Advice Wanted on a New PC (Budget $1700?)

LMarmz69 on 25/11/2021 - 10:50
Last edited 25/11/2021 - 11:05 by 1 other user

Hey guys I was hoping I could get some help from those in the know. I'm a self confessed Tech noob who needs a new PC as mine is currently on death's door.

I am looking for a 3060ti but require Wi-Fi.I saw a Dell XPS 8940 11th gen offered for $1699 delivered but have seen a few people say Dell uses (profanity) parts. I have looked at others posted here from Techfast but their Black friday deal for the 3060ti isn't great.

Any help I can get would be greatly appreciated. I'm on a pension, money is tight so I can't afford to spend a huge amount.

Cheers

Computing Computer Desktop Computer

Comments

  • srhardy on 25/11/2021 - 11:06

    Get the dell and upgrade the cooler on eBay. Or if you haven’t ordered; get sell to upgrade it (they have a base air that sucks, a better tower air that does well and water cooler) dollars to donuts it’s the base

    • Marmz69 on 25/11/2021 - 14:00

      Thanks for the reply and advice mate.I havnt ordered yet.Was waiting to see what response i got

  • FireRunner on 25/11/2021 - 11:28
    +1

    Maybe the BPC one?
    Looks to have similar specs to the techfast one but is ~$190 cheaper

    • Marmz69 on 25/11/2021 - 13:58

      I had heard from here that BPC arent great to deal with.I saw their deal and originally was going to go with theirs but got warned off them.Thats the hard bit as i have no experience with this sort of thing lol

  • Khartoum on 25/11/2021 - 12:24
    +1

    Dell PCs are universally shit, please don't buy them.
    The BPC one posted above doesn't look like too bad of a deal.

    You could always build yourself, but you wouldn't save that much.
    Remember to factor in extra costs if you need to buy peripherals though (mouse, keyboard, screen)

    • LauralHardy on 25/11/2021 - 13:53

      Well, I deploy Dell business machines and I have never had any problems with them. People will give the err its shit response by rote because thats what they have been told but have no comparative experience with other manufacturers machines.

      If you built one yourself you could save maybe $200 and have a choice of hardware. Source: built 2 3060 systems for a client 2 months back for about $1500 each (my cost).

      • Marmz69 on 25/11/2021 - 13:57

        Tec noob mate so i wouldnt know where to start trying to build one.I just got sent the link to that deal from Dell and it looked good

      • Namesareapain on 25/11/2021 - 14:44

        You not having problems with business machines has no bearing on if they are good home or gaming systems!

        Anyone with any knowledge about desktop PCs can see that Dell (and Alienware) gaming systems are crap, with single channel memory in many systems, some have graphics cards with overclocking locked out, wildly inadequate CPU coolers (that have a wired mounting system that prevents most third party coolers from working) that allow the CPU to overheat and thermal throttle (the 8940 that the OP is looking at throttles hard), lack of cooling on the VRM (system is not going to last long with power hungry CPUs like Intel 11th Gen), lack of basic airflow in the case to keep parts cool and non standard parts that make upgrades impossible!

        That is not even getting to stuff like Dell's criminal fraud they have committed against buyers like LTT!

        The only reason what so ever to buy a Dell gaming system is if it massively cheaper than any other computer with the same specs.

  • huggsymersh on 25/11/2021 - 12:37
    +2

    What are you intending to use the PC for OP? Gaming, and if so, particular games? Video editing? General productivity? The collective wisdom here may be able to help you fine tune so you don't end up getting overpowered in areas you don't need it, and underpowered where you do!

    • Marmz69 on 25/11/2021 - 13:56

      As i said im a tec noob.Im currently using a HP pavillion i have had for years lol
      All i want is fast speed for watching movies and playing the games i play.I currently can barely even log in to Rise of Kingdoms and playing it now is like using dial up speed its so slow.Im not into much of the online games like COD or any of them but i hate slow start up and loading.Im using the desktop in my room which is about 10 metres from the modem and the coverage isnt great.

      • huggsymersh on 25/11/2021 - 15:33
        +1

        Yes I understand being tech noob. I was one too until I built a PC at the beginning of the year.

        Dell get a bad rap from reviewers because they've been found to put in high end GPUs in their systems, but don't allow for decent cooling which means that the GPUs can't hit their full potential. Also, their use of proprietary parts means you can't update certain aspects of them easily, if at all.

        How old is your current machine? And do you know the specs? Changing your hard disk drive to a SSD will give you a huge improvement in startup /load up times, at a very small cost. But if the machine is old, it may still struggle with high resolution video.

        If the games you currently play are of the Rise of Kingdoms vintage, they aren't very demanding. It's a terrible time to buy a gaming PC due to current prices of GPUs, and getting a 3060 would be overkill for these kinds of games, assuming that's all you wanted. Of course getting a new PC with a 3060 would open you up to plenty of newer games if you are interested in trying them.

        The other thing to consider is screen resolution. If you're happy playing at 1080p resolution then no problem staying with it. If you buy a PC with greater GPU power that can play at 1440p or 4k that's great, but guess what, time to buy a new monitor!

        Anyway, worth educating yourself a little about the options. Everyone, Dell, Techfast, BPC, is more than happy to sell you something but you're the only one who can figure out what specs a system should have to meet your requirements, without paying for the things you don't need. Look up the system requirements of the games you play and the ones you might want to try and build something towards that. Important to ignore all the hype and temptation of new, and get something that fits your needs, particularly if money is tight. Of course, needs may change so good to have an eye to the future as well.

        • Marmz69 on 25/11/2021 - 21:11

          Its a HP pavilion 500 208a series.Had it about 7 years.Constantly crashing and to be honest i think it wont see out the summer.Agreed its not the best time to buy but i dont really have the option to wait.Must say its done really well all things considered but its time to move up
          Was given a brand new monitor as an early xmas present and its very good one so im covered there.
          Had heard about the crappy coolers in the Dells from a couple of others.I tried calling 4 times today and every time i got cut off while on hold so clearly they didnt want my money lol
          I guess i want something that i can push like i did this one and have it for a long time.
          Really appreciate your feed back and replies.

          • huggsymersh on 26/11/2021 - 00:38
            +1

            @Marmz69: The good thing about it being a terrible time to buy is that you shouldn't feel rushed. Deals should only get better, one hopes.

            The pre-builds seem cheaper than building your own, not that you were considering it. Even some laptops seem to be running decent GPUs, and while they have their cooling issues, it's another way of getting a decent deal. I'd prefer a desktop tho as it's modularity means if anything goes wrong you can replace it a lot more easily than a laptop.

            If this is the one you have, anything new is going to be an amazing improvement.

            https://support.hp.com/au-en/document/c04297121

            I've only had a quick look but would find it hard to go past something like this from BPC

            But follow some of the deal threads. Lots of opinions thrown around but quite a bit to learn about the pros and cons of each system by reading what other more experienced pc builders have to say.

            https://www.bpctech.com.au/product/kp-ss-essentialgaming-kra…

            (and in extra for wifi).

            I don't know much about BPC or Techfast, but they both have their lovers and haters. BPC do seem to specify higher quality components tho.

            I have a 5600xt, which is slower than the 3060. It's built for 1080p gaming, but I run it at 1440p, medium settings, get decent frame rates. The more powerful cards are amazing, but still can't do 4k at really high frame rates, and you pay more for the highest cards than this entire system.

            • Marmz69 on 26/11/2021 - 09:59

              @huggsymersh: Just spoke to a guy from BPC and he told me the 3060 and the 3060ti was the same price at $1599 which seems suss to me lol
              The upside is they are about 20mins from my home here in Melbourne so i could pick it up in 4-5 working days which is a massive bonus.
              Also if there are any problems i can take it back with no hassles being so close.
              He did say the 3060ti had wifi in the motherboard though it doesnt say that on the post unless im not seeing it.
              Im thinking i will search some more today so i can hopefully get an order placed by tonight

              • huggsymersh on 26/11/2021 - 11:58
                +1

                @Marmz69: Had a quick look at the 3060 v 3060ti and the ti seems to have a more modern motherboard and larger SSD. Overall seems better. It may be that the retailer buys parts in certain lots and the prices dropped for them to build the ti at a better price. If the non-ti variant was bought for more they won't necessarily drop the price. One key difference is the ti version doesn't g'tee what brand the GPU card will be. With some GPUs this can make a difference with the cooling, but not sure that it's that material with the lower end cards.

                20 mins from home is great. Doesn't necessarily mean any warranty issue are g'teed to be sorted out to your satisfaction, but does make it a lot easier to manage. I had to return 2 monitors to Dell recently. They were slow but great in the end. But packing monitors to see startrack express take them away and hoping they wouldn't be lost or damaged in transit is a bit stressful!

                • Marmz69 on 27/11/2021 - 13:21

                  @huggsymersh: Hey mate once again thanks for the input.Couple of issues have come to light about the wifi so im having to can the BPC deal.
                  I know some are saying not to get Dell BUT as im not a massive gamer i dont think those issues will affect me as much as others.For $1699 delivered i am guaranteed a decent wifi setup which is crucial and windows and a higher level intel seems appealing.It does also have the DVD and i am a bit old school so i watch a lot of movies using my current one.
                  I do also have a primo new monitor that was given to me still in the box.Valued around the $800 mark so will more than cover what i need.
                  Once again thanks for the time you took to reply.I will let you know how it all goes when it gets here lol

                  • huggsymersh on 27/11/2021 - 14:44

                    @Marmz69: Hey no worries

                    I think if you were wanting a more powerful and expensive gaming PC then I think it would be reasonable to try and steer you away from Dell, but because the 3060 has fairly modest power consumption I don't thin the thermal issues you see on youtube reviews of Dell prebuilts apply. I think their use of proprietary parts is not ideal. But if you've been using your old PC for 7 years you're probably like a lot of people and won't bother upgrading, but will just replace the whole thing eventually.

                    So I think for your use case the Dell is fine. The DVD player is nice too!

                    The only real concern I have with Dell is that like a lot of these big companies, some other company actually does the build. They outsource things. I have a Dell monitor and looking at the codes on the box it doesn't take long to figure out that it was made by a company that formerly made monitors for Acer, and many people think poorly of that brand. I had to replace my Dell monitor twice and each time it was time consuming and a bit annoying,but they finally made good. Ultimately they sent me 3 different monitors with the third still making the loud creaking sounds that the first two did, but to a lesser extent. I guess my lesson from this is, the big brands have huge scale and sometimes skimp on quality control - but then rely on their size and almost no questions asked warranties to replace things that aren't performing. I would still buy from Dell, but it's nice to know this from the outset.

                    Building a PC was a great little project and you learn a lot in the process. As people say, it is a bit like Lego for grownups. However, current prices make it hard to recommend that route at the moment even if you were interested. In normal times you buy from a Dell, HP or Lenovo and you pay 30% more, get 30% less performance all because of the brand. But these aren't normal times. At the moment, the prices are on par with building yourself.

                    Ok rant over. Have fun with your new PC! It will be a huge step up!

  • Brucet on 25/11/2021 - 14:37
    +1

    Why don't you try https://www.centrecom.com.au
    They always have good deal.

    • Marmz69 on 25/11/2021 - 21:02

      Thanks for the reply but i found them quite expensive unfortunately

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