Purchasing a high performance desktop PC

By: Bob Rogers

My recommendation for purchasing a high performance desktop PC:

For many years, a good desktop PC cost >$2,000.  Times have changed.  You may not need a "high end PC", for most uses a $600. to $1,000. computer is more than adequate for even power hungry applications like photo editing. If you want a high end PC at a good price and you want to configure the computer and have it custom built, companies concentrating on gaming PCs are a good choice. Two of the prominent suppliers are Cyberpower http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/  and IBuyPower http://www.ibuypower.com/ , 

Go through their sites and PC configurators. Google and study the current best hardware: microprocessors and graphics chips/boards etc.. Decide how much graphics power you need and consider avoiding getting the most expensive (fastest) microprocessor since their $/performance ratio is not good.

Last year I researched that latest hardware. I wanted very fast disk read access so I went with Raid 0+1 using (4) 500GB drives which is a good compromise of very high read rate and data redundancy. The I7-920 Processor with 8 threads was also a good $/performance choice.  This year solid state drive have advantages worth considering. When  Windows 7 64bit became available, I replaced  Vista 64bit with, great improvement!

Here is very fast and  good value CyberPower PC that I purchased last year for $1,578 :

CASE: CoolerMaster Centurion 590 RC-590 Mid-Tower 420W Case

Extra Case Fan Upgrade: Default case fans

POWER SUPPLY Upgrade: 680 Watts Power Supplies (Hush Power Supply SLI/CrossFire Ready)

CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-920 2.66 GHz 8M L3 Cache LGA1366

COOLING FAN : Intel LGA1366 Certified CPU Fan & Heatsink

MOTHERBOARD: ($20 off Mail-in Rebate) (3-Way SLI Support) GigaByte GA-EX58-UD4P Intel X58 Chipset SLI/CrossFireX Ultra Durable™3 Mainboard Triple-Channel DDR3/1600 SATA RAID w/ eSATA, Dual GbLAN, USB2.0, IEEE1394a, & 7.1Audio

MEMORY: 12GB (2GBx6) DDR3/1600MHz Triple Channel Memory Module (Corsair)

VIDEO CARD: ATI Radeon HD 4850 PCI-E 16X 1GB Video Card (Major Brand Powered by ATI)

MULTIPLE VIDEO CARD SETTINGS: Non-SLI/CrossFireX Mode Supports Multiple Monitors

HARD DRIVE: Extreme Performance with Data Security (RAID-0+1) with 4 Identical Hard Drives (1TB (500GBx4) SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)

Optical Drive: LG 20X Double Layer DVD+-RW Super Allwrite + Lightscribe Technology (Black Color)

SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO

NETWORK: ONBOARD 10/100 NETWORK CARD

KEYBOARD: Logitech Deluxe 250 USB Keyboard (Black Color)

MOUSE: XtremeGear Optical USB 3 Buttons Gaming Mouse

Extra Thermal Display : THERMAL TEMPERATURE LCD DISPLAY WITH 3X FAN CONTROLLER (BLACK COLOR)

USB PORT: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports

OS: Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium w/ Service Pack 1 (64-bit Edition)

SERVICE: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT

 I also choose the Samsung SyncMaster T240 based on the specs: 24in Widescreen LCD Monitor Black 1920X1200 20000:1DC 5MS DVI VGA HDMI HDCP.  (I also bought one for Linda (my wife) for her notebook computer, yes she really likes it). I now use a triple monitor set up with the ATI Radeon HD 1 GB 4850 driving the Samsung T240 and a ATI Radeon HD 4650 1 GB  driving two  ACER AL1916 19" - very nice set up for viewing several windows at once.