First build in 11 years, please help!

[JoeyP]

My last build was a 1.4GHz Athlon, and I'm still running that thing. Time to upgrade, but so much as changed in 11 years. Looking for advice on how to maybe get the most out of this computer I'll be building.

1. Tasks: 20% static web, 20% streaming web (hulu, youtube, netflix), 30% video conversion/rendering (I have hi-8 and DV tapes to convert), 10% video editing, 10% office productivity, 10% light gaming.

2. Price range: in the $800 neighborhood.

3. Country for parts: USA

4. Brand preferences: Intel, Antec, prefer newegg for parts.

5. I need all new parts, not reusing anything.

7. Will run at default speeds, but will OC within a few years when it starts feeling slower. No problem upgrading cooling at that time.

8. Resolution will be ~ 1920x1200

9. Plan to build Oct or Nov 2012.

10. No other software needed.


So far I have this on my wishlist...

Case/PSU: Antec Three Hundred + BP430 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 430W Power Supply

Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K

Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBXL

Hdd: Western Digital Caviar Black WD5002AALX 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Keyboard: LITE-ON SK-1788/BS 2-Tone PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard

Monitor: ASUS VW246H Glossy Black 24" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor

Mouse: Logitech M305 Black 1 x Wheel USB RF Wireless Mouse


No discrete graphics card, because high speed and high resolution beyond the on-chip GPU are not on my list of requirements. I can always add one later on.

Also, the CPU and Motherboard will give me the overclocking ability without costing too much. The i5 will give me more years of service over the i3 I believe.

Ok with stock cooler for default speeds. Will get a better cooler when I overclock.

Thoughts?

 

[golefze]

Nice cpu if you got the cash to get it, Not much of a difference compared to the i3 I suppose. If you want to stay in your budget I suppose to take the i3, also I can send you a mouse If wanted, Got a logitech mouse on spare. Well thats a nice build, post picture when you build it!

Cheers, Carlos

 

[lehtv]

Case/PSU You should be able to find better deals by picking the PSU and case separately. Also that case is getting a bit old, there are newer cases with USB 3.0 support and better cable management at that price point
Mobo Too extreme, you should be fine with a cheaper Z77 board.
CPU I'm not convinced it's worth it for you to spend on overclockabilty if you only plan to do it a few years down the line. Better to save your cash now than spend it in the hope that it will pay off as longevity. If you get a non-OC processor you should be fine with a B75 or H77 board.
RAM Get 2x4GB, ram is cheap.
HDD 500GB drives are terrible $/GB
Peripherals Fine

There's no point picking parts this early on, so I'm not going to suggest any. Bump this thread about a week or two before you plan to buy.

 

[piasabird]

I think you need an after market cooler. If you can afford it you might push the RAM to 8GB of RAM. It is not too expensive at present time.

There has been some talk about the quad core ivy bridge processors running on the hot side with the stock cooler.

The Antec 300 is a good basic computer case. However, if you want good cable management you might consider other cases. I have one of the Antec 300 cases at home and I liked it. Some other cases have better cable management. A lot depends also if other cases are on sale with free shipping options.

Often if you sign up for the newegg newsletter a sale on cases will come up in the next 30 days or so. Look for a back to school sale or something.

 

[DSF]

9. Plan to build Oct or Nov 2012.

I don't mean to sound callous, but for the moment this is as far as anyone offering advice needs to read. There's just no point in picking out specific parts this far in advance, aside from maybe figuring out which CPU you're likely to buy. Everything else is going to be subject to what gives you the best deal at the time you're buying, and there's no way to predict that 2-3 months into the future.

Your part choices look generally fine, although RAM is so cheap that there's no reason not to go for 2x4GB. In the same vein, 500GB is no longer the sweet spot in $/GB for hard drives, but I guess you have to see what your budget allows.

 

[piasabird]

I bought this same case with the same power supply for $70 last year because it was on sale. I guess I was just lucky. I think that case model with the power supply has been out of stock since then.

 

[JoeyP]

All great advice thanks. A few questions:

1. What is a good case with USB 3.0 on the front?

2. What is a decent PSU?

(and can #1 and #2 come in around $100?)

3. Good memory for 2 x 4GB 1600?

Oddly, I have had a very similar build in my wish list for almost a year, and the prices started at $832 and oscillated up and down to a low point of $800, and are now at $805. I was kind of expecting prices to drop a little more based upon my experiences 11 years ago.

My motherboard and CPU choice are intentionally on the "extreme" side because I want to delay upgrading. I figure the small cost bump here would give me room to eek out a couple more years of life, rather than have to swap out major components. If this is a bad assumption, let me know.

I'll keep my eyes open for sales and better HDD capacities.

 

[lehtv]

1. Antec Three Hundred Two
2. Pretty much anything from Antec, Corsair, Seasonic, XFX, PC Power & Cooling. Not a conclusive list.
3. G.Skill is usually good value

(and can #1 and #2 come in around $100?)

Yes

 

[JoeyP]

Thanks again for all the advice. I've modified my wishlist to include the Antec Three Hundred Two, an Antec power supply, and a 1TB WD caviar black. If prices soften a bit, I'll see about bumping the memory.

 

[DSF]

Thanks again for all the advice. I've modified my wishlist to include the Antec Three Hundred Two, an Antec power supply, and a 1TB WD caviar black. If prices soften a bit, I'll see about bumping the memory.

I wouldn't really bother putting a specific power supply on your wishlist. They're the poster child for parts that go on insane deals from time to time. Chances are that come build time there will be a power supply at least as good as or better than whichever Antec you chose, and for a lower price.

 

[mfenn]

I wouldn't really bother putting a specific power supply on your wishlist. They're the poster child for parts that go on insane deals from time to time. Chances are that come build time there will be a power supply at least as good as or better than whichever Antec you chose, and for a lower price.

Agree.

My motherboard and CPU choice are intentionally on the "extreme" side because I want to delay upgrading. I figure the small cost bump here would give me room to eek out a couple more years of life, rather than have to swap out major components. If this is a bad assumption, let me know.

Yes, this is a very bad assumption, especially with regard to the motherboard.

A motherboard does nothing for the stock performance of the PC, all it does it determine what features you have available (USB 3.0, number of PCIe slots, number of DIMM slots, onboard audio, etc.). A $60 B75 will perform the same as a $150 Z77 board. In terms of longevity, all 1155 boards will last the same amount of time, paying a ton of money will not cause the socket to sprout more pins when Intel changes the socket next year (and two years after that, and two years after that, and so on).

As for the CPU, once you get above ~$200 or so, paying twice as much for a CPU will not get you twice the performance. The i5 3570K is not a bad deal right now, but that's mostly because the prices on the non-K i5s are so inflated. Come four years from now, I'm not sure if all the overclocking in the world is going to make a tangible performance difference.

The golden rule of computer building is "The best way to future-proof is to save money and spend it on future products." (Thanks Ken!)

 

[krnmastersgt]

I think coming from a 1.4GHz Athlon, just about any modern offering is going to feel crazy fast.

I would like to note that you're really overpaying for that monitor, $200 for a 24" TN panel? If you just pick up the cheapest 1920x1080 monitor (which is usually an Acer) for almost half that cost you could possibly fit a Crucla M4 128 GB into the budget, and an SSD + a 3570K is crazy fast, speaking from experience

 

[JoeyP]

I wouldn't really bother putting a specific power supply on your wishlist. They're the poster child for parts that go on insane deals from time to time.

This is great news. I'll look for sales on power supplies and try to time purchase (if possible) around one.

A $60 B75 will perform the same as a $150 Z77 board. In terms of longevity, all 1155 boards will last the same amount of time, paying a ton of money will not cause the socket to sprout more pins when Intel changes the socket next year (and two years after that, and two years after that, and so on).

I get what you're saying. I was thinking along the lines of having a board with decent OC capability. Can you recommend a good B75 board?

I think coming from a 1.4GHz Athlon, just about any modern offering is going to feel crazy fast.

I would like to note that you're really overpaying for that monitor, $200 for a 24" TN panel? If you just pick up the cheapest 1920x1080 monitor (which is usually an Acer) for almost half that cost you could possibly fit a Crucla M4 128 GB into the budget, and an SSD + a 3570K is crazy fast, speaking from experience

I'll look at a few Acer monitors and see what I can do to maybe buy an SSD.

BTW, I milk technology as long as possible. I thought I'd get 5-6 years out of my Athlon, and when it became unbearable to use 5 years ago, I just tolerated it because money was tight. I have a feeling (and I could be wrong here) that a new system will make me so happy that by the time it becomes unbearable another 11 years will have passed by. Maybe I'm naive, but I can't see how the system I'm assembling can EVER feel slow!

 

[lehtv]

I get what you're saying. I was thinking along the lines of having a board with decent OC capability. Can you recommend a good B75 board?

B75 boards don't overclock. For overclocking, you need a Z77 board and an unlocked CPU i.e. i5-3570K. Currently there's a nice combo of Asrock Z77 Pro3 and i5-3570K for $307 but that may not be available when you're buying.

Maybe I'm naive, but I can't see how the system I'm assembling can EVER feel slow!

For the tasks you describe, an Ivy Bridge setup should last for a very long time. Gaming is the first thing that could potentially require you to upgrade, but since you only do light gaming, that's not much of an issue. I'd expect 5+ years of playability, factoring in an upgrade to a discrete graphics card.

However the computer scene is a bit unpredictable, we can't know for sure what new technologies are released five years from now and how they might affect the way you want to use your PC, and whether compatibility with new technologies might require you to upgrade.

 

[CA19100]

Looks like a nice build. I put something similar together a little while back (though with a Gigabyte H77 motherboard, as I don't intend to overclock), and it's been terrific.

Despite not wanting to overclock, I also went with the i5-3570K because I wanted the Intel 4000 graphics. Though I eventually added a discrete video card when the budget allowed, the 4000 did surprisingly well for everything up to light gaming. I figured for only $20 more than the 3550 (with Intel 2500 graphics), it was a fairly cheap upgrade. For a build that will depend on the integrated graphics, I think it'd be well worth the small price difference.

 

[krnmastersgt]

However the computer scene is a bit unpredictable, we can't know for sure what new technologies are released five years from now and how they might affect the way you want to use your PC, and whether compatibility with new technologies might require you to upgrade.

Agreed, however I personally believe that in the past 3 years or so computer hardware as evolved at a ridiculous rate (or maybe it just kept pace with Moore's Law) and that for a basic home system, a modern i5 will last for a VERY long time as it's not really possible to stress a quad core with browsers. Video conversion will also likely find ways to scale better and better with newer CPU's but as long as the OP is fine with the speeds he gets from a 3570K, there's no issue there either.

I think all the performance hits this system will take over the years will be negligible for the OP as I believe it will take quite a long time for "common" software and applications to stress what is the top of the line today. Also if the OP can tolerate an Athlon that old, I see a 3570K lasting another decade pretty readily.

 

[JoeyP]

Agreed, however I personally believe that in the past 3 years or so computer hardware as evolved at a ridiculous rate (or maybe it just kept pace with Moore's Law) and that for a basic home system, a modern i5 will last for a VERY long time as it's not really possible to stress a quad core with browsers. Video conversion will also likely find ways to scale better and better with newer CPU's but as long as the OP is fine with the speeds he gets from a 3570K, there's no issue there either.

I think all the performance hits this system will take over the years will be negligible for the OP as I believe it will take quite a long time for "common" software and applications to stress what is the top of the line today. Also if the OP can tolerate an Athlon that old, I see a 3570K lasting another decade pretty readily.

This is pretty much what was on my mind, and I thank you for articulating it far better than I could have!

The number of advances this new system will provide could not be had with part swaps in my existing system. And to be honest, if my rendering goes from 12 hours down to even 3, I'll be overjoyed. In fact, when the time comes where 3 hours is too long for me, I'll overclock and/or get a discrete GPU to help.

Thanks to everyone for your tips. With your guidance, I've shaved about $35 off my original build price, and I expect this to drop even a little more as sales start popping up. :biggrin:

 

[mfenn]

This is pretty much what was on my mind, and I thank you for articulating it far better than I could have!

The number of advances this new system will provide could not be had with part swaps in my existing system. And to be honest, if my rendering goes from 12 hours down to even 3, I'll be overjoyed. In fact, when the time comes where 3 hours is too long for me, I'll overclock and/or get a discrete GPU to help.

Thanks to everyone for your tips. With your guidance, I've shaved about $35 off my original build price, and I expect this to drop even a little more as sales start popping up. :biggrin:

$35 seems to be a small amount of savings. The mobo alone should have saved you over $50. Can you post your current list for critique?

EDIT: Oh, I just remembered about the date being so far out. I guess fine tuning the prices is somewhat pointless right now.