Been trying to decide on an X51 or custom build for a couple of months.
My major decision is form factor, I have to get the box into a tight space where it will be visible the whole time, so it has to look good and not take up too much space, be quiet and unobtrusive. Custom build is such a massive, noisy box by comparison to X51, although I know custom PC's have small forms too - they all look awful.
I’m a bit concerned the X51 won’t be as easily to customise. Ie; if the motherboard blows or power supply / fan goes, how easy / cheap is a replacement. I can see replacing graphic cards, HD’s RAM is same as a custom PC and I’m a competent on that front. I’m also not that comfortable with the external power pack / brick, is this reliable ? I'm sensitive on this because our 'all-in-one' PC just had a new motherboard that was expensive and difficult to replace compared to a standard desktop PC.
The model I’m looking at is ( i5 / 6gb ram / GeForce 640 ) which is all my budget can afford right now. It will mainly be used as a family PC, MS Office, web browsing but also heavy Flight Sim X with multiple add on graphic packs and possibly ‘call of duty’, which is the main reason for buying this - gaming, heavy graphics use.
Any guidance would be really appreciated.
My major decision is form factor, I have to get the box into a tight space where it will be visible the whole time, so it has to look good and not take up too much space, be quiet and unobtrusive. Custom build is such a massive, noisy box by comparison to X51, although I know custom PC's have small forms too - they all look awful.
I’m a bit concerned the X51 won’t be as easily to customise. Ie; if the motherboard blows or power supply / fan goes, how easy / cheap is a replacement. I can see replacing graphic cards, HD’s RAM is same as a custom PC and I’m a competent on that front. I’m also not that comfortable with the external power pack / brick, is this reliable ? I'm sensitive on this because our 'all-in-one' PC just had a new motherboard that was expensive and difficult to replace compared to a standard desktop PC.
The model I’m looking at is ( i5 / 6gb ram / GeForce 640 ) which is all my budget can afford right now. It will mainly be used as a family PC, MS Office, web browsing but also heavy Flight Sim X with multiple add on graphic packs and possibly ‘call of duty’, which is the main reason for buying this - gaming, heavy graphics use.
Any guidance would be really appreciated.