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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?

#21

Post by elevensies »

Looking at your criteria, I think the most interesting features of a desktop are:

- easy & cheap RAM upgrades

- ability to swap & add/remove harddrives. Running multiple OSes, you can more easily share common data, and you can pull out your main hdd allowing you to experiment safely.

- ability to upgrade the graphics card later if you want to.

If you are constrained by your budget, getting a desktop allows you to upgrade over time more easily. It also allows you to use different and more hardware.

Personally my 1st priority is having a good laptop, but I also have two desktop workstations and I prefer using them over the laptop. But if you use an external monitor, keyboard and mouse you are already getting most of the benefit of a desktop.

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

#23

Post by inetsee »

problems wrote: post #12
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you will be able to do piece-meal upgrades as you want instead of having to replace an entire laptop because it becomes outdated.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 en…

This may not be relevant to the OP, but I'm interested in machine learning, and having a graphics card with a big GPU is important. Serious machine learning computers have sky high prices, but for learning, you can get a graphics card with 640 or more gpu cores for $250 or less. I don't know of any laptops in the requested price range that have that kind of gpu power.

Of course, a big graphics card can also be used for graphics work, including video encoding, not just video games.

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

#24

Post by ilaksh »

550 euros is around $583 which is not quite enough to build a performant desktop with new components, especially when you factor in things like a monitor.

So I would save up until you have more like 850-950 euros or more.

Also, if you build a PC, eventually you may be sorry that you can't even _try_ any PC game or virtual reality headset or anything since you don't have a graphics card. I guess you could put off buying the graphics card until later if you really want to. But you may want to consider that when you select your motherboard.

Personally I would like to have one (or maybe two) M.2 (NVMe) slots for that type of SSD which can be 2, 5, or even 10 times as fast as the regular SATA SSD since it uses PCI Express and bypasses the SATA overhead. I believe they sort of look like RAM sticks/slots but are called M.2 and have flash on them. So look for a motherboard with that. Also I would like to have 2-3 2TB HDDs in RAID for extra storage. And a nice monitor. You could spend half of your budget on a nice monitor..

If you want to experiment with deep learning or something, you will want a newer Nvidia card because things like Tensorflow and Keras don't (yet) work with AMD graphics as far as I know. And if you get a nice graphics card, wouldn't you want to at least try out GTA 5 or whatever new game a few times? You can dual boot to Linux or use Virtual Box.

Anyway I say yes but you should save up more so you can get make a nicer desktop.

Maybe you can go here https://pcpartpicker.com/ and make a careful plan and then when you are sure buy a decent chassis. When you are getting close to having enough saved then buy a motherboard that will work with all of the other components you plan. Then you can buy a CPU. I mean if you don't want to wait until you have everything saved up. But I would just want to buy nice stuff so don't try to fit it into a tiny budget.

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

#25

Post by Rezo »

I recently went from a i5-2500K at 4.4Ghz to a i7-6700K at 4.4GHz for my desktop, and my Webpack w/ Babel compile step (entirely single-threaded) for a larger project dropped from 24 -> 12 seconds changing just the CPU (same SSD).

For comparison, my 2015 Macbook Pro i5 runs the same compile task in around 50 seconds. So there is definitely still benefits to having a powerful desktop around, and in my experience developing is more pleasant with quick turnaround times. The incremental compile times dropped accordingly, and having a sub-second vs 4 second delay between a change and seeing the result does impact your workflow.

For gaming, the new CPU did absolutely nothing, except smoothing out the minimum FPS a bit. Pour all your money into the GPU if that's your interest.

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

#26

Post by boardwaalk »

It doesn't sound like you need a desktop. I have a Windows desktop (2016, Skylake) and a Macbook Pro (2013? Haswell) and really, it never comes down to what one is faster when I have to choose and when my usage is similar to yours.

If you want the experience of building a PC... well, just know there really isn't much to it. Maybe you'd enjoy playing with a Beaglebone and capes or, similarly, an Arduino and shields. You can get all sorts of fun ones. I got an CAN bus cape I can plug into the OBD II port in my car and talk to it, for example.

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

#27

Post by s_verma »

In my opinion you already have said so much about desktop and laptop comparison. I think you should definitely go for a desktop if portability is not an issue. I personally use a laptop (low end) just because of portability issue. Other than that I never felt that owning a laptop is better than owning a desktop. You can easily upgrade your desktop, custom build it to your own requirements, replace individual parts for maintenance etc. And I think you are right that desktop processors are better than mobile ones as there is also enough room for heat to dissipate in desktop due to their form factor.

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

#28

Post by sangaya »

I personally love having both a desktop and a laptop. To me the advantages of the desktop are that it is in a fixed location within my house, with multiple large monitors and is part of psychologically getting into "work mode". The laptop is great for a change of pace at coffee shops, client sites, and the general goodness that comes with mobility. There are a variety of ways to keep pertinent information sync'd (google drive, github, evernote, etc.)

Also, the personal pleasure of looking at your desktop and saying "I built this" is nice. As others mentioned, there are some one time purchases like case, power supply, etc. Otherwise, you can piecemeal upgrade. I've been doing that for 10 years now. The case is the same black aluminum, just as shiny, but the innards have changed over time.

Remember, the fun can be lost in striving always for "the best". Strive instead for knowledge gained and personal goals. Good luck!

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

#29

Post by peatmoss »

I feel like a workstation--even a cheap one--is a grand luxury. Lugging a laptop to and from work is a pain, and utterly expected at many companies these days. Leaving a desktop at work means leaving work at work. Add a mechanical keyboard and trackball, and laugh at comparisons of laptop chiclets and trackpads.

Since you mentioned school work, I'm guessing you might be a full time (university?) student? Leaving work at work might be less exciting for you. Still, a desktop can help you enjoy college more. There have been some recent-ish studies showing how you retain info better when taking notes by hand. Also, campuses are lovely places best experienced out from behind the glow of a screen. Finally, walking around without a weight strapped to your back is nice.

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

#30

Post by nilkn »

I went for many years without a desktop. I never found that I needed one for my development work. A MacBook Pro was always enough.

However, in 2015 I wanted to get back into gaming, which I'd basically stopped engaging in all throughout college. I decided to build a gaming PC. I ended up with a 6700k and two 980 Ti cards in SLI. It was the first time I'd ever had such a fast gaming PC, and being able to max out everything at 1440p and still get 70+ FPS, even in games like The Witcher 3, was nothing short of a revelation to me.

That machine can still max everything out at 1440p today. So, to me, it was totally worth the cost and effort of assembling.

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