Hey folks. Happy Thursday.
The time has come when I can no longer put off getting a dedicated desktop. To be honest, I should have gotten one way earlier, but been without one for nearly ten years now and everything has provided satisfactory results. Sometimes I'd end up researching prebuilts or diving down the rabbit hole of PC building, but then another work email pops up and I have to abandon my search.
For context, let me throw out my current setup so you can see what I'm working with:
- Work-issued: Dell Precision 5470
- Firm gave me this one a couple of years ago, it's great. Handles all tasks I need both in and out-of-office, and runs every program I need at good power. Occasionally when I have several models running on multiple monitors it lags, and it runs EXTREMELY hot during some periods. Starts to flicker.
- Personal: MacBook Pro M2
- This is my laptop for anything else besides work, with some exceptions. I have OneDrive linked to it so I can pull files and/or check my corporate Outlook if needed, but if I don't need to do anything top-heavy on the work end then this is my go-to. Got it last year, will probably keep it as long as I can.
Now, both my work office and corporate office have permanent 'shell' fixtures that I set up. Basically, I have an overpriced Dell docking station at both of them that just lets me close the lid, pop in the USB-C, and I have a fake desktop with multiple monitors and other connections everywhere. I have an Ultrawide at the office, and 3x24's at my house. Going to get the 49" UW for the house whenever it goes on sale.
Now, that's a lot of words. The truth is just that I have some computer-related hobbies, such as 3D rendering, some small gaming whenever I have time, and other stuff that when projected onto multiple 4K screens is too much for either of the laptops to handle. I need to get something dedicated for the home office that allows me to operate in full capacity for work and home.
So basically, my two questions are this:
- Do I buy prebuilt or build my own? I know that building my own will give me better prices, way more customization, and probably a better experience. Time constraints may be an issue.
- If it's the latter, what parts should I look for? I'm not going to be playing graphically-intensive 4K games or anything, but having like 30+ Excel sheets open w/ 10+ extensions while balancing an open work client and a product markup takes some juice. I see 3D models and architectural plans all the time in my DtD, and would like to have some extra pumping power.
That's really it. I'm sure plenty of you out there have built your own PCs, so feel free to provide some insight for me. Looking forward to this process. If I HAD to guess a budget I'd ideally like to spend no more than $2K all-in, but I already have the peripherals covered so only for base machine.
You can get some decent pre-built desktops these days. just delete the bloatware afterwards
Sure you can build your own and save a couple dollars.. but to me, not worth the headache of making sure everything is compatible. Plus fulfillment and delivery issues. Hard pass
Take a look at the GPU requirements for your 3D modeling applications and pick accordingly. Everything else can be decided afterwards.
If you are able to build a PC you already know what parts to get or you don't really know how to complete a build.
https://pcpartpicker.com/
Thats a good resource for building your own PC. Provides some build guides, and shows you which parts will fit with what.
Was headed here to recommend this site, super helpful with streamlining compatibility of things that may not occur to a non computer hardware individual.
I've built probably 4-5 PCs, all through that site
I just built my first PC using that website. I highly recommend it is very beginner friendly as mentioned before it tells you what is compatible and even shows you a rough estimate of the cost of parts. When buying parts definitely shop around some places(Amazon, Micro Center) have nice bundles with other compatible components!
If time is a constraint, use https://pcpartpicker.com to pick out your specs and then have it assembled by someone (you can go to a computer shop and they’ll build it for a small fee).
This way is more economic and saves you on time by outsourcing the build. Hope this helps
It doesn't take long to build a good PC for the lowest cost if you are experienced. A lot of the times the pre-built quality can be shady. If you want to go that route, I'd go with a trusted builder (locally) and if you do buy it, inspect it inside/out.
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