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Archive 2013 · Need new post-processing desktop. Any suggestions?

  
 
DSL67
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Need new post-processing desktop. Any suggestions?


Hi, my Dell XPS 8300 just died. I think it was the motherboard. I'm trying to decide if I should buy a new Dell XPX 8700 or look into another manufacturer. If I buy the Dell, I will have to upgrade the video card. My budget is around $800-$1000. Thanks!


Oct 06, 2013 at 02:14 PM
15Bit
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Need new post-processing desktop. Any suggestions?


What symptoms make you suspect the motherboard is to blame?


Oct 06, 2013 at 02:37 PM
Bifurcator
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Need new post-processing desktop. Any suggestions?


With a budget like that your best bet is to go with something home built that is overclockable while remaining stable. The most overclackable and the most stable. I dunno what that is currently and you haven't mentioned specs like the amount of RAM (which IMO needs to be 16GB or over), the number of drives (I suggest a small SSD for boot and either 2 or 4 Seagate Barracudas 3TB - 3-platter), the video card you currently have (I suggest at least a GTX570), nor what parts you intend to migrate to the new system if any - so that makes replying kinda difficult.




Oct 06, 2013 at 03:43 PM
aubsxc
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Need new post-processing desktop. Any suggestions?


I agree with Bif. For that budget, you would get the best bang for the buck with a home built rig. The hardware is pretty much plug and play these days, and you would be getting name brand parts you choose instead of the noname cheap OEM bits you get with a box built by Dell or HP. If you are interested in building one yourself I can help you put together a shopping list and walk you through the build and OS install (its easier than you might think). If you can wait 2 to 3 weeks, I can put together a fast machine for that price over one of the coming weekends, test it for a few days, and ship it to you.


Oct 06, 2013 at 04:16 PM
Bifurcator
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Need new post-processing desktop. Any suggestions?


Cool! You should create a general post listed as a service, in your Buy&Sell account and link that here.


Oct 06, 2013 at 04:27 PM
15Bit
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Need new post-processing desktop. Any suggestions?


What spec XPS 8300 do you have? A quick internet trawl suggests you probably have quite high spec sandy bridge CPU and a decent gfx card. The latest haswell CPUs aren't really that much faster, so you could think about re-using your existing hardware. If your motherboard really is the problem, you could save a lot by just buying a new one and a case to put it in and re-using everything else.


Oct 06, 2013 at 04:38 PM
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Need new post-processing desktop. Any suggestions?


And don't reuse the PSU.




Oct 06, 2013 at 05:10 PM
DSL67
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Need new post-processing desktop. Any suggestions?


Thanks for all the replies! I'm guessing it is the motherboard because when I try to power it up, there are three beeps that keep repeating. According to Dells support site, that is a dead motherboard. Since it's out of warranty I have no way of finding out for sure.

As others have suggested, I have been considering building my own computer. But I hadn't thought about stripping the Dell down and reusing some of the components, so great idea! The processor in the Dell is an Intel i7 2600, it had 12 gigs of ram (I think it was 1333?), and I upgraded the video card myself to a GTX550Ti. I'll look at Newegg tonight for a case. The hardest part will be trying to figure out which mobo to buy.



Oct 06, 2013 at 06:47 PM
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Need new post-processing desktop. Any suggestions?


Does the GTX550Ti support CUDA and/or OpenCL? CUDA cores or OpenCL can provide a noticeable performance boost - at least much a gigahert or so more on the CPU.

A GTX570 with 1.3GB VMem goes for about $100 and sometimes less, right now on ebay. From what I've read here and there the 570 is the first single chip NVidia with enough meat to make a reasonable difference in the compute category. Of course the new GTX770 and 780s are even better yet but still quite expensive and I think the price | performance ratio goes to the 570 still currently.



Oct 06, 2013 at 07:38 PM
15Bit
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Need new post-processing desktop. Any suggestions?


If the website says three beeps is a dead mobo, then it probably is. I would still be inclined to test the power supply though - plenty of dead motherboards have turned out to be dead power supplies.

That is hopefully a i7-2600K, not i7-2600? Hopefully so as the K means it will overclock. You probably want a Z77 series motherboard to go with it. I have an Asus P8Z77V-Pro that i am happy with. I run a i5-3570K, but the documentation says it will take your CPU also. Many other manufacturers also make excellent Z77 motherboards. Just check the CPU compatibility list to be sure before buying.

You should be able to re-use the everything you have except the case and PSU, cos Dell usually make them proprietary. You might be able to re-use the PSU though. But as Bifurcator hinted, a decent PSU is a good investment and Dell aren't exactly famed for their quality PSU's. Something around 550W should be perfect, and don't go cheap - a named brand like Corsair or Seasonic is what you want. You probably want a better CPU cooler too: The standard Dell item is again probably not wonderful.

With a decent motherboard and CPU cooler you can expect to see 4.3-4.5Ghz out of a i7-2600K without any work at all. That will outperform any vender supplied box running the newer architecture CPUs at stock speeds. With a bit of work 4.8-5Ghz might even be possible.

Unless you are playing games or doing serious OpenCL work, keep the GTX 550Ti - it is fast enough. As things stand, Lightroom doesn't use GFX card acceleration at all, Photoshop does but doesn't require amazing hardware. Capture One makes heavy use of OpenCL, but you can get along fine without it unless you are batching 100's of files at a time.



Oct 07, 2013 at 12:22 AM
aubsxc
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Need new post-processing desktop. Any suggestions?


DSL67 wrote:
Thanks for all the replies! I'm guessing it is the motherboard because when I try to power it up, there are three beeps that keep repeating. According to Dells support site, that is a dead motherboard. Since it's out of warranty I have no way of finding out for sure.

As others have suggested, I have been considering building my own computer. But I hadn't thought about stripping the Dell down and reusing some of the components, so great idea! The processor in the Dell is an Intel i7 2600, it had 12 gigs of ram (I think it was 1333?),
...Show more

Buy an inexpensive Asus, MSI or Gigabyte motherboard that uses the Z77 or H77 chipset (my personal choice would be the Gigabyte because they make the best Z77 boards, in my expereince). Your i7 2600 cpu has locked turbo multipliers and cannot be overclocked, and so you don't need a high end overclocking board. Do a search in Amazon using "Gigabyte Z77" or "MSI Z77", read the reviews and check out the features and prices, and make a selection. Buy from Amazon because they have the best customer service and most liberal return policy in the business, and because many people have reported problems trying to RMA motherboards to newegg over the past year (their technicans have apparently been breaking socket pins to deny rma returns, not kidding).

You also want a good power supply since the ones made by Dell are usually crappy. Look for a smaller (500 to 600W at most) PSU made by Antec, Coolermaster, Corsair or Seasonic.

Case: Many choices here: Coolermaster makes the best budget cases, Corsair or Fractal Design if you are willing to spend the money. I would choose the Coolermaster.


Edited on Oct 07, 2013 at 07:48 AM · View previous versions



Oct 07, 2013 at 07:43 AM
aubsxc
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Need new post-processing desktop. Any suggestions?


That is hopefully a i7-2600K, not i7-2600?

Unlikely to be a "k" processor since this is a Dell.



Oct 07, 2013 at 07:47 AM
aubsxc
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Need new post-processing desktop. Any suggestions?


Bifurcator wrote:
Cool! You should create a general post listed as a service, in your Buy&Sell account and link that here.


I was offering to build it for him for the cost of parts since I build computers as a hobby. No charge for my time.



Oct 07, 2013 at 07:52 AM
PIOK
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Need new post-processing desktop. Any suggestions?


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883258023

This one work for me great with D600 files.
There is a lot of choices anyway on this web



Oct 07, 2013 at 08:25 AM
dgdg
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Need new post-processing desktop. Any suggestions?


When I need to build a new pc for the home or office, I go to Tom's Hardware website. The quarterly list sample builds are tiered based on budget/performance. You can always tweak the parts up or down from there. This keeps it simple.


Oct 07, 2013 at 01:28 PM
Bifurcator
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Need new post-processing desktop. Any suggestions?


15Bit wrote:
If the website says three beeps is a dead mobo, then it probably is. I would still be inclined to test the power supply though - plenty of dead motherboards have turned out to be dead power supplies.


The trouble with that is the fact that PSU's aren't actually testable. Yes, we're told they are... but they aren't. They act differently under a load, under a fluctuating load (which can't be simulated) under various temperatures and over time as well. Sure we can see if it's dead or not - but we can't see if it's going damage another motherboard by surging or whatever. Assuming of course the PSU damaged the MB as is usually the case. They're $75 to $110 and not worth taking a chance with. A bad one breaks the new MB and then needs to be replaced anyway.

The things one can safely keep from a busted system include CPU, RAM, HDDs, ODDs, SSDs, GPUs and other PCI-e cards (I/O, RAID controllers, etc.) and the case. No MB if that's what broke instead of a CPU or something - (almost never do CPUs break) and no PSU if anything at all downstream fried for unknown reasons. Fans also unless new-ish should be dumped.

This is all of course only my opinion but if one were to think about how each component works within the system these should be pretty common sense safety recommendations.




Oct 07, 2013 at 03:09 PM
15Bit
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Need new post-processing desktop. Any suggestions?


Bifurcator wrote:
The trouble with that is the fact that PSU's aren't actually testable.

I was actually thinking he should test booting the system with a different PSU if available.

You are quite right about testing though - i have one PSU that works perfectly except for when resuming the system from standby.



Oct 07, 2013 at 03:37 PM
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Need new post-processing desktop. Any suggestions?


Ya, they can be pretty weird.

I think I would also component test his system tho. I just assumed he already gave up on that idea for whatever reason.




Oct 07, 2013 at 03:42 PM
aubsxc
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Need new post-processing desktop. Any suggestions?


If I remember right, Dell uses proprietary pin-outs on their power supply units, much like Apple and other OEMs. The Dell PSU may not be compatible with a non-Dell motherboard. Also, Dell uses really crappy power supplies (ask me how many Dell systems I have tried to fix for family and friends that had a bad PSU), and anything from Antec or Coolermaster at the $40 to $50 pricepoint should be better than the Dell OEM PSU.


Oct 07, 2013 at 04:10 PM
15Bit
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Need new post-processing desktop. Any suggestions?


Summarising up, i think there are two options available here. In both you reuse the DVD, GFX and hard disks from the existing system, and buy a new 500-600W PSU and case.

Option 1: Buy a Z77 series motherboard and reuse the i7-2600, RAM and CPU cooler. Cheap option, and gives the chance to buy an i7-3770K and better CPU cooler later and overclock. The 1333Mhz RAM is not ideal for an i7-3770K, but its ok.

Option 2: Buy a Z87 series motherboard, i7-4770K (or i5-4670K), CPU cooler and DDR3-1866 RAM. More expensive, but as fast as it gets for sensible money.

There is also the issue of an operating system - i believe Dell ship with non-transferable windows licenses. I'm not sure how "non transferable" they really are though.



Oct 07, 2013 at 04:19 PM
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