Is this non-gamer build plan sensible?

[TimLeonard]

I could use some advice for planning my first system build.

It'll be for my son, who's a high schooler with several years of programming experience (actual programming in several languages including assembler, not just scripts and web pages). He likes building stuff that's actually useful to other people and has little interest in gaming, may well use the system as a very small-scale server as well as a personal machine, and will be running Linux. I want to get a system with enough power for any computing he might want to attempt in the next 3-5 years. Looks like we can get a lot more for the money (and have some fun) by assembling it ourselves rather than buying it off the shelf.

Budget is not a primary issue, in that I don't need to stay within a particular bound, but rather I'm just trying to get something that will meet the need without wasting much money. I think that means we're looking at the high end of the price-performance sweet spot. Looks to me as though $800 should be plenty, but if $600 is enough I wouldn't complain, and if it turns out to cost $1000, then so be it. He needs a new display so we'll probably drop $100-$150 on a 23" 1920 x 1080 screen, but I'm not including that in the $800.

We're in the US.

We couldn't care less what brand the parts are as long as they meet the need and they're reliable.

We won't be re-using any currently owned parts except an old HD we'll stick in a secondary slot. (It's already full, so we'll be buying a new bigger HD.)

I've read other threads, including Attention System Builders and Sandy Bridge Buyer's Guide (both very helpful—thank you!) and others here and on other websites, but I'm learning about current component choices from scratch, having had no idea what a Z68 or Llano was, for example, before starting reading. Furthermore, our goals are evidently unusual, so the choices covered in those forums may all be silly for our case and I have no way of realizing that.

I feel no need to do overclocking, though my son might choose to play with that just to learn something new. I'd be willing to spend a tad more to make it possible, but it's certainly not a priority.

What resolution for gaming? Irrelevant, since he's not into gaming. Even if that were to change and he did get into it, he'd almost certainly be satisfied by low resolution.

I'd guess we'll build it in the next one to three months.

Overall plan: I'm thinking we should probably do a low-power quad-core Sandy Bridge Core i5 with integrated graphics, a motherboard allowing us to add a GPU later if we ever decide to, 4-8 GB RAM, 100+ GB SSD, and 1+ TB HD. I hate fan noise. The irrelevance of a GPU, inclusion of SSD (which I think important enough to system performance to be worth paying for), and desire for quiet seem to put us out of the mainstream. I've looked at various component choices in order to get a feel for the cost/benefit tradeoffs, which is how I figured that $800 was plenty, but rather than advice about particular component choices (though I'd be happy to hear suggestions with the reasoning behind them), I'm first looking for a sanity check on whether the general plan is sensible:

• CPU $200-300 probably quad-core Intel Core i5-2500S
• motherboard $100-$150 probably Z68 based
• GPU $0 none
• RAM $50-$100 probably 8GB
• SSD $120
• DVD $20
• PSU $50
• case $60
• Total $600-$800

 

[ultimatebob]

I've always found Intel's integrated graphics to be somewhat flaky under Linux. That alone would sway me to pick either an external graphics card or a AMD integrated solution.

 

[fastamdman]

Didnt read your whole post but got the point of it. Go with a 2500k or 2600k, z68 based motherboard. Will you be overclocking? 8gb of ram can be had for 50bucks and under for ddr3 1600mhz so all is good there. SSD wise go crucial m4, psi you won't need anything real powerful, corsair builder 430watt is perfect and cheap, case antec 300 illusion on sale during weekends *dont grab it unless its like 50 bucks, dont pay 70 for it*

So ya, problem solved.

Edit: Just saw you aren't going to overclock, thats unfortunate and makes me sad. In that case skip the k series but still grab a 2500 SB chip 🙂

 

[ElFenix]

i would not get a 2400S, it's slower than a plain 2400 (the 2400S should probably be a 2350 or something). the main benefit of the 2400S is reduced power consumption but you're only saving a few watts peak power consumption. and it's so much slower than a real 2400 that performance/watt is actually decreased. http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1202-page7.html
add on the fact that this slower processor actually costs more than a plain 2400 and you've got something that doesn't make sense.

 

[jacktesterson]

I love my A8 Build, coming from a Intel 2500k.

I just don't Pc game enough to warrant the additional costs

Everyday tasks, I can feel no difference.

 

[fastamdman]

feeling and knowing are 2 different things. My netbook feels fast my 2500k IS fast lol. There is nothing wrong with a8's, 2500k's, or any other cpu though. I am a fanboy of whoever has the fastest out currently, or best price to performance, in my book, intel has it with the 2500k's right now.

 

[mfenn]

i would not get a 2400S, it's slower than a plain 2400 (the 2400S should probably be a 2350 or something). the main benefit of the 2400S is reduced power consumption but you're only saving a few watts peak power consumption. and it's so much slower than a real 2400 that performance/watt is actually decreased. http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1202-page7.html
add on the fact that this slower processor actually costs more than a plain 2400 and you've got something that doesn't make sense.

Agree 100%.

OP, the major flaw that I see with your plan is that you're only budgeting $150 for a monitor and nothing for a keyboard. For a programmer's machine, the monitor and keyboard are the two most important components, with the SSD following a distant third.

Also, Intel HD Graphics work fine under Linux, as long as you're running a vaguely recent kernel and X.org.

So, here's what I propose:
i5 2400 $190
ASRock H67M $80
G.Skill DDR3 1333 8GB $30
M4 128GB $210
Skip the HDD for now since prices are insane and you have a spare
Corsair 430CX $35 AR
Fractal Design Core 1000 $40

Das Keyboard $130
Logitech G400 $40
Dell U2310HM $270
Total: $1,025 AR

This is about $75 over your $800 + $150 envelope.

 

[lehtv]

Logitech G400 is hardly needed for a non-gaming build, a cheap standard optical mouse would be fine

 

[Ken g6]

If he's interested in highly parallel programming, he might like a low-end GPU, like a GT430. I'd go nVIDIA right now, as they can do both CUDA and OpenCL; and the AMD OpenCL compiler was a little flaky last I looked.

Intel's upcoming Ivy Bridge chips will have onboard GPUs that can be programmed with OpenCL too, but their compiler quality is unknown.

 

[Ken g6]

For a programmer's machine, the monitor and keyboard are the two most important components, with the SSD following a distant third.

As a programmer myself, I'm not really sure how important any of these components are. Of those, monitor is most important, but I don't see the need to pay $100 over some on Newegg. If he likes his current keyboard, I wouldn't replace it, but I've never used a mechanical keyboard, that I know of. Never used a SSD either, so I don't know what I'm missing.

Personally, I've been using the same uber-cheap PS/2 keyboard for 10 years, and I even used a cheap CRT monitor from Goodwill for awhile. Stuck a fridge magnet on it to fix some color problems! Back in my day, I used to trudge a mile through the snow to the computer lab just to print a program from my floppy disk, dagnabbit! 😛

 

[TimLeonard]

Thanks very much for the help.

I'll look more into overclocking.
Postponing the HD purchase hadn't occurred to me and sounds sensible.
Thanks in particular, mfen, for the list of suggested components; having a good starting point will be a real help.
Keyboard and mouse aren't an issue because he's already got several that he's happy with.

Feel free to make more suggestions if you've got 'em; I'll still be listening.
Otherwise I'll be back when we've turned the plan into a proposed build.

 

[mfenn]

Logitech G400 is hardly needed for a non-gaming build, a cheap standard optical mouse would be fine

As a programmer myself, I'm not really sure how important any of these components are. Of those, monitor is most important, but I don't see the need to pay $100 over some on Newegg. If he likes his current keyboard, I wouldn't replace it, but I've never used a mechanical keyboard, that I know of. Never used a SSD either, so I don't know what I'm missing.

Personally, I've been using the same uber-cheap PS/2 keyboard for 10 years, and I even used a cheap CRT monitor from Goodwill for awhile. Stuck a fridge magnet on it to fix some color problems! Back in my day, I used to trudge a mile through the snow to the computer lab just to print a program from my floppy disk, dagnabbit! 😛

Of course you can program on any cheap POS, but that doesn't change the priority order. CPU and RAM just don't matter that much as long as you get something vaguely modern. The OP is using Linux remember (Ken, you should appreciate this), so it's not like he is stuck with some bloated IDE with a half-ass build system. Even Linux kernel work, one of the bigger codebases out there, doesn't take that long to do an incremental build.