Personal computers have become a big part of everyday life for many of us. I for one use a PC for work and a PC for play. Currently, my work and my home computers are very similar. I have an Intel Core i7 system at work and an Intel Core i5 at home. Both have 2nd generation “Sandy Bridge” Core processors released by Intel in 2011. For more or less 2 years, I’ve been using these pieces of tech.
I was assigned the i7 work PC sometime mid-2011 and I bought (and built) my i5 home PC later that year. Both are mainstream offerings in the LGA 1155 platform both with P67 chipsets. We might remember that platform as the one that had a SATA II port problem that Intel managed to resolve. Anyways, here are their current specs:
| | Work PC | Home PC |
| | Intel Core i7 system | Intel Core i5 system |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-2600K | Intel Core i5-2500K |
| MB | MSI P67-C45 | Asus P8P67 LE |
| GPU | HIS ATI Radeon HD 5570 1GB | Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 6950 1GB |
| RAM | 4x 4GB Kingston DDR3-1333 | 8GB (2x4GB kit) G-Skill Ripjaws DDR3-1333 |
| SSD / | 256GB SanDisk SDSSDP256G (system) | 2x 1TB Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 (in RAID1, for system and data) |
| HDD | 2TB Seagate Barracuda ST2000DL003 (data) | 1TB Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS (backup) |
| ODD | LG GH24LS70 DVD-writer | Samsung 22x SH-S222 |
| MCR | (none) | card reader |
| casing | Coolermaster Centurion 5 II | Coolermaster 690 II Plus |
| PSU | Coolermaster GX 750 | Coolermaster Silent Pro M700 |
| HSF | (stock intel cpu cooler) | Coolermaster V8 |
| AVR | Izuki 1000w avr | Izuki 1000w avr |
| kybrd | A4tech KRS-720 | A4tech KRS-8520D (KRS-85 w/ mouse) |
| mouse | A4tech OP-620D | A4tech OP-620D (bundled w/ keyboard) |
| monitor | Viewsonic VX2450 23.5” 1920x1080 | LG E2050 20" 1600x900 |
| speakers | (built-in with monitor) | Creative SBS A40 |
| others1 | (none) | A4-Tech 710 (webcam) |
| others2 | (none) | A4tech HS-100 (headset) |
| others3 | (none) | bluetooth 3.0 dongle |
| others4 | MS Office 2010 Home and Office | MS Office 2010 Home and Student |
| OS | Windows 7 Professional 64-bit OEM | Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 FPP |
| service | assembly | (none. I built it myself. Yeah!) |
| Total Cost | PHP 81,000 | PHP 69,000 |
| HW only | PHP 66,000 | PHP 62,000 |
Both have had their hard drives upgraded to the above specs since initial purchase. The i7 used to have an Intel 160GB SSD. The i5 initially had 2 500GB Western Digital Caviar Blue HDDs. Also, the secondary drive of the i5 was only added later, around Q1 of this year.
Cutting costs for the i7
For the work PC, the store originally quoted for a package worth PHP 119,000. Of course, the specs didn’t come from me so I had the supplier revise before the purchase order was made. I don’t remember the exact amount so I checked if I have a copy of the receipt or updated quotation. Apparently, I got the cost go down to around PHP 90,000 to PHP 96,000. I’m not sure if the office availed the discount. If so, then the cost would be PHP 90,000.
The original quote had a Silent Pro M1000, a GTX 550 1GB, an Antec 600, and a UPS. I had those specs downgraded to what they are now. First to go, the power supply was overkill for a non-overclocked system. And contrary to what a many think, and maybe including most PC store guys, the system won’t even fully use those 700 watts of power in daily use. If you consider component aging, a 750 watt capacity could provide some buffer.
Next out, the GTX 550 is, for me, barely a gaming card. And I don’t even need a gaming video card that would require more power. My work involves CPU- and RAM-intensive calculations and some graphics for visualization. A mainstream card would get the job done for me. Maybe integrated graphics, but nah, I was never satisfied with Intel’s integrated graphics and how it would take away some system RAM.
Then I said goodbye was the Antec600. It is a gaming case. I simply needed an ATX case. Even the cheap generic cases would have done. I asked for a Coolermaster Elite series case but they gave me a pricier Centurion 5 II. Store guy said he couldn’t give me an Elite or similarly priced alternative because none had a 3.5” bay adapter for the SSD. Well, what he didn’t know was the Intel SSD had a 3.5” bay adapter. I thank him, though, because I got to use the spare adapter a year later.
Choosing an i5
The resulting home PC is a product of a long wait and enthusiastic research. The wait was actually for the “Bulldozer” AMD FX chips. I’ve had the videocard, casing, and monitor earlier that year with a “temporary” AMD Athlon II X3 system which I later gave to my father to replace our old Intel Pentium D system. Because of the lacklustre performance of the AMD FX chips then and the long resolved “Cougar Point” issue, I went with a Core i5 system.
It was supposed to be a non-overclockable i5-2500 but the PC store didn’t have it in stock. I ended up with the components I have to get my total cost to around PHP 69,000. I set that budget. The current 69k cost stands with the replacement / addition of parts discounting the cost of removed components and not considering inflation and depreciation. I keep a record for this.
The Western Digital HDDs mentioned earlier were also purchased before the main internal upgrades. This was because of the HDD crisis of 2011. I got the pair of 500GB HDDs when I had cash to spare because prices rose almost by the week, even less.
Unlike the work PC, I splurged a bit and the casing, the PSU, and the CPU cooler. Since I had an overclockable i5, I might as well have overclocking components. Funny, though, I haven’t overclocked these.
My favorite part is the HD 6950 1GB. Back in 2010, before the release of the HD 6000 series of Radeons, I thought to myself, I’ll get an HD 6930 if ever. AMD released the HD 6970 and HD 6950. Even later, they released a 1GB version of the HD 6950 and reviews praised it for its value especially at lower resolutions. Since I got myself a 1600x900 monitor, this was definitely the videcard for me. I bought it brand new online and did the meetup with much excitement—this is so far the most expensive card I’ve bought. Alas, performance was awesome even on my Athlon II X3 system. It’s actually a very similar system to the test system about triple-core gaming in Tom’s Hardware which helped me decide getting that X3.
Work and Play (next part)
I’ll make this a multi-part article. I’m just not sure at the moment how many parts it’s going to be.
On the next part, I’ll expound on the work and play uses of these machines. I’ll also get to some value views on the specs and cost of both. At this point, I can say that these two PCs were good decisions and are still very capable machines. I’ll probably keep using them for a couple more years.
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