First time building in awhile - $1400

[so2]

I am a programmer, graphic designer, and music producer. As such I use Visual Studio 2010 extensively, Adobe CS5 suite, and Ableton for music production. This is about the extent of my abilities on a PC and I dont game at all.

I was working with some people on another forum to get a build together and wound up with this! I think it looks great but wanted to get some feedback from this community before purchasing everything.

I'm aiming for around 1400 (without monitors included) but I am flexible and can go up a bit. I will most likely purchase this week. Thank you for any and all feedback on this!


CPU – $315
Intel I7-2600k (3.4ghz, dual-quad core, hyper threading)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-070-_-Product

Mobo – $180
Asus P8P67 Pro (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...3&Tpk=p8p67pro

RAM - $95
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-428-_-Product
Main HD - $121
OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTX60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-704-_-Product
Secondary HD - $60
Samsung Desktop Class Spinpoint F3 1 TB SATA 3.0 Gb-s 32 MB Cache 3.5-Inch
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Spinpo...4993558&sr=8-2

GFX Card – $355
EVGA GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-593-_-Product

PSU - $90
CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139020

CASE – $100
COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-197-_-Product

ROM - $70
SAMSUNG Black 12X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Drive Model SH-B123L LightScribe Support – OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-222-_-Product


Monitors – $180 x 2 = $360
ASUS VH238H Black 23" Full HD HDMI LED Backlight LCD Monitor w/Speakers 250 cd/m2 ASCR 50,000,000:1
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...scrollFullInfo


System Total: $1386
Add the monitors @ 360 for both
$1750 before taxes.

 

[mfenn]

Looks like a pretty good starting point. I do have a few suggestions though:
- Mobo: More expensive than you need. Check out the GA-P67A-UD3.
- RAM: Not worth the $15 extra over normal RAM.
- SSD: I would not get a Vertex 2 right now because of their issues with 2Xnm NAND. Check out the Corsair Force 60 instead.
- GPU: MPE doesn't scale that well with CUDA cores. Check out the GTX 560 Ti instead.
- PSU: Overkill for this rig. I'd go with a quality ~500W PSU instead like the good ol' 520C.
- Monitors: Take the money saved up there to get a pair of these ASUS IPS monitors or go upscale with a pair of U2311H's. The display is the most important part of a graphic designer's machine.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Can an H67 board run 2 monitors? If so, there is no need for that Gaming graphics card.

Bout to fire up Maschine again.

EDIT: welcome to the Anandtech Forums, btw 🙂

 

[so2]

thanks for the input mfenn I was debating on going with that "sli" ready mobo just because I wasnt sure if I would ever want to kick in for a second 570 and run sli. You've brought up an excellent point though, because I could save on the Mobo, PSU, and Vid card ~ 175 bucks or so on the whole set up.. If I just didnt think I might need a sli set up.. which I imagine I wont since I dont game at all.

BTRY B 529th FA BN - Thanks for the welcome! You mentioned that if the h67 support dual monitors I can ditch the gpu all together. I havent looked at the performance of sandy bridge processors and the graphics processing that much, but being that I havent built PCs in awhile I figured it wouldnt be able to handle any serious graphic design applications.. Are a lot of designers opting for the graphics processing capabilities of the sandy bridge cores over video cards?

Will also take your advice on the SSD and RAM, definitely going to consider those dell monitors.. that monitor looks amazing, jeez..

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

BTRY B 529th FA BN - Thanks for the welcome! .. Are a lot of designers opting for the graphics processing capabilities of the sandy bridge cores over video cards?

That question I don't know. You'll have to look at the applications forum page. There are probably more people who could tell you. What Graphic Design app/s are you talking about?

 

[mfenn]

thanks for the input mfenn I was debating on going with that "sli" ready mobo just because I wasnt sure if I would ever want to kick in for a second 570 and run sli. You've brought up an excellent point though, because I could save on the Mobo, PSU, and Vid card ~ 175 bucks or so on the whole set up.. If I just didnt think I might need a sli set up.. which I imagine I wont since I dont game at all.

Exactly. SLI is of pretty much no benefit for a non gamer.

BTRY B 529th FA BN - Thanks for the welcome! You mentioned that if the h67 support dual monitors I can ditch the gpu all together. I havent looked at the performance of sandy bridge processors and the graphics processing that much, but being that I havent built PCs in awhile I figured it wouldnt be able to handle any serious graphic design applications.. Are a lot of designers opting for the graphics processing capabilities of the sandy bridge cores over video cards?

The only big reason to stick with an Nvidia GPU for designers is CUDA support. CUDA is a way for specially-written programs to use some of the GPU's power for non-game processing. In particular, Premiere CS5's Mercury Playback Engine uses CUDA to make your time spent editing video a lot smoother and more enjoyable.

Will also take your advice on the SSD and RAM, definitely going to consider those dell monitors.. that monitor looks amazing, jeez..

Yeah, they are nice.