Looking for confirmation, or advice, on new build

[paulb104]

Hey

I've been reading anandtech.com for many years.

I'm putting together a new build because my computer went kaput two days ago. I'm currently typing on an old Athlon XP 1.09GHz with 1GB ram and it's painfully slow. I'll open a pair of tabs in Chrome and it could take as long as a minute for it to load enough to even read the article.

I've read a number of threads here with people posting build ideas and them getting a fair amount of useful replies from people who obviously know what they're talking about so I thought I'd do the same.

Here's my build so far:

To buy:
Motherboard - ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150
RAM - Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600
CPU - Intel Core i5-4430 3.0GHz
CPU Cooler - undecided
Case - Cooler Master HAF XB
PSU - Corsair CX 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V

Already own:
GFX Card - MSI R7950 Twin Frozr 3GD5/OC
SSD - Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
DVD Drive - (samsung dvd-rw from my old, now dead, pc)
HDD - (something laying around. at least 500gb)


According to pcpartpicker, the above build, not included the old hdd(s) and dvd, is $997.61.

My goal is to try to reduce the total cost of the system but not at s significant decrease to performance and/or capability.

I'm not an overclocker or a FPS gamer. Most of my computer time is in word processing, spreadsheets, and Chrome. Lots of flash games, though, like at kongregate. The only game I know I'll be playing is Diablo 3, but that's not a resource hog like Crysis 3 is...

I'm thinking that the Z87 mobo is better because of the SSD performance and power optimization (Lake Tiny). I don't know if that's enough, though, over a H87 board.

The i5-4420 was chosen because it's the lowest of the new generation of quad cores. I feel that I need four cores, as opposed to hyperthreading, because I work with a LOT of open programs at once. At one time I'll have Word, Excel, two or three notepad's, a calculator, and Chrome and Firefox all open. Chrome typically has more than twenty open tabs, and in each browser I'll have a flash game running. I also do a lot of photo editing, in a combination of Photoshop, Paint, and Windows Photo Gallery (each has their benefits). Once in a while I'll do some video editing too.

Thoughts?

Thanks

 

[Zap]

Motherboard - ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150
RAM - Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600
CPU - Intel Core i5-4430 3.0GHz
CPU Cooler - undecided
Case - Cooler Master HAF XB
PSU - Corsair CX 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V
...
My goal is to try to reduce the total cost of the system but not at s significant decrease to performance and/or capability.

I'm not an overclocker or a FPS gamer. Most of my computer time is in word processing, spreadsheets, and Chrome. Lots of flash games, though, like at kongregate. The only game I know I'll be playing is Diablo 3
...
The i5-4420 was chosen because it's the lowest of the new generation of quad cores. I feel that I need four cores, as opposed to hyperthreading, because I work with a LOT of open programs at once. At one time I'll have Word, Excel, two or three notepad's, a calculator, and Chrome and Firefox all open. Chrome typically has more than twenty open tabs, and in each browser I'll have a flash game running.

No overclocking = get a cheaper motherboard. Unless there is some feature of the motherboard that you can't live without which cheaper boards don't have, you can easily go with an H87 chipset board since the chipset itself is essentially "the same" as Z87 sans overclocking. Alternately the B85 chipset is even cheaper, and still hits most of the main features such as SATA 6Gbps and USB 3.0, but might be missing stuff such as RST.

Go cheaper on the RAM. Seriously, fancy heatspreaders don't do a thing. Just get whatever is the cheapest 1.5v 1600MHz DDR3.

Haswell Core i3 seems to be available now. I'm not sure you will benefit from 4 true cores versus 2+HT. While Flash keeps using CPU, your other tasks (Word, Excel, Notepad, Calc, even Photoshop/Paint/etc.) really doesn't use CPU cycles when you aren't actually having it do something, such as running a Photoshop filter. If they are running but you aren't doing anything, AFAIK they just take up RAM. Maybe someone more knowledgeable on this can chime in, but my opinion is that based on your use case, you should be safe with a Haswell Core i3 on a B85 chipset board.

Use stock CPU cooler. Enable a fan profile in BIOS. Save money.

Unless you are completely in love with the case (and can accept all the desk space "lost") then go with a cheaper tower case. Plenty of very functional cases at lower prices. Heck, why not go micro ATX? Cooler Master N200 runs $40 and will hold your proposed rig with expansion room to spare, plus has great ventilation. Just get a matching mATX motherboard and you will be good to go.

PSU is fine for the build. Don't get "married" to a certain brand/model. As long as it is sufficient quality, buy whatever is on sale at the time. And yes, that is often the Corsair CX series.

I figure by following what I wrote, you should be able to save $150-200 and for your purposes have essentially the same performance.

 

[Termie]

Welcome, paulb104!

It seems like you know what you're doing, because that system is well-spec'd. You already have an HD 7950, which is in fact overkill for your uses, but perhaps you bought it earlier when you had other intentions in mind.

I don't think you should buy a Z87 board, actually - it does not have any advantage in SSD performance or power optimization over H87, despite costing about $50 more. So save some money there - ASRock tends to make very good budget boards, perhaps you can go for the H87 Pro4 at around $90, or go for a mATX board and case as suggested above.

I do think that for your purposes, however, the quad-core makes sense. It will be much better in photo editing than an Ivy Bridge-based dual core like the i3-3220, and so the $60 cost premium probably makes sense for you. As for tab switching in Chrome - I'm not sure it will make much of a difference, honestly. Any modern CPU can handle that - the 8GB of RAM you have spec'd is more important in that regard. As Zap said above, you don't need anything other than the stock CPU cooler.

Note that the Haswell dual-cores were just released TODAY, and prices are pretty high, in my opinion: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...CE&PageSize=20

I'd stick with the quad, no question.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Have you considered buying used gear? A Yorkfield would do you fine. That would be the lowest quad system I'd look at. If you look at a 1366 system, the Xeon L5639 is going for around 90$ on eBay. 6 core, 32nm

 

[paulb104]

...and this is why I should have posted here first.

It seems like you know what you're doing, because that system is well-spec'd.

From 1993 to 2000 I built systems for me, friends and family. In 2008 Office Depot had a pc deal we couldn't refuse (two athlon based quad cores that were basically buy one get one free. Of those two, mine just died, and my wife's is having hardware issues, so I'm back in the game.

HD 7950 ... overkill for your uses

I completely agree. I did, however get it for almost half price, something like $180. It'll keep me covered for a number of years.

I don't think you should buy a Z87 board

I came to the same realization last night after submitting my post. AAMOF, right now I have a document that has ten ASRock boards side by side in a chart (I like using charts): Z87 Extreme4, Z87M Extreme4, Z87 Extreme3, Z87 Pro4, Z87M Pro4, Z87 Pro3, Fatal1ty Z87 Professional, Fatal1ty H87 Performance, H87 Pro4, H87M Pro4. In fact, I uploaded it to dropbox:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jmcafiflt1q79un/mobo Models.doc

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Welcome.

If you're on a budget then the ASUS B85M-E might be worth a look. Its a relatively cheap board, has all major features and even a displayport. You never know when you might need one.

Note that the Haswell dual-cores were just released TODAY, and prices are pretty high, in my opinion: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...CE&PageSize=20

I'm hearing quite disturbing rumours about those. High power consumption and little performance gain compared to Ivy. If this is a PC that's going to be used unchanged for more then 2 or 3 years, I'd make the investment and get a quadcore i5. If not then one of the Haswell Pentiums might be a better fit.

 

[paulb104]

Thanks for all the useful info!

...get a cheaper motherboard....go with an H87 chipset.

the B85 chipset is even cheaper...but might be missing stuff

I found a very useful article comparing the different chipsets:
http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Z87-H87-H81-Q87-Q85-B85-What-is-the-difference-473

My biggest concern is regarding SSD. According to that page, the H87 removes Lake Tiny (SSD caching performance and power optimization) whereas the Z87 has it. I don't fully understand what Lake Tiny is, but as I already have a ssd I'm a little wary of not having it.

Go cheaper on the RAM...get the cheapest 1.5v 1600MHz DDR3.

Already did that this morning. In my pcpartpicker build I changed the ram to Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 $56 (AR).


Haswell Core i3 seems to be available now. I'm not sure you will benefit from 4 true cores versus 2+HT. While Flash keeps using CPU, your other tasks (Word, Excel, Notepad, Calc, even Photoshop/Paint/etc.) really doesn't use CPU cycles when you aren't actually having it do something, such as running a Photoshop filter. If they are running but you aren't doing anything, AFAIK they just take up RAM. Maybe someone more knowledgeable on this can chime in, but my opinion is that based on your use case, you should be safe with a Haswell Core i3 on a B85 chipset board.

Use stock CPU cooler. Enable a fan profile in BIOS. Save money.

Unless you are completely in love with the case (and can accept all the desk space "lost")

I won't be sure until I've got it in my hands but I sort of am in love with it. I have an old audio video tower beside my desk and I've already cleaned off the desk level shelf for it. I had my old minitower on my desk, so this way I'm actually gaining desk space!

go with a cheaper tower case

Before I found the HAF XB, the build had the XON-560 White, and the Z87M Extreme4 with a Noctua NH-L12 cooler. One of the reasons that case was selected was it was narrow and it could house the ten inch long MSI R7950.

Cooler Master N200 ... matching mATX motherboard

I've been involved with pc's for twenty years. Honestly I'm tired of the black box. Really tired. The HAF XB, while black, is just so different. After reading this article, just for kicks I've put out emails to a few local companies who do powder coating to see what they'd charge.

 

[mfenn]

My biggest concern is regarding SSD. According to that page, the H87 removes Lake Tiny (SSD caching performance and power optimization) whereas the Z87 has it. I don't fully understand what Lake Tiny is, but as I already have a ssd I'm a little wary of not having it.

You're not going to be using SRT, so that half of Lake Tiny has no impact for you. The benefit of the power optimization is also dubious at best in a desktop because SSDs are already very power efficient. Let's be generous and say that it saves you 2W on average. Assuming your PC is on 24/7/365, that saves you 17 kWh per year, or about a buck seventy. It'll take many years to make back the difference in purchase price between a Z87 and an H87.

Before I found the HAF XB, the build had the XON-560 White, and the Z87M Extreme4 with a Noctua NH-L12 cooler. One of the reasons that case was selected was it was narrow and it could house the ten inch long MSI R7950.

I've been involved with pc's for twenty years. Honestly I'm tired of the black box. Really tired. The HAF XB, while black, is just so different. After reading this article, just for kicks I've put out emails to a few local companies who do powder coating to see what they'd charge.

If you want a cool case, check out the Silverstone Fortress FT03S.

 

[mfenn]

I came to the same realization last night after submitting my post. AAMOF, right now I have a document that has ten ASRock boards side by side in a chart (I like using charts): Z87 Extreme4, Z87M Extreme4, Z87 Extreme3, Z87 Pro4, Z87M Pro4, Z87 Pro3, Fatal1ty Z87 Professional, Fatal1ty H87 Performance, H87 Pro4, H87M Pro4. In fact, I uploaded it to dropbox:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jmcafiflt1q79un/mobo Models.doc

Anything with "Extreme" or "Fatality" in the name is way more than you need. The H87M Pro4 is a good choice because it's a relatively inexpensive MicroATX H87 board that still has 4 DIMM slots.