Need purchasing advice regarding powerful desktops

JohnOrtman

My small home network of several computers is almost ten years old. I am an old fart not on top of leading edge technology, and wish to purchase high end Win-10 desktops with the best of everything (especially reliability) other than graphics cards which only need to be great - not top end gaming cards. Size and form factor is not an issue. My goal is to have what I purchase be viable for another ten years. Compatibility with older peripherals is important also - but not mandatory. Please advise.

ttttt

@JohnOrtman

If you want to limit to Acer's pre-built desktops, there are not much choices from Acer's website. For the gaming side, it is Nitro 50 gaming , N50-610-UR15. For regular desktop, it is Veriton X, VX4665G-I7970S2.
I believe both use PCIe 3.0 motherboard. If you want to future proof, a PCIe 4.0 one is needed.

I know the terminologies may not be clearly understood by one who had not been paying attention to the PC market for a long time. It is important that how you will use your PC and know your requirements. A top of the line PC today will become a below average PC ten years later.

ttttt

@JohnOrtman

I have a ten year old desktop starting to give some unexplainable minor problems. I know sooner or later I may need to replace it and started planning on the requirements. My objective is to get one that is powerful yet very good value. 

You seemed not to worry about budget, but do you know that a high, high end CPU or graphics card can be of a few thousand dollars each?

If you just want a desktop PC and not a network server, then you can probably eliminate the Intel Xenon and AMD EPYC processors. Currently on Intel side i9 series is the top (such as i9  10980XE, a $1000 CPU) , and on the AMD side the Ryzen Threadripper series is the top (such as Ryzen Threadripper 3990X, a $4000 CPU).

Are you going to do a self-build or buy a pre-built?

It's hard tp predict what the PC industry will become ten years from now but I believe people can predict a few years down the road. I believe more PCs with USB 4.0 USB ports and the motherboards using PCIe 4.0 will be popular.

My current plan is as follow (maybe you can use it as reference):

CPU  -  AMD Ryzen 5 3600 ( AM4 socket)

Motherboard  -  PCIe 4.0 motherboard with at least dual M.2 slots so I can use dual M.2 NMVe Gen 4  x4 SSD, also it should have dual PCIe 4.0 x16 slots, one for the graphics card and the other one will allow PCIe M.2 NVme SSD with up to 22110 form factor.
Motherboard should support Wi-Fi 6 (AX )  standard. Probably a  X570 class motherboard now.
It is still nice to have some SATA ports on the motherboard

Memory  -  DDR4 memory no less than 3000 MHz, two slot or 4 slots are O.K., maximum RAM not less than 32 GB (probably will not use more than 10 GB anyway)

Graphics Card -  GTX 1660 Super is just fine ( at least three output ports for dual monitors plus a 4K TV), not a gamer
PSU -  Powerful enough to support graphics card and peripherals is good enough, a standard ATX 550 W PSU is O.K., I don't
want to make the room too hot in the summer
Storage - Using dual M.2 NVMe Gen 4 x 4 SSD of capacity probably 1 TB , one for Windows and the other for Linux
( This kind of storage is like 35 times+ faster than the traditional spinning HDD)

PC chassis - Mid size tower with hinged side panel door for easy servicing( don't even need to take out the screw), as I may swap M.2 NVMe SSD frequently, using the drives like mobile devices. HDD mounting bays are not important, because I may phase out 2.5" SATA3 SSD and not using spinning HDD at all. Chassis should have outlet for a couple case fans. Four USB front panel ports with Type-C ports preferred but not a strict requirement

CPU fan - As I have no intention of overclocking just to gain performance a little, the stock CPU fan should be fine, no intention to use liquid cooler


Note: This is a value objective plan, your requirements should be different. Got any question, feel free to ask.

JohnOrtman

Wow! What a treasure trove of information! Thank you so much for this answer. Sadly, most of it is over my head at the moment - but will be valuable as a "go to" reference for me in the near future. What I was really asking for, but was not specific enough about, was a recommendation regarding presently offered ACER desktop units. Prices have come down to a level that seems comfortable, and as you noted I would rather be well prepared for a stable computing future than pinch pennies. Capability "overkill" in basic capability is OK - just don't need a gaming setup with graphics capability that I would not appreciate anyway.

JohnOrtman

This was a wonderful, valuable response and is very much appreciated - it was just over my head.

ttttt

@JohnOrtman

If you want to limit to Acer's pre-built desktops, there are not much choices from Acer's website. For the gaming side, it is Nitro 50 gaming , N50-610-UR15. For regular desktop, it is Veriton X, VX4665G-I7970S2.
I believe both use PCIe 3.0 motherboard. If you want to future proof, a PCIe 4.0 one is needed.

I know the terminologies may not be clearly understood by one who had not been paying attention to the PC market for a long time. It is important that how you will use your PC and know your requirements. A top of the line PC today will become a below average PC ten years later.

JohnOrtman

Great! That helps a lot! I still have some learning to do, but now feel more like I know where to start. Thank You!