Off-the-shelf PC

[Shrek]

If one wanted an off-the-shelf PC with nothing proprietory, which unit might be best?
i.e. to avoid having to choose parts and put them together, but still have upgrade
options for the future.

 

[evernessince]

Cyberpower is usually pretty good. Any of the small boutique brands in general are good choices. Companies to avoid would be Dell in particular and to an extent Acer as well.

 

[P4-630]

Companies to avoid would be Dell in particular and to an extent Acer as well.

Probably add to that HP as well..

 

[unwind-protect]

Have Microcenter assemble something.

 

[GerKNG]

tbh... none.
doesn't matter if it's dell or a boutique. either you get trash or you get scammed (hundreds of dollars just for the 20 minutes to build a PC)
"Maybe" NZXT.

 

[Deleted member 229121]

Cyberpower/iBuyPower off the shelf, but a better option would be ordering a prebuilt from someone like NZXT (those can be custom ordered too).

 

[Shrek]

All most helpful; much appreciated.

(hundreds of dollars just for the 20 minutes to build a PC)

It would take me way more time to choose parts

• The case
• The case fans
• The power supply
• The mother board
• The CPU
• The CPU cooler
• The hard drive
• The RAM
• The video card
• The Wi-Fi card

I could see each being a project in itself.

 

[dgianstefani]

All most helpful; much appreciated.



It would take me way more time to choose parts

• The case
• The case fans
• The power supply
• The mother board
• The CPU
• The CPU cooler
• The hard drive
• The RAM
• The video card
• The Wi-Fi card

I could see each being a project in itself.

Post your budget and use case and we'll choose the parts for you.

Cyberpower/iBuyPower off the shelf, but a better option would be ordering a prebuilt from someone like NZXT (those can be custom ordered too).

NZXT is hilariously overpriced, but you don't get shipped a joke PSU/motherboard like many other prebuilts.

 

[P4-630]

to an extent Acer as well.

My first desktop PC was an Acer (2006), in my case it had a mATX ECS board, no proprietary shit.
Not sure what you'll find in their cases these days though.

 

[Shrek]

I am prepping for the future as I can't move on the purchase at the moment as it would look strange if I had a better gaming machine than my Son (he is the one who games), but he finishes high school in a year.

So far I have been using whatever was abandoned; which makes choosing so much easier, but leaves me on an old machine with a proprietary 12V power supply.


WANTS

• I have my eye on DDR5 as I like the idea of error correction and reliability is high on my list; I want things to just work and last, but not be too noisy
• Would want 2 internal drives, one for backup without anything hanging externally; the backup drive can be slow (SATA)
• Enough cooling to handle the Summer heat without getting too noisy.
• VRMs able to handle CPU upgrades

DON'T WANTS

• No RGB or windowed case; no over-clocking.
• Don't want an all-in-one or water cooling.
• Don't want to be on the bleeding edge

DON'T NEED

• Don't need a DVD player or small form factor PC
• USB 3 is fine, don't really want cutting edge, but want something that is probably supported by Windows 12

DON'T KNOWS

• Am wondering if the 12V standard for power supplies will become THE standard.
• Haven't figured if Intel or AMD is the way to go.

PREFER

• A video card that will last and can handle the heat (I don't use air-conditioning in the Summer)
• A case that uses larger fans so things stay cool without excessive noise
• A reasonable power consumption
• No need for RAM heatsinks

No real budget limit, but I'm not after squandering; 16 GB RAM would be a good start, but the motherboard should be capable of more.

Now you can maybe see why I prefer to start with a pre-built machine and then figure out my upgrades one by one.

 

[nomdeplume]

Seriously overthought to the point of neutering. Example one being demands about heat that just do not align with reality.

I would honestly and sincerely suggest putting aside at least half of the things on that list. The market is currently structured in a way that would make it impossible to invalidate your core concerns without actually handing over your CC and saying ring up the most expensive items.

 

[Shrek]

At the moment I actually have a machine that meets my present requirements

• Core 2 Quad
• 16 GB DDR3
• 2TB SATA SSD
• Fanless GT1030
• AC Wi-Fi card

but not sure for how much longer as I'm stuck on Windows 10.

 

[eidairaman1]

At the moment I actually have a machine that meets my present requirements, but not sure for how much longer as I'm stuck on Windows 10.

• Core 2 Quad
• 16 GB DDR3
• 2TB SATA SSD
• Fanless GT1030
• AC Wi-Fi card

It will run 11, just kill forced Windows update

 

[Shrek]

Very true, I had Windows 11 running on it for a bit.

 

[eidairaman1]

Very true, I had Windows 11 running on it for a bit.

And there are gui mods I posted in the W11 discussion thread, all thats left is to bring everything back into the control panel and remove settings lol

 

[Deleted member 229121]

Post your budget and use case and we'll choose the parts for you.
NZXT is hilariously overpriced, but you don't get shipped a joke PSU/motherboard like many other prebuilts.

Well yea, that's the rub with any with any prebuilt which does so really.

Microcenter was mentioned earlier, in CO there's one store in Denver.
If that's close enough to be an option, they charge $150 to build (air cooled) systems sans OS.

 

[Shrek]

I'm in western Colorado, so not really an option.

 

[A Computer Guy]

At the moment I actually have a machine that meets my present requirements

• Core 2 Quad
• 16 GB DDR3
• 2TB SATA SSD
• Fanless GT1030
• AC Wi-Fi card

but not sure for how much longer as I'm stuck on Windows 10.

Based on your criteria I came up with this below based on your considerations but to be honest just about anything you can pick up in the past few years will be a significant uplift over a Core 2 Quad you have now although the problem is getting older parts doesn't necessarily jive well with having upgrade options in the future.

I'm sure there will be better suggestions but I can say when I went from a Q6600 Core 2Quad w/8GB ECC (from 2009-ish) to AMD 2600 w/32GB ECC (maybe about 4 years ago) it totally blew me away otherwise if that didn't impress me I was going to give up and get a Xeon. So trying to balance your considerations here is what I came up with below although I think there are probably quite a few reasonable Intel options as well if considering older platforms.

• Core 2 Quad ==> AMD 5600 (edit: 5500 is likely not an ecc enabled chip so changed model here from 5500 to 5600)
  • because: cooling/summer heat
  • because: reasonable power consumption
    • ( https://www.techpowerup.com/review/amd-ryzen-5-5600/18.html )
  • because: plenty of options for CPU upgrades
• 16 GB DDR3 ==> Nemix or Crucial DDR4 32GB ECC
  • because: error correction & doesn't need heatsinks
  • because: full ECC on DDR5 consumer motherboards doesn't seem to be a thing they are willing to advertise for or support this time around. The on-chip ECC of DDR5 isn't a feature it's required for DDR5 to even work from what I understand. So with consumer DDR5 your not getting the full error correction. Then again perhaps DDR5 is just more reliable over DDR4 anyway?
• 2TB SATA SSD ==> Any 2TB or 4TB NMVe
  • because: prices are ridiculous now for the speed over SATA SSD
• Fanless GT1030 ==> RX6400 (but you can probably do better than this)
  • because: cooling/summer Heat
  • because: reasonable power consumption
  • because: better than GT1030 (https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GT-1030-vs-AMD-RX-6400/m283726vsm1834749)
    • Here is a comparison from a less cringe worthy source (
      )
• AC Wi-Fi card ==> (on motherboard)
  • because: found on motherboard
• Almost any ASRock AM4 motherboard b550, x570
  • because: Not bleeding edge anymore and AM4 is quite stable now
  • because: Has USB3
  • because: Supports DDR4 ECC
  • because: plenty of options for CPU upgrades
  • Just get one ATX or mATX (not small form factor)
  • Just get one with 1 NVMe (minimum) and 1 SATA (minimum)
  • Just get one that includes WiFi
  • Just get one with decent VRM's
  • Might have RGB just don't use it, or turn it off in UEFI/BIOS
  • Run stock, just don't use the overclocking if you don't want too.
• A Noctua Cooler
  • because: Cooling/Summer Heat
  • because: Quiet Fan Operation

 

[tussinman]

If one wanted an off-the-shelf PC with nothing proprietory, which unit might be best?
i.e. to avoid having to choose parts and put them together, but still have upgrade
options for the future.

I guess the real question is what is the purpose of this computer ? Is this just for basic office/internet use or there a specific program or focus point ?

 

[jonUK76]

Based on your criteria I came up with this below based on your considerations but to be honest just about anything you can pick up in the past few years will be a significant uplift over a Core 2 Quad you have now although the problem is getting older parts doesn't necessarily jive well with having upgrade options in the future.

I'm sure there will be better suggestions but I can say when I went from a Q6600 Core 2Quad w/8GB ECC (from 2009-ish) to AMD 2600 w/32GB ECC (maybe about 4 years ago) it totally blew me away otherwise if that didn't impress me I was going to give up and get a Xeon. So trying to balance your considerations here is what I came up with below although I think there are probably quite a few reasonable Intel options as well if considering older platforms.

• Core 2 Quad ==> AMD 5500
  • because: cooling/summer heat
  • because: reasonable power consumption
    • ( haven't found a 5500 review https://www.techpowerup.com/review/amd-ryzen-5-5600/18.html )
  • because: plenty of options for CPU upgrades
• 16 GB DDR3 ==> Nemix or Crucial DDR4 32GB ECC
  • because: error correction & doesn't need heatsinks
  • because: full ECC on DDR5 consumer motherboards doesn't seem to be a thing they are willing to advertise for or support this time around. The on-chip ECC of DDR5 isn't a feature it's required for DDR5 to even work from what I understand. So with consumer DDR5 your not getting the full error correction. Then again perhaps DDR5 is just more reliable over DDR4 anyway?

Is ECC supported by the Ryzen 5 5500? I haven't looked at the specs in detail but it's not something I've ever seen advertised and PCPartpicker compatibility filter does not allow this combination.

 

[A Computer Guy]

Is ECC supported by the Ryzen 5 5500? I haven't looked at the specs in detail but it's not something I've ever seen advertised and PCPartpicker compatibility filter does not allow this combination.

Good catch. I forgot 5500 is Cezanne with iGPU disabled so it probably doesn't. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AMD_Ryzen_processors) I'll change my recommendation to 5600.

 

[Macro Device]

it would look strange if I had a better gaming machine than my Son

What if you get him a better gaming PC and take his machine for yourself? Isn't it an option?

Anyway, going for any mid-range CPU (Ryzen 5700/7600; i7-12700/i5-13400) will allow you for great speeds at negligible amounts of heat (especially if you undervolt them using your BIOS, not a difficult task) and for 32 or even more gigs of RAM (dunno about ECC though, don't see why you actually need it but I'm open for your opinion).

As you're not a huge fan of gaming you can skip the GPU buying part and stick with your GT 1030 till it finally stops meeting your needs or melts due to ageing.

SSD-wise, just buy something NVME of a proper volume. You can use your old SATA one since it's fully compatible with any modern motherboard.

PSU... getting the best 500 W unit on the market is probably an overkill but you never know.

Wi-Fi is now often included onto motherboards.

The Matrexx 55 Mesh case is more than capable of big fans and low temperatures. Don't buy the vanilla Matrexx 55, it's got broken SATA SSD mounts. Yeah, it's got a window but you can limo that window out...

NB: in case of going for LGA1700 you should take in consideration their rectangular shaped CPUs might have bad contact with socket pins resulting in overheat and/or incorrect work. Either it's unacceptable for you and you stick to AMD (Intel's 11th gen and older tech sucks balls in terms of efficiency compared to Ryzen 5000/7000 Series and newer Intel CPUs) or consider buying an alternative socket bracket (must be sold for $10 or less, easy to install, doesn't break warranty).

NB2: AMD CPUs are desperate for coolers without direct pipes contact. Box cooler must be fine considering the fact you can limit your CPU's wattage as you like.

NB3: every modern GPU can be underclocked and/or undervolted so it will perform cooler and (sometimes) slower. Just avoid RTX 4060 series, their price is complete nonsense.

And yeah, RGB can be turned off on most parts. Just avoid FRGB variants.

 

[Shrek]

• Core 2 Quad ==> AMD 5600 (edit: 5500 is likely not an ecc enabled chip so changed model here from 5500 to 5600)

So DDR5 needs ECC support? I thought it was something that happened in the stick itself.

DDR5 SDRAM - Wikipedia
"Unlike DDR4, all DDR5 chips have on-die ECC"

That is all I am after, don't need workstation level.

 

[dgianstefani]

So DDR5 needs ECC support? I thought it was something that happened in the stick itself.

Standard DDR5 is not full ECC, it's just some inbuilt error correcting because of the otherwise high error rate.

 

[Shrek]

I don't need main-line ECC, just the on-die protection.

I leave the computer on, so the RAM will be sitting a lot.

I guess the real question is what is the purpose of this computer ? Is this just for basic office/internet use or there a specific program or focus point ?

Basic stuff (including TeX), but I like high resolution monitors for work (hope to move to 4K at some point)

Some calculations with Mathematica (hence the 16 GB RAM) and some gaming, but the video card update can wait.