New PC - Critique my build.

[Silverbullet767]

Interesting, I might make a hybrid of the 2, just going on wattage alone, the power supply I had chosen is more powerful while still being cheaper. Beast of a graphics card you have there too! I take it there's not much between the i5 and i7 in performance? Maybe it's just the marketing playing tricks on me, but I would've thought the i7 would dwarf the i5 in performance.

It looks like I have much more homework to do selecting components. I just hope by the time I'm finally happy with my selections the latest and greatest thing doesn't come out and change everything again!

[Meoricin]

Silverbullet767 said:

Interesting, I might make a hybrid of the 2, just going on wattage alone, the power supply I had chosen is more powerful while still being cheaper. Beast of a graphics card you have there too! I take it there's not much between the i5 and i7 in performance? Maybe it's just the marketing playing tricks on me, but I would've thought the i7 would dwarf the i5 in performance.

It looks like I have much more homework to do selecting components. I just hope by the time I'm finally happy with my selections the latest and greatest thing doesn't come out and change everything again!

PSU brand/quality is more important than headline wattage figure - plus, more than 650w wouldn't be necessary for the build.

As for i5 vs i7, there will be no difference whatsoever in gaming - the only differences would start to show when running processor-heavy, multi-threaded applications. Video encoding, 3D modelling - that sort of stuff. If you do do that sort of thing, it's worth considering, but for pure gaming the i5 is more than enough. The GPU will bottleneck before the CPU is right up until the top-end stuff (690, Titan etc).

In a similar vein, this is also why I've only picked 8GB RAM. Games simply don't need that much.

[MintyChris]

770's certainly are good cards. Just picked up one.

http://uk.asus.com/Graphics_Cards/NVIDIA_Series/GT...

Will handle anything you throw at it and it runs very quiet with its 2x fans. Gfx cards are always at the centre of any gaming build. This is where you should focus but ofcoarse you can upgrade it easily at any point.

[Silverbullet767]

I have been reading up on claiming VAT back through my company.

As I'm on the flat rate scheme it has to be a capital asset of over £2000 to qualify.

I'm in 2 minds whether to spend that much or not, on one hand I'll get £400 back (in corp tax relief) meaning the total cost will be £1600. But on the other hand, what kind of monster will I be able to build for 2k and will it be overkill? Most likely yes!

So! with that in mind, what kind of system could I build for as close to, but not under £2k? (think the opposite of the price is right!)

First pass is this. Monster?

[mikef]

If I had to spend £2K incl VAT on a CAD machine I would probably be looking at a Xeon e5-series processor, although the i7 you have there is a lot of bang for your buck.

Also, having RMA'ed a bunch of them I would not be disposed toward OCZ SSDs. Maybe Samsung 840 Pro and Intel 520 or (more expensive) DCS 3700? For most desktops a 240 GB SSD should be fine plus slower spinning storage, say a 4TB WD or Hitachi job.

Is 2400 Memory going to make a real difference to the work you do compared to good quality 1600? Personally I'd put the money into a better quality SSD.

I have a blu-ray burner drive and used it once. It's just too slow to write a 50GB backup disk compared with, say, a 64GB Kingston USB3 data stick.

Edited by mikef on Wednesday 19th June 21:44

[Silverbullet767]

I'm going wrong in all the same areas again arent I!?

It's going to take a bit of thought, but I think with a super build like this, I won't need to worry about it for a good few years!

To convince the OH on the other hand is another thing...

ETA: Just noticed the blu-ray drive is external, not much use inside a PC then.

Edited by Silverbullet767 on Wednesday 19th June 22:56

[Tonsko]

Isn't the 780 just a rebadged item and not worth the premium?

[Zato]

Have a look at be quiet! Power supplies. They are truely silent. I have purchased too many power supplies that claim they are quiet but sound like flymos on heat.

http://www.bequiet.com/en/powersupply/301

My one above

Edited by Zato on Thursday 20th June 07:32

[Silverbullet767]

Zato said:

Have a look at be quiet! Power supplies. They are truely silent. I have purchased too many power supplies that claim they are quiet but sound like flymos on heat.

http://www.bequiet.com/en/powersupply/301

My one above

Edited by Zato on Thursday 20th June 07:32

I'll have a look, although all of the components have to be purchased from the same supplier to qualify, I can't chop and change.

[nickd01]

I bought a high-spec development workstation from eBuyer back in March and went for:

i7 3820 3.6Ghz (Not a "K" series so that it will run the VMWare extensions but can't be overclocked)
64Gb RAM
4 Samsung 256GB Pro SSD's
Fractal Design R4 case (Nice and discrete)
Corsair 650W PSU
MSI X79A-GD65(8D) motherboard.
Plus cooler, cables and a basic graphics card etc.

It was only £1500 inc VAT and it goes like a rocket. 1 SSD for boot, and the other 3 in a Raid Array. If I did it again, I'd possibly buy a dedicated RAID card for the SSD's and maybe a better graphics card.

This might suit you; you'd just need to add a better graphics card. I'm not sure the motherboard is "loved" in the enthusiast world for overclocking (Check reviews) but it didn't bother me.

[RobCrezz]

Tonsko said:

Isn't the 780 just a rebadged item and not worth the premium?

No, thats the 770 (which is a 680 rebranded and clocked higher). The 780 is a slightly crippled GTX Titan - a very good card.

[130R]

If you are getting a huge CPU cooler like the Noctua NH-D14 or Phanteks PH-TC14PE (which is the one I have) double check the RAM will actually fit, i.e. get LP RAM, also that it will fit in the case. On the GPU - I think the 7950 is still probably the best bang for your buck but I haven't really looked at the new Nvidia cards much (apart from the 780)

[tim2100]

Nice position to be in!

As above avoid the OCZ SSD's they have a bad reliability reputation. I went for a toshiba HD5D SSD. Very very quick.

Don't forget a high quality mechanical keyboard and mouse. They make a huge difference. I never thought about it before and always had cheap sets. I went for high quality gaming equipment and it is far superior. When back at work it feels very uncormfortable using the standard Dell Keyboard & mouse.

[Tonsko]

As another guide, just had this:

CASE: CoolerMaster Silencio 551 Mid-Tower Silent Gaming Case Black featured front USB 3, Internal sound damping. [+21]
CD: 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+/-R/+/-RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE. (BLACK Colour)
CPU: Intel(R) Core™ i5-4670K Quad Core 3.40 GHz 6MB Cache LGA1150 + HD Graphics ***Overclockable XXX***
CS_FAN: Max. 3 x 120mm Silent Case Cooling Fans in selected case key areas for ultra silent operation [+23] (500-1,200 RPM SHARKOON Silent Eagle SE 120mm Modular Fans with Dimple Surface Blade and Twister Bearing 8-14 dBA (Custom PC Award Winning !!) [+18])
FAN: Asetek 510LC Liquid Cooling system w/ 120mm Radiator (For Ultra Slient Operation -- SHARKOON Eagle SE Ultra Slient Modular Fan, 500-1200rpm (Custom PC Award Winning !!) ***Overclockable S&S***. [+11])
HDD: 250 GB Samsung 840 Series SATA III Gaming MLC Solid State Disk [+84] (Single Drive)
HDD2: 1TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive [+50] (Single Hard Drive)
MEMORY: 8GB (2x4GB) PC12800 DDR3/1600mhz Dual Channel Memory [+32] (Kingston HyperX Blu w/Heat Spreader)
MOTHERBOARD: GIGABYTE Z87-HD3 Intel Z87 Chipset, ATX Mainboard w/ 4 RAM slots, 7.1 HD Audio, HDMI, GbLAN, USB 3.0, SATA-III, 1x Gen2 PCIe x16, 1x Gen2 PCIe x4, 2x PCIe x 1 & 2x PCI
NETWORK: ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT -- As standard on all PCs
OS: NONE - FORMAT HARD DRIVE ONLY(NO OVERCLOCKING AVALIABLE)
OVERCLOCK: No Overclocking
POWERSUPPLY: 600 Watts Power Supplies [+34] (Corsair 600 Watts CX600 Gaming Power Supply, 80+)
PRO_WIRING1: CoolerMaster Thermal Fusion 400 Extreme Performance CPU - Thermal Compound Optimized for Thermal Dissipation [+9]
PRO_WIRING2: Professional Wiring for All WIRING Inside The System Chasis - Minimize Cable Exposure, Maximize Airflow in Your System [+19]
PRO_WIRING3: Ultra Enhanced Packaging Solution Mid Tower - Protect Your Dream System During Transit [+14]
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
USB1: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports [+0]
VIDEO: None, or On-Board Integrated Graphics [-21]
VIDEO2: None, or On-Board Integrated Graphics
VIDEO3: None, or On-Board Integrated Graphics
WARRANTY: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3 Year Labour, 1 Year Parts, 1 Month Collect and Return plus Life-Time Technical Support

For £932.

[CommanderJameson]

I have a CoolerMaster Silencio 550 case. Roomy inside, black outside, very quiet, no sharp edges (no BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD when fitting disks etc) - but the piano black front planel does attract dust.