What’s a good price on a BI PC?

M

MonitorMyHome

Young grasshopper
Jan 7, 2015
63
7
Hello

Sorry for the newbie question but I read the wikis buying guide and it appears like going on eBay and doing a daily search for a desktop with the CPUs mention should net me a decent deal. But I’m totally unsure what price points make for a good deal. Is there a reference to a price range I should be looking at? Obviously the specs differ but a general range per CPU would help me ballpark it.

Thanks
 
What I see typically is i5-4570 / i5-4590 in the area of $100 and the i7-4790 around $200. This is with varying amounts of RAM and HDD space, and some version of Windows may or may not be included on the system. If you can get a good configuration for under those price points, then I'd say jump on it. Just beware of the "S" and "T" low-power versions of the processors that often sneak into the search results.

The last time I ordered a machine, it was "Dell OptiPlex 7020 SFF | i7-4790 3.6GHz | 12GB | 500GB | Win 8.1" for $219 (+ tax). It was a little bit over my target price, so not a great deal, but it was good enough. Only after it was delivered did I notice the seller was dell-official-store-usa-refurbished which usually isn't very competitive with their prices, but at this particular moment, they were.
 
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It looks like the big difference btw those two is really one comes with Windows and the other does not come with an OS but has an optical drive. I'm guessing it's bet to opt for the one with the OS since optical drives aren't very usual these days.
 
I believe they both have an optical drive (which can be swapped out for an SSD adapter if you want). The HP details does say "COA: Windows 8 Pro" so assuming that is true it would have a product key on the sticker which you can use to activate Windows 10.

I don't know if one of these systems is better than the other. In theory one could have two 3.5" HDD bays. I don't know if either of them does, though. You'd need to look that up.
 
Dells refurb site usually has some good deals. Just be sure to read the specs as some don’t come with the OS. 40% off sale till midnight
code ”LUCKY13DEAL”

Example:
  • Processor: Intel Core i5 Quad (i5-4590) 3.30 GHz
  • Memory: 4 GB
  • Hard Drive: 320 GB
  • OS: Windows 8.1
  • Chassis: Small Form Factor


Was: $329.00

Your Price $189.00

This one is $113 after coupon.

Dell Refurbished Dell OptiPlex 7020

If you miss it just sign up for their emails. Have a sale every 3-4 days.
 
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The i7-4790 boxes on the dellrefurbished site right now go down to $180 with coupon. That is a good deal. Those Optiplex 7020 SFF cases only have one 3.5 inch drive bay by the way.
 
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I saw the Dell deal but they are all the smaller Optiplex 7020 chassis. I felt like I can get an i7 EliteDesk 800 from eBay for about the same price and have more expansion/HD slots.

Not sure if the better warranty from Dell is more important but it feels to me like you need room for at least an SSD for your OS and one if it two purple drives. Not sure if I can wrangle all that into the Optiplex 7020. Correct me if I’m wrong here.
 
bp2008 said:
The HP details does say "COA: Windows 8 Pro" so assuming that is true it would have a product key on the sticker which you can use to activate Windows 10.
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I checked on this with the seller. The COA sticker doesn’t have the key on it.
 
MonitorMyHome said:
I saw the Dell deal but they are all the smaller Optiplex 7020 chassis. I felt like I can get an i7 EliteDesk 800 from eBay for about the same price and have more expansion/HD slots.

Not sure if the better warranty from Dell is more important but it feels to me like you need room for at least an SSD for your OS and one if it two purple drives. Not sure if I can wrangle all that into the Optiplex 7020. Correct me if I’m wrong here.
Click to expand...
I picked one up and swapped it with an old case I had laying around.
 
Lostmutt said:
I picked one up and swapped it with an old case I had laying around.
Click to expand...
I for one do not have any unused cases. My wife barely tolerates my boxes of cables. I think whatever I buy needs to just be read for swap out of the OS HDD for an SSD and room for a surveillance drive or maybe two.
 
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With one of these you can replace the DVD drive with an SSD, leaving the 3.5" bay open for a mechanical HDD. I've purchased that exact listing myself (12.7mm) and verified that it worked in an OptiPlex 7020 SFF.

I believe the HP EliteDesk 800 G1 SFF however has two 3.5" bays, one 2.5" bay, and the DVD drive. I'm not sure how they fit all of that in to the case when Dell managed much less. Maybe one of the 3.5" is shared with the 2.5"?? I didn't investigate too thoroughly.
 
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bp2008 said:
With one of these you can replace the DVD drive with an SSD, leaving the 3.5" bay open for a mechanical HDD. I've purchased that exact listing myself (12.7mm) and verified that it worked in an OptiPlex 7020 SFF.

I believe the HP EliteDesk 800 G1 SFF however has two 3.5" bays, one 2.5" bay, and the DVD drive. I'm not sure how they fit all of that in to the case when Dell managed much less. Maybe one of the 3.5" is shared with the 2.5"?? I didn't investigate too thoroughly.
Click to expand...
I think I saw somewhere that the 3.5" can be used for either 1 x 3.5" drive or 2 x 2.5" drive. In any case, I feel asleep before you guys replied last night so I think I missed out on the Dell sale. But regardless I feel a lot more informed now (thanks to you guys) to make a better decision overall and there will always be the next sale.

Also learned that, in some cases, the Windows product key is in the BIOS even though a HDD or OS isn't provided you can still get Windows.

Right now I've got my eye on some machines that currently being bid on. I'll just keep an eye out for some deals on i7-4790, i7-6700, and i5-8500 computers which all seem to run in that $150-$250 ballpark and have enough juice for 8+ cameras. Hopefully I can snag something like the EliteDesk 800 or a Optiplex 7020 and use that HDD tray you pointed me at.

Do you guys know if the Optiplex 5060 is also a decent chassis?
 
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MonitorMyHome said:
Ok I got a HP EliteDesk 8000 SFF i7-4790 3.6Ghz, 8MB for $155 (with tax $165)

I has a 500 GB HDD and Windows Pro, not sure if it's 8 or 10 but not either the OS or HD really matter much.

HP EliteDesk 800 G1 Small Form Factor (500GB, Intel Core i7-4790, 3.6GHz, 8GB) | eBay

I bought it already but how did I do?
Click to expand...

Congrats on finding a computer. I say if it works flawlessly for a few years then it's a great deal. How's that?
Good luck integrating the rest of your system. Will look forward to reading about your success story.


@bp2008 - Appreciate all your advice on selecting a BI host. I read through your input on the BI H/W Support Wiki and based on your calculator, my planned system is at 360 MP/S (6 cams x 4 MP x 15 FPS, inflated numbers that will be a max value). I just wonder if getting a 4th Gen i5 or i7 processor is going to keep the system running for the next few years. I'll have to defer to your expertise because I have no experience with this. I favor the HP Elitedesk SFF because it has the two 3.5" HDD option. I contacted HP and Dell regarding their Optiflex and looked at their User's Manuals. The Optiflex HD drive bay looks like a pain to work with. The Elitedesk seems more traightforward and flexible. Didn't mean to hijack the OP's thead but figured this discussion covers the same information. Thanks!
 
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