PC build help.

[walterc]

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Hello,

If time is money then I am broke. Between school in the evening and working eight hour days I don't have the time to do alot of research. Apologies for asking the same noob questions the have been asked a 1000 times before. And thanks.

ASUS VS198D 19\" LED/5MS/VGA/BLACK
RADEON HD 6770 1GB passive
4GB 1333MHZ DDR3 NON-ECC CL9 DIMM HYPERX
4GB 1333MHZ DDR3 NON-ECC CL9 DIMM HYPERX
120GB SSDNOW V+200 SATA3 2.5
INTEL CORE i3-2120 3.3G 3M LGA1155
THERMALTAKE SMART PSU 630W 12CM 80+WHITE
MICROSOFT WINDOWS 7 HOME PREMIUM SP1 64-BIT OEM FI
THERMALTAKE V3 MID TOWER BLACK
Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H - LGA1155
DELTACO keyboard,
DELTACO mouse, 1000 DPI, USB,
DELTACO speakers, 3,5mm, USB, 2x1W RMS

I'm a big fan of gigabyte, I'd like to be able to do a little gaming and video editing. Total budget for the above system is 850 euros. Trying to make the system as silent as possible. Will be purchasing from www.tietokonekauppa.fi. I live in Finland. I know how to build a pc (assuming they're still built like they were five years ago.)

Any and all helpful advice is much appreciated. Again, many thanks.

 

[lehtv]

Just to summarize your answers to the questions in the sticky

1. uses: gaming and video editing
-> please elaborate which is more important. How intensive video editing are we looking at (1080p gaming videos, study related)? How important is gaming performance and image quality? What sort of games?

2. budget: 850 eur incl. OS and peripherals

3. location: Finland

4. brands: gigabyte

5. reusing parts: none

7. overclocking: it seems not

8. resolution: don't own a monitor yet

9: when you plan to build: soon?

10: need OS: yes

I'd recommend taking a look at other shops than just www.tietokonekauppa.fi. www.hintaseuranta.fi is a good start. Another option is to order from abroad - living in Finland myself I've noticed that the price level in Germany is considerably lower and even with shipping saves you a lot of cash / allows you to build a better rig. www.mindfactory.de is particularly good for the prices and product catalogue. Shipping about one week.

 

[mfenn]

Can you list out the prices for each part?

At first glance, I'd say:
- Mobo: You can easily spend less there. You've got a CPU that isn't capable of overclocking, so there's not much call for a Z77 motherboard. Take a look at B75 boards like the P8B75-M LX
- PSU: Thermaltake PSUs are pretty meh. You don't need much wattage on a rig like this as long as you buy something decent like this Antec VP450P.

 

[walterc]

1. Video editing has priority. Gaming during the winter (mostly play source games, company of heroes, world in conflict.) and 1080p skydiving videos during the summer.

2. Budget is 850 euroes for the whole shebang.

3. Location is Finland.

4. Gigabyte, Kingston, Intel (Cheap mobos are a no go. Very bad experience with such.)

5. All new.

6. Yes in the future. Not a priority now. Will buy another GPU in the future. Possible also better CPU.

7. Plan on ordering this week.

8. Need OS.

Mindfactory.de looks good. Except I don't speak german. Will give it a better look.

 

[walterc]

The GPU and CPU I am unsure of. Especially the GPU.

 

[walterc]

I think I'll order locally, looking at the reviews from finland people seem to have a hard time returning damaged products and getting a refund/exchange. I just don't have the time to go down that road should I recieve anything broken.

 

[lehtv]

Regarding your answer to 6. On your limited budget I recommend forgetting about overclockability and SLI / Crossfire compatibility. Both add to the cost of the motherboard and PSU, it's better to spend the money on a faster CPU and GPU to begin with.

Here's what I'd recommend from mindfactory.de

CPU i5-3450 162 eur
CPU Cooling Scythe Mugen 3 35 eur + Scythe 120mm 500RPM 6 eur (noiseless at full load)
Mobo Gigabyte B75M-D3H 67 eur
RAM 2x4GB 1600 34 eur
GPU HIS 7750 iSilence 98 eur (passive)
HDD Seagate ST1000DM003 1TB 7200RPM 65 eur
DVD Samsung DVD-RW 17 eur
PSU XFX 550W 51 eur
Case Bitfenix Merc Alpha 30 eur + 3x Scythe 120mm 500RPM 18 eur (replace the rear fan, add two front fans)

= 583 eur + 30 eur shipping
Should leave enough for the peripherals and OS.

Keyboard & mouse: Logitech Desktop MK120 19 eur
Monitor: Asus VH228D 118 eur (21.5" 1080p LED)
I can't find the Win7 Home Premium 64bit OEM version anywhere in Finland which is really odd. It would be cheaper to order English 64bit DVD from Germany than buying Retail in Finland (110 eur shipped). Could you get a Windows license through your school?

Total incl. English OS from Germany = around 860 eur

You wanted as silent as possible, hence the Scythe fans. If you didn't care about noise, you'd save around 60 eur. It's also possible to spend less and still get lower noise, e.g. scythe shuriken is still quieter than stock, and two 800RPM fans would still be very quiet and move more air than three 500RPM fans. Radeon 7770 is faster but a bit noisier, costs the same. You could also save money if you went with an Asrock board instead of Gigabyte. These savings could afford you a hyperthreaded Xeon CPU.

Regarding the lack of an SSD... you will need a hard disk anyway since video editing takes quite a lot of hard disk space. The addition of an SSD is not viable on this budget.

 

[walterc]

Thanks, this is a big help!

Why the extra 120 mm fan for the CPU? Also since I have very little material now to edit I could push getting an HDD to next year and get an SSD now?

 

[lehtv]

The regular fan will spin up to 1300 RPM or so at load, IIRC. It's audible. A constant 500RPM fan will cool the stock clocked CPU adequately even at load and make practically no noise. If you're fine with audible, you might as well use the stock cooler or the Shuriken.

 

[walterc]

A few more questions:

The motherboard only has connections for 2 fans and is aimed at business? I'm having doubts.

There seems to be a 3 dB difference between the budget fans vs. the competition? I don't believe I can tell the difference so have opted for the budget fans.

Kingston HyperX Blu memory is cheaper and I trust the Kingston brand more so have decided to go with them.

Is the performance increase of the Xeon vs. the i5 worth 40 euros?

Many thanks for your help. You've saved me alot of time.

 

[lehtv]

The Scythe fans can be connected directly to the PSU. But I'd connect the CPU fan and one of the case fans directly to the motherboard.

That the motherboard is aimed at business is just marketing, it is compatible with all consumer products, don't worry about that. It's basically H77 chipset without so many SATA 6gb/s ports (only needed for SSD's) and without SSD caching.

The advertised dBa is irrelevant, what matters is the manufacturer and the RPM. Scythe is a high quality manufacturer, and for only 6 eur a piece the Slip Streams are an easy choice. They cost $10-12 in the US. What budget fans were you looking at?

The Kingston HyperX blu is 1.65V, I probably looked at the same kit.. LGA1155 CPUs and mobos are meant to use 1.5V which is the DDR3 standard voltage. G.Skill is just as good though, you can't go wrong with any well known memory brand, they all have lifetime warranty.

Is the performance increase of the Xeon vs. the i5 worth 40 euros?

For video editing, yes it is. Assuming the video editing applications you use are heavily multithreaded. Which apps do you use?

 

[walterc]

Thanks. I'm just getting into video editing and don't any software yet. I've played around with alot freeware software before but not anything semi-pro/pro. What would you recommmend?

Also I got a pay raise. So have decided to bump my budget +-1000 euroes for a working computer. HDD and video-editing software would follow in the spring.

So with this budget I figure I should be able to get the Xeon, a better mobo, SSD. Your thoughts?

 

[lehtv]

With your increased budget, get

Xeon E3-1230 V2 instead of i5
2x8GB 1.5V 1600MHz RAM instead of 2x4
Optionally a H77 board instead of B75
HD 7850 2GB graphics card - sapphire dual-x or asus directcu is probably the quietest
Fractal Design Define R4 instead of Merc and extra fans

I've used Adobe After Effects CS5 myself, not for anything very complicated though. It's surprisingly intuitive and easy to use for a beginner. I know Sony Vegas is popular and very comprehensive but I've never used it myself, and I imagine it takes a bit more time to learn to use properly.

 

[walterc]

Why H77? I get that dual graphics cards is more of a gimmick in most cases and getting a new card is a better upgrade path most often than not. But wouldn't the overclocking features of a Z77 be a great way to squeeze more juice out of a(n aging) system?

Thanks again for your answers.

 

[lehtv]

H77 has a few more 6gb/s ports and supports SSD caching, so if you ever get a second SSD, it's worth having. I find a second SSD a pretty likely option for a lot of users because they're still a fast developing technology with prices per gigabyte falling steadily. EDIT I should add that with the increased budget you should definitely buy an SSD (this one), and then the Xeon, and then whatever else you can afford. In my previous post I thought, for some reason, that the original rig I suggested had an SSD in it.

Z77 is also an option if you want to OC your Xeon by 4 bins (I believe Xeons supports this just like locked i5's and i7's, someone correct me if I'm wrong).

 

[walterc]

Which of these is the one I should get?

Thanks.

 

[lehtv]

This one

 

[walterc]

THIS POST (up-to-date)

Alright this is what I'm going with:

Intel Xeon E3-1230v2 4x 3.30GHz So.1155 198,45 e
Scythe Mugen 3 Rev.B SCMG-3100 33,61 e
120x120x25 Scythe Kaze-Jyuni 5,59 e
8GB G.Skill Ares DDR3-1600 DIMM CL9 Dual 33,30 e
550 Watt XFX Pro Core Edition Non-Modular 52,37 e
Fractal Define R4 Midi Tower ohne Netzteil 95,74 e
128GB Samsung 830 Basic Series 2.5" 82,46 e
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 77,65 e
Gigabyte GA-Z77P-D3 Intel Z77 So.1155 Dual 85,42 e
2048MB Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 Aktiv PCIe174,55 e
Samsung SH-224BB DVD-RW SATA schwarz 15,66 e

And that comes to a total of 859,75 e.

I'm still looking at monitors but this one from Asus seems to be good (981,13 e). No point in splashing out on a video editing/gaming pc and then buying a crap monitor. KB and mouse I'll get from Finland (scandinavian layout.) Plus shipping should bring the total price to just over 1000 e. If anyone can find similar quality components for less and help shave off a few euros. Thanks.

Next year I'll be upgrading it with an HDD, video editing software and more RAM.

 

[walterc]

Thanks lehtv for your help, for 150 euros more I believe I have got a far superior build. Now to try and order the thing in german.

 

[lehtv]

Looks great! One thing I would change: the motherboard. Get an ATX motherboard for an ATX case unless you're out of options, which isn't the case here. Gigabyte Z77P-D3 85 eur - two more expansion slots, mSATA slot, one more chassis fan header

Any German you're unsure of just post to google translator.

 

[postmortemIA]

I have the stock fan. Mobo regulates its speed based on CPU temperature. These ivy bridge CPUs have such low TDPs that I don't see point in special fan unless you're overclocking.

 

[lehtv]

postmortemIA isn't the stock fan easily audible at load? My Scythe Mugen 2 fan certainly is. The point of the constant 500RPM fan is to keep it inaudible even at full CPU load, which is fine with a stock clocked CPU.

 

[walterc]

I posted this question on another board but haven't got answer yet. The windows version I have posted above has the option to choose english? I remember a laptop I bought a while back with windows 7 home premium asked me what language I wanted to use and warned me I couldn't change it in the future.

I'm sorry I just can't bring myself to order and Asrock board. The Gigabyte GA-Z77P-D3 looks like a good board.

 

[walterc]

I have the stock fan. Mobo regulates its speed based on CPU temperature. These ivy bridge CPUs have such low TDPs that I don't see point in special fan unless you're overclocking.

I plan on overclocking some time in the future when I have more time to look into it. Should I save the fan for a later date (i.e. next summer)?

 

[postmortemIA]

postmortemIA isn't the stock fan easily audible at load? My Scythe Mugen 2 fan certainly is. The point of the constant 500RPM fan is to keep it inaudible even at full CPU load, which is fine with a stock clocked CPU.

Stock fan goes to 1000rpm in idle and around 1500rpm under load. I don't think I hear it - GPU fan is the louder fan in my system so it usually covers noise from other fans. Usually 1000rpm is limit at which you do hear fans.

I plan on overclocking some time in the future when I have more time to look into it. Should I save the fan for a later date (i.e. next summer)?

You can, but then you will need to re-apply thermal paste when you upgrade the fan.