I'm a noOb and I want help picking out my parts kit!

[Chunga23!]

Hello,

Many thanks for those who posted help for on my last thread. Since then, I’ve upped my budget and would really value some expert help in making a build work.

1. PC will be a used for a variety of tasks, but mainly I want NO lag when performing recording audio tasks (real-time effects processing on instrument input using internal/external sound card...need advice here on latency when using products like Absynthe, Cubasis – essentially, I’m looking to do away with most of my guitar/keyboard effects hardware and use the PC as the main live effects processing unit at home so lag is a BIG issue) and I DO like to game extensively though do not have to have a state-of-the-art $5,000 gaming rig. I would just like to be able to play some newer games that are graphics heavy (simulations, first-person shooters, EVE etc.) without having my PC squeal like a pig (keeping the PC quiet is actually one of my BIG requirements) or get choppy visually. That said, I wouldn’t consider myself a ‘hardcore’ gamer like some of my friends. I would just like to enjoy some of the newer games on my own for a couple years to come.

2. My budget is $1600-$2000. I know this is a larger spread than you have asked for, but it shows what I would like to pay and what would hurt, short term, but may be able to swing if it is the only way I can get the parts/performance I need.

3. Buying parts from Canada and US (I’m in Canada).

4. Not a fanboy per se, though I guess I’d prefer an Intel CPU.

5. Not using any current parts, except peripherals (monitor, mouse, keyboard)

6. Will be looking at music recording peripherals that can harness good live effects processing from the PC/software or hardware running through the PC (e.g. M-audio interfaces for midi and other input; analog keyboard etc.).

7. Never overclocked. Open to it.

8. Will be using a resolution of 1920 x 1080 (Philips 246EL2 24inch )

9. Plan on building as soon as I can.

10. I may decide to purchase a windows 7 professional. Or wait until Windows 8 is released?

The only prebuilt system that comes close to what I was looking for is from Origin PC, but comes in at $2286 (below) – can I do better than this $ while coming in close to performance and quietness?

CHRONOS
Details
Case: Bitfenix Prodigy (White)
Case Fans: Standard Case Fans
Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-I DELUXE (USB 3.0, SATA 6Gb/s, WiFi) $226.00
System Cooling: ORIGIN FROSTBYTE 120 Sealed Liquid Cooling Systems
Processors: Overclocked Intel Core i7 3770K 4.1GHz - 4.4GHz LGA 1155 Quad-Core Processor (8MB L3 Cache) $455.00
Power Supply: 750 Watt Corsair TX750M PSU $131.00
Graphic Cards: Single 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GTX 660 Ti $351.00
Memory: 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600Mhz (2x8GB) Memory $139.00
Operating System: Genuine MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit Edition
RAID Configuration: RAID 0: For better speed and performance (2 or more identical drives needed)
Hard Drive One: 120GB Corsair Force GT - Solid State Drive $185.00
Hard Drive Two: 120GB Corsair Force GT - Solid State Drive $185.00
Media Card Reader: 40 in 1 Media Card Reader $25.00
Optical Drive: 24X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability
Audio: On Board Audio
Networking: Onboard Network Port

Any and all help is greatly appreciated!

 

[DSF]

You can absolutely do better on price than the system you found with them. They're marking up basically every component. Are they also charging you a build fee, or is their fee just the markup?

So, going down the list...

- The motherboard is major overkill. If you need WiFi my personal choice would be to get a separate WiFi card and save some money. I don't see any reason you'd need more than a standard $90-110 motherboard.
- I wouldn't bother with liquid cooling. I'd go with a nice, quiet air cooler like the Scythe Mugen 3.
- Do your audio applications benefit from hyperthreading? If so, go for it. If not, I'd probably consider dropping down to an i5.
- The PSU is oversized by 100+ Watts. For a build like this you could spend $90 or less on the PSU and still get a properly sized unit from a good manufacturer. (Think something in the 500-600W range - even that leaves some wiggle room for the future.)
- If you build it yourself look for memory that will fit underneath a big heatsink. 1.5V or less is the stuff you want.
- From what I've read, RAIDing SSDs makes little to no performance impact, and it does increase the risk of a failure, since a failure on one drive means the loss of everything. If your audio processing is a business thing, I definitely wouldn't do it.
- SSDs are nice, but is 240GB really enough for everything you do? I think my Battlefield 3 install is currently somewhere around 13GB, which would be over 5% of your entire storage capacity unless I missed something. I would get a large conventional drive for storage.

 

[mfenn]

You've listed a prebuilt PC in your post, but does it have to be that way? Or are you open to building it yourself? You can most definitely do better on price if you put it together yourself.

Also, what is the motivation for Windows 7 Professional?

 

[riversend]

If you want quiet, I recommend a little reading over at silent pc review. Lots of good discussion controlling noise. It will give you a good feel for cases etc that can help get you going in the right direction. Although many configs these days are certainly well below the squealing like a pig level.