Building a New Rig - Parts help needed

[idny99]

Hello,

I'm looking to build a new personal rig for development, photoshop and occasional gaming and would like some advice on what parts I should use.

Here's the details:

1. What YOUR PC will be used for:
Programming/Development/Photoshop/Occasional gaming

2. What YOUR budget is:
£1000

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from:
UK

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc:
Nope

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are:
EVGA GeForce GTX460 SCC
21" Monitor (new)
DVD/CD RW Drive

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds:
Undecided, looking for advice on this part (see below)

8. What resolution will you be using?
1600x1200 (current monitor)

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Within 1-2 Months


I have currently started looking at parts and this is what i'm thinking so far, an advice would be greatly appreciated.

Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth Z77, Gen3, Intel Z77 Chipset - £148.77
CPU: Intel Core i7 3770K Quad Core @ 3.5GHz - £251.94
CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro H60 - £52 or CoolIT ECOII
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LP, DDR3, 1600Mhz - £62.16
SSD : OCZ Technology 128GB Vertex 4 - £88.94
HDD WD 500GB Caviar Blue - £52
PSU: 650W Corsair Enthusiast Series Modular - £64.65
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 - £89.91

I'm thinking of overclocking to 4.4GHz at a later date. Will the H60 be sufficient for that amount of overclocking to the i7? Or will I need a bigger cooler?

Thanks

 

[mfenn]

The mobo, cooler, and PSU you have listed are way overkill. The SSD isn't the greatest choice either from a reliability point of view. I would swap like so:

MSI Z77A-G41 £67
Hyper 212 EVO £27
XFX Core 450W £35
Samsung 830 128GB £80

Alternatively, with all the money saved on the components above, double down on the SSD and pick up the 256GB version.

 

[DSF]

Welcome to AT!

My thoughts going down the list:
Mobo: Is there any feature on here you need? Even for overclocking you could get away with something less expensive if you wanted to.
Cooler: Cheap water cooling isn't going to be any more effective or quiet than similarly priced air cooling.
RAM: If you need 16GB for your productivity stuff you're probably best off with 2x8GB rather than 4x4GB.
HDD : Is that really all the space you need? It's no longer really the sweet spot in terms of price/GB.
Case: Nice choice.

If this is a business machine I don't think I would bother overclocking.

 

[idny99]

Welcome to AT!

My thoughts going down the list:
Mobo: Is there any feature on here you need? Even for overclocking you could get away with something less expensive if you wanted to.
Cooler: Cheap water cooling isn't going to be any more effective or quiet than similarly priced air cooling.
RAM: If you need 16GB for your productivity stuff you're probably best off with 2x8GB rather than 4x4GB.
HDD : Is that really all the space you need? It's no longer really the sweet spot in terms of price/GB.
Case: Nice choice.

If this is a business machine I don't think I would bother overclocking.

Point taken on the 16GB at 2x8GB so i'll look into that option. The HDD is not a problem as I have plenty of space in my NAS. The 500GB is more local storage and will be moved to the NAS at a later date.

With the motherboard i'm most likely most fussy. The Sabertooth looks real nice. So it was more of a aesthetic influence, but I will be thinking about perhaps over clocking in the future so thought it was a good choice?
Is it a big overkill?

If so are there any other cheaper but real nice look boards?

 

[mfenn]

Your case has no window, what does it matter what the motherboard looks like? Unless you go completely crazy with voltage, the overclocking differences between a $100 board and a $250 board are very minor. Please don't waste your money.

 

[idny99]

I understand. I guess I was being a bit fussy there.
I was thinking about getting a window for the Define R4 so that I could see inside the case.

What about these motherboards? They are cheaper, but are they still overkill?

ASRock Z77 Pro 4 - £110.
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H - £103

 

[Hospitaller]

As a programmer, I'd save £80 and get the i5-2500k. I'd also second mfenn's suggestions, and say use the extra money for another monitor in the nearer future.

I just got one of the 27" Korean IPS monitors and it is wonderful compared to my previous 22" for coding. (As well as everything else.)

 

[mfenn]

I understand. I guess I was being a bit fussy there.
I was thinking about getting a window for the Define R4 so that I could see inside the case.

What about these motherboards? They are cheaper, but are they still overkill?

ASRock Z77 Pro 4 - £110.
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H - £103

Both are excellent choices! I'd go for the Gigabyte because it has more USB 3.0 ports and is priced better.

 

[azeem40]

Vertex 4 is a solid SSD.
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...s/55765-ocz-vertex-4-128gb-ssd-review-13.html

Says it has one of the best price/performance ratios.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/ocz-vertex-4-ssd-review-with-15-firmware/18
Says it is very stable and reliable.

 

[mfenn]

http://www.guru3d.com/article/ocz-vertex-4-ssd-review-with-15-firmware/18
Says it is very stable and reliable.

This is where younger reviewers get messed up. There is no way that you can tell if an SSD featuring an entirely now controller and/or firmware is stable or reliable in the time it takes you to do the average review. How many glowing Sandforce reviews were out there before the infamous BSOD cropped up?

Saving $10 over an 830 isn't worth the risk IMHO.

 

[riversend]

Saving $10 over an 830 isn't worth the risk IMHO.

:thumbsup: critical system component that you just do not want to worry about.

 

[azeem40]

Ok, do as you wish then..