what is the best/fastest processor?

[jhess56]

I'm getting a new computer and am amazed at how much more powerful they are for the price compared to when I bought my last one (probably 6-7 years yikes!)

I currently have a compaq laptop with 384mb ram (haha) with mobile amd sempron 3300+ 1.99Ghz and it is very slow and lags a lot, got it on some blow out sale for like 400 bucks or so...

Now I am seeing desktop towers (I have a huge sweet screen, wireless mouse and keyboard already so all I need is the main tower) for 5-700+ bucks with 10GB ram and 1-2 TB hard drive and about had a heart attack that is so amazingly great!

What I am hung up on though is what kind of brand/processor should I be looking for to get the best performance and fastest speed. I run my business via othe internet and use a lot of resource intensive software, so I am embarassed I have waited this long to get a new computer. I need something with a lot of balls so I don't get lagged down anymore.

I'm looking for max performance speed for navigating the net and running various softwares...I do not care about video graphics for gaming or anything like that. I would sacrifice that sort of stuff for increased speed for what I do...if that's even relevant. Though I do admit it would be nice to get better picture and smoother play for watching netflix movies....that is far secondary as I can always watch that on my TV, so I do not want to sacrifice my main needs for that in any way.

Thanks for any advice.

[AdvancedSetup]

Intel i7 is the best if you can afford it. I'm sure others will be along soon to post with more detailed information and thoughts on this.

Isn't that right ShyWriter

[jhess56]

cool , so is this an example what your talking about?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Essentio+Desktop+-+8GB+Memory+-+1TB+Hard+Drive/5555478.p?id=1218658995316&skuId=5555478

Specifically "Get brilliant performance from the Intel® Core™ i7 processor with four multithreaded cores."

Is one brand better than the others or are they all pretty much being manufactured in the same few places making it moot?

[CWB]

asus does make good stuff ... not to say they are faultless (every manufacturer has had a couple of dogs) .

be cautious about where and whom you buy a comp from and who actually does the warranty work .

i just got done fixing (yet another) comp that the "geek squad" happened to ...

the customer took it in to them ... they said the reason it was slow was lack o' ram .

the machine came back in worse shape than it was ; "huh ... maybe it is just an old machine ... yadda yadda yadda" .

inspection showed that they had installed some cheap RAM (not worth the price charged) and had *somehow* managed to uninstall/remove the video drivers (nowhere to be found on the machine) .

also , the machine was clogged with temp files , etc , etc . i don't believe that the customer could have been dl'ing/surfing that much in a week's time ...

the dates on some of those files confirm this .

after beating things into shape , the machine purrs right along .

bottom line : caveat emptor .

[jhess56]

Thanks, I wasnt planning on using their geek squad for anything at all...I've had family members interact with them in the recent past with results telling me they are a bunch of idiots. It doesnt make a difference on where I purchase the machine though right? If so what's a good physical shop to grab one from as I would like to go out and pick one up asap vs wait for something to ship and risk having it damaged in transit.

[goldhound]

Thanks, I wasnt planning on using their geek squad for anything at all...I've had family members interact with them in the recent past with results telling me they are a bunch of idiots. It doesnt make a difference on where I purchase the machine though right? If so what's a good physical shop to grab one from as I would like to go out and pick one up asap vs wait for something to ship and risk having it damaged in transit.

I distrust retailers so much that i only buy direct from the OEM, Lenovo in my case, usually get a better deal also, plus only about 35 bucks extra for a two year warranty. Never had one damaged, myself and friends have had 10 delivered in the past year no problems.

I also prefer talking to company sales people, less BS, no pressure, and helpful. No middle man is good!

[CWB]

not to promote a/any particular retailer ... newegg.com is a good outfit ... they have a real customer satisfaction rating of 99.999% .

i have dealt with them for many years and have no complaints .

the customer reviews are somewhat helpful ... but i question the validity of someone who claims to be an "expert" and cannot spell four letter words correctly .

again , a grain of salt is needed/applied .

most people do not bother to write a review of a product and when they do they would tend to write a bad review/rating before writing a good review .

to paraphrase : "to whine and snivel is human , to praise is slim pickin's" .

find some items and post some links .

[jhess56]

I was looking closer at this one

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Gateway+-+Desktop+-+10GB+Memory+-+2TB+Hard+Drive/5619219.p;jsessionid=2BBF29506585B79B4439F0C9B4C868C3.bbolsp-app02-53?id=1218674164674&skuId=5619219

Perhaps a dumb question but...when it says 'speakers-none' does that just mean external speakers? Or does that mean there are no default speakers internally in the tower either and it will not give off any audio unless I hook something up?

When looking at just towers, I forgot I was needing a good microphone/audio to have skype conversations/screen video recordings and a good webcam. I guess I'll just hook up my separate webcam and buy a good micro to use...and hook up external speakers if need be.

[Guest Seagull]

For the price that one seems pretty decent to me. The only thing I would do if I bought that computer is pick up a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate (Full Version) and go to Gateways website download only the drivers I need, like Audio, video, network, etc. and then do a reformat to remove all that factory junk and start with a fresh clean install.

As for the speakers, it just means that the desktop doesn't include speakers with it, just the mouse and keyboard, it will not give off any Audio unless of course you have a set of speakers hooked up. You can easily buy a decent set of speakers for your computer if you don't already have some.

As for a microphone I am going to recommend one I have used for years and used it when I used to played World of Warcraft and needed ventrilo.

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/webcam-communications/microphones/221

This microphone never failed me and works great, someone on vent once told me I sound really clear.

I hope this helps.

[CWB]

yep ... you will need speakers (amplified flavor) .

i noticed that there is no video card ...

as much as the wonders of intel's "video processing in the cpu" have been touted , i still find that a dedicated video card produces better results and speeds things up .

as for "no camera" ...

it is good that they don't include one .

this would inflate the price and not everyone wants/needs a camera .

is there any real solid reason to get something from the company you posted the link to ?

look closely at the warranty information ... if the machine has to "be run past" the boys in the back before it is repaired by an authorized center ... weeeellll .

an example i have seen in the past was with walmart ... many of their televisions (and other electronics) came with no manufacturers warranty .

the repair was strictly at the discretion of walmart .

the shop i worked for was approached by walmart to pick up the local warranty work , the owner declined .

we had a lot of sets/stuff brought in by customers of walmart ... a check of the serial numbers proved what was what ...

"but you guys are warranty repair for sony , mitsubishi , etc ..."

sorry charlie ... read the fine print ... your set/equipment has no manufacturers warranty .

[screen317]

The i7 2600k is a great overclockable processor (easily 4.0+ GHz on air cooling), but keep in mind that for Netflix, the quality is determined by your Internet connection and not your hardware. It's good to have a solid graphics card even if you don't do gaming. This is a very solid card that isn't very expensive (relatively):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130625

Assuming that you get a motherboard with the right PCIe slots, you can always upgrade to a better graphics card later on (when they get cheaper, for instance).

[David H. Lipman]

Personally, I would get a second best CPU and go for the higher end GPU.

[TruthRealm]

I'm surprised to see malwarebytes' staff suggesting 'unlocked' processors (Intel 'Extreme' & 'K-series' and AMD "Black Edition") considering those processors exclude\disable many of the modern inbuilt hardware security extensions upon which several security technologies in Windows depend (:

...anyhow...

try to buy the 'original' or non-disabled parts, i.e. there's really only a single SandyBridge 1155 proc, the i7-2600 ...all of the other 155 sandybridge processors have identical circuitry but have portions of their capabilities factory-disabled or are clocked lower then designed to accomodate presence of non-critical manufacturing defects or need to allow resellers to hit certain pricepoints

from a reliability and efficiency and longevity standpoint you're better off getting a slightly lesser than recommended component (which can perform better over time with newer drivers, OS/SP's et al.) or better yet 'splurging' for a greater initial investment on a better compnent than your current workloads require and having that future "room to grow"

software can always be updated and capacity can always be added, if building yourself or having it custom-built I always do suggest most of your budget should focus on PSU, chasis and motherboard as oppossed to storage, memory or even processing and if buying from retail ensure there's a great, long warranty and several expansion slots, extra io ports, spare power, bays et al. to last awhile

also I second the recommendations above for NewEgg.com or buying from an OEM directly as oppossed to BestBuy or walmart