Opinions on this build for a client

[VirtualLarry]

First of all, I already put it together. So I'm not asking for help to pick out parts.

Biostar TZ77A ATX Z77 mobo ($64 Newegg)
4x4GB Crucial Ballistix Sport LV LP 1.35v 9-9-9-28 DDR3-1600 (est. value $164, I already had these in stock)
Intel 3570K CPU 1155 ($230 + $1 ship Newegg)
Seagate 2TB SSHD desktop hybrid drive ($120 on sale at Newegg)
2x LG 14X Blu-Ray writer(s) ($50 ea some months ago at Newegg, 16X model now avail. for $65 ea)
Rosewill Blackbone case ($32 after promo at Newegg)
Antec Earthwatts 500W PSU ($50+tax at Staples, B&M clearance a year or two ago)
CoolerMaster 212+ heatsink/fan ($30+tax Microcenter)
Win7 Pro 64-bit OEM ($120 + $5 ship TigerDirect)

Went together nice and straightforward. I think I did alright, as far as value for money for my client. (The 16GB RAM was Just Because, and I already had it all in stock.)

Uses: Blu-ray backup. (With two BR drives, because the client prefers to put in source disc and blank disc, and "set and forget", so he doesn't have to swap discs partway through.)

Yes, we have a Microcenter nearby.

Edit: For a little background, his current BR backup rig is a Phenom II X4 955 or 965. Hopefully he will see a performance increase with this new rig.

 

[lehtv]

Why the 3570K and a Biostar Z77 board ? With the MC nearby, wouldn't it have been better to get a Haswell combo from there?

 

[VirtualLarry]

It crossed my mind. I had originally purchased the Z77 board with the intent of putting in an i3 and helping a different friend rebuild his system. That fell through, so I proposed to this friend about build him an updated PC from his Phenom II, for his BR backups.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

For duplicating disks?

If you want a performance boost, just upgrade the old BD drives.

I'd have just done this though:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001D667AM

 

[Charlie98]

Although I have one, I'm not a big fan of the 212+, the EVO is a marginally better design for the same or a bit more money.

Why the SSHD?

 

[VirtualLarry]

For duplicating disks?

If you want a performance boost, just upgrade the old BD drives.

I'd have just done this though:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001D667AM

I don't think that device will duplicate and shrink a (video) Blu-ray down to a BD-R.

 

[Ken g6]

Why the 3570K and a Biostar Z77 board ? With the MC nearby, wouldn't it have been better to get a Haswell combo from there?

Probably still would be. I gather that AVX2 [thread=2319972]could have[/thread] a big impact on x264. Though AnandTech Bench doesn't show it.

The other thing is, a cheap, overclocking processor for video encoding is one of the rare use cases for AMD FX processors.

 

[lehtv]

The other thing is, a cheap, overclocking processor for video encoding is one of the rare use cases for AMD FX processors.

True. It's only worth it though if your electricity isn't particularly expensive, and you're using it relatively occasionally rather than as several hours every day type of render machine. The more you load the CPU per day, the more you bridge the gap between the cost of an overclocked FX setup and a near-equally performing Xeon setup.

E.g. FX-8320 plus a capable cooler costs $190. Xeon costs $240. Xeon can get away with a cheapo H81 mobo for $50, while the FX needs at least a $70-80 mobo for comfortable OC'ing. End result: you only save $25 or so with the FX. (and that's not even taking into account the fact that the FX probably requires a beefier motherboard). Let's say the OC'd FX consumes 150W DC, and the Xeon consumes 75W DC -> 75W difference. With 90% efficiency and $0.15 per kW, you're looking at a $0.0125 / hour difference. It takes 2000 hours of CPU load to bridge that $25 difference, or only 83 days. At 6 hours of load per day, that's one year.

 

[mfenn]

I don't think that device will duplicate and shrink a (video) Blu-ray down to a BD-R.

If you're "shrinking" a Blu-Ray (i.e. re-encoding at a lower bitrate), you're not exactly duplicating or backing it up. You're making a low-quality encode. There's nothing wrong with that per se, just be sure that your client understands that he will never be able to get the original quality back should he lose the original disc.

 

[Blue_Max]

Why the SSHD?

Hey, I support them... if you need to buy a hard drive anyway and you can't justify the expense of a SSD, it's a nice drive! I find mine much more responsive than a standard drive for all those everyday tasks. Obviously big loads/copies won't be much different, but all the little stuff is great.