Author Topic: Desktop Buildout  (Read 4047 times)

Betazep

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Desktop Buildout
« on: May 15, 2015, 09:33:28 AM »
Knuck,

My buddy is building a machine and trying to stay under 1800.  Can you look at this and see if you have any advice?

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/GjzLxr

He does a lot of audio  (he is a music producer) and wants good graphics in general for gaming.  He wants Raid 0 on the spinning drives and the SSD to boot OS.  I am not sure if he needs a hardware raid card for the former or if mobos handle that easily enough these days.

Any help would be great!  Thanks.
"The most likely way for the world to be destroyed, most experts agree, is by accident. That's where we come in; we're computer professionals. We cause accidents." -Nathaniel Borenstein

KnuckleBuckett

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Re: Desktop Buildout
« Reply #1 on: May 15, 2015, 07:58:35 PM »
Can I start by telling him wait a few weeks?  By late summer-ish Intel will be dumping the 4xxx socket, DDR3 will be moving to legacy status, and there will be a totally new design and a totally new architecture.

Put simply, if he builds now, by August or September he will be two generations behind.\

This means CPU, memory, and motherboard may need to be reassessed.

Let me know what he wants to do. 


I will look at the rest now....

KnuckleBuckett

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Re: Desktop Buildout
« Reply #2 on: May 15, 2015, 09:01:26 PM »
The cooler is a nice choice.  Not sure if it will fit the upcoming socket for Skylake.  If he wishes, air coolers are still competitive with liquid coolers.  Consider Noctua.

Storage
Samsung or the upcoming Intel for SSDs.

For spinner HDD drives time to move to 2TB to 4 TB drives.  The quality of the 1TB drives are dropping as the larger versions climb.  Avoid RAID setups.  Back data up rather than striping and or mirroring.  If you need raw speed a solid 1TB SSD from Samsung can be found for $250.

Case
Damn fine case.  Corsair has the Graphite series that is neck and neck with Phanteks.  I have been considering both of these and am personally stumped.
http://www.corsair.com/en-us/cases/graphite-series

Power supply
I always recommend the Corsair HX or TX series if possible.  650W is fine with a high quality supply.  I run 700 to 750W because over time they age, fans slow down, heat sinks get clogged, and so on.  The extra overhead is cheap and makes up for lost efficiency over time.

Optical Drive
Consider changing the optical drive to a Blue-Ray burner instead.  Because you just never know when you will need it.

NIC
Why the second network adapter?  The adapter designed into the mobo is no slouch.

Fans
These are fine for the top and rear fans not for the front fans.  On the front he should consider Corsair SP series fans.

Fan setup.
Top of case front fan = INTAKE (push pull is nice)
Top of case rear fan = exhaust (push pull is nice)
Front panel fans = intakes (static pressure fans)
Rear fan = exhaust

Keyboard mouse and monitor are kind of personal choices however given full leeway I usually recommend the following.

Keyboard
Ducky Shine 4 with MX brown switches (please disregard the stupid name)
http://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1013

Mouse
Logitech G502

Monitor
Asus VG278HE
BenQ and AOC have nearly equivalent models

Audio
As we have discussed before get a USB based amp DAC that is external to his machine.  I use this.
http://centrance.com/products/hifi-m8/

Headset
The OPPO PM-2 or the Audeze LCD-X

MIC
Antlion ModMic 4

Other Advice
Get a 7 port powered USB hub or two.  This really takes current load off of your mobo  If a port or device fail you can replace a hub lots easier than a mobo.  They charge devices faster too.
I have had solid luck with this company and own this.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FVS9U8O/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Never use native on-board motherboard USB ports if you can avoid it.  Plug the USB hub in and let that be your set of outlets.

Mouse Pad
SteelSeries QCKplus

Video Card
GTX970.  I favor Asus, Gigabyte, and EVGA (ACX2.0).  If he is going to have more than two monitors a GTX980 would be in order.


All that said, TONS of room to vary this build at every turn.  Usually plenty of wiggling and figuring needed to fit personal needs, wants and budgets.  Any odds that I could Skype with him and work things through with the build?  This is typically what I do with most folks I help out.


Betazep

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Re: Desktop Buildout
« Reply #3 on: May 16, 2015, 01:42:46 AM »
Thanks Knuck. I let him know the info.  When he gets back with me, I will PM you.
"The most likely way for the world to be destroyed, most experts agree, is by accident. That's where we come in; we're computer professionals. We cause accidents." -Nathaniel Borenstein

KnuckleBuckett

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Re: Desktop Buildout
« Reply #4 on: May 16, 2015, 07:36:36 AM »
No problem.  I do this often indeed.


KnuckleBuckett

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Re: Desktop Buildout
« Reply #6 on: May 17, 2015, 08:58:29 AM »
Another piece of advice (Obes did this).

Build over time using sales for parts that can be purchased early on.

Case, PS, OD, SSD, HDD, cooling, and GPU (though that is unusual).

BTW if he is into gaming get the GTX970 immediately.  They are giving away The Witcher 3 and the Upcoming Batman game.  Check out the trailers.  These are top of the line $60 to $70 triple A games.  Watch the Witcher gameplay trailer through.  It feels like a movie and it is actual gameplay rather than pre-rendered.  It is open world and larger than Skyrim.  Polish studio too. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4ony2r0QFs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CINA288fZUs

KnuckleBuckett

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Re: Desktop Buildout
« Reply #7 on: June 03, 2015, 06:03:30 AM »
Bump?

Betazep

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Re: Desktop Buildout
« Reply #8 on: June 03, 2015, 09:28:08 AM »
I think he is just waiting.... Dunno.
"The most likely way for the world to be destroyed, most experts agree, is by accident. That's where we come in; we're computer professionals. We cause accidents." -Nathaniel Borenstein

KnuckleBuckett

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Re: Desktop Buildout
« Reply #9 on: June 03, 2015, 03:12:39 PM »
Well Broadwell launched to little fanfare.  Windows 10 hits the end of July. 

Hopefully Skylake stays on schedule for August-ish.

I have been using the time to watch for sales on the various other build components.

Speaking of which....

Corsair $100

KnuckleBuckett

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Re: Desktop Buildout
« Reply #10 on: October 22, 2015, 06:27:14 AM »
bump?