Best hardware for a replacement desktop?

[Paul Pathiakis]

    On Monday, July 22, 2019, 3:26:37 PM EDT, Aryeh Friedman <aryeh.friedman at gmail.com> wrote:  
 
 On Mon, Jul 22, 2019 at 3:01 PM Paul Pathiakis <pathiaki2 at yahoo.com> wrote:

>
> On Monday, July 22, 2019, 2:01:25 PM EDT, Robert Huff <roberthuff at rcn.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>
> Aryeh Friedman writes:
>
> >  > You need an uninterruptible power supply (UPS):
> >  >
> >  > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uninterruptible_power_supply
> >
> >  Already on my shopping list but half the problem is the machine is
> >  a name HP and looking at the specs I have likely put more demand on
> >  the power supply then I can supply if there any drop in voltage.
>
>    I'd be interested to hear how you do this ... but assuming it's
> true your solution has two parts:
>
>    1) the UPS to deal with the "power hiccups".  Before you buy,
> check ports/sysutils to see what models are covered by available
> software.
>    2) a more vigorous internal power supply.  I have no idea if it's
> even possible to upgrade HP products short of having HP do it (and
> maybe not even then).
>
>
>            Respectfully,
>
>
>                Robert Huff
>
>
>
> ## Adding to this....
>
> If this is more than just a low end server, you may want to buy a UPS with
> a pure sine wave vs a simulated sine wave.  They are  a little more
> expensive, but tend to be better in controlling spikes/dirty power.
>
> As for a new desktop, if you're reasonably inclined, build your own.  At
> this point in time, steer clear of Intel and look at AMD's products. Their
> new Ryzen 3000 series kicks butt and is about 50-75% of the cost.  Go with
> an X570 motherboard (it has PCIe 4.0) and an AM4 socket. The compatibility
> with the AM4 socket looks to be good for about 3-4 years vs intel's "new
> cpu new socket -> new motherboard" mentality.  Depending on your graphics
> needs either a separate card that can be upgraded or go with the new AMD
> Ryzen/Navi APUs with the graphics in the chip... (low end but good for word
> processing, etc NOT gaming - separate card if you game).  With the new AM4
> socket the APUs are an inexpensive alternative to buying separate graphics
> and CPU and when you go beyond the abilities on either just buy the latest
> APU.
>
> Typically, the new Ryzen chips also consume about 1/3 less power too.
>
> So, for about $500 you can buy a SERIOUS powered machine with an upgrade
> path versus being locked into a canned vendor like Dell or HP.
>

Here is what I have in mind so far (note I *REFUSE* to buy mail
order/online so this is what is in my local MicroCenter):

CPU (Ryzen 3600 $200.00 65 watts w/ fan):
https://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.aspx?Ntk=all&sortby=match&N=4294966995+4294819840+4294810797+4294819827+4294818783+4294815097&myStore=true

Motherboard (x570 AMD 4 ATX $170):
https://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.aspx?Ntk=all&sortby=match&N=4294966996+4294810816+4294818900+4294818892+4294810798+4294817766+4294818045+4294818894+4294810687+4294815404+4294818877+4294815402+39&myStore=true

Power supply (850 watt $130 ATX):
https://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.aspx?Ntk=all&sortby=match&N=4294966654+4294818900+795+4294817377+780+4294817027&myStore=true

Case (minitower ATX $75):
https://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.aspx?Ntk=all&sortby=match&N=4294964318+4294821211+4294821002+4294811319+749+4294821195+4294821206+4294821207&myStore=true

RAM (16 GB DDR4-3200 $70):
https://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.aspx?Ntk=all&sortby=match&N=4294966965+4294817445+4294820310+37&myStore=true

Reuse keyboard/mouse/video card/monitor

Total: $645
Aryeh M. Friedman, Lead Developer, http://www.PetiteCloud.org
##  Personally I agree with everything you have here.  MB maker is a preference so I'm not spouting mine. :)
However, even when you settle on graphics and storage media, check the power consumption.  I've been going lower and lower on my PSUs.  I'm down to using 550-650W now and will, in time, probably, go lower but with a higher efficiency something in the 80-Gold or higher.
Also, you don't need to buy a PSU with 800W.  It's just overkill.  Calculate (there's a lot of online calculators) how much your machine will draw.  Take that and add 33%.  Otherwise, you're spending extra money for nothing.

I'm running an Nvidia 1070ti, AMD 2700X, 16 GB RAM, etc.  At the wall, my peak seems to be only using about 430W (???).  Of course, my storage is M.2 NVME... 1TB chip, so I really don't have a lot of draw anywhere on the box.
As always, have fun with it. :D
P.