Can someone help with where to get a custom PC?
Hi y’all
I need a new desktop PC for my astrophotography. I have some specific requirements and I haven’t been able to find a company to meet exactly what I’m looking for. Cyberpower PC has it but they’ve not responded to emails or chats.
Anyway, what I’m looking for is a 10th or 11th gen i9 K series chip, at least 32 gb RAM. 1 TB SSD with 8TB backup HDD. Dual video card that can handle two 4K monitors.
Here is the system requirements
https://pixinsight.com/sysreq/index.html
Anyway, having trouble finding all that in one, except at CyberpowerPC and they’re not responding to emails. Can someone help?
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28 Answers
My favorite PC builder is PugetSystems.com. They specialize in quiet PCs, but they do custom builds and do a ridiculously good job, in my experience. I’m still using a PC from them from about 2010 that I’ve had them upgrade a couple of times, with no complaints.
@Caravanfan Cyberpower PCs has been sold through Best Buy; currently zero stock for the lower level towers. . . .
Have you looked at Alienware ?
@ragingloli Thanks! I’d be perfectly fine with an AMD processor. I’m just more familiar with the intel. I might have found a computer by HP that has what I need, except for the backup hard drive. But it has an empty SATA port so I can just get one and plug it in. The link I provided is to the i7, but I’d get the i911900K processor with 64 gb and an upgraded power supply. They don’t talk about the cooling, though.
I’m in absolutely no rush to buy this right now. This month I’m cash poor anyway because my daughter needs a car, but I’m thinking about it so I thought I’d ask the collective.
Another thing to consider is that the newest Intel 11th series i9, while being more expensive, is actually a bit slower than its 10th series predecessor, because they were backporting a 10nm chip design to their 14nm silicon, resulting in the 11900k cpu having 2 less cores than the 10900k.
Contact a local TV radio repair store. Maybe someone there can build you one.
@rag you are correct. It’s just that 10900K chips are a bit harder to find
Have you looked for a local small business?
In the cities where I’ve lived over the past 20 years, small storefront PC companies have always been a thing. I don’t use them, because I build my own desktops and provide my own support. But somebody is keeping them in business.
Just for an example (I know nothing about them, they just showed up in Google and looked legit), here is one local to me.
Milwaukee PC – “For over 25 years, Milwaukee PC has been serving Wisconsin with the best in Computers, Notebooks, Servers, Service and Internet. Today MPC continues our customer first focus with Tablets, Mobile Device Repair, Advanced Business-to-Business solutions, and much more. MPC serves home, educational, business, and governmental customers of all sizes. Visit one of our 20+ locations throughout Wisconsin to learn more! We are a really great company.”
@Call_Me_Jay There used to be one close to my house. They closed though.
@ragingloli I started looking at configurations with the the AMD Ryzen 5900X. I’m using it for advanced astrophotography image processing. And fluthering. Thanks for the help.
Building a PC is easy enough. It’s a screwdriver job, not a soldering iron job. How about paying an IT person you know from work a couple of hundred bucks to assemble the parts you pick?
Also, regarding the video card, still photographs (and the Pixinsight specs) don’t require a high-end card. Pixinsight does not use the GPU for calculation horsepower, it just uses it for display. The load on the card is a small fraction of what gaming needs to make-on the-fly3D models in full motion.
Gaming has distorted what people think they “need”. Games use the
@Call_Me_Jay Thanks! I’m less concerned with the video card for that reason. I just want to be able to support 4K monitors.
Dell.com will create whatever you want talk to a representative on chatline
@inspired yes. I spent a week working with Dell and we couldn’t agree on a system. Going to try again
Right now in the midst of a global semiconductor supply crisis is probably not the best time to be looking for a new PC. You’ll be (massively) overpaying and there are now counterfeit chips making the way into the supply chain so you may not even end up with a useable system.
Check with SCHWEITZER ENGINEERING LABRATORIES 509/332–1890
@lightly thanks. That’s a good point.
Look in the newspaper classified, craigslist, and your local free booklets that are usually sitting in restaurants that have ads. The one we had back home was called the Thrifty Nickel. I don’t know if it was just local or a regional/national publication.
@ragingloli I might have found a system with a 10900K i9 chip 10 cores.
@RocketGuy Problem with that one is that I can’t but an 8TB drive in it. I already checked. Apparently the 8 TB won’t work.
@Zaku Thanks! Yes, my ceiling is about 3 grand. But that gives me a reference point.
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