New work PCs...for gaming?

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Hatch

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#208969 7-Mar-2017 12:04

I've complained about my workplace IT in the past. I work for a non-ICT business, just need PCs for running word, outlook and browsers.

I've seen a few boxes of new equipment for some new PCs. Asus Hero MBs. Gaming RAM. i7 7700k CPUs. 750w PSUs. Single SSD for each PC. No GPUs though. Is there any reason to deploy this type of equipment in an office environment? Or perhaps someone is getting really good deals so this equipment is cost effective.

Brumfondl

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#1732406 7-Mar-2017 12:08

Hopefully getting a good deal, and at those specs I doubt you will be replacing them for a LONG time if you are just using them for Office and internet type stuff.

Dynamic

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#1732412 7-Mar-2017 12:15

Odd choices, in my opinion. A business office normally demands reliability over performance.

We got tired years ago of consumer-grade equipment breaking down and giving all sorts of odd trouble and have stuck with HP Business-grade machines for over a decade. For us, troubleshooting hardware is pretty much a thing of the past and the TCO (total cost of ownership) for clients has been reduced.

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xpd

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#1732422 7-Mar-2017 12:30

IT head is a gamer and gets on with Playtech/CL/PB ? :) And probably scores a few freebie things along the way due to any promotions that Asus etc are running.

Thats the only time Ive seen that sort of gear getting purchased for an office.

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#1732467 7-Mar-2017 13:05

In the process of getting a new workstation at work, my current employer is happily splashing out for a HP workstation with various bells and whistles, but in previous places of employment price mattered more and I've had PB Tech "Gaming" type machines for workstation usage.

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup.

1101

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#1732549 7-Mar-2017 14:52

Some one has made a poor choice for a Office Desktop PC .
Thats about all there is to it , a very strange choice .
I wouldnt like to be the person justifying the cost of those PC's, especially if things go wrong.

Better to go with something lower spec, quiet, cool running . You dont need an i7 to run MS Office
As above , the HP Bus PC's are on average very reliable & last forever .

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#1732555 7-Mar-2017 15:02

Couple of jobs ago, my employer used to just buy basic desktops from Playtech, eventually figured it was better sense to go with Lenovo systems.

One day I did get asked to buy and assemble a high end (for the time) games system.... I looked at the boss funny. Then he said it was for our flight training center up North. That was a fun system to put together and "stress test" ;)

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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Dairyxox

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#1732576 7-Mar-2017 15:14

I'd never use a DIY/Build-your-own type PC for an normal office environment anymore for reasons Dynamic outlines above, plus all the big labels (dell, hp lenovo etc) just do it better for this type of machine (smaller, quieter psu, custom BIOS fan ramping). Doing this seems very old fashioned (stopped happening over 10 years ago).

Probably money involved somewhere, like XPD says (kickbacks), or the guy is building it himself and pocketing a building fee (and/or markup).

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DravidDavid

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#1736374 14-Mar-2017 15:25

Your IT guy is probably aware it's just branding. That gamer memory is still memory and that super duper motherboard is still a motherboard. I've found the gamer stuff sometimes has better warranty periods too.

I've built "gamer" machines in the office before because the hardware was cheaper than the workstation equivalent. We are doing graphics and rendering stuff though. I've never had an issue because I chose components that the manufacturer have extensively tested and say will work with other hardware. It's when you take the best of everything and just expect it to work because it fits that you have issues.

One of my colleagues bought an ROG Gaming laptop because it was priced lower compared to the HP desktop replacement variant and had better specs over-all. He always has a giggle when he fires it up on a Monday morning and the splash screen says GAMING all over it. It's just a gimmick.

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#1736664 15-Mar-2017 09:38

a $400 - $500 motherboard
a 750W PSU : just why for an office PC
a i7 , for word & Outlook ??

No way will this be as cheap as a Branded Business Class PC

Good to see an SSD in it though.
Pricing up new Business laptops & PC's, its like looking at specs from 5 years ago. SSD in OEMs still not common, and often
stupid sizes such as 128Mb or 256Mb if they are installed.
I Shouldnt need remove the old school HD & install a decent SSD myself in Brand name PC's

Quinny

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#1740253 16-Mar-2017 13:02

Was cheaper for us to buy a end of line gaming pc with amazing specs with a high end graphics card than an ugly box business machine and add a card. Boss ended up liking the pretty case and rotating leds too. His son however hates that Dad has an uber pc for doing email and word.

I disagree with view above. I will only buy an i7 and good card no matter the end use. Anything less and if you need to do anything beefy on the machine later you may end up buying again. Buy once and buy right is my view.

Hammerer

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#1740340 16-Mar-2017 14:53

In general - unless you are in an office where circumstances change a lot or you have the luxury of excellent and cheap IT support - then there are good reasons to be conservative:

Buy what you need is usually buying right. Buying what you don't need is called waste. "Definitely a requirement" will save you money over "might be wanted in the future".
Buy at the best price-performance point which is usually only beaten by warehouse clearances of systems released a couple of years ago. It's easier to identify this with individual components, e.g. PriceSpy has $/GB for disk/SSD storage, but it's not that hard with whole systems.
Buy business computers because they come with Windows Pro: avoid computers that come with Windows Home unless that is a vendor option (listed on the specifications for that model) and cheap upgrade.
(edit to add) Standardise wherever possible. But don't standardise at the highest requirement. Instead, standardise at the mean or median to cover most users. Then do the same with the remainder and so on to minimise the number of differing builds/configurations. Standardising saves on support and replacement costs.
Avoid custom builds where you might be the only office with that exact combination of components. Troubleshooting is a lot harder and there are no reference systems to compare with. Models from HP, Lenovo, etc are usually sold in large batches so it is easy to find a) replacements, b) working equivalents if your ones are not working, and if there are common faults then there are likely to be lots of support/help forum posts related to that combination of model and problem.
Buy needed options at the start. It is usually cheaper to buy an option with the system (e.g. buy enough system memory/RAM at the start) than separately as a later upgrade with installation costs. The cheaper that installation and configuration is for you then the more likely that upgrades will be cost-effective. It is usually easier to get problems rectified with new systems due to the warranty and the the seller's desire for repeat business.
Buy vendor options listed in the specs for that model. If you need a dedicated graphics card for design, graphics, simulation or science, then try to buy a model that includes it as a vendor option. Try to avoid adding graphics cards that are not listed as an option on the specifications for that model.
Buy headroom. Try to give yourself the option of head room to upgrade the CPU, memory and storage later on.
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