Rethinking my new rebuild w/different hardware??

[rivbyte]

RETHINKING THIS REPLACEMENT PC~
To reiterate, again, I am not a gamer, nor do I Over Clock, but I DO use Pinnacle Studio 15 HD Ultimate, and Photoshop CS5 (3D), and I do not use these professionally, just for family and friends, and burn the output to MPEG2. So I am not looking to spend thousands of dollars, but I do need to replace my current system:
MSI P-35 Mobo,DDR2-8GB,Geforce 8600GT, 128 bit 512MB, 700w Thermaltake PSU, and Intel Q6600 2.4 Quad CPU. people are now telling me that the 700W PSU was an overkill from the beginning and now all I really need a 550W. I also have a 20" Viewsonic 1280x960, I have heard that I should replace this with an HD 24" ACER GD235HZ, 1280x1080, for video playback, but again, I am not a professional that really needs to see video color and output for clients, that I'll never have...so to save a little money now by keeping my present monitor.... maybe after the upgrade, maybe i will change it out.
Up until this morning, I was going to upgrade my 7 year old desktop with the following:
Z87-G43 LGA1150 Mobo / i5 4670K/ PC DDR3 1600 16 GB / 16GB DDR3 / GPU- Geforce GTX--650 / and keep my 700W..and hope for the best! ...
...But after talking to Micro Center, the guy tells me to get this instead:
GPU- R9260 AMD / ASUS X79 LGA 2011 Quad channel is faster than dual / 4th GEN. i7 4820K / Zalman 9000 CPU heatsink cooler, or Zalman CNPS9500A LED Universal CPU Cooler / Two SSD's, one 120GB for SCRATCH DISKS,, and the second for PRIMARY (APPS) and use my regular WD 500GB, and 2TB HD'S for storage / and Over Clock the Bios, not motherboard.
I also have my original CoolerMaster 690 case, and all the five internal case fans. he said that a 7 year old PSU may fail, so get a new one.
I never had a solid state drive, so I don't know what he meant by installing a SCRATCH DRIVE, and also a PRIMARY DRIVE, (don't think he meant to partition one SSD)
Video Files eat up a lot of hard drive space and Photoshop utilizes tons of scratch disc space, so maybe that's why he told me to get the two SSD's. Salesman techie dude also said that the scratch SSD only lasts a few years, maybe four or five, but the speed is what I gain.

He added, this system should last far longer than my seven year build. Plenty of room to upgrade in the future.
Would the AMD R900 series at almost $330.00, be better than the R700 series? maybe I can find it cheaper elsewhere.
Thank you for any suggestions, whether this seems like a solid build, or overkill?
Microcenter has the COMBO i7 4th,4820K, along with the Asus X79 2011 PRO both for $534.98.


Moved to general hardware - DrPizza

 

[Torn Mind]

Full HD is 1920x1080. If you play 1080p content or edit 1080p photos, it makes sense to get such a monitor at some point in time so you see every pixel, so to speak.

Scratch disks are basically a dedicated drive for Photoshop to write its temp files to when it does its work. You might not need it if your non-professional usage of Photoshop is not too demanding. I think you can add it later if you feel you need more power, but you don't have to get one right now.

Since you don't overclock, getting an overclocking CPU seems a wee bit unnecessary.

I think a 4770K combo from Micro Center should be satisfactory for you. The CPU is about the same as the 4820K. The 4820K is actually Ivy Bridge, while the 4770K is Haswell; the naming scheme is confusing. I don't believe quad channel RAM is worth the huge price premium in your use case. Nor is a CPU cooler, unless noise is a major issue with you.

You do want an SSD for your OS drive though, since it woudl speed up browsing the through the OS by a lot.

IMO, the graphics card can also be a decision to make after using the computer with just the IGP. The performance gain might be enough that you feel you don't really need one.

Getting an extra hard drive or two gives you some redunancy if you use them as backup drives.

 

[Ketchup]

Hello rivbyte, let's go back a couple steps here. What are you trying to do here? Make encoding faster? Make everything faster? Cut down on heat? When you are encoding, is your CPU pegged at 100% through the entire process, or did it fluctuate?

For example, I do a little conversion with a freebie by Freemake. I don't have an SSD (see sig) and my hard drive light is mostly just blinking through the process.

I think I understand some of what the salesman was saying. But he was being a salesman.

Your CPU/video card idea will still be a nice upgrade from what you have.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I think I understand some of what the salesman was saying. But he was being a salesman.

You got that right, Ketchup!

I wouldn't recommend an X79 board or even an i7-4820K to a mainstream user wanting to upgrade a ~7-year-old Q6600.

I'll emphasize that I'm building an IB-E this year with a socket-2011 motherboard. I don't plan to make it "operational" until the release of the Haswell-E!! During the interim, I'll merely be testing the essential components and choosing the final cooling solution.

But in my case, it's not about need -- it's about want.

I know darn well that the socket-2011 platform is dead-end. The OP's upgrade options would be limited to the $1,000 i7-4960X, or the 4930K. And the Micro-Center guy can attempt to sell the OP a graphics card right away!! When an i7-4770K or non-K would already have an iGPU!!

Who does the Micro-Center sales-crow think he's kiddin'??!! :twisted:

Even with "J-I-T" inventory control, these retail outfits must have surplus inventory they're trying to unload before the 4th quarter "E" release.

[Oh. remember this? Pappa tomato, Momma tomato and Baby tomato were walkin' down the street. Baby tomato is falling behind. Pappa tomato turns around, walks back and jumps -- squishing the Baby tomato -- and says "Catch Up!!"]

 

[wabbitslayer]

sounds like MC needs to move some inventory.

IMHO, going with socket 2011 is a waste of money, especially based on what you outlined as your usage. Pick out whatever 4770k combo that has the mobo you like best and go from there. You also shouldn't need a $$$ cooler unless you plan on overclocking it.

You definitely do want an SSD large enough for your OS and programs (I'd say ~250gb), and I'd wait and see how the integrated graphics worked before spending the money for a gaming card that you won't use for gaming.

Sort of agree with salesman about the PSU. If you got it with the q6600, it's about time for a new one.

 

[BrightCandle]

I concur, you don't have a 2011 need at all. You don't really need a 4770k, a 4770 would be a bit cheaper and offer the same performance without the overclocking.

 

[Cerb]

...But after talking to Micro Center, the guy tells me to get this instead:
GPU- R9260 AMD / ASUS X79 LGA 2011 Quad channel is faster than dual / 4th GEN. i7 4820K / Zalman 9000 CPU heatsink cooler, or Zalman CNPS9500A LED Universal CPU Cooler / Two SSD's, one 120GB for SCRATCH DISKS,, and the second for PRIMARY (APPS) and use my regular WD 500GB, and 2TB HD'S for storage

Don't listen to the guy at Microcenter. Quad channel is no faster than single-channel for most uses, let alone dual-channel (dual-channel offers a handy graphics performance boost w/ IGP, though). Performance-wise, it's there for DBMSes and VMs, mainly, on LGA2011, plus to give servers much more RAM capacity.

Any added GPU might very well be overkill, depending.

That CPU is definitely overkill. You won't make good use of it. The CPU cooler is entirely unnecesary, and not a good value, even if you were to want better than the stock cooler.

Once you have a sufficiently high-performance SSD, if building fresh, a separate SSD for a scratch disk will be slower than making a RAID 0 of two SSDs to begin with, and not having a separate scratch disk. For your needs and budget, though, I don't think a RAID 0 is suitable, anyway. It would be nice, given current prices, if it didn't add fragility, but it does add fragility, so I would avoid it outside of (a) a business need or (b) just wanting it (this is an enthusiast forum, after all). If you can afford an SSD big enough for your apps and temp data, get that, and use an HDD just for slow/stale/backup data.

and Over Clock the Bios, not motherboard.

Same thing.

he said that a 7 year old PSU may fail, so get a new one.

Now, that was good advice. It's not the PSU is likely to drop dead one day, but it might start giving out dirtier power than it should, or handle transients too poorly, which could damage sensitive components, and/or that when a power event comes along, with a major surge or sag, that it might not protect itself or your PC's components like it was made to. I don't bother replacing working PSUs in old PCs, since they aren't worth much total, but it's never a good idea to use a 5+ year old PSU in a new build.

I never had a solid state drive, so I don't know what he meant by installing a SCRATCH DRIVE, and also a PRIMARY DRIVE, (don't think he meant to partition one SSD)

To put your temporary files, and possibly specific scratch files, if needed, on a separate SSD, so that only that SSD will get that IO load. However, you'd get better performance all-around doing a RAID 0, instead. Adding an SSD scratch drive is something you'd do to upgrade an existing PC, so as not to mess with the OS drive, not something you'd want to do with a brand new build. For a brand new build, RAID 0 or just a bigger SSD.

Video Files eat up a lot of hard drive space and Photoshop utilizes tons of scratch disc space, so maybe that's why he told me to get the two SSD's. Salesman techie dude also said that the scratch SSD only lasts a few years, maybe four or five, but the speed is what I gain.

Chances are any decent MLC drive will last the life of the PC or longer. Definitely get and use an SSD for this, just don't bother with a distinct scratch drive.

IMO, get at least one sizable modern/fast SSD (modern and fast as in won't go down to HDD speeds no matter what), and make the build initially with no video card, on LGA1150.

 

[Tweakin]

First off, the GPU is WAY overkill for what you are doing. Lots of choices if you plan on upgrading, but you don't need that much.

Secondly, you don't need that much cpu but it never hurts if you have the money. I wouldn't recommend the "k" as you don't plan to overclock and since you are not going to OC, the stock heat sink will be fine. I would recommend a Hasewell on a z87 board with 16Gb (4x4Gb) of 1600~1866 memory.

I agree that you could use an SSD. Prices have really fallen, and a 240GB would be ample to house the OS and give room for Photoshop to play...I don't think you need a scratch disk nor do I think you need a raid configuration.

Keep or get a good mechanical drive for your storage needs, 1Tb on up WD Black would be nice.

Finally, the monitor is your choice...but a small 23" widescreen would probably be a welcome upgrade.

 

[Cerb]

You haven't had an SSD before, and I'll guess from the way you write it that you haven't even used a PC with one. You go look for reviews, and they're all segregated, so you can't see the difference from some HDD to some SSD, right? Towards that end, here's some Iometer results from Tom's, using the workstation profile:
HDDs v. SSDs.
Your eyes are not playing tricks on you, and the tests aren't being done wrong. When you're stuck waiting on a HDD, when the LED is blipping like mad, and you hear the rattle of head seeking left and right, that wait time can be reduced by 100x, sometimes even more, by using an SSD, plus your PC won't feel unusable while it's busy. They can perform random reads and writes in a few hundred microseconds, including all the software access overhead involved (many can do <100uS without all the software in the way), where HDDs take 10-20,000uS (10-20ms) to perform the same random operations. If you're a heavy user of scratch disks on HDDs now, I suspect that going to any SSD will be a monumental leap forward, at least as much as a new CPU.

SSDs don't cure every ill, but they do cure most of those related to waiting on disks, and the prices have become too good to pass up, in the last several months. You have ended up choosing a very good time, IMO, to upgrade your PC, for what work you do with it. When 250GB was $230, and 500GB $500+, without scouring for deals day and night, I tried to give caution, so people that might not have their lives changed by SSDs, or who might find managing the small space more of a pain than it was worth, wouldn't buy one and feel burned. That sort of thing happened, you know. But, at <$150 for good 250GB drives, and <$300 for 500GB ones, every day, without sales, special cardholder gimmicks, rebates, or using ad/mining services, etc...forget that caution. There's basically no way to go wrong at current prices, except by buying an SSD that's way too small for your needs, or buying an expensive one for no good reason (like a Samsung 840 Pro 512GB for $400+).

When looking at the SSD chart linked above, also notice how there's a bit of separation by capacity. The 480GB+ drives are faster than most of the 240-256GB drives, and those are faster than most 120-128GB drives. Bigger SSDs, in any given generation, use more chips and packages in parallel to help make the bigger drives faster. A 480GB drive might use 8 channels, while the 240GB one will likely only use 4 channels; rather than use just as many, each with less flash on them. The bigger drive gives you more practical performance (IE, random IOPS), along with more space. Now, even the smaller slower ones are still so fast in daily usage that the difference won't matter that much, but you do get more with added capacity than just the added capacity, at least to a point (about 500GB, today). Also, having more capacity means less maintenance work on your part, over time, since, of course, the smaller it is, the easier it will be to fill up, and the less free space it has, the slower it will operate. The mechanism for that is totally different with SSDs than HDDs, but the same free space rules hold true, pretty much.

While SATA itself will limit you a bit in some file operations, it will limit you to a bit over 500MBps combined read and write, which is still 5x or more the actual file copy performance of HDDs, so it's kind of academic, in practice. I can do file copies now at 200MBps that went at 20MBps with just HDDs. Yeah, 2 SSDs as two volumes would be faster (IE, the scratch disk recommendation), and 2 in a RAID 0 faster than that, but it's still so much faster than HDDs that I really can't be bothered to care, at this point in time .

If you could afford the monstrosity Microcenter was trying to sell you, just by going with a LGA1150 setup with IGP, you should easily be able to afford, with the saved dollars, a 500GB or so SSD. Right now, IMO, the Sandisk Extreme II 480GB, at $280 from Amazon, hits a sweet spot, being an SSD with excellent worst-case performance, a 5 year warranty, and $/GB almost as low as Crucial's M500, the cheapest of that size class. If you currently use a 500GB HDD, you should be able to make an SSD with 20GB less space work for awhile, yet.

With my Condensed Treatise on the State of Consumer SSDs in the Month of February, 2014 A.D. completed ...

* i7-4770K or i5-4670K + ASrock or Asus Z87 board. The ASRock Z87 Extreme4 has DVI, two HDMIs, and DisplayPort, so I would lean towards that, if they have it or can get it in a day or two. The i5 will be every bit as fast as the i7 in day to day use, and when you're waiting on interactive GUIs. Quite a few filters in Photoshop CS5 and newer (practically everything in CS6 and into the future), and pretty much every MPEG2 and H.264 encoder out there, though, get some hefty boosts from Hyperthreading, which is what the i7 gets you over the i5.
* 16GB RAM
* Sandisk Extreme II 480GB - If you can afford it, go for it. I can't read about photoshop and scratch disk use in the OP and not think it will be worth it for you. The nearly $300 for it will only hurt until you start editing photos and videos on it, before you shove them off to your HDDs. After that, I think the worst case scenario will be that you'll find it to have been worth about the same cost as a high-end CPU.
* Keep your case, and any SATA ODDs installed. There are nicer cases and all, but unless you want to give or sell your whole current PC, it's a perfectly OK case, and keeping it saves a bit of money.
* New OS license, of course, unless your current one is a full license
* New PSU
* No video card. It might make things a wee bit faster, and you might eventually need one for a monitor in the far flung future, but just buy one when it comes to that. The integrated video in Haswell CPUs really is good enough to skip a video card, for 95%+ of non-gamers.

PSU wattage really doesn't matter, as your new PC is unlikely to use much more than 100W, from the wall, peripherals included. If Microcenter has a Corsair 430W or 500W at a decent price, that would be good enough quality. An XFX Core series would be good, too. Seasonic's S12II and G series are quite good, as well.

The above should end up right around $900, with the i7 and a new OEM OS license. Probably closer to $1000 if you wanted to buy everything possible at Microcenter, and/or if you live in a state where you pay sales tax to every major online vendor.

I wouldn't recommend the "k" as you don't plan to overclock

Microcenter has in-store-only bundles for the i5 and i7 K CPUs, with Z chipset motherboards, at prices that can't be matched online. You can find some deals that are almost as good for an i5 non-K, but typically not with comparably outfitted motherboards, which could make a difference for the OP, when it comes time to upgrade monitors. The i7 bundles are simply unbeatable. FI, an i7-4770K + ASRock Z87 Extreme 4 for $350+tax. So, for the cost of a Xeon E3-1245V3 and cheap B85 board, you can get the i7 and a rather feature-filled motherboard, with copious rear IO ports (which might matter to the OP, one day). But, you have to be within driving distance of a Microcenter to take advantage of it.

I would recommend a Hasewell on a z87 board with 16Gb (4x4Gb) of 1600~1866 memory.

2x8GB is generally cheaper, and will perform the same.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Dont buy the LGA2011+i7 4820K. Its the most useless part there is and offers nothing to you. Stay with the 4670K.

LGA2011 is only good if you want 6 cores (The CPU you list got 4). More than 32GB memory or something like 3-4 GFX cards.

 

[Kougar]

The guy told you to buy a 4820K? That's pretty stupid, definitely agree with the comment wabbitslayer said about MC wanting to dump inventory. You would save money buying into the Z87 platform with a 4770 or 4771 instead and still see better performance.

An SSD to use as your main OS drive is always a good idea, but I wouldn't bother buying one for a scratch disk unless you spend a lot of time waiting for Pinnacle to write stuff to disk.

 

[coffeejunkee]

I would say you don't need a Z87 board nor a K model cpu but like Cerb said the MC combo deal is too good to pass. If you were shopping anywhere else I would recommend H87 board and an i5 quadcore, like the i5 4570.

What you also don't really need is a videocard. The igp in the cpu is fine for the kind of things you want to do.

Even if you do get a vidcard like R7 260 a 450W psu will be plenty. I recommend the Seasonic G-450.

What you do want is an ssd, but you don't need 2. For the kinds of things you do you don't need a separate scratchdisk. THe MC guy is giving you advice like you are a Photoshop professional.

Also, 8GB is plenty and you can always upgrade later.

 

[CHEMEMAN]

Stay away from socket 2011, it brings a large cost penalty with little performance to justify it. Add to that the fact that it already obsolete and has never been a solid platform and you should have enough justification to steer clear of it. Purchase a nice Z87 system and save the rest of your money for Haswell-E (if you decide that you need an upgrade in a year or two).

 

[rivbyte]

Thank you all for chiming in with your suggestions.
I will re-read all replies and will take under advisement, Thanks!
How can I have a headache, if I have no brains????

So Sorry for being redundant, but with several suggestions and pros and cons from each poster, it is somewhat confusing, and I want to be happy in the end, with no regrets.

My Photoshop, with this present rig, has not given me any issues, sure, Do I want programs to load faster? YES, WHO DOESN'T, but budget is limited, maybe spend Max.700.00,maybe a little higher.
The Pinnacle Studio 15HD can also render in a reasonable amount of time, and outputs video to MPG2 fine, but anything new will be an improvement.

My MSI Platinum has been issue-free for seven years, and seems to be a stable board for me, IF...only I could find a replacement Mobo that does not have all the Gaming, and Overclocking features that I will never use. Personal preference....some think MSI is trash, some think ASUS is superior to most, Unless someone can tell me lots of cons to not buy a MSI board, I will stay with them. Then again, What about gigabyte? Are they also a GAMING/OC Mobo?

Since it's been seven years since my last build, there are too many choices picking out the right MOBO/CPU/GPU Combo, in which I do not personally over-clock, or game, although most I've seen are mostly made for "GAMING", and have "OVER-CLOCKING" capabilities. So I guess whether I want it or not, I'll have to pick one, since I do not want to buy an already pre-loaded generic brand, nor can I afford a "CUSTOM", made to order PC. As long as I have HDMI, and PCIe-16x, Max. 32GB DDR3 (1600)

MSI suggested I go with the MSI Z87-MPOWER BOARD. (ASUS is especially known for building Gaming/OC Boards) Some have suggested the ASUS X79 PRO, and SABERTOOTH models, which for me, are way too much overkill. So, it's either the Mpower,or Z87-G43, or 45.

At this point, I want to save some money by simply getting the Haswell 4770, 3.4GHz, without the 'K', since I want to remain using the stock board speed. (Saved about $30.00+)

I don't fault the guy from Microcenter for trying to get me to buy more over the top components, to up his commission. he suggested this:
The ASUS P9x79 PRO 2011, at $270.00, (Was bundled at Microcenter with the i7 4820 Quad Channel $300.00. FOR $535.00)

I'm kicking around this, although I mind is not completely made up:
1) MOBO - ATX
MSI Z87-G45 with the 1150 LGA Socket (Dual Channel) $145.00 (MAX.32 GB)
(NOT SURE IF I CAN AFFORD THE QUAD CHANNEL, or stick with the DUAL.
2) CPU -
i7 4th G. 4770 3.4 Haswell (no 'K', no need overclocking) $280.00
3) MEMORY -
Crucial DDR3 XM53 (2x8GB) 16GB of 1600hz memory (Board max. is 32GB) $160.00
(Dual or Quad channel, don't know yet) (I don't think I need more than 32GB)
4) PSU-
Replace my 7 yr. old Thermaltake 700W PSU, with either the ANTEC VP550F G-
Series SSR-550 RM $60.00, OR... CM Coolermaster Elite V2 550W $60.00.
I have been told that 700W was way overkill, and I would simply need between a
500w-550w.
5) GPU - ( I was told that the GPU, not so much anymore the CPU, will handle video/graphics, will the
IGP 4600HD be sufficient?
MSI N650-MDI/OC GTX650 2GB ($130.00) OR ASUS GTX650 Ti GDDR5 2GB ($162.00)
OR AMD R7260 2GB.
6) Keeping my CM Coolermaster 690 ATX case, since it's roomy enough and I installed five
additional fans. (fingers crossed, that the power button won't fail anytime soon)
7) CPU HEATSINK FAN -
Coolermaster EVO 212 Fry's $35.00/ Microcenter $30.00 OR
ZALMAN CNPS9500A LED Universal -Newegg - $40.00.
8) Some type of Combo DVD/CD/BD Writer/Reader

9) HARD DRIVES - All this talk about the SSD'S, and their short-lived longevity?? You know how problematic, time consuming, and frustrating it is when you have to format/wipe an old or new drive, and spend hours RE-installing the O.S., Hardware, Programs/Applications, Update 64 Bit Drivers, .....Well, who wants to do this every few years, then only to replace the more expensive SSD's all over again. I think this time around, I'll buy a faster 250GB (10,000rpms) than the standard (72,000rpms) HHD to boot applications, and have it last longer, regardless of how speedy they seem to be. Besides, I have no problems with my present WD 74GB Raptor, other than now, even with no video content on it, just the bare programs, and the Win7 64 Bit O.S., now has a dangerously small 5.5GB left on this drive, so with Win7, I've tried deleting useless files, run disk cleaner, deleted unwanted programs that take up HD space to make more room, but, it's almost full anyway, so I will not do any more video editing until I change over to the new build.

Now that I will have the
(1) 250GB HDD, (BOOT) 10,000 rpms Load/Unload cycles ($90.00) Newegg
(2) 74GB Raptor HDD, (Storage) 72,000 rpms
(3) 2TB WD HDD, (Storage) 72,000 rpms
(4) 500GB HDD, (Storage) 72,000 rpms
TWO ADDITIONAL EXTERNAL HDDs (5) SEAGATE 3TB HDD, (6) WD 500GB HDD

With all of this, would I still need only a 500-550W PSU?
The consensus from others, is to either keep using the existing 700w, ( 7 year old Thermaltake) until it dies, or replace the PSU every time you do a rebuild. If I sell it, would anyone want it?
I thought with the GPU, the i7, and all the HDD's, I would need more power than 500W/550W. (ATX)

Whatever I upgrade with, will no doubt be a dramatic change from what I have now, from seven years ago. And since I am an video enthusiast that dabbles with Pinnacle Studio HD, and Photoshop CS5 with 3D, I would like to get a board that I may upgrade later on, with an CPU upgrade, and maybe more memory, but it is not a deal breaker if I get a board that does not.

And wouldn't you know it, The Haswelle, and DDR4 is coming out soon.....I'm still using DDR2! Thanks!

 

[Cerb]

My Photoshop, with this present rig, has not given me any issues, sure, Do I want programs to load faster? YES, WHO DOESN'T, but budget is limited, maybe spend Max.700.00,maybe a little higher.
The Pinnacle Studio 15HD can also render in a reasonable amount of time, and outputs video to MPG2 fine, but anything new will be an improvement.

In that case, save the money the i7 costs, and go i5. For what you do, 90% of the gains would be CPU-limited highly-multithreaded PS filters, and reduction in encoding times.

Since it's been seven years since my last build, there are too many choices picking out the right MOBO/CPU/GPU Combo, in which I do not personally over-clock, or game, although most I've seen are mostly made for "GAMING", and have "OVER-CLOCKING" capabilities. So I guess whether I want it or not, I'll have to pick one, since I do not want to buy an already pre-loaded generic brand, nor can I afford a "CUSTOM", made to order PC. As long as I have HDMI, and PCIe-16x, Max. 32GB DDR3 (1600)

Using the Microcenter deals, the Z87 Extreme4 is in a sweet spot, with plenty of video outputs, including DP, should you ever move to a bigger monitor before the PC's life is over (I doubt good 4K monitors at affordable prices will come in 2014, but 15+, UHD and 4K might truly be viable options, with sacrificing other qualities, or digging deep into your wallet). It's less that you need all the other crap it's got, than it is that it's a $130 mobo for $100, and does have a couple non-OC-related features the $100 ones don't have.

MSI Z87-G45 with the 1150 LGA Socket (Dual Channel) $145.00 (MAX.32 GB)
(NOT SURE IF I CAN AFFORD THE QUAD CHANNEL, or stick with the DUAL.

N/A. LGA1150 does not support quad-channel, on top of it being useless for 99.9% of desktop users. And that's still way too expensive of a board, for not OCing.

4) PSU-
Replace my 7 yr. old Thermaltake 700W PSU, with either the ANTEC VP550F G-
Series SSR-550 RM $60.00, OR... CM Coolermaster Elite V2 550W $60.00.

Of those, the Seasonic, hands-down.

I have been told that 700W was way overkill, and I would simply need between a
500w-550w.

You need more like 100W, or 150W with a video card, but a quality 100W will be a funky laptop brick type, and cost just as much as a quality full-size 500W.

5) GPU-
MSI N650-MDI/OC GTX650 2GB ($130.00) OR
ASUS GTX650 Ti GDDR5 2GB ($162.00)

Both totally unnecessary. If you must get a video card, a GT 640 DDR3 or GTX 650 will be way more than you need. But, if you do get a video card, an ASRock H87 Pro4 would handle all your needs, for a motherboard, as well. A higher-end mobo for you will mainly be to get more rear video options from the IGP.

7) CPU HEATSINK FAN -
Coolermaster EVO 212 Fry's $35.00/ Microcenter $30.00 OR
ZALMAN CNPS9500A LED Universal -Newegg - $40.00.

Neither. Your case is not a quiet one, and you've got extra fans, so noise is already not an issue. The stock cooler will keep the CPU cooled quite well at stock speeds.

9) HARD DRIVES - All this talk about the SSD'S, and their short-lived longevity?? You know how problematic, time consuming, and frustrating it is when you have to format/wipe an old or new drive, and spend hours RE-installing the O.S., Hardware, Programs/Applications, Update 64 Bit Drivers, .....Well, who wants to do this every few years, then only to replace the more expensive SSD's all over again. I think this time around, I'll buy a faster 250GB (10,000rpms) (...)

NO. Acronis TrueImage, Macrium Reflect, and EaseUS Todo are excellent backup programs that can be set up to backup your entire system, making the process of recovery pretty quick and easy.

The issue is that when SSDs die, they tend to die instantly, where HDDs often don't. But over the last few years, I've been seeing tons of HDDs dying either instantly, or too quickly to get any data off of. If it's a concern, have a backup plan in place. Avoiding SSDs is going about it the wrong way. Use a spare drive larger than the OS drive to test your initial backups with, to make sure they are restorable (such as your current 500GB HDD, once the new system is set up and all data is copied off of it), and make sure backups keep getting done.

SSD longevity worries is all a bunch of paranoia. It made sense with ca. 2008 SSDs, but we're in 2014, now, and the technology has improved by leaps and bounds. Most business implementations I've read of, FI, found far lower rates of failures, compared to HDDs, just that the failures were always total bricking, when they happened.
http://techreport.com/review/25889/the-ssd-endurance-experiment-500tb-update
500TB, with poor WA from lack of free space for most of the time, and not one MLC drive they tried has given a lick of trouble, except the OS drive, that was an old finicky Sandforce one. At ~500GB for a drive, that test would be equivalent to writing 1PB. Chances are, you won't write to a TLC Evo enough to cause a problem in its service life, but with prices as they are, there's little reason not to get an MLC drive instead. Consider that, outside of your photos and videos, you likely will not write more than 5-10GBs per day of use, and <5GBs during days when the PC is idle (0GBs if you let it go to sleep). Hundreds of TBs will take a long, long, time to write.

A decent current SSD is going to be so much faster than the fastest HDD on the planet you will crap yourself. Think, for instance, of the fact that it would be impossible to write so many TBs of data to an HDD in such a time span as the above linked torture test, with mixed IO, like was used. Spend $50 or whatever on a nice piece of backup software, test it, don't trust any single storage device long-term, and move on. The warranty on an HDD or SSD is about protecting the money you spent on it, not your data or time. SSDs may not be as mature as HDDs, but you will not regret moving to one, with prices as they are today; and you may be disappointed with HDD failure modes, if you try trusting an HDD.

I'm not as high in the IT food chain as some other posters here, but I'd have many thousands of HDDs pass through my hands, and trusting one to fail like you want, with lots of noises and slowdowns, then weeks to replace it and perform full data recovery...those cases are getting fewer and fewer, as drives get denser and denser. I've had a dozen or more, of varied brands and series, go full FUBAR between the time I started trying to recover data, to some time into that process, in the last few years. The one thing they've had in common has been 330GB+ platter density--IE, fairly modern small-track low-SnR platters.

HDDs nor SSDs are fundamentally unreliable. But, storage tech in general is changing, and you really, really need multiple copies of your data, to have any safety for it.

 

[rivbyte]

Boy, did I ever get a lot of suggestions on which parts I would need for a new rebuild, according to your own personal experiences, but I have to decide and get down to it.
I thank you all! I'm not really out of the woods yet, getting these parts is one side of the coin, now I have to install and make it all work, flawlessly, I'm hoping!

Don't laugh, and since I am still somewhat of a newbie, this will be my 2nd build) So if there are any good tutorials on self building a computer, I welcome that, since it has been seven years and I may be rusty.

So I'll need to know exactly when to install the OS, Hard drive, (maybe boot drive first alone,) then install other storage HDD'S, then comes the MoBo Utilities, Software, Drivers, ETC., and so forth....I don't build everyday, so one little mistake can ruin everything.

To save money, I'm going to BUY these components:
(1) Z87-G41 & Intel i7 4770K (even though I do not overclock, or game) COMBO @ Micro center for $290.00.
(2) CPU HeatsinK - Artic Freezer- $24.99 (newegg) OR Zalman CNP52X 80mm Aluminum and Copper heatsink, (copper for better cooling) for $28.99 (newegg)
(3) Crucial 120GB SSD for O.S. / Programs OR Samsung 256GB SSD for O.S. / Programs.
(4) Corsair/Kingston 8GB DDR3 (1600Hz) PC12800 (some say the 1866, not much different)

AND WILL BE KEEPING MY PRESENT DEVICES FOR NEW BUILD.....
(1) ATX CASE, Cooler Master cm690, (I'll need header for Front USB/eSata/Audio/Mic/headphone 3.5" Slot. (present case has old 2.0 USB's/esata/firewire)
(2) Use the onboard i7's IGP, for 4600 HD Video Editing, or if that doesn't work, maybe get 2GB GeForce GTX-650Ti GPU, but been told that this 4600 HD IGP, is as good as my old 8600GT GPU, I don't game, so it should not matter as much.
In fact, in a pinch, my Geforce 8600GT should also work with my G41, for the time being, since I do not play video games.
(3) And for internal storage, keeping my old WD74GB Raptor,10,000rpms, WD 2TB 72,000rpms, and WD500GB 72,000rpms.
(4) Use the Onboard Realtek HD Audio.

(5) Thermatake 700W ( It's six years old, and going strong, BUT.... if this old PSU is not certified to work on a LGA 1150 Board...Pins might not work, and not support Quad core CPU, then I'll have to replace.
I can't think of anything else at the moment, so I would imagine this will be sufficient.

Thanks!

 

[mfenn]

I would pick up a new PSU, but trying the old one out probably won't cause a problem, it'll either work or it won't. It's not so terrible that I expect it to blow up.

Definitely do your Windows install with only the SSD hooked up, this will ensure that the bootloader and system partition go on the SSD.

 

[rivbyte]

My last build was about 7 years ago.... I am old school when it comes to the newer than seven year ago technology, so forgive me with the following questions, since I have forgotten the protocol as to what to install in order, but first;

I am going to get the Samsung EVO 250GB SSD, does it come with SAT AIII 6.0 Gbps Cable, or do I buy separately?

If my CM690 CoolerMaster case has 5.75" width front bays, Do I also need somewhat of an adaptor 3.5-2.5' cage, or does it come with the SSD?

And also on the top of case, I have the old 2x2.0 USB, Firewire / eSata /headphone,microphone I/O's, ....and I get any mobo, whether it would be the B85, or Z87 chipset, I probably can not hook up the Mobo wires to these old top inputs, so I would have to buy a Front Multi-Port USB 3.0,SD Card reader, to hook up to the mobo, and still be able to hook up the top Audio,Microphone I/O also to the mobo?

After Install of SSD, OS, Etc., I would also beforehand, PRE-download, and save on Flash drive, all the necessary 64 bit Drivers? What type of files?
MSI Utilities, AC Realtek chipset, Samsung EVO 250GB drivers? Are these right? When I'm setting this up, I will not have any backup computer, so I don't want to be DEAD in the water. I know all the other hardware updates will be installed after I get back online, I'm just worried about what I need to know BEFORE wiping the HDD, and Installing the New drive.

 

[rivbyte]

I just called MSI to see if they include a large top-view color schematic of the board, like I got with my last MSI P-35 motherboard, he told me no.
I guess I'll have to revert to looking at the "ZOOM" feature on the product itself.

I also asked him if I keep my CM Coolermaster ATX case, with the old 2.0 UBS,Microphone,Audio,Firewire,eSata on top of the case, could i plug in only the microphone.Audio onto the MOBO, and buy a Multi-Port 2/4x3.0 USB, SD Reader for the front bay, and plug THOSE into the MObo, ...he told me with the 3.0 USB, I will need to buy an all new case...really? if nothing else, if I keep this case, I will have to use the rear USB, for card reader, and all other USB devices. This reminds me of another question...Can I use the new 3.0 USB with my older All in One Epson NX300 Printer? is that where the new updated drivers come in from Epson?
Thanks!

 

[Cerb]

I am going to get the Samsung EVO 250GB SSD, does it come with SAT AIII 6.0 Gbps Cable, or do I buy separately?

It shouldn't. The motherboard will come with at least 2, typically. Though, the Crucial and Sandisk SSDs are better values...

If my CM690 CoolerMaster case has 5.75" width front bays, Do I also need somewhat of an adaptor 3.5-2.5' cage, or does it come with the SSD?

That, or use velcro. The adapters are typically $5. Check the specific one you're buying, though. Samsung has SKUs with adapters, and without.

And also on the top of case, I have the old 2x2.0 USB, Firewire / eSata /headphone,microphone I/O's, ....and I get any mobo, whether it would be the B85, or Z87 chipset, I probably can not hook up the Mobo wires to these old top inputs, so I would have to buy a Front Multi-Port USB 3.0,SD Card reader, to hook up to the mobo, and still be able to hook up the top Audio,Microphone I/O also to the mobo?

The old ones will hook up fine, save for Firewire, which is almost impossible to find integrated, these days (it's pretty much dead, unless you're a long-time Mac user).

After Install of SSD, OS, Etc., I would also beforehand, PRE-download, and save on Flash drive, all the necessary 64 bit Drivers? What type of files?

The motherboard product website will have a section of driver downloads, which are often much newer than the included CD. Once you have the network driver, the PC will at least be somewhat usable, so I always install that first. Don't go too far into installing drivers before putting in the chipset driver (INF driver), though.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Buy the first thing you were going to buy, but replace your old PSU - they wear out.

 

[coffeejunkee]

Your new build is looking much better. But the mobo has internal usb 2.0 connectors as well so you can still use the ports on your case.

I wouldn't get the Zalman heatsink though, it sounds overpriced for an 80mm fan. At least get one with a 92mm fan, preferably 120mm.

 

[rivbyte]

Here is my old case...CM690, Noone wants it from my family, so instead of leaving it all in there, and giving it up for one of them, and me buying another case, PSU,WIN7 OS, I'll have to trash the P-35 mobo, and the 7 year old Thermaltake 700W PSU, and use my old case.

The top of the case with 2x2.0 USB, Audio/mic, eSata and Firewall.
The front of the case where I might have to buy a connector bay adapter (19 or 20 pin) with 3.0 USB, Audio/mic. Instead of climbing back to plug in the headphones, and usbs.

My old Mobo P-35 I think has the AC'97, which was back 2007.

Some folks tell me even with a new MSI B85-G41, I will be able to still connect these top 2.0/audio/mic onto the new motherboard, but the same amount of people are telling me an emphatic NO!

That's why I'm back and forth with all of these issues BEFORE delving into this new build.

Silverstone (19, or 20 pin) has a SST-FP32B-E front has the USB.30, and audio/mic. for $25.00.

 

[Cerb]

Some folks tell me even with a new MSI B85-G41, I will be able to still connect these top 2.0/audio/mic onto the new motherboard, but the same amount of people are telling me an emphatic NO!

So don't listen to them. Just go look at the board photos. I'm sure you'll see at least 2 labeled USB 2.0 headers, and possibly as many as 4, on the bottom edge, just like 99.999% of mobos out there. New chipsets only have up to 6 native USB 3.0 ports, and B85 has only 4. The rest are USB 2.0.

Also, there will still be a non-USB 3.0 header and couple of ports, even when that goes away, due to not all devices being perfectly compatible with USB 3.0 controllers. My trackball at work, FI, will not work if I plug the KVM's cable into a 3.0 port (my keyboard will, though, so it's not the KVM's hub that's the issue).

Likewise, your old motherboard should support HDA, just like new ones.

Silverstone (19, or 20 pin) has a SST-FP32B-E front has the USB.30, and audio/mic. for $25.00.

Yours is far superior to such a cheap case, and it's easy to find bay devices with USB 3.0. If you wanted to go all new, and sell/gift the whole used PC, we could find some cases for you, but if you have no need for that, you can add what you need to what you have.

 

[Ketchup]

Here is my old case...CM690...

I had one of those and loved it. Very easy to work with, and very versatile on cooling solutions.