My Computer (Future) Build

[Alice]

I'm not going to be building it actually. My husband, Minkseru, and his father are quite good at computers and they are going to be building it for me. I'm basically just buying the parts that I want for it.

[Guest]

it's not that hard to build it, i just had to watch a youtube video on the thermal grease, just to make sure i did it right

this

may help you

[Dae314]

For you, I really recommend getting an i5 processor. Even the lowest tier i5 currently offered looks like it will give you a significant boost in processing power. However, one of the things about moving up to an ivy bridge processor is that you're going to want a motherboard with an H77 or Z77 chipset.

Your power supply link is also broken, so I can't see the price, but I would also recommend a more trusted model. Even something like this would be good. If I found the right power supply, the reviewers don't seem to think it's that stable review 1, review 2.

If things are starting to get a bit expensive, then stay low at i3 for now, but that just means you'll have this nagging feeling to upgrade again sooner =/.

Gaming wise, you would be fine with 8GB of memory. However, if your "demanding multimedia applications" are some kind of encoding/rendering programs then you may want more. Also, if you are doing encoding/memory heavy media work then you probably do want a motherboard that supports 1600MHz memory without overclocking. Media work also tends to scale well with more cores, so it's another good argument for a quad core i5, or even one of the AMD Vishera CPUs.

Also, I don't know why people are telling you to get thermal paste when you're not getting a third party cooler. Unless they're telling you to scrape off the paste that's on the stock Intel cooler and put theirs on. If you're not overclocking, especially if you're sticking with i3, you can just use stock cooling along with the stock thermal paste.

[Alice]

For you, I really recommend getting an i5 processor. Even the lowest tier i5 currently offered looks like it will give you a significant boost in processing power. However, one of the things about moving up to an ivy bridge processor is that you're going to want a motherboard with an H77 or Z77 chipset.

Your power supply link is also broken, so I can't see the price, but I would also recommend a more trusted model. Even something like this would be good. If I found the right power supply, the reviewers don't seem to think it's that stable review 1, review 2.

If things are starting to get a bit expensive, then stay low at i3 for now, but that just means you'll have this nagging feeling to upgrade again sooner =/.

Gaming wise, you would be fine with 8GB of memory. However, if your "demanding multimedia applications" are some kind of encoding/rendering programs then you may want more. Also, if you are doing encoding/memory heavy media work then you probably do want a motherboard that supports 1600MHz memory without overclocking. Media work also tends to scale well with more cores, so it's another good argument for a quad core i5, or even one of the AMD Vishera CPUs.

Also, I don't know why people are telling you to get thermal paste when you're not getting a third party cooler. Unless they're telling you to scrape off the paste that's on the stock Intel cooler and put theirs on. If you're not overclocking, especially if you're sticking with i3, you can just use stock cooling along with the stock thermal paste.

Thank you for the advice.

I'm definitely considering on getting the i5 processor. My most demanding media program is Photoshop CS6 and I want to be able to use movie making program to make music videos. The only two demanding games we got is Guild Wars 1 & 2 and Sims 3. Sims 3 has become a lot more demanding with its latest expansions and I have all the expansions.

On a side note, I am updating my links now with the new ideas after I post this.

 

 

EDIT 01/19/13:

 

I can't afford to get more expensive parts than the ones I've chosen.  I'm already pushing it on what I've got and will barely be able to buy these part listed.  So don't suggest anything more expensive please.  I want the more expensive...trust me, I do, but I just don't have the money.

Edited January 19, 2013 by Dreamcastor

[Dark_Angel13]

I do hope you will use a gaming computer for more then just Sims 3 and photoshop lol. Just feels like a lot of hassle for 2 things lol even if you do love them. So this may be off the computer stuff but maybe start thinking about some games you want to, may as well use that computer to it's full potential

[Alice]

I do hope you will use a gaming computer for more then just Sims 3 and photoshop lol. Just feels like a lot of hassle for 2 things lol even if you do love them. So this may be off the computer stuff but maybe start thinking about some games you want to, may as well use that computer to it's full potential

Well, to start out with it will only be doing, Sims 2& 3, Guild Wars 1 &2, and Photoshop.  I may attempt more games, but I really want to get really nice movie editing software. 

 

Right now the graphics and everything.  It barely handles our games...they run super slow and have bad graphics right now.

[dark4yoyo]

Hum I'd suggest this :

Intel Core i5-3350P 3.1Ghz (3.3Ghz Turbo) 180$

ASRock B75 PRO3 LGA 1155 75$

XFX Core Edition AMD HD 7850 1GB 160$ (140$ with mail-in rebate)

Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200rpm 80$

Cooler Master Elite 430 40$ (30$ with mail-in rebate) (unchanged)

Corsair CX600 60$ (40$ with mail-in rebate) (unchanged)

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2x4GB) cas 7 42$

 

This will sit you back 637$ (587$ with all the rebates), for nearly the same cpu performace, and much better graphics performance.

If you want more performance at 750$ this:

Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4Ghz (3.8Ghz Turbo) (overclockable) 230$

ASRock Z77 PRO3 LGA 1155 90$ (80$ with mail-in rebate)

Powercolor AMD HD 7850 2GB 185$ (175$ with mail-in rebate)

Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200rpm 80$

Cooler Master Elite 430 40$ (30$ with mail-in rebate) (unchanged)

Corsair CX600 60$ (40$ with mail-in rebate) (unchanged)

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2x4GB) cas 7 42$

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO (cpu cooler for overclocking cpu) 30$ (25$ with mail-in rebate)

This will sit you back 757$ (702$ with all the rebates), for significantly better cpu performance, and a more future-proof graphics card (because 1GB VRAM will soon be limiting in games).

If you count 750$ with the rebates included, I'd recommend this graphics card : HIS HD 7870 IceQ 2GB (custom cooling) 230$ (210$ with mail-in rebate)

That would sit you back 737$

PS : is there any specific reason why you want a NVIDIA graphics card ?

I tend to favor AMD cards because they overclock better, because they are not bandwidth starved.

The 1GB and 2GB 7850's are much better than their NVIDIA counterpart at the same pricepoint.

But the HD 7870 and the GTX 660 trade blows in terms of performance, the HD 7870 has an overclocking advantage though

If for some reason you favor NVIDIA, you could take a Zotac GTX 660 GB (custom cooling) which is 215$ (or 195 with mail-in rebate).

PSS : Damn america everything is so much cheaper !

Edited January 20, 2013 by dark4yoyo

[Alice]

Hum I'd suggest this :

Intel Core i5-3350P 3.1Ghz (3.3Ghz Turbo) 180$

ASRock B75 PRO3 LGA 1155 75$

XFX Core Edition AMD HD 7850 1GB 160$ (140$ with mail-in rebate)

Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200rpm 80$

Cooler Master Elite 430 40$ (30$ with mail-in rebate) (unchanged)

Corsair CX600 60$ (40$ with mail-in rebate) (unchanged)

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series GB (2x8GB) cas 7 42$

 

This will sit you back 637$ (587$ with all the rebates), for nearly the same cpu performace, and much better graphics performance.

If you want more performance at 750$ this:

Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4Ghz (3.8Ghz Turbo) (overclockable) 230$

ASRock Z77 PRO3 LGA 1155 90$ (80$ with mail-in rebate)

Powercolor AMD HD 7850 2GB 185$ (175$ with mail-in rebate)

Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200rpm 80$

Cooler Master Elite 430 40$ (30$ with mail-in rebate) (unchanged)

Corsair CX600 60$ (40$ with mail-in rebate) (unchanged)

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series GB (2x8GB) cas 7 42$

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO (cpu cooler for overclocking cpu) 30$ (25$ with mail-in rebate)

This will sit you back 757$ (702$ with all the rebates), for significantly better cpu performance, and a more future-proof graphics card (because 1GB VRAM will soon be limiting in games).

If you count 750$ with the rebates included, I'd recommend this graphics card : HIS HD 7870 IceQ 2GB (custom cooling) 230$ (210$ with mail-in rebate)

That would sit you back 737$

PS : is there any specific reason why you want a NVIDIA graphics card ?

I tend to favor AMD cards because they overclock better, because they are not bandwidth starved.

The 1GB and 2GB 7850's are much better than their NVIDIA counterpart at the same pricepoint.

But the HD 7870 and the GTX 660 trade blows in terms of performance, the HD 7870 has an overclocking advantage though

If for some reason you favor NVIDIA, you could take a Zotac GTX 660 GB (custom cooling) which is 215$ (or 195 with mail-in rebate).

PSS : Damn america everything is so much cheaper !

Mainly because I've always used Nvidia and I really like them.  So once I like something...I'm hesitant to go for something else.  Plus it is cheaper than those AMD ones and still does more than what I need.

 

I did change the CPU and Motherboard for the ones you suggest.  They do pretty much the same as what I had for the lower price.

Edited January 20, 2013 by Dreamcastor

[† An IP BreAKDoWN]

I always tell people to go with nvidia simply because if one were to switch to linux the drivers would be easier and would perform better. As we approach the time where everyone will use linux its always best to plan for things like this ahead of time. Also if x264 developers decided to use CUDA to help encode it would be a huge advantage over AMD. I really don't think AMD really has anything like that except for eyefinity.

[Alice]

When I got my first graphics card I was also told to go with Nvidia.  I was really happy I did.  It worked amazingly well.  Much better than I originally thought.  So I'm going to stick with the Nvidia card.

 

BTW, those ram links are for (2 x 4GB) not (2 x 8 GB)

Edited January 20, 2013 by Dreamcastor

[dark4yoyo]

When I got my first graphics card I was also told to go with Nvidia.  I was really happy I did.  It worked amazingly well.  Much better than I originally thought.  So I'm going to stick with the Nvidia card.

 

BTW, those ram links are for (2 x 4GB) not (2 x 8 GB)

Oh yeah, but it was supposed to be 2x4 GB, I just misspelled the description.

Also I changed the HDD for one that was cheaper, HDD's are really expensive in the US it seems, I recently bought a 2tb 7200rpm HDD at 80€, whereas on newegg the cheapest 1tb is 80$.

I always tell people to go with nvidia simply because if one were to switch to linux the drivers would be easier and would perform better. As we approach the time where everyone will use linux its always best to plan for things like this ahead of time. Also if x264 developers decided to use CUDA to help encode it would be a huge advantage over AMD. I really don't think AMD really has anything like that except for eyefinity.

But for what application would you need a lot of graphic processing power on linux ? not many games are compatible with it I believe.

And about the parallel calculation power (flops), the HD 7xxx series is much better than the gtx 6xx series.

Amd may not have CUDA but they have other ways of using the raw processing power graphic cards provide.

Edited January 20, 2013 by dark4yoyo

[Alice]

I really don't need the best of the best graphics.  The one I choose will do way more than what I actually need.  I only have Guild Wars 1 and 2, Photoshop CS6, and Sims 3 as my most demanding apps.

[† L4ugh]

Steam is coming to linux, you can already download the open beta. I think Valve is to invested in the porting to back out now.  While the decision to choose Ubuntu as their launch pad will likely bite them in the ass, steam linux will happen. I also know of at least two separate projects that are trying to bring the power of avisynth to the linux platform.

 

I will say that I don't believe linux will replace windows in the lifetime of the computer she is building. Linux has way too much bs right now to actually be considered a viable replacement to Windows for everyone.

 

As far as the op, from what I see on the revised list you should be fine. I'm not seeing a rom drive though, are you using one from another pc?

[Alice]

As far as the op, from what I see on the revised list you should be fine. I'm not seeing a rom drive though, are you using one from another pc?

I simply just don't have it listed.  I do have one picked out.

[dman720]

I would pick up a SSD for the OS files http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442 and dont go under 120GB you will want room for a few of your top used apps or game on the SSD.

[† An IP BreAKDoWN]

I would have recommended a SSD in a heartbeat though this is a pretty tight budget, and I don't think she'll want to do a SSD and a HDD.

[Dae314]

Working with this budget, I would't recommend an SSD. SSD price is dropping, but people forget that it's still a luxury item. The cost of that luxury is going down, but low budget builds still aren't good candidates for one yet.

[dman720]

Working with this budget, I would't recommend an SSD. SSD price is dropping, but people forget that it's still a luxury item. The cost of that luxury is going down, but low budget builds still aren't good candidates for one yet.

missed the budget part, sorry

[Alice]

It's all good.  You were only trying to suggest things to make my computer better.  I shall try to make upgrades as I have available money.

[dman720]

It's all good.  You were only trying to suggest things to make my computer better.  I shall try to make upgrades as I have available money.

I would suggest getting one soon as you can, since i got mine first one i have only though about a second one for a raid setup for even better speeds. Its like a Gundam vs a M1 Abrams it does not even have a chance.

 

Tho this made me weep tears of blood

 

 

Next, we were shown a demo using 16 of Kingston's HyperX 3K SSDs which were RAIDed together in order to obtain throughput speeds in IOMeter of over 6000 MB/s. Needless to say, the demo itself was very impressive. What we found even more impressive was the fact that they were able to to tame 16 SATA cables and 16 SATA power cables and make it look somewhat organized.