mid range music/dev/light games proposed build

[taude]

Given my answers to the standard questions... I'm wondering if the wonderfully experienced folks in this forum see any bad ideas in my proposed build?

Now the standard questions and my proposed build.

1. Music production: mostly with Reason. The occasional game such as Diablo 3, Starcraft 2 not super-demanding FPS games. I do have hi res though, see Q8. Maybe some web development if I start freelancing.

2. $800, not counting what I already bought

3./4. US

5. no brand preference

6. reusing boot SSD and data spinning drive, firewire PCI card
already purchased cx430 PSU, COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO, and Klipsch speakers.
I also have one of those Korean 27" crazy awesome monitors.

7. no overclocking

8. i think it's 2560x1440. I have a 2nd monitor at 1920x1080 but I'm not sure I'll run them both yet. I have a dream of buying a 2nd 2560x1440 monitor but that is months off if ever. I recognize I'd need a new PSU and another GPU at that point.

9. ready to order parts ASAP

Here's what I came up with after perusing other threads:

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DTL9
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DTL9/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DTL9/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-3350P 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Newegg)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($19.99 @ Newegg)

Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Amazon)

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($83.98 @ Outlet PC)

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 650 Ti 1GB Video Card ($124.99 @ Newegg)

Case: NZXT Phantom 410 (Red) ATX Mid Tower Case ($107.98 @ SuperBiiz)

Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($26.99 @ Newegg)

Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)

Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 120W 2.1ch Speakers ($154.99 @ Best Buy)

Total: $836.89
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-17 00:34 EST-0500)

TY!

 

[mfenn]

I have a couple of questions:

1. Is your Firewire card literally (conventional) PCI or is it PCIe?
2. How much did you spend on the parts that you have already bought? In other words, how much of the budget remains?

 

[taude]

Hmm, good question. I think it's PCI. The old system is a 4 year old dell 530. In device manager it says "PCI bus 2, device 1, function 0" This specs page tells me it's probably PCI.

I'd be willing to spend $800 still. The list above, not counting what I already have, comes to $650 ($700 with tax and ship). Basically, I'd spend more if I think it's worth the investment.

I am trying to avoid needless overbuying. For instance, I dropped down from a 7850 to that 650ti because I figured I didn't need more than the latter card. Cost went from about $190 to $125AR due to a sale price.

 

[Steltek]

If you are not overclocking, is there a reason why you are buying the Cooler Master CPU heatsink when stock cooling should be sufficient?

 

[taude]

No reason. It appeared in a lot of builds and was occasionally singled out for praise so I thought it was a good thing. I hadn't realized it was to compensate for overclocking heat. Thanks for the tip!

 

[mfenn]

Hmm, good question. I think it's PCI. The old system is a 4 year old dell 530. In device manager it says "PCI bus 2, device 1, function 0" This specs page tells me it's probably PCI.

It could be either, that machine has both. Pop open the side of the case and take a look.

I'd be willing to spend $800 still. The list above, not counting what I already have, comes to $650 ($700 with tax and ship). Basically, I'd spend more if I think it's worth the investment.

I am trying to avoid needless overbuying. For instance, I dropped down from a 7850 to that 650ti because I figured I didn't need more than the latter card. Cost went from about $190 to $125AR due to a sale price.

OK, here's what I would do:

i5 3550P $180
Already purchased Hyper 212 $0
ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP $80 - has both PCI and PCIe, no need for a dual-GPU overclocking board for your uses
G.Skill DDR3 1600 16GB $85 - no tall heatspreaders to block your Hyper 212
7850 2GB $180 AR - avoid all 1GB cards at 1440p, that amount of VRAM is borderline right now and will be useless in 6 months
Reuse SSD $0
Reuse HDD $0
Lite-ON DVD Burner $18 - they last longer than Samsung in my experience
Already purchased 430CX $0
Fractal Design R4 $110 - very quiet to start, and has a fan controller so that you can tweak it lower
Total: $653 AR

 

[taude]

Excellent. Thanks for the tips.