New machine to last the next 4 years?

[Karnageddon]

My honest advice: considering the amount of money you're spending on this, you'd be better off waiting a couple of months (hopefully) till i9's are released and then make a decision based on the price. If you want something to last you for 4 years, I think 6 cores would last you that long since it will allow software to slowly catch up to the hardware. It may also be a better buy for you.

[coldside-digital]

Unfortunately it's not really that simple. My current computer, a Toshiba laptop, is on it's last legs. Constantly over heating, even after cleaning the vents. And the hardware limitations have forced me to put a project on hold until I can get a new workstation.

I should probably mention too that it is all Australian dollars.

[Karnageddon]

Well that does make it more complicated and I should have noticed you were Australian. In that case, I agree with you on the Enspire, it will be easier to upgrade if you choose to do so in the future.

[coldside-digital]

What do you think of the video card? It is the only non-Quadro option avaliable through their online configuration.

[imashination]

Those 2 windows machines look terrible to me. They're both $5000 machines and all they have are budget gfx cards? Shop around somewhere smaller and local. For $2000 you should be able to get a 3ghz i7, 12 gigs of ram, a TB drive and a geforce 285 gtx.

[coldside-digital]

The issue is that the manufacturers listed are really the only places I can get finance. I desperately need a new machine, and I can afford to pay it off monthly, but can't afford the lump sum up front.

[biliousfrog]

sort out your own finance then you can buy from anywhere ;)

[olson]

What a waste of money. Spend $500-1000 and get a quad core with 8GB of memory and a 1TB drive. Use that for two or three years and then do it again with newer components down the line. Trying to buy something that will "last" for four years is a bad idea in the first place. By the time a few years rolls around you could build another budget system that will be faster than your hot rod machine today, only it'll cost you half as much in the long run. If you're comfortable with building your own from components I can help you select the parts you'll need. Its not very difficult which is why so many people do it all the time. Cheers!

[imashination]

Agreed. Youre much much better off buying a $1000 machine every 18 months or so. Youd buy this now, be happy with it, but then 2 years down the line your computer will be getting left in the dust by cheap 400 dollar mom and pop email machines.

If you have control over what machine you buy, buying a single machine and wanting it to last you until 2014 (!!) is the worst thing you could do. In 2013 I'll be running my nice 128 core computer, while youre sat weeping over your five thousand dollar 4 core.

Or to put it into another perspective, its the equivalent of you waiting until today before upgrading your 500mhz, 512 meg computer.

If money is a problem, like Olson says, sort it out yourself. Go to a bank, say you want $1000-$1500 for a new computer and do it that way.

[coldside-digital]

Thanks for th suggestions guys. I think I'll have to do a bit more research. The reason the enspire digital finance jumped out at me is that it includes insurance for theft and damage, as well as the three year manufacturer warranty. And you can upgrade anytime if need be.

[Szos]

There is no such thing as a "future-proof" computer, so trying to over-buy something now, just so it will last 4+ years really makes no sense and will waste a lot of money.

Since the systems you posted are in Australian Dollars, I have no idea how they translate to USD, but I would not buy a machine for more than ~$1000 USD or so (depending upon if you already have monitors and such which you could reuse).

If it lasts for only 2 years, then so be it - but chances are even in 2 years it would still be quite fast and might just need some more RAM or a new videocard.

[705]

daniel, you can convert the numbers to usd for a better comparison, and also putting each price for each component would be better. and also i dont think imac is not a good idea for a long term investment, its not upgradable. go for macpro if you really need to go osx.

[coldside-digital]

There isn't really any point converting the currency as I am Australian, so I use Australian dollars. OSX isn't a need, more so a desire. And I find the mac pros to be ridiculosly priced compared to a faster machine from enspir digital. Even converting AUD to USD, I can gaurantee that you would probably be able to get the same systems cheaper in the US. Unfortunately prices for computer hardware here aren't favourable.

I will check with my bank about getting a loan, and see how much the repayments are. It would be cheaper in the long run.

Any reccomended parts for a future upgradable computer?

[imashination]

Any reccomended parts for a future upgradable computer?

Dont bother. With the exception of some more ram or harddrive space, youre more likely to just replace the whole thing at the same time. In 18 months there will be a new cpu socket and a new ram type; which in turn will mean a new motherboard. At this point youd likely upgrade the gfx card too, which will need a new psu with 10 pins instead of 6.

Essentially, plan on keeping your case, harddrives, screen and keyboard/mouse. Even then, youll keep the harddrives just as spare space because your new upgrade will at that point include a 2TB SSD drive which is 100x faster than the spinning harddrives.

[Szos]

Do you have ANY money to buy a computer without getting a loan?

It just seems to mean that financing something like a computer is an awful way to spend your money - mostly because of how fast technology changes and how quickly a computer becomes nearly worthless, yet you'll be stuck paying interest for quite some time.

Do you have at least enough money to buy a barebones Core2Quad PC with 4GBs of RAM?? (it's amazing that in this day and age, I am calling a quad core CPU "barebones")

You could get a great system for ~$700 USD - which if you do a direct conversion using today's exchange rate is about $750 Australian dollars.
The fact that I am seeing you post up systems that cost about $4000 Australian dollars - which is about $3700 USD - is blowing me away. I would never even think about spending that much on a system.

[coldside-digital]

I have about $800 'spare' savings.

I'm not looking for a computer that will always be ahead of the time, I'm just looking for something to tide me over. Until about 8 months ago, I was using a Dell laptop with 2gb of ram, single core, and onboard graphics to do all my work. Like I said, it's not that I want the best, I just want something I will feel comfortable with.

This is not my first computer either, I have had many in the past, and just had to deal with their shortcomings and change my work around it. Not until now have I really been able to financially afford to go all out.

Nor am I a 'newbie' who thinks an awesome computer will make me a better artist. But it will make my job easier.

One of the reasons I want to go with financing through enspire digital is they give me the option to upgrade when the new technology comes out, without cancelling my current lease, or paying any extra. There is also the added benefit of insurance against theft and any damge, be that accidental or caused by another force, and it is included in the monthly price.

[coldside-digital]

Multiple post

[coldside-digital]

Multiple post

[olson]

I have about $800 'spare' savings.

Here's what I would do with $800 if I were a student and needed a computer for CG study. Its got a 3.4GHz quad core, 8GB of memory, 1TB hard drive, and a half decent video card. Priced on Newegg in USD but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be that much more in Australia. If its too much then a 2.6GHz processor would still be fast enough and save $100.


ASUS M4A77TD AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
$84.99

PNY Optima 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model
$163.98 ($81.99 each)

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor Model
$199.99

Antec Sonata III 500 Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power
$109.99

Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare
$84.99

LITE-ON Black 24X DVD Writer Black SATA Model iHAS-324-98 - Retail
$31.99

HIS H467PS1GH Radeon HD 4670 iSilence4 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready
$102.99

Total
$778.92

Throw in a student copy of Windows 7 for $30 and you're home free. Forget the financing and future proof dreaming. That's just throwing your money away. If you need a monitor too then get a cheap 22" LCD, there are tons out there for about $125. In two years, do this again with current components. You'll spend less money overall and have a decent system for all the way through school instead of a kick ass system for the first year or two which will seem slow in comparison by the end of school. Cheers!

[Szos]

^ that's looks like the perfect build for the OP.

And I must be missing something concerning the whole idea of "insurance" and "theft" and stuff like that... it's a computer for pete's sake - every component you buy (AFAIK) will already come with a certain amount of warranty, and I don't get why someone would be worried about theft. If someone breaks into your place, isn't there home-owner's insurance or something like that that would take care of it?

Also your statement "option to upgrade when the new technology comes out, without cancelling my current lease, or paying any extra" sounds like a scam to me. How is it possible that a company lets you upgrade your PC without extra cost? Either there is some fine-print in there that you aren't reading, or they are over-charging you so much to begin with, that they have already factored in some upgrade costs that you are already paying for.

Something smells fishy with that whole deal... take a really good look at the fine-print before you sign anything.

[coldside-digital]

Think of it basically as a lease. When I'm done with the new machine, I return it, order a new one, and keep paying the monthly payments. But, at the end of the lease, the system is mine. And the insurance isn't so much for theft, but the damage. Generally, the insurance is longer (the length of my lease) than the parts manufacturer warrenty.

[Szos]

Leasing a computer? :surprised

Listen dude, do what you think is the right thing, but this sounds to me like an absolutely horrible way to go financially. For a business I could see the advantages - keeps upfront costs down and ensures an always up-to-date computer, but that only makes sense in my mind when you own hundreds or thousands of PCs and the cost to update them could be quite high. For someone that is going to school? yeah - sounds like a ginormous waste of money in my mind.

Oh yeah, and just to prove my point... that $4700 Dell that you posted, will end up costing you $7200 after the 3 years ($50 a week for 36 months).

That $5100 Enspire system would have cost you $9200 at the end of 4 years.

That's INSANE.

You could have bought a small render farm for that amount of money.

[olson]

Leasing a computer like that in your situation is the dumbest thing you can probably do and a complete waste of money that you'll probably need for other things as a student. Like they say, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.

[imashination]

Forget about insurance. Any computer you buy will have a 12 month warranty on it as a minimum and after that if something breaks, just get it repaired. After 12 months the prices of the parts you have in there will have plummeted. If the $400 AUS graphics card dies, youre not saving $400 on the replacement; at that point an equivalent replacement will be $100 at most.

And the insurance isn't so much for theft, but the damage
From wild rampaging kangaroos?

at the end of the lease, the system is mine.
Congratulations, you own a computer worth $50

As has been mentioned, the idea of paying out $9000+ when you could get a short 6 month loan and buy the same thing for less than $2000 is just lunacy.

[coldside-digital]

Thanks for the suggestions. I haven't set my heart on the financing, I was just pointing out the benefits. I have yet to go to the bank to find out about loans due to my work hours, but it's certainly on the top of my list. Expect another topic soon by me asking how the hell to build a computer :p

[vlad]

Thanks for the suggestions. I haven't set my heart on the financing, I was just pointing out the benefits. I have yet to go to the bank to find out about loans due to my work hours, but it's certainly on the top of my list. Expect another topic soon by me asking how the hell to build a computer :p

Well if a computer store offers that kind of leasing/financing, chances are it will better for them than for you down the road. :deal:
And about building your own system, you'll probably find out that it's much simpler than you might imagine. Plus once you get familiar with the innards of your computer, you'll be able to fix 95% of the hardware related problem yourself, saving time and money all the while.

[Bullit]

What counts is the $$$ numbers. Mathematics. Compare loan to a leasing.
Artists need to know numbers too.

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