Choice between 2 Used OEM desktops.

[Sheldon_King]

First: Sorry if wrong section, this one made most sense. 

 

I am in need of a replacement desktop, due to an issue I can not track down (tested everything, and only thing that I can confirm is GPU, RAM, SSDs/HDDs, CPU, and PSUs, are all working, but I can not get a POST out of any of the boards. Maybe bad CPU? ) 

 

Anyway, I am not interested in buying new, due to many factors (compatibility, and to a far lesser extent money), so Used. System will be used to game (mostly Fallout 3 and New Vegas, Civilization IV/V, Prison Architect, and Subnautica), File compression (for long term file storage, using WinRAR, mostly Text Documents, Pictures, and to a lesser extent .exe and some tarballs), and general everyday computer use (text editing, Youtube/twitch streaming at 1080p, just browsing in general, etc.). I will be replacing what is in the system with my PSU (either of them) and HD7950, so that is besides the point.

 

2 systems I am looking at are:

HP Pavilion P6000 p6736f-b   $100 Local

- AMD Athlon II X4 640

-8GB DDR3 (probably 1333MHz) 

-DVD-RW 

-1TB HDD 

-Windows 7 pro Key on case (not worried about this, I have retail (not OEM), which can be reused as long as it is removed from old system first).

 

or

 

 Dell Optiplex 790 MT $110 Local (including tax). 

-i3-2120

-4GB DDR3 1333MHz (confirmed here) 

-DVD-RW 

-2x 500GB HDD (not in RAID) 

-Windows 7 Pro key on case, seller allows install of OS onsite during pickup to confirm computer operation. Liveboot testing? 

 

Okay, so, I am stuck here. IIRC, the Athlon and Sandy Bridge are about the same ipc (correct me if wrong), meaning the Athlon is faster (double cores at 300MHz slower clock), but the intel Q67 board will accept up to a 2600 (non-k, Dell BIOS), making it far more upgradable.  The HP has a x16, a PCIe x1, and a PCI slot, while the dell has X16, PCI, and X8/x4 (spec sheet does not say) in X16 physical. The HP has more free SATA ports, but the Dell has a X16 slot and BIOS support for RAID/HBA expansion, allowing that to be bypassed quite easily. Both cases accept standard EPS/ATX psu, and boards have standard 24/20 pin/4 pin power (have seen OEMs with special PSU connectors in the past), so that is a tie.

 

Honestly, I have no clue which is better. The only real factor aside from the hardware is the HP is closer distance, so the Taxi will be cheaper. ...

 

Thanks for any help here.

-Sheldon 

[iRileyx]

the i3 is actually faster than the athlon. http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i3-2120-vs-AMD-Athlon-II-X4-640/m2227vsm225

I'd personally go for the Dell system.

[pagani123]

dell but see if you can upgrade the ram on that one 4gb is a bit low

[manikyath]

i'd say the HP, purely for the 8GB ram, because file compression is on your list.

if you intend to upgrade ram any time soon, dell for every other reason

 

EDIT: should add, i have experience with (or rather, traumas from) winrar on 4 gigs of ram, it's painful...

[Sheldon_King]

Just now, Maybach123 said:

dell but see if you can upgrade the ram on that one 4gb is a bit low

4GB is still far more than enough for day to day use, and every game I play is 32 Bit (limited to 2GB itself, Fallout can use a 4GB patch to get large address support though). 

That said, it is not possible to get more ram from the seller, but I have 4x4 sitting here confirmed functional. Assuming the Dell desktop board is as nice as the Precision/Latitude Laptop boards are on RAM support, it should accept just about any commercial RAM, at max speed supported, so there is that.  

Just now, manikyath said:

i'd say the HP, purely for the 8GB ram, because file compression is on your list.

if you intend to upgrade ram any time soon, dell for every other reason

See above. 

 

@RKRiley By that bench they are, However, just from a quick google, it is hard to find benches outside of gaming. WinRAR is not particularly well threaded (it does not Max my laptop CPU with nothing else running), so there is that too. 

 

Another thing I did not even consider, Does anyone here know if the Mobo in either/both systems are true mATX, or a Dell/HP standard? That might actually swing it for me, being able to move the system to a different case to support more than 4 HDD/SDD without jury rigging it. 

[manikyath]

Just now, Sheldon_King said:

See above. 

see edit.

 

depending on the size of the archive, 4GB can be quite traumatizing..

[Sheldon_King]

Just now, manikyath said:

see edit.

 

depending on the size of the archive, 4GB can be quite traumatizing..

I am aware of the general RAM hungry nature of of WinRAR. I also have experience using it on my laptop with the files (more or less) that are being compressed with teh system, and teh RAM use by WinRAR on these files is about 3.5GB max. Then again, I can single task well enough with multiple systems available. 

 

I guess I am just not sure. I know I can upgrade the RAM in the Dell, even if what I have is incompatible, I can probably sell what I have and buy something that is. Then again, as said in OP, the dell can also accept a HBA/Raid controller, so it is expansion ready. ... 

 

 

[oskarha]

10 minutes ago, Sheldon_King said:

Another thing I did not even consider, Does anyone here know if the Mobo in either/both systems are true mATX, or a Dell/HP standard? That might actually swing it for me, being able to move the system to a different case to support more than 4 HDD/SDD without jury rigging it. 

Both seem to be matx.

Personally I would go for the optiplex because of the upgradable intel platform and because of my positive experience working with similar optiplex systems

[Sheldon_King]

5 minutes ago, oskarha said:

Both seem to be matx.

Personally I would go for the optiplex because of the upgradable intel platform and because of my positive experience working with similar optiplex systems

That is good to know. Even if it is a SSi form factor, enough holes should line up with mATX to work. ... 

 

IIRC, optiplex should be right below precision in the line up, yes? Making it a latitude if it were a laptop? Sorry if that sounds stupid, but all of my experience with Dell or HP has been in workstation laptops (w8500 series, Latitude 600 seeries, and precision m**/m**** series, and to be honest, the dells seem like the better systems always, aside from driver support down the line). 

[Guest]

58 minutes ago, Sheldon_King said:

(tested everything, and only thing that I can confirm is GPU, RAM, SSDs/HDDs, CPU, and PSUs, are all working, but I can not get a POST out of any of the boards. Maybe bad CPU? )

If all components except the motherboard has been tested, and has been confirmed in working order, why not just buy a new mobo?

 

*PS: can't find any info about the HP/DELL mobo's aswell, but I would go for HP, since almost all (older) DELL computers I have seen, had weard mobo's...

[Sheldon_King]

1 minute ago, Dutch-stoner said:

If all components except the motherboard has been tested, and has been confirmed in working order, why not just buy a new mobo?

 

*PS: can't find any info about the HP/DELL mobo's aswell, but I would go for HP, since almost all (older) DELL computers I have seen, had weard mobo's...

I find it hard to believe that all 3 motherboards I have could fail at the same time. Also, a complete OEM used system is about the same price as a decent used LGA1155 motherboard. I did think about that beforehand. By decent, I mean H67/P67/Z68/H77/Z77 with 4 Dimm slots, from a quality brand (gigabyte, asus, asrock, msi). For what it is worth, I can get both systems I am looking at in person, and both sellers are willing to let me confirm functionality before money exchanges hands, whereas a new/used board would require going to ebay (already checked all resellers locally, as well as craigslist.  

While I am at it, I could also, in theory, get a intry level FM2(+) or LGA1151 board and CPU for the same price, but that would also drop to a quality of mobo I am not willing to use, as well as in LGA1151 require new RAM. 

 

It's a bout 50% trust and 50% money. 

[oskarha]

23 minutes ago, Sheldon_King said:

That is good to know. Even if it is a SSi form factor, enough holes should line up with mATX to work. ... 

 

IIRC, optiplex should be right below precision in the line up, yes? Making it a latitude if it were a laptop? Sorry if that sounds stupid, but all of my experience with Dell or HP has been in workstation laptops (w8500 series, Latitude 600 seeries, and precision m**/m**** series, and to be honest, the dells seem like the better systems always, aside from driver support down the line). 

Thats correct. The optiplexes are excellent systems. I have personally had much better experiences with dell systems over hp systems. My daily HP DV6 laptop has horrible driver support and is a pain to service while my old vostro 1510 was a charm to work with. HPs desktops are not bad, but in my experience dells are much easier to upgrade and service, and they have great documentation aswell. Here is the technical guidebook for the 790: http://clascsg.uconn.edu/download/specs/O790.pdf

[Sheldon_King]

@oskarha  I would guess the driver support would depend on how we are qualifying the word support. In my experience HP has been willing to support New OS/Driver versions far longer than dell ever has (my DM3, which is a most basic entry level laptop, got qualified drivers from them for windows XP all the way to 10 (and 10 on release day)). 

Thanks for the link to the Tech document. It told me something I had not even realized yet, the Dell has a SATA III port onboard, more speed from SSD, better performance, and 4 dimm slots. It really is a better system than I thought.