Computer Configuration Compatibility

[o_o]

Hi,

I'm looking to build a new computer. Unfortunately, I'm not in the US, but in India, so my options are limited to a narrow list of products that are available to me. My basic question here is regarding compatibility i.e. if I put the following products together, would they work with each other. I would ultimately be putting Windows 7 64 bit on this, without any overclocking. I'm not going to be using this for gaming. For most part it would be used for video conferencing/remote collaboration e.g. TeamViewer, Skype, some browser, MS Office etc. running at the same time in parallel. I'm not going to be having a graphic card, but whatever comes with my CPU. (To make it easier, I would be providing links to NewEgg, though I would not be purchasing these products from them.)

1. CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 Haswell Quad-Core 3.1GHz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116942

2. Motherboard: ASUS H97M-E/CSM LGA 1150 Intel H97 -> micro ATX http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132120

OR
Motherboard: ASUS H97-PLUS LGA 1150 Intel H97 -> full ATX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132121

3. RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231718 (2 qty)

4. SSD: SAMSUNG 850 EVO 2.5" 120GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1J22CK9323

5. HDD: WD Purple WD10PURX 1TB SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236662

6. Power Supply: Corsair 450W VS450 http://www.corsair.com/en-us/vs-seriestm-vs450-450-watt-power-supply

Questions:
1. Are there any obvious problems with the above configuration?
2. I am wondering if I should go with the micro-ATX or ATX motherboard? Are the qualities different e.g. they use cheaper parts in the micro-ATX board or that it is less reliable than an ATX board of the same brand?
3. I'm wondering if the RAM (Ripjaws X) would be too close/high to the CPU Heatsink/Cooler? Would a micro-ATX motherboard have a problem here because it is too cramped? I would be going with the stock cooler that comes with the processor.
4. I'm wondering if the power supply would be sufficient?

Thank you all in advance for your help and comments. I hope this was the correct forum to post this.
O. O.

 

[nsafreak]

Answers:

1) Nope nothing obviously wrong that I can see although you might want to consider bumping it up to 8 GB if your budget allows for it.

2) There used to be a difference in quality but nowadays they're pretty much the same aside from some edge cases. Either one would be fine for your use case, most folks tend to get ATX for gaming setups when they're going with multiple GPU configurations. But that does not apply in your case.

3) Well I don't see a cooler listed in your configuration and if you're not overclocking the stock cooler should be fine so that's a non issue as the stock coolers don't extend anywhere close to the RAM slots no matter what the motherboard config is.

4) 450 watts is plenty sufficient for a non gaming rig, you could probably drop down to 300 if you needed to but the one you've chosen is fine.

 

[o_o]

Answers:

1) Nope nothing obviously wrong that I can see although you might want to consider bumping it up to 8 GB if your budget allows for it.

2) There used to be a difference in quality but nowadays they're pretty much the same aside from some edge cases. Either one would be fine for your use case, most folks tend to get ATX for gaming setups when they're going with multiple GPU configurations. But that does not apply in your case.

3) Well I don't see a cooler listed in your configuration and if you're not overclocking the stock cooler should be fine so that's a non issue as the stock coolers don't extend anywhere close to the RAM slots no matter what the motherboard config is.

4) 450 watts is plenty sufficient for a non gaming rig, you could probably drop down to 300 if you needed to but the one you've chosen is fine.

Thank you very much nsafreak for taking the time to go over my configuration. I'm wondering if you are implying I use two 8 GB sticks instead of 4 GB? Right now I intend to use two 4 GB sticks for a total of 8 GB.

Thank you for confirming that the stock cooler would not extend over the RAM and that the power supply is sufficient.

 

[nsafreak]

I missed the quantity of two portion in your list, two 4 GB sticks is fine. I'm curious about the WD Purple though, those are billed as drives typically used in surveillance DVR systems. You might want to see if there's a lower price WD Blue available.

 

[o_o]

I missed the quantity of two portion in your list, two 4 GB sticks is fine. I'm curious about the WD Purple though, those are billed as drives typically used in surveillance DVR systems. You might want to see if there's a lower price WD Blue available.

Thank you again nsafreak. Yes, I'm curious about the HDD, but it was not a concern initially.

First, I choose the WD Purple because it was cheaper than WD Blue. (Yes, I know that is unexpected, but it may just be the source where I'm getting this.) On reading more on this topic, it seems that the algorithms for WD Purple may be biased to optimize for more sequential writing of video than random reads in an average computer. Would this be a big issue? If yes, then I would take the WD Blue, which are only a bit more.

 

[nsafreak]

I doubt that it'll be an issue since I'm guessing that you'll be loading the majority of your programs on the SSD anyways. For the few that you load onto the mechanical HDD the performance difference is not likely to even be noticeable.

 

[o_o]

I doubt that it'll be an issue since I'm guessing that you'll be loading the majority of your programs on the SSD anyways. For the few that you load onto the mechanical HDD the performance difference is not likely to even be noticeable.

Thank you again nsafreak. Yes, what you are saying is true i.e. I only intend the HDD as a backup. I'm sure I would not be loading any programs on it, so the WD Purple might work for me.

Thank you for all the help you have provided for me in this thread.
O. O.

 

[Yuriman]

Looks like a solid PC.

One think you haven't mentioned is what case you'll be going with. I recently moved from a mid-tower to an ITX case, and appreciate the space savings. I'm now able to tuck my PC behind my monitor, and made no sacrifices in terms of performance, noise or cost.

Using the 3 cases in the image above as an example, moving from an ATX midtower to an ITX "tower" gives up 2 RAM slots (4->2) and the ability to add a second discrete video card, neither of which is of concern to me. Moving from the ITX "tower" to the smaller ITX case requires the use of an external power supply (such as those found in a laptop) and prevents the installation of a discrete video card at all. However, I can't see any reason why you couldn't fit your build entirely in something the size of the smallest case, given that you don't need a discrete video card. An ATX case with your build would be mostly empty space.

EDIT: Both of these tiny barebones contain true desktop quadcore CPUs, and would be smaller and likely quieter and more power efficient than a from-scratch build using an ATX case:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA24G28M9086

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856173079

 

[o_o]

Thank you Yuriman. I'm sorry I did not mention this, because my family already took this decision: They wanted an ATX midtower. Besides this, I see myself adding at least one additional HDD and an SSD to the above configuration, so a smaller ITX would not work for me. Finally, I like the airflow that a Midtower would offer over a smaller ITX case.

 

[JasonBourne]

I think you should upgrade that SSD to 256 GB

 

[o_o]

I think you should upgrade that SSD to 256 GB

Thank you JasonBourne I agree with you. (I'm still waiting for my family to approve of this before I start ordering the parts.)