than a 1000 euros. To be fair that's without an SSD and Graphics card, because I kept those from my previous set-up. With 32 logical cores it's perfect for compiling, which is what I use it for. If you're interested, you might want to have a look at this techspot article and see how a similar build compares to recent i7's: http://www.techspot.com/review/1155-affordable-dual-xeon-pc/

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