We will see, I’m personally hoping that it’s going to ease this year. AMD GPUs and PS5 APUs probably share the same AMD production space anyway, so it’s highly likely they will go hand in hand.
Each wafer AMD runs through TSMC splits EPYC/Ryzen/Threadripper/6000 series GPU chiplets, PS5 APUs, and XBox Series APUs. It’s gonna be a long while before stock starts to build back up…
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I found it kind of telling that the APUs AMD recently announced will still be using Vega graphics while only a few days later Samsung announces that they will start using RDNA 2 in upcoming Exynos mobile SoCs. Samsung of course having their own fab resources to allocate as they see fit.
Nvidia claims it only works on Tensor Cores, yes.
That is why I said, it “may turn out” those tensor cores are not needed.
To get this thread back to its roots, what would be some key components to look for in a new computer? Mine hasn’t been worked on for about seven years and I think I am just going to replace it.
I do not do any gaming at all. Nor do I do any intense video or photographic work.
My computer time is spent using Microsoft Office, cruising YouTube, collecting/organizing my music collection and hanging on the forums.
I do want to get a 5TB hard drive to accommodate my music and movie collections.
Only accessories are cordless keyboard/mouse and 32" monitor.
I do have a 1TB back up hard drive which will be fine as I only back up pictures and documents. I also have my music collection on a laptop and two DAP’s. The movie collection is also on two external hard drives.
Any recommendation on hard drives, processors, ram and mother boards? And of course a BlueRay/DVD/CD writer. Maybe even a cool box with LOTS of USB ports?
Also, keeping in mind that Windows 11 is around the corner. And yes, I like Windows. It has been my only operating system for more than 30 years.
And the budget is $1,000 to $1,500 in Canuck Bucks.
Thanks for any advice.
PS: Also curious about the music part. What would be the best way to get music to my DAC? Sound card? Specific mother board?
Depends.
Maybe one of those compact office machines from Lenovo or so?
https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/desktops-and-all-in-ones/thinkcentre/m-series-sff/c/M-Series-SFF
I think I would rather get one built locally.
Given your needs, you will actually get worse value for money when DIY building a computer.
You could also get a Shuttle DA320 and fill it with parts to your liking.
What size case are you looking for? Do you want GPU upgradability as an option?
If you want to build it yourself, I recommend just picking a set of popular hardware options using https://pcpartpicker.com/. And report back with a list that we can give feedback on.
Unless you want something fancy, the optical out on the motherboard is probably your best bet.
Not going to build myself. Box size doesn’t matter as space is not a problem.
So no use in sound cards as the DAC will do all the heavy lifting?
Depends on the soundcard. There are some that I would qualify as Audio Interface more than soundcard, question is if those make sense (because highly specialised hardware = pricy).
Are you saying you want one built by a Canadian system integrator like A-power? Or that it just needs to come from a Canadian storefront?
If your using S/PIDF optical, yes. You can buy high end USB or optical PCIe cards. But I believe there’s generally little value in that if you have a good DAC—especially considering your budget. Some may argue otherwise though
I would prefer to buy from a local builder. I have at least a dozen options locally, including national players.
I like a local builder that services their machines.
As far as sound goes I just need to get the music from my hard drive to my SMSL SU-8. The SU-8 has USB, coax and optical inputs. If spending $200, $300 or even $400.00 would get me a sound card that could make a noticeable improvement, then I would look hard at that.
In that case I recommend going with a mid tower, with a full ATX board so you’ll have plenty of expansion options. A good CPU choice would be a Ryzen 3600, 5600X, or an Intel 10th or 11th gen i5. But you’re better off going Intel because you don’t need an external GPU.
If you want more detailed advice, we need an example hardware list to discuss.
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Thank you. I am sending out some emails now and I will starting getting replies in the next few days hopefully.
The delivery on these units is four months. Of course my schedule is super flexible. Here is a list of what $1,491.00 (Cdn. $'s) would get me. Also have to add 15% sales tax.
System Specs: ( Edit )
Looks nice, but no jumbo hard drive.
- Processor : 10th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-10500 Processor with vPro™ (3.10 GHz, up to 4.50 GHz with Turbo Boost, 6 Cores, 12 Threads, 12 MB Cache)
- Operating System : Windows 10 Home 64
- Operating System Language : Windows 10 Home 64 English
- Form Factor : Small Form Factor 85% Power 260W
- Memory : 16 GB DDR4 2667MHz (2 x 8 GB)
- Video Adapter : Integrated Intel® UHD Graphics
- First Hard Drive : 1 TB 7200 HDD 2.5"
- Third Hard Drive : 256 GB SSD PCIe OPAL
- Optical Device : DVD-RW Combination
- Networking : Integrated Intel Gigabit Ethernet
- WiFi Wireless LAN Adapters : Intel® Wi-Fi 6 AX201 802.11AX with vPro™ (2 x 2) & Bluetooth® 5.0
- Memory Card Reader : 3 in 1 Card Reader
- Keyboard : USB Traditional Keyboard - English
- Pointing Device : USB Calliope Mouse Black
- Default USB Port : USB-C 4 Front 4 Rear USB Ports
- First Optional USB Port : 2 Rear USB 2.0 ports
- Second Optional USB Port : 2 Additional rear USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports
- Speakers : Internal Speaker
- Vertical Stand : Vertical Stand
- Publications Pack : Publication-English
- Warranty : 1 Year On-site
Are these parts able to be swapped for others? If so, here is what I’d recommend:
CPU: Swap the i5-10500 to the i5-10400. The 10500 is a part that just doesn’t make a lot of sense except as a part for Intel to segment the market. For what you said you’d be using it for you won’t notice any difference and it’s a $70 US price difference on Newegg. The i5-11400 wouldn’t be terrible, given that it has better integrated graphics, but it is $30 more than the 10400. Or even better, since there is such a long wait time, see if you can put in an order ahead of time for a system with the new Ryzen APU’s that are launching on 5 August.
Memory: This could be easily expanded later, but since you are going to be running integrated graphics, getting 32 GB instead of 16 GB might not be a bad idea. I’m going to assume you are not going to be putting this on a Z490/Z590 motherboard, so just make sure you stay at 2666 so you don’t overspend, as that’s all the platform will support.
Hard Drives: Good PCIE 3.0 NVME SSDs have gotten cheap over the last year. Get at least a 512GB one for the boot drive. If need be, you can always buy a 6TB HDD separately to install. You can get a decent one for $150-$200 US currently.
Possibly the most important thing: Please make sure that they are using a quality power supply.
EDIT :: I’ve tried to add things up as best I can for the parts you’ve given using off shelf pricing, and unless I’m missing something they are drastically overcharging you.
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You said Office, YouTube and Music Library management, right?
Some 2 or 4 core i3 will be more than enough.
Same for the 16GB memory. Nice to have yes, 8Gig would suffice.
The storage is indeed problematic. Then again, you get quite generous front and back I/O, so an external harddrive enclosure (or a NAS) would work.
On the DIY route, ASRock DeskMini A300 could take two 2.5" drives, the I/O is very limited though (even with the USB upgrade kit).
Any product that needs any sort of processor right now has horrible lead times. It is so frustrating at work and for friends right now.
It comes fully assembled in a compact box ready to run. That is what you pay for with these.
Don’t get me wrong, DIYing your own PC can be fun and is better value for money (when you ignore the Saturday spent fiddling with drivers). IMO it does not make sense here.
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Even taking that into account, he’s looking at a ~$400 CAD markup by my estimation. That’s just obscene.
Absolutely, I also think going DIY here makes little sense. Just that this particular individual is drastically overcharging him.
This individual is Lenova. They are what they are.
However, I do find it super useful to help me find a list of what I need.
In the past I have learned that having a top of the range processor means nothing to me as I don’t game or perform any functions that really challenge the processor. I have always found the money better spent on as much ram as you can afford.
While an i3 is probably good I think an i5 might give me an extra level of ability over the years. I am thinking entry to mid level i5 or equivalent.
Hard drive wise I am thinking 256GB SSD and 4TB SATA, 7200 RPM.
I have no idea about video cards. I don’t think I need anything real special.
I can go with June or July or August or September delivery. My desktop works fine but is getting slow.
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