singleviking Loc: Lake Sebu Eco Park, Philippines

Here's an estimate of parts costs, but you need to find a GEEK/TECHY to put it together for you.

64 bit MS OS (WIN7-64 PRO or WiN8.1) $ 140
MOBO taking the 1150 socket $ 200
Video card $ 150
CPU i7-4770 $ 330
32 gig 1600 Mhz RAM
(four 8 gig modules) $ 160
2 HDDs (2T WD BLACK) $ 250
120 gig SSD $ 100
BD ROM drive $ 80
Universal card reader (front panel) $ 30
27" monitor $ 300
tower case (all metal) $ 100
power supply $ 100
Hot swap HDD bay on Frnt. Panel $ 40
__________

TOTAL cost without assembly $1840.

a GEEK can assemble the system and install the OS and partition your drives properly for you for about $100.

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

I am geeky enough to handle most of it, I think - but I *do* have an uber-geek friend I can call on for help.

My current machine is having some strange problems, I suspect heat-related. I want to get one of those fancy gaming cases with fans out the wazzoo. I have win7 ultimate 64-bit, so I don't need (or want!) windows 8, and I can salvage *some* bits from mine - hard drives, dvd (internal) and BD (external). My PSU is pretty new, too. The bits I really need to replace are motherboard, CPU, video, and possibly memory. I have a new 27-inch Asus monitor, too.

My biggest worry is component compatibility. This machine started acting up last summer, and I bought a cheap HP replacement. Windows 8 crashed about 3 minutes after first boot, and trashed the hard drive on its way out. I figured, no sweat, I really wanted 7 anyway. My (genuine) win7 cd would not load onto the drive in the new machine. HP support refused to even *attempt* to help, and microsoft tried valiantly, but weren't able to help either. I installed the boot drive from this machine into the new one, but it turned out that this new EUFI system will not boot from a BIOS-based hard drive installation...

I ended up putting everything back in this box, and limping along ever since. The other one went back to HP, and I will never have one of their machines across my door again. It crashed before I had time to even *think* about making recovery disks, and of course, there was no windows disk provided - I still do not understand how it can be legal to sell a windows PC without providing the OS CD... Anyway, the fact that they wouldn't even give me the time of day (although I suspect they were 8 or 9 time zones away from me!), despite their machine's failure, put them on my "never-again" list!

Anyway, thanks for the info...

singleviking Loc: Lake Sebu Eco Park, Philippines

According to the WD and Intel experts, there will be problems with any machine if you attempt to downgrade to WIN7 from WIN8 if the system was original pre-installed with WIN8 without a complete wipe of the HDD and a clean installation of WIN7. UEFI BIOS is really pretty easy to use if you know your way around. I think you needed to set INTEL SECURE BOOT to disable, enable "LAUNCH CSM", and then go to the SECURITY SCREEN of BIOS and DISABLE SECURE BOOT. Then hit F-10 to save and exit BIOS. This should have allowed you to boot up from your original HDD, but you said it crashed almost immediately after the system was turned on. SHIT.
You can't do anything with that drive if it crashed and burned and they don't allow cloning without the BIOS being changed to the settings I told you before. Those settings should be changed back to the original setting when you're finished with cloning a drive though. SECURE BOOT was designed to trash a drive if the laptop was stolen. I know my desktop doesn't have it in the BIOS but the new laptop does.
Looks like you need to buy a fresh copy of the OS you intend to install since your license will trash the disk if it's not a multi machine open license and all single machine installations are only good for 1 desktop and 1 laptop but you'll need to check that in the fine print of the license acceptance material that you click to accept their software contract of use.

singleviking Loc: Lake Sebu Eco Park, Philippines

I just looked at the Buy.com website and they're selling the SAMSUNG 1T SSD for $460 which is what I paid for mine. Where did this $419.99 price come from? It must be a weekend special price, but they may not ship if it's a bogus.

The Samsung 1T SSD should be also price matched on Amazon or TigerDirect if that price is legitimate but I'm not sure about that. I really can't believe that the SAMSUNG SSD price has come down that much unless it's a refurbished unit. I just got a 1T SAMSUNG recently from Amazon but the price you state was for the 750 gig version. You'll also need a format program to partition that drive into separate drive letters unless you intend to use it as your primary boot drive and data storage drive since SAMSUNG's installation software is made for single drive systems where you just clone your old drive to a boot partition on the new SSD drive and then wipe your old drive and use it as an added files storage drive and you'll need to redesignate the drive letters on that drive too.

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

I shouldn't have to buy another copy of the OS, if my existing machine is dead. It is supposed to be for one pc only - at any one time. Heck, if they pull a stunt like that, I will switch to Linux!

singleviking Loc: Lake Sebu Eco Park, Philippines

That's why HP wouldn't send you a disk copy of the OS without purchasing it. Your WIN7 can be transferred though. Just make sure that it's a 64 bit version or you're shooting yourself in the foot in the new system.

geezer7 Loc: Michigan

You have received plenty of excellent suggestions. Assuming you are willing to build your own computer there are several useful websites for part selection and building advice.

http://www.tomshardware.com/ is a site with a wealth of information.

http://pcpartpicker.com/ is a site which gives you a template for selecting various parts including cheapest places to buy , it keeps a running total of power usage and also advises you if some of your selections are incompatible.

Several people have mentioned Linux as an alternative operating system. I would advise caution because Linux has limited applications available. Not many (if any) of the most popular post-processing programs are ported to Linux. There is always Gimp but Photoshop and similar utilities are not available.

Btp Loc: Georgia

I used the Intel i7 3930K/3.30Ghz processor..not the fastest but close. It was hundreds less than the fastest Intel processor. The Mil. spec motherboard is a Sabertooth X79. It has eight RAM slots. I installed four 8Meg. chips as they were much less than two 16Meg.chips. I used the Nvidia GForce 660 video card which has 2meg.on board. I added two 5" chassis fans along with water cooler system. PC feeds through an APC 1600VA UPS. Printer and monitor are on separate UPS. I also have a Levitron whole house surge protector installed where AC feeds into my house. The box is a full tower Corsair. LG Blu-Ray R/W drive. Added chip reader and four more 3.0 USB ports on front. Four USB 3.0 ports two Fire-wire ports and headset ports came with the Corsair box. All parts (except LG 27" monitor)were about $3,100.

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

Yeah, the thing is, when you buy a new machine, you *are* paying for windows! It's a total rip-off that they don't supply the CD - they used to, back in the day. Especially with an OS like windows which is pretty well known for needing to be reinstalled every now and again.

And yes, I agree about the 64-bits. That's what I bought, even though there were very few apps available to use the full 64-bit. The obvious reason is for the memory limitations of 32-bit, but even for 32-bit software, it should run faster through a 64-bit cpu.

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

I just bought a six core AMD chipset with a Igb graphics card as well as on board graphics 16gb Ram and Raid one (2 X 500gb hard drives linked to back up everything at all times)

everything works fine except internet is no faster than the old p4 xp it replaced....not the computer's fault. also leave win8.1 in the box its damned annoying....

Look at DINOPC. CO.UK - not that you will buy from them but their self build online site is a great way to see what is compatible. price wise I thought it was very good too.

singleviking Loc: Lake Sebu Eco Park, Philippines

Why so expensive? BTW, the NVIDEA 660 has 2 gig of DDR RAM on it and not 2 meg. You really didn't need the water cooler for the Intel i7 3930K since it only uses 75 watts or so. Water coolers are typically for AMD and really high end Intel CPUs that suck up 125 or more watts. Where did you purchase these components anyway? This system could be built for a lot less....REALLY, I guess you didn't shop for the lowest prices from suppliers. It's a really nice MOBO though and has a 5 year warranty from ASUS. It's also one of the only MOBOs that has 8 DIMM sockets.

JimGuy

Yea building your own is the way to go imo. My present machine must be about 3 years old, put together as soon as the first sandybridge boards came out. Im sure theres a better choice now.
Im not up on the latest products but heres a couple comments anyway. I only do the research when its time for me to do another build.

I believe in overkill. This one at 3 years old still does the job. I used a asus p8p67 deluxe board, and a 2600k cpu, with 16 gigs of ddr3/1600mhz. The cpu is overclocked to 4.5 ghz ...rock stable. In addition to the ssd system/software drive I have another 6 terabytes internal for data storage and working. My video card is a 570 gtx but if building today Id go with a 770.

If you overclock get an upgraded cpu cooler. You can usually get a mid level cpu and get more performance out of it than top of the line if you can figure out what you are doing. Lot of info out there ..just gotta find it.

Corsair has some good cpu coolers. Presently Im using a corsair h70...self contained water cooler. Its a bit of a pain to install, but worth the trouble once you get it right. Check their site to see what the latest is. They also make some of the best ram, and ssd's imo, and a knowledgeable person answers the phone. http://www.corsair.com/en-us/company/contact

Theres lots of good motherboards and video cards out there but support is poor to non existant from many of the companies.
One company that does have very good phone support from my experience is EVGA. They know their stuff, and their products are good. If support is important I would consider going with them for mb and video cards. http://www.evga.com/default.asp

Id recommend a full tower case. Easier to build in, and more room for additional hard drives etc. Im using a cooler master atcs 840 now. It may be discontinued but its almost like a refrigerator...includes fans and plenty of places to add more.
A removeable mother board makes building easier as well.

Do research and when you get ready to build and make a list of all parts, and make sure everything is compatable before ordering.

Remember:
Make sure you are grounded before touching parts. Static electricity will toast components quickly. Touch the metal case, or get a wrist strap. Wear rubber soled shoes.

When installing mb, make sure you use only enough stand offs to match up with holes in the motherboard. More and you can short something out. Mount cpu and and ram before installing mb in case. just easier that way imo.

If you dont overclock you can use the stock cooler and heat sink.
Building a pc is really not complicated.

I got an Asus 27 in monitor...no problems.

Newegg and tiger direct are two good places to buy parts.

A 240 gig ssd is plenty for system/software drive imo. Use conventional platter drives for data.

JimGuy

Linux is for people who mainly want to play with their operating system.
Its worthless in my opinion.
Stick with windoz 7

singleviking Loc: Lake Sebu Eco Park, Philippines

I guess you haven't looked into the OS since WIN7 or WIN8 will really only take up about 60 gig when you remove the folders and put them on your other HDDs. This way, when you reduce the excess room devoted to your OS drive by using the "SHRINK SECTOR" command in MS Disk manager. In this way you leave plenty of room (another 60 gig) open on your 120 gig SSD boot drive. Then, if you really want to hum along, put your PP program on another SSD and the storage photo files and folders on the disk drive. I also made a separate sector for swap files when running programs. They can get pretty big depending on how many layers and plugins you use, but a 60 gig sector should cover anything you through at it.

raymondh Loc: Walker, MI

I sincerely appreciate your detailed response! This is pretty much the way were going.