Desktop PC for power user

anonymous19

Honorable
Oct 1, 2016
7
0
10,510
I had an HP Pavillion h8-1234 that I purchased on 9/2/2012. I had purchased a four-year maintenance agreement and of course my computer crashed about three weeks later. Best Buy and Office Depot told me that it would cost about $350 to fix my computer that cost $1,100 or $1,200. A third person who fixes computers looked at my computer and said "Within the computer lies your Central Processing Unit or CPU. On top of this chip lies a thermal solution to keep the chip cool, after a few years of use the thermal paste on top of the chip will dry, resulting in struggle from your Computer, as well as excess and unwanted heat that can in turn fry the computer. Rather than the button being our main focus, we should be worried about the CPU as well as an updated and clean operating system. As of right now, this computer is more scrap than useful." It has been about 10 days since my computer crashed and I still haven't bought a new one. I wanted to be careful with what I bought. Finally someone said something so I decided I wanted to buy a gaming computer since it has two fans even though I absolutely do not do gaming. I obviously thought that  2 fans would help with the problem I had on my old PC. Then a friend asked an interesting question about whether the second fan would even turn on if I was not playing a game! Can you answer that please? Then I did some more research on the web and found that size matters: I saw a post for someone who had two fans but they did not move enough air so there's another problem that I know nothing about. And I saw someone else who had two quiet fans but they did not move enough air either. And obviously some of the quiet fans weren't even quiet. It looks like I need 120mm or bigger fans but it looks like manufacturers (pre-made) do not even show what kind of fans the PCs have. So that makes me leery of buying anything if I can't know what kind and size of fans they have. Based on what happened with my last computer, if I am on the computer a lot, I would think that having more than one fan would be very important. I do genealogy research and sometimes I have had a ton of tabs open in any browser that I am in plus three or four programs at the same time and sometimes I spend a lot of time on the computer when I am home. I would like to know what are the most important things for me to look for in a new desktop PC based on my usage. I know not to get a cheap computer but I'm not sure I want to pay $2,000 for one. Do I, indeed, need a gaming computer because of the extra fan? Is 2 enough? Does placement matter and how would I know? Will the extra fan even come on if I am not gaming? Does memory and hard drive matter? I was going to get a computer that had 8 mg memory and 1 TB hard drive, if those are even the proper terms. I was going to get more memory but somebody told me I didn't need it because of the extra RAM that the gaming computers have. I read that "faster memory also improves overall performance and lets you keep your CPU more stable if you decide to overclock it." -- whatever that means).

I just do not want to make a mistake buying a new computer and want to take into account how much it will be used. I know not to get a small case. But how do I make sure that a desktop PC I buy is not cramped inside? Any help would be very much appreciated. Finally, what am I forgetting to ask that is important? Thank you so much.

 
Read your wall of text and it was quite interestig.

You have a choise to make here:
1. Buy another prebuilt system by overpaying for it and then be annoyed about how it's built up.
2. Build your own set without overpaying and getting exactly what you need.

Here's a great article about DIY (Do It Yourself) PCs: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2485172,00.asp

Keep in mind that Tom's Hardware community will help you out if you decide to build your own PC.

As far as cooling and case fans go. One rear exhaust fan is bare minimum and you see this kind of setup in most of prebuilt systems.
If you build your own PC then you can choose your own case and how many fans (and in which size) you decide to install.

For example: I have 5 case fans on my PC. All are 120mm. 1x front intake, 1x bottom intake, 2x side intake (for extra cooling GPU and CPU) and 1x rear exhaust.

If you want to learn more about case airflows then here's a nice topic about it: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/faq/id-1858957/airflow-101-setting-fans-keeping-computer-cool.html
 
When I turned my computer on the last 4 or 5 or more times, it looked like it was going to turn on. The screen would be black for a moment and then a solid blue Windows icon would display but it would never move past there. So that was what I was seeing on my side.

I did not mention that I also started having trouble with the start button on the top of my computer. The button was no longer flush with the top of the computer but was pressed down all the way to the bottom where it remained. So it became difficult to even get the PC on. I never knew from one moment to the next whether it would come on. When I finally got it on the last time over a week ago, I spent 4 hours transferring the remainder of my files to an external hard drive because I was scared it wouldn't come back on again. I was told that the start button could not be replaced and that I would have to get a whole new case on top of the other problem I was having inside.

I am 68 years old and know nothing about the inside of a computer so I would have to pay someone to build it for me. On top of that, I left it 4 or 5 days ago with my sister for her husband to take to a mission organization that rebuilds them and gives them to its missionaries. I don't think I want to pay someone to rebuild one from scratch for me. So, I still don't have a computer because I still don't know what I want to do. The one that has all of the options I want is about $1,600.

The real bottom line question is since I do not do gaming but am on the computer a lot and am a power user with lots of browser tabs open and three or four software programs running, is it beneficial for me to have a gaming computer because it has a second fan? BUT will the second fan even come on if I don't do gaming? And it sounds like the added digital RAM would be useless for me. So now I wonder if I just need to buy a standard computer and pay to have a second fan added.
 


What your friends are saying about 'will it start', or 'what kind'...is irrelevant at this stage.

We design the system to fit the budget, and then apply the proper cooling situation for it.
Hint: you need fewer fans than you probably think.

So, to actually design a PC, we'd need some specific info.
Total budget
Actual usage (what will you be doing with this)
What other parts do you need (monitor, OS, etc)

Stuff like that.

Start here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/353572-31-build-upgrade-advice

Post the answer in the Systems forum:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum-31.html

Several people will be along to suggest a parts list. This could be used to buy the parts and build it, or a guide to something from Dell or similar.
We WILL, however, tell you places to NOT buy from if you choose to get a prebuilt one.

Building your own may or may not be the answer. Most people here will advise building. But that is not always the answer.
And you can almost certainly use a PC that costs much less than you might think. $2,000 will bring a very beefy PC. And probably $700 of that completely not needed.


(you are only a very few years older than me, so don't pull the age card..:) )
(I was in from 1976-1997)