Forum Thread: Top Quality vs Money

What are you looking to use your PC for?

As i mention above, I will be using it mainly for hacking, some gaming also, and i think that in the future i will host some websites with malicious code for white hat goals!

I have a almost 12 year old innocent looking laptop I use for hacking and it works great; I've upgraded the RAM over the years and recently slapped a SSD drive in there.

But I have another laptop that i use for my lab / VM's,etc. (Quality Assurance Laptop).

I think you're fine with normal quality parts unless you're a Gamer and the games you play need that hardware.

I'd say , save your money, and with the money saved, maybe even pick up a used, older laptop on ebay and add some ram and SSD. Then you'll have your "base" and a mobile laptop, like if you wanted to do some PenTesting somewhere, etc.

That was what i'm thinking about, as i will need a pc, laptop, nexus device, and a Rasperri Pi, and even if i don't game, i will still need a good cpu, gpu, and ram (as i will use it for password cracking too)! But my comparison, is like between fiat and ferrari, on a town road, they will have the same speed (because of limits), but the ferrari can go on the same road 999 times, and the fiat top up at 200 times, before problems and damages over time start appearing!

You don't need top quality parts for hacking, quality parts are fine.

Top quality parts are for future proofing as i stated, not for hacking. The problem is that i don't know if normal quality parts can keep up for around 5 years!

The most reliable PCs are those that are treated right.

Regular quality components (with emphasis on the 'regular'; don't buy shit) should work fine. If I were you, I would spend less money on buying top on the line components, and more money on a solid PC case that has a form factor that supports good airflow and a cooling system to go with it. I'm not a fan of water cooling systems myself. I prefer a good quality thermal compound for the CPU, and nice air cooling.

When it comes to future proofing, you don't need top of the line components. Look at the celeron processor family. Its still supported and its been years since their release. The best way to future proof, is to come to terms with the fact that future proofing doesn't really exist, at least not in the traditional sense. Learning to buy components that you are happy with replacing every year or 2 is a much better way of future proofing your system. Don't spend money on the top components now that you plan on keeping for 5 years, only to want to replace them in 2 or 3. Buy mid range components that are current, and you'll be a lot happier when you don't feel bad replacing them in a couple of years (not that you would need to necessarily, but it's an option) .

Hope this helps you in making your decisions.

I've built my computer 5 years ago for $600 because I got a killer CPU/MOBO combo deal at Microcenter. It's totally future proof, even today it smokes most computers. My suggestion is to find a happy medium. Don't spend $3,000 on just PC components, because quite frankly, the price/performance ratio does not justify. Realize that Moore's Law of exponential growth does not apply anymore and died last year. Which means components are starting to plateau. Now is a perfect time to buy.

I have a few simple things I do because from my experience building computers and getting burned I learned that there are some things you just don't skimp out on. That's CPU/Mobo. I personally trust Intel/Asus. Often these have sweet combo deals as well. Do some research and look up CPU benchmarks to see price/performance to see what you really want out of it. Try to get a CPU with the "K" at the end of the model number as these are built for overclocking and a little more hardier. Also, I always go with Kingston RAM as it's a lifetime warranty. No need for 32GB, 16 works. Also, don't worry about clock speed. The average will be fine. Do research on GPU benchmarks that prioritize price/performance as well. Don't be a fool about it.

If you look for a good combo deal (I highly suggest Microcenter if you have one in your area) and strike while the iron is hot, i have no doubts that you can get a high quality computer for $1,500 that will last 5-6 years, easily. If not probably $2,000. Either way, building a computer is a process and you will learn what works for you. Just plan ahead and be happy with your decision. Always have backup money in case you do something stupid like spill coffee on your mobo (i only speak from experience)

I will reply with my full thought in some minuets, but i will type part of it now, i want asus mobo because of the quality, i look at the other motherboard manufactures, and i see mixed reviews, so it depends on chance, most of them died after 8 months, or they didn't boot/POST, but when i look at Asus, omg. They are amazing guys! They care about quality. (also, some mobos fry the cpu when they die, i don't want that to happen to me.)!

For the CPU, i will get 5820k (6 cores), you may think that it's super high end, and very expensive, but.....it's cheaper than the 6700k (4 cores), and around the same ghz when overclocked! So why not to get 6 cores, same speed, for less money ?!!!! Because people will think that i spent a lot for it ? they will be surprised when they know that it's cheaper and better in the same time than the top "non-extreme" line cpu.

And for the ram, i want to get 32gb in quad channel, because i may need to upgrade to 64 gb in the future! (when i reach the time i make my own malicious website, and host it on this pc!).

I think that the most expensive part of my build, is the 2 monitor i will get, if i got them at the resolution of 1080p. and size of 23.8", they both (together) will cost around 280$ , but if i got them 1440p, 27", they both (together) will cost 900$, big difference! of course 1440p is better, but i don't know if it worth that huge price difference!!!

Also, i can't decide between 1 or 2 or 3 GTX 980 ti's (for password cracking), i think i won't need 3, as i'm not a company, so i will choose between 1 or 2, the case/mobo/cooling system/psu changes if i chose to get 2, so i need to choose right now.

(Help me please in deciding!)

I'm waiting on fire to hear your opinion!
I'm currently re-configuring this build, i will share it very soon.

IMHO, it's wasteful to go all out like that. But hey, if you're loaded and have the money, then go for it. It just drives the higher prices lower for people like me :)

Oh wait, i'm not any rich, i just saved money for years! lol! i'm just like you :) But the difference that you built a pc as soon as you got some money, and i waited years with hard working to save for a good pc!

We are in the same boat, bro :D Btw, when i get a good gpu, i will offer nullbyte members to crack their hashes on my pc :) I think about others :D We all are one ^^

you should charge for that stuff at a small price like a dollar an hour or something.

for the nullbyte guys ? absolutely no. Do they ask for money when they teach me ? no.

just an idea sorry for upsetting you just thought you would like abit of an economic boost.

If that's the case, that you saved for years, it seems like a very emotional decision. Personally, I don't like making money based decisions when I'm emotional. I overspend. I think it's great to want to help members crack their hashes, but how much is it really going to help, I wonder? Is 3 days opposed to 5 days really worth it?

At this point, you probably will save more money just buying an Alienware computer and have a warranty and no worries. You don't seem to want to DIY so this is probably the next best thing.

If i wanted to waste my money, I'd rather spend the money to fly to to DEFCON, buy $2,000 worth of cool stuff and use my really crappy computer to learn everything. Haha, that's just me...

i think i wil go to those places when i join a good job, maybe after i ginish bachelor, as then, it will be easier to afford those things!

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/bxGyvK

that is the one im buying i think it will do it is a lot (to young for a job so thats a ton for me) but it will be good to game host (might just make a server) and crack remember you have ddr5 ram on your graphic cards which can help to crack stuff like this.

we need to have a distributed computing thing on here we all have ba pcs and overnight/jobs/school we do not use them so why not have a forum saying you get x amount of time to use it then you have to reapply to use it agian it could even be 10 dollars to use or something like that to make revenue for the site.

the first note about your build is that if you want to crack passwords with it, you should get a reference design cooler (gpu), also i advice you to get nvidia one, like gtx 970, lower power consumption, and less heat.

Also, the evga g2 line is much higher quality!

AuU Monster, i have some advices/opinion about your build, do you want to hear them ?

yes i would love them i have never built a pc before. plz note that this will not just be for hacking it will also be for student work, gaming, and just dicking around on the internet. what is the real difference in between the reference design cooler and the asus one? msg me about you ideas for the pc thx