[OT]: Memory & Performance

[Wyatt]

On Wednesday, 4 September 2013 at 08:48:52 UTC, Chris wrote:
> On Wednesday, 4 September 2013 at 06:47:15 UTC, Jacob Carlborg 
> wrote:
>> On 2013-09-03 23:10, Chris wrote:
>>
>>> The machine I was looking at is this one:
>>>
>>> https://www.system76.com/laptops/model/gazp9#
>>
>> A laptop! Buy parts a build your own desktop :)
>
> You are actually right. I should look into that possibility 
> too, given the pricing policy most companies have. Thanks for 
> the comment. Do you have any tips or useful links?
>
Yeah, if you don't need portability AND lots of power, I still 
think a desktop is the way to go.  For a laptop, I prioritise 
battery life and weight above all else, these days; if I need 
heavy lifting, I'll just SSH into my desktop.  Best part is, that 
portable unit only sets you back about the difference between a 
high-end laptop and its desktop equivalent.

If this isn't an urgent purchase, definitely watch for sales and 
discounts; play your cards right, and you should be able to get a 
nice Haswell box for about $600 with a display.

You've more-or-less missed the US Labour Day sales, so the next 
big "events" will probably be Halloween, and then Black Friday 
(which is completely bonkers).  Outside of that, weekly specials 
are...well, weekly (though usually weak).

Outside of the big names, pricewatch [0] and slickdeals [1] are 
probably still useful for finding low prices, though you'll end 
up chasing across a bunch of different retailers on that path.  
Another useful tool is the "Camelizer" [2], to see price history 
for a potential buy.

If you let up know roughly where in the world you are, someone 
else may have some idea of what retailers will let you dodge 
overseas shipping costs if it's a pressing concern.

On to matters of part selection, since it sounds like your first 
build, some general tips:
- As a rule of thumb, if it's a "generic" brand part, avoid it 
like the plague.  If there's one lesson I've learned, you tend to 
get what you pay for with computer parts (...up to a point.  
Those 6-core Xeons aren't really priced to move).  If you're 
unsure, look up reviews on Newegg and Amazon.
- Don't get _too_ caught up in the numbers. A couple hundred MHz 
one way or another on a part won't be world-changing.  On the 
other hand you're probably not going to buy a new machine for a 
few years and my experience is you won't bother upgrading 
anything but RAM and maybe GPU.
- Do make sure to get a decent power supply.  A crappy PSU will 
cause headaches and instability.  Pay special attention to the 
PFC rating: efficient power delivery is good unless you live in a 
state where electricity is dirt cheap.  Also keep an eye out for 
"Modular" PSUs, which is a nice perk for keeping internal cable 
clutter low.
- Get a decent power supply even if one comes with whatever case 
you buy (some people don't like their machines to be a pile of 
parts on the desk.  I call them "uninspired" ;) ). The pack-in 
PSU tends to be awful (as a rule of thumb, if it's not heavier 
than it looks, it's rubbish).
- I'd avoid motherboards from Foxconn, Biostar, and ECS.  Budget 
manufacturers, and I've had poor reliability from them in the 
past.
- For Linux, particularly pay attention to the network hardware 
on the motherboard.  Buying something with Broadcom is playing 
with fire.  Atheros and Intel are your friends.
- If you don't need high-end graphics, the on-die Intel or AMD 
solution should serve well. (It's too bad the Iris Pro trim isn't 
available on the Haswell desktop parts; that even stacks up 
favourably against low-mid tier GPUs).
- The stock cooler that comes with a modern CPU is actually 
fairly decent.  No need to get an aftermarket version.
- A basic cheapo case is plenty for probably 95% of builds.  If 
you can get one with a removable motherboard tray, that's a nice 
feature, but not essential.
- If you need a discrete GPU and you're using Linux, I'd 
personally look for some kind of fanless Radeon. I find the 
general driver situation is just better for AMD cards.
- There's a lot of fluctuation in display prices right now, but 
getting one for under a hundred bucks is probably doable.
- You probably don't even need an optical device these days.  
Just boot from a USB stick.

Hope that helps!

-Wyatt

[0] http://www.pricewatch.com/
[1] http://slickdeals.net/
[2] http://us.camelcamelcamel.com/camelizer