AJLynn Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 Since we stopped updating the workstation site, and I became unusually busy, I haven't put out any revised workstation configs. Sorry about that. I've changed over to a simpler setup that I can maintain more regularly, by using Amazon.com lists. Click here for the newest recommended configurations. Why the change from Newegg lists? It's a pretty big change, and until now I've been a Newegg enthusiast, so I should explain. Three reasons, one helpful and two selfish: -Amazon has improved their selection and pricing on computer parts. When I compared to Newegg, the builds cost less on Amazon. There were also several parts I wanted to use that were out of stock on Newegg but in stock on Amazon. -Doing it this way, it's much easier to maintain. A single link will always point to the newest configs and I can update them when needed without having to publish. -The Amazon commissions system is much better and takes much less time to use. The one for Newegg is really terrible and barely worth the effort. So as usual, please ask any questions about what sorts of computers to buy here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slinger Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 Only thing I don't like about Amazon's listing is no overall cost shown, unless you add all items to your cart but thanks for your efforts Andrew on getting this going again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted September 13, 2011 Author Share Posted September 13, 2011 I know, I know, but it did come out cheaper and you have no idea how much of a pain it was getting the Newegg lists system to work with the 3rd party commission system and Blogger - it took longer to do the silly stuff than to come up with the configs and write the articles, and the commission was absurdly low. This way, there's just one Amazon link and it doesn't change, and I can edit the lists easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slinger Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 I did not realize you got a commission if someone ordered from your list. As always, thanks for the hard work on the builds. Alot of people here depended on this kind of stuff to help them out. I'd post some builds, but no one would listen lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted September 14, 2011 Author Share Posted September 14, 2011 I think you could build up an audience The commissions thing was an experiment we first tried, I don't know, maybe a year ago. I posted about it at the time. I'll post the sponsored links when they are the buying decisions that I would recommend without the sponsorship - because if I'm going to post the links anyway it would be stupid not to. Some revenue was generated. Not enough to run a site on that basis, but enough for some books. With this new setup, the link to the page with the lists is how I would do it anyway and this only involves sticking the tag on that link, so what the heck, I'll see if it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 Will monitors be in a separate thread? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted September 14, 2011 Author Share Posted September 14, 2011 I'm going to do a monitors list this weekend. I think that was an important part of the old site. One nice thing about adding that affiliate link system was it let me see how many times the links were being clicked and how many of each type of item was being bought. The reasonably priced HP monitors were right behind Sandy Bridge CPUs and Geforce cards in popularity. Oddly enough, very few people take my advice and buy expensive cases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 Thanks. It is an important part because in general people know very little about monitors and why one is better than another. I actually heard someone tell a person the other day that it didn't matter which monitor she bought as they are all pretty much equal these days. Uhggg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted September 18, 2011 Author Share Posted September 18, 2011 I've updated the recommended configurations link above to include a list of monitors and monitors profilers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karl Larsen Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 I can't find a full tower case that doesn't look like a flagrant exercise in garish product design… I'm going to do a monitors list this weekend. I think that was an important part of the old site. One nice thing about adding that affiliate link system was it let me see how many times the links were being clicked and how many of each type of item was being bought. The reasonably priced HP monitors were right behind Sandy Bridge CPUs and Geforce cards in popularity. Oddly enough, very few people take my advice and buy expensive cases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted September 19, 2011 Author Share Posted September 19, 2011 Haha, okay, what form factor are you looking for? I think the P183, the Sonata and the Lian Li are all good looking cases - it's the look of the gamer ones with the molded fronts and the lights that I wouldn't want to put in an office. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amen Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 My personal favorite: Lian Li PC-A05NB It is small but everything fits and it is looking very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted September 23, 2011 Author Share Posted September 23, 2011 Lian-Li is my favorite also. Mine is some PC60 variant I got in 2002. It's on its 4th MB and 5th CPU and will probably last as long as my keyboard (a 1990 IBM). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beestee Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Haha, okay, what form factor are you looking for? I think the P183, the Sonata and the Lian Li are all good looking cases - it's the look of the gamer ones with the molded fronts and the lights that I wouldn't want to put in an office. I have a P183 full tower at home for two years now and it looks very professional, has great cooling design, great sound insulation, and good cable management options. A little difficult to get a power supply into, but worth the effort. Great recommendation for a professional case in my opinion! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slinger Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 Andrew, I just noticed your midrange 3D artist CUDA version has two PSU's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted September 29, 2011 Author Share Posted September 29, 2011 Thanks. I only meant to include the 1200W one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roest Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 Nice list Andrew Lynn! what about a render computer? I'm trying to compound a computer only for (distributed) rendering. It is meant to speed up the process at home. In the future i want to add a videocard for gpu rendering, but for now it is ok without. My thoughts were: - i7 2600 \ 16Gig ram Budget around 1200$ Is there a system on your list what is suitable for only rendering? were i can change the video-card for example? thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted October 3, 2011 Author Share Posted October 3, 2011 Sure, if you took the Midrange but used a video card like this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004BQKQ8A/?tag=andylynnnet-20 and instead of the SSD and good hard drive, something like this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00461G3MS/?tag=andylynnnet-20 and substitute cheap mouse and keyboard and you're at about $1000. You could even almost do it with the High End, by making the same changes and using the case from the Midrange (which includes power supply) instead of the case and power supply specified - that would be about $1300. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roest Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 thanks, i went for the midrange with the hdd and videocard you suggested! without the mouse etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted October 3, 2011 Author Share Posted October 3, 2011 Good choice, let us know how it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerrySandee Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 Thanks for this list, a tremendous tool. I am looking at going with the maxer, but I want the ability to use iRay so I am thinking of going with an ATI 7900 for a three monitor setup and then a GTS 580 for rendering. Do you see any issues? Would I need a 1500W power supply for that? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted November 1, 2011 Author Share Posted November 1, 2011 That's a good plan. A 1500W power supply isn't going to be necessary, though you might do it anyway if you envision adding more GPUs later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerrySandee Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 Thanks Andrew! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfienoakes Posted November 15, 2011 Share Posted November 15, 2011 Been a looong time since my last post... Things jotting up business wise anyway. Time to get a new machine.. If anyone has any time to check out the list below, and comment on suitability, PSU size etc that would be a great help to me.. Here's to me getting back into the forums. Case COOLERMASTER HAF 922 MID TOWER GAMING CASE Overclocked CPU Overclocked Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core (3.40GHz @ max 4.80GHz) Motherboard ASUS® P8Z68-V/GEN3: PCI-E 3.0 READY, SLI, CROSSFIREX Memory (RAM) 16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT) Graphics Card 1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 550 Ti - DVI,HDMI,VGA - 3D Vision Ready Memory - 1st Hard Disk 500GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD5002AALX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200rpm) 1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM Memory Card Reader INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT Power Supply CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£72) Processor Cooling COOLIT ECO II A.L.C (ADVANCED LIQUID COOLER) (£59) Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9) Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD) Network Facilities ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs USB Options 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79) Office Software FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel) Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5) Delivery PCS EXTRA-CARE DIAMOND DELIVERY - MON-FRI, PRE-NOON (£9) Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days Quantity 1 Price: £1,022.00 including VAT and delivery. Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/intel-1155-overclocked/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted November 15, 2011 Author Share Posted November 15, 2011 Welcome back. I don't see any problems here. Maybe for the extra 9 quid you could take the i7-2700k, and 90 to upgrade to the Geforce 560TI 2GB is worthwhile if you want to do any CUDA processing (iray, Vray RT-GPU etc). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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