Need help filling in the blanks in my first full build

[PhotoPoko]

Hey All,
I'm planning to put together a new PC mainly (Say 80%) for Photoshop CC and Lightroom 5, and also occasionally for Autocad 2013 and some random video editing, of course I'll also use it for typical office applications and web browsing. I have no interest in Gaming. I am in the US.

I have some components already I plan to use and need help selecting the remaining pieces of the puzzle. I'm trying to put together a "Best Value" system, I'm not after the best of the best but I want a good strong performer with potential to upgraded further in the future.

Here's what I already have:
CASE: Corsair Carbide Series 200R Compact ATX Case
PS: Corsair RM Series 650 Watt ATX/EPS 80PLUS Gold-Certified Power Supply
CPU: i5 3570 (not "K") Ivy Bridge, LGA1155, 6M Cache, 3.4 GHZ.
RAM: 4x Samsung 2GB DDR3 1333 M378B5773DH0 (I plan to upgrade to 16GB and better later but for now I want to get running on this)
HD 1: 250 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA 3GB/S
MONITOR: ASUS 24" IPS ProArt PA248, 1920x1200

I need help selecting:
MOTHERBOARD
SSD (Maybe 2?)
GRAPHICS CARD (Considering a GTX 650 1GB but want recommendations)


THANKS!!

 

[Cerb]

Fill out the rest of this: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=80121

 

[PhotoPoko]

I did read that already and I thought I covered everything relevant...

But I guess regarding overclock I cant do much can I? With the i5 3570 I have isn't it very limited in overclock potential unless I had the unlocked "K" version? But yes I would like to squeeze everything I can get out of it.

Budget isnt really a huge factor but I dont want to waste money on overkill components that wont have much benefit for my needs and based on what I already have. I'm more so looking for the "best bang for the buck".

And I think the only lingering question is brand loyaly and I dont really have much preference just looking for quality and value.

 

[Torn Mind]

650 watts is overkill for many configurations. A Rosewill Capstone 450 is perfectly sufficient for a GTX 660 or R9 270X/7870; you can buy it for 60 dollars on Amazon.

 

[Cerb]

Well, like you want an SSD, and surely an HDD, for that matter, but what? That could be $150, or it could be $500+.

 

[PhotoPoko]

Well, like you want an SSD, and surely an HDD, for that matter, but what? That could be $150, or it could be $500+.

I do already have a 250gb Samsung SpinPoint 7200 RPM HDD I plan to use.

I also already have a 4tb USB 3.0 desktop external drive and a 4tb MyBook Live NAS, which I use to archive my old files when I'm done working with them.

I do want to add an SSD for to use for my OS, Programs and Photoshop scratch disk. I questioned if I should use 2 because I'v read that ideally the scratch disk should be a dedicated drive?? But I'm not sure if the performance increase would be worth the cost... I am currently considering a single SSD around 250gb, but am looking for recommendations on what's a good model based on reliability and speed. Originally I was thinking 2x 120gb drives but it looks like the read/write speeds are generally faster on the 250gb size drives. So I'm not sure what would be best.

I guess my biggest question is on the MoBo. I was reading last night that with certain Z77 boards you can actually achieve really fast overclocks on the i5 3570 processor even if it's not the unlocked "K" version? I was already considering the Asus P8Z77-V LK Intel Z77 DDR3 LGA 1155 Motherboad would that be a good choice for my setup?? I was also considering the V-PRO version mainly because of the integrated wireless features, but realized its not wireless AC so I think I will just use a separate wireless adapter.

I also forgot to mention earlier I was planning to use a Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler that I already purchased.

Lastly, on the GPU Video Card, It seems it's really easy to go overboard here for what I need. I know I need GPU muscle but it's hard to decipher between features that are geared towards gamers and what will actually benefit me for Photoshop. I've read that the GTX 650 is plenty of power for my needs, but I'm a little lost when it comes to the different brands and the TI and OC versions. How much VRam do I need, will going up to 2gb give me an advantage in photoshop, or would I be better to go a step up in the GPU and stay at 1gb?

Lets say my max budget is $500 finish out my for my MoBo, SSD and GPU. What do you think would be my best combo?? Ideally I would like like to keep it closer to the $400 range or less, but like I said a few times already I'm more concerned about value. If spending $250 vs $125 on a GPU will give my a 30-40% improvement then its worth it, but if I'm only going to see marginal gains then I don't thinks its justified.

Thanks everyone for your help!

 

[PhotoPoko]

650 watts is overkill for many configurations. A Rosewill Capstone 450 is perfectly sufficient for a GTX 660 or R9 270X/7870; you can buy it for 60 dollars on Amazon.

Yeah thanks I realize that power rating is overkill. I was attracted to the Corsair RM series because of its fully modular cabling, and silent operation. I looked at the efficiency curves and its extremely efficient across board and a pretty flat curve. When I ordered it on Amazon ($110) the 750w was actually $10 cheeper than the 650w and only $10 more than the 430w and 500w versions so it seemed like logical choice.

It's not really bad to have too much power capacity is it except for the added cost up front?

After researching a little further I'm now considering exchanging it for the Corsair CX430m I can get that one for $50, it's still modular cabling and seems like it will be plenty quiet alongside my case and CPU fans.
Does that sound like a smarter choice??

 

[Cerb]

I do already have a 250gb Samsung SpinPoint 7200 RPM HDD I plan to use.

That's going to be small and slow. After adding an SSD of similar capacity, I think you'll not not have much use for it, except maybe as an OS backup target 🙂.

I am currently considering a single SSD around 250gb, but am looking for recommendations on what's a good model based on reliability and speed. Originally I was thinking 2x 120gb drives but it looks like the read/write speeds are generally faster on the 250gb size drives. So I'm not sure what would be best.

Random performance will be faster with a single 250GB drive, but 2 120GB drives will be faster for sequential transfers. OTOH, 2 250GB drives will also be faster than 2 120GBs. Likewise, 2 500GBs would be faster. It's only too much if you can't use most of the space provided.

I have a single 480GB M500 in my gaming desktop, FI, and when making game folder backups, as safe modding practice, I do get limited by SATA, with copying going between 190MBps and 350MBps (the latter being when plenty of it is in RAM, already). So, it can be a limit. OTOH, most of the time, that's not the case, and I can hardly even see the LED blip. Newer drives, with denser flash, like the M500, Q, 840 Evo, etc., gain substantial performance up to about 500GB, though the 250GB models can be limited by SATA for pure sequential, so RAID 0 v. single drive isn't too clear cut, if you might be able to use 1GBps of bandwidth, and I don't know that it is or isn't, for your case (if, like most of us, that's not an issue, then the decision is easy: get the bigger drive).

Bang/buck right now is squarely with the Crucial M500, at most capacity points. They are selling today for almost as low as they were back on Black Friday.

However, don't bother having a scratch SSD, unless you're adding to an existing system. If you get two SSDs, put them into a RAID 0, and load the OS right on to that (edit: note that this will require a motherboard supporting Intel RAID, which a B75 will not). You'll get better bandwidth and IOPS than with one as a scratch disk, plus have one big logical volume. Also, an Intel RAID 0 of modern SSDs will blow the doors off of any of the PCI-e SSD cards you'll find, while also being cheaper.

Whatever you get, make sure it's big enough that you can leave some free space on it. That will help maintain high write performance over time. Keeping them full can and will slow them down, so try to have enough space to make that a rare situation.

I guess my biggest question is on the MoBo. I was reading last night that with certain Z77 boards you can actually achieve really fast overclocks on the i5 3570 processor even if it's not the unlocked "K" version?

IIRC, some could let you go to the Turbo speed on all cores, and a few extra speed bins were allowed by Intel, as well.

Lastly, on the GPU Video Card, It seems it's really easy to go overboard here for what I need. I know I need GPU muscle but it's hard to decipher between features that are geared towards gamers and what will actually benefit me for Photoshop. I've read that the GTX 650 is plenty of power for my needs, but I'm a little lost when it comes to the different brands and the TI and OC versions. How much VRam do I need, will going up to 2gb give me an advantage in photoshop, or would I be better to go a step up in the GPU and stay at 1gb?

Basically, it doesn't matter. Half the time, none of it matters for gaming, either, it's just how the different brands differentiate themselves, so as not to be selling a pure commodity, even though that's what it is, to most users. The differences are generally <10% between them all, of the same model (like GTX 650), with the exception that lower-end models have DDR3 and GDDR5 variants, where the GDDR5 ones are quite a bit faster (but also quite a bit more expensive, to the point where it's easy to justify a few bucks to move up to the GTX 650).

I don't have time to hunt parts lists down ATM, but $500 should easily fit a decent mobo, GT 640 or GTX 650, and anything from 1 240GB on up. Out of the budget constraints, the video card should be the lowest priority. IE, if getting 2 SSDs or a bigger SSD means getting a GT 640 DDR3, that's probably a better choice than smaller SSDs and a GTX 650, in the long run.

 

[Charlie98]

I agree with what Cerb was saying... I would just stick with a single SSD, 250GB if possible. I would also dump the old 250GB HDD for a new 1TB or similar if possible.

If you can return the 750w unit, I would recommend this CX500m over the CX430m... it leaves you a little room for adding a GPU. I got a TX750 on sale for my single-GPU rig, too... complete overkill.

You'll have to go back to a socket 1155 board with that Ivy Bridge processor, I would suggest something like this ASRock B75 mobo. I would at least go with a 7-series Intel chipset board to guarantee SATA 3.0 ports; you could technically go to a 6-series board, but I wouldn't do that.

 

[mfenn]

You definitely do not need a powerful GPU for Photoshop. Only certain filters are GPU accelerated and even those don't scale terribly well with GPU performance. Something of the GTX 650 class would be totally OK.

I'd also stick with a single SSD versus RAID 0. Photoshop is not so much of a sequential IO monster that you really need to take on the extra risk that RAID 0 creates.

The mobo doesn't matter a huge amount as long as it has the ports that you want. You can get a reasonable overclock without going crazy on voltage.

ASRock Z77 Pro3 $80 AR
GTX 650 Ti $104
M500 480GB $275
Total: $459

I went with the 480GB drive because $459 is already well under your budget. You could just as easily get the 240GB version and save another $150 or so.

 

[Torn Mind]

Yeah thanks I realize that power rating is overkill. I was attracted to the Corsair RM series because of its fully modular cabling, and silent operation. I looked at the efficiency curves and its extremely efficient across board and a pretty flat curve. When I ordered it on Amazon ($110) the 750w was actually $10 cheeper than the 650w and only $10 more than the 430w and 500w versions so it seemed like logical choice.

It's not really bad to have too much power capacity is it except for the added cost up front?

After researching a little further I'm now considering exchanging it for the Corsair CX430m I can get that one for $50, it's still modular cabling and seems like it will be plenty quiet alongside my case and CPU fans.
Does that sound like a smarter choice??

No, overcapacity won't hurt, but there are quality modular units you can obtain for less. No, they won't have the fanless option that the RM series has, but the noise from the Intel stock cooler and GPU will likely drown out the PSU fan. However, since you already have it, I think you might as well try out the unit you already ordered and see if the fanless option works out for you.