Round Out My Build

[Freefly]

Happy New Year folks…

I’m Seeking input from the experienced hardware gurus. My last system rebuild was about 8 years ago (system is still running too!). I have been reading/researching the forums for several months now trying to bone up on the latest, but have become a bit overwhelmed since so much has changed in 8 years!! And, I admit I’m not uber tech savvy. I am now turning to the experts for the finishing touches. I’ve put together some of the basics and would like your help rounding out the system. I need the most help/input on motherboard and video card selection and ensuring all the “pieces” are compatible. I’m completely lost on what the new specs mean and how they apply to my current/future needs.

This build will be used for web surfing, music/audio, home business operation/management, video editing (AVCHD) using Sony Vegas (or something very similar), photo editing using Adobe (CS4), graphics development using Illustrator (CS4), and web design using Dreamweaver (CS4). Potential for gaming is NOT high on the list (but is there) and I will not be over clocking (I’d probably fry something).

System OS will be Windows 7 Professional and I’d like to build with longevity in mind… fast, powerful, & robust system lasting at least 5 years +/-. I would also like something a little quieter than the 8 year old land sucking Hoover… too loud. The following is what I’ve laid out so far with some additional comments for consideration. I plan on purchasing hardware on NewEgg and other familiar and/or recommended sites (no Fry’s or Microcenter near me) and will keep it in the $1000-1500 range (less is better obviously). MANY thanks for your help and input… Much appreciated.


CPU -- Intel i5 750; choosen for cost and power


Motherboard -- Need help here... recommend something. The following are mentioned the most in posts, but don't know which best fits my needs;
MSI-P55-GD65
ASUS P7P55D-E Pro
ASUS P7P55
Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2
Gigabyte GA-P55-UD4P LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX


Memory -- 1. G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
2. CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (4 x 2GB) DDR3 1333
-- Needs to be compatible with MB


Storage -- 1. WD Caviar Black, 640GB, 7200 RPM, 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5 Internal HD (Bare)
2. Samsung F3
-- A little unsure whether it's more efficient to have two internal HDs or one internal and one external. I'll have large amounts of video and data to store and retrieve as well as backup. My preferance is to have solid external storage, but not up on eSATA, RAID, etc.


Video: Not a CLUE what video card fits my needs. The following look promising (not sure why).
1. Gigabyte 4850 1GB with a fanless cooler
2. ATI 4350
3. XFX ATI Radeon HD 5850

Case -- Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower


PSU -- Corsair HX520W PSU


OS -- Windows 7 Professional. I was given the Vista Upgrade version (from Best Buy) for Xmas and planned to do the “upgrade” load on clean, out of the box virgin hard drive(s). Assuming no issues here??


Burner -- LG H22 (recommend at will)
1. Is having two burns recommended or needed?


Card Reader -- Rosewill or nMEDIAPC (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-020-_-Product). Looking for something front mounted to put camera media into, although most times various camera and video recorders will be “plugged” directly into puter.


Monitor -- Will upgrade at a later time to a 22"-24". Currently using Dell 19"


CPU Cooler -- Will I even need one?
1. CM Hyper 212+

 

[alyarb]

if you are adamant about not overclocking, you don't need to spend the extra money for heatsink. however you should at least be aware that the i5's can do ~3.5 ghz while keeping all (except for a very robust bus clock) system parameters safely within factory specs. 3.5 GHz is so conservative that you could manage it with the stock heatsink. in fact, the built in turbo mode will automatically clock you up to 3.2 GHz for certain conditions regardless of your cooling. rest assured 3.5-3.7 GHz is safe and considerably faster than 2.67 if you want the performance. whether you're overclocking or not, i wouldn't worry about noise. most systems these days are inaudible unless you have a high end GPU.


everything else is fine. MSI, Asus, and Gigabyte make fine P55 boards. I prefer gigabyte myself. If you aren't going to overclock, all of them will suit your needs. I would definitely get the samsung F3 hard drive. They are 500GB per platter instead of western digital's 320GB per platter and offer more speed and lower power/heat. You do not need an expensive video card if you aren't going to play games. The Radeon 4350 will be fine, but if you play around with something occasionally get a 4850 or 5750. If eliminating the 5850 (overpriced in its temporarily short supply) from your budget frees up enough money, you should consider going with the i7 860 instead of the i5 750. Its turbo mode is much more aggressive and the virtual threads dramatically improve video encoding performance.

 

[MisterDonut]

A 5770 will satisfy DX 11, and I would try to snag one of those. But if your needs aren't great then you could go with a 5750. I would pick one of the Gigabytes. Their 1156 socket boards are really solid. G.Skill ECO series seems to be a really good line, and the best heatsink for its price range would be the Scythe Mugen 2 (Not sure if it comes with 1156, might have to get an adapter bracket). Otherwise the Turbo Boost should be fine with stock cooler.

 

[maddogchen]

I'm trying to build a similiar system that I'm hoping to last me 5 years too. Do you guys think the Gigabyte UD4P's USB 3.0 and ESATA 3.0 is worth spending the extra money on? If you don't use the second PCI-x slot for crossfire/sli?

 

[latch]

Do you guys think the Gigabyte UD4P's USB 3.0 and ESATA 3.0 is worth spending the extra money on? If you don't use the second PCI-x slot for crossfire/sli?

If you aren't going to use SLI, you can find a cheaper motherboard that has the other features (from gigabyte or others).

 

[JTsyo]

For the i7, you want to go with 3 DIMMs of RAM not 2 or 4. From Tom's:

For Core i7, it has to be triple-channel memory, ideally a 3 x 2 GB DDR3 memory kit—these 6 GB kits currently offer the best bang for the enthusiast buck.

The CPU should come with a stock fan that is good enough if you're not overclocking. Double check if you're buying OEM.

 

[alyarb]

you have way too many posts to be quoting toms hardware on this site.

"i7" is not a platform specific family of SKUs. you can refer to i7 as either bloomfield or lynnfield if you want to imply a specific memory architecture, but you can't simply say "tri channel is best for i7;" as you can see from his preliminary research, he's already settled on P55, which implies that there is no third channel for him to use.

furthermore, tri channel is not necessarily best. lynnfield performs pretty admirably against bloomfield, particularly in non-synthetic tests, because memory is wide enough for 99% of apps. it was wide enough even before they went to tri-channel.

if you're trying to help a newb with a build, be as clear and consistent (and correct) as you possibly can so he doesn't end up buying a tri-channel kit of 3 DIMMs for his dual channel board.

 

[Ranulf]

Hmm, so for long term use, 3+ years, you guys think the i7 920 is a better buy than the i5 750? I may do sli/xfire in the future but mostly just 1 5850 card for a 23'' screen. Not looking to OC much if at all. My thinking is to go with 6gb-8gb of ram as well.

 

[RaistlinZ]

I think I would want SATA 3 and USB 3.0 if I was planning on keeping the system for 5+ years. An X58 motherboard would also give you some flexibility in supporting Intel's upcoming CPU's, which would make for a nice upgrade a couple years down the line.

 

[alyarb]

if it's a 5+ year system with no upgrades, you will definitely want USB 3.0 and SATA III. There will be plenty of P55 and X58 boards that come with third-party controllers. However, if you aren't going to be overclocking, I would do an i7 860 because its turbo mode clocks higher and results in better real world performance for less money.

there will be no new 1156 or 1366 CPUs for you to upgrade to "a couple years down the line." What you see right now in the market is basically all you are going to get. the i3 and i5 families are out of the bag and they will be available for purchase in the next week or so, and they will work with 1156 platforms. A very expensive 6-core i7 for 1366 only is on its way, and you will need to decide for yourself if the performance is worth it or not (two additional cores will not make games any faster. hex cores are for virtualization, encoding, content creation, etc).

intel has also announced some 32nm quad-core XEON SKUs that run on 1366 and we're going to have to wait and see if they will work in consumer boards are not. If you are on the fence about 32nm quads, do not buy now. wait and see which (X58) boards will support them.

 

[JTsyo]

you have way too many posts to be quoting toms hardware on this site.

"i7" is not a platform specific family of SKUs. you can refer to i7 as either bloomfield or lynnfield if you want to imply a specific memory architecture, but you can't simply say "tri channel is best for i7;" as you can see from his preliminary research, he's already settled on P55, which implies that there is no third channel for him to use.

furthermore, tri channel is not necessarily best. lynnfield performs pretty admirably against bloomfield, particularly in non-synthetic tests, because memory is wide enough for 99% of apps. it was wide enough even before they went to tri-channel.

if you're trying to help a newb with a build, be as clear and consistent (and correct) as you possibly can so he doesn't end up buying a tri-channel kit of 3 DIMMs for his dual channel board.

ahh my bad, didn't notice with was the 700 series i7 not the 900. Don't know why intel named those i7 instead of i5.

 

[alyarb]

i agree. all the 1156 chips should be i3, i3+HT, i5 and i5+HT and 1366 should just be i7. still ugly, but less confusing.

 

[Freefly]

Hey Guys, OP here...

Ok, after some additional reading, comparisons, and recommendations from above, I've narrowed build down to below. Am I on the right track as far as compatibility? Still need some help on a decent video card for the things I listed above. Can you all help... maybe a few links? The numbers e.g. 4350, 4850, 5850, etc., don't make a lot of sense to me. Possible to also have HDMI on card to watch Blu-Ray/HD movies on puter?

- Video card... Need good recommendation... help!!
- Asus P7P55D
- i7-860 Lynnfield
- G.SKILL Trident 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000)
Desktop Memory Model F3-16000CL9D-4GBTD
-- Is this overkill?
-- Can I move up to 6GB G.Skill package compatible with this MB (vid editing, CS4)
- Corsair HX520W PSU
-- Is 520 watts sufficient?
- Still weighting options/difference between WD Caviar Black & Samsung F3
-- Still learning about RAID, but based on vid editing, CS4 (maybe light gaming), RAID
0+1 looks promising
- CPU cooler... ?? Don't know at this point
- Other odds and ends e.g. card reader, burner, case, etc.

Thanks for your help and any insights. Very much appreciated.

 

[mfenn]

Hey Guys, OP here...
Ok, after some additional reading, comparisons, and recommendations from above, I've narrowed build down to below. Am I on the right track as far as compatibility? Still need some help on a decent video card for the things I listed above. Can you all help... maybe a few links? The numbers e.g. 4350, 4850, 5850, etc., don't make a lot of sense to me. Possible to also have HDMI on card to watch Blu-Ray/HD movies on puter?

Note, all of these recommendations are in light of the OP's stated 5-year time horizon.

- Video card... Need good recommendation... help!!

Get something with DX11, basically that means a Radeon 5xxx. AMD has a nice range of SKUs to choose from, basically get the best one that you can afford. Most have HDMI output on them.

- Asus P7P55D

Get the Asus P7P55D-E, it's only $10 more. It's basically the same board but with SATA 6Gb/s and USB 3.0. SATA 6Gb/s won't matter unless you get an SSD, but you will almost certainly have some USB 3.0 devices within the next five years.

- i7-860 Lynnfield

Looks good to me.

- G.SKILL Trident 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000)
Desktop Memory Model F3-16000CL9D-4GBTD
-- Is this overkill?
-- Can I move up to 6GB G.Skill package compatible with this MB (vid editing, CS4)

Lynnfield systems are 2-channel, so you want to be looking at 4GB and 8GB kits. Given your time horizon and Photoshop/video editing uses, you should really go for 8GB. Step down to 1333MHz DDR3 if you have to.

- Corsair HX520W PSU
-- Is 520 watts sufficient?

Plenty for this build, and it's a quality part.

- Still weighting options/difference between WD Caviar Black & Samsung F3

Both are good. The F3 is faster, but WD's warranty service can't be beat.

-- Still learning about RAID, but based on vid editing, CS4 (maybe light gaming), RAID
0+1 looks promising

If you value your data, don't do RAID0! Remember that RAID 0+1, RAID10, etc need 4 HDDs minimum. If you can afford to spend that much on storage, get 2 HDDs in RAID1 and an SSD.

- CPU cooler... ?? Don't know at this point

Don't need one at stock clocks, although the Intel box cooler isn't the quietest in the world.

- Other odds and ends e.g. card reader, burner, case, etc.

Thanks for your help and any insights. Very much appreciated.

 

[betasub]

i7-850 Lynnfield + 1156 motherboard = dual-channel memory (i.e. best performance from 2 or 4 DIMMs occupied).

6GB packs are usually 3x2GB and intended for triple-channel 1366 boards.

If for some reason you want more than 4GB, getting 2x2GB and 2x1GB would be fine, but 4x2GB would be better still.

 

[Freefly]

Mfenn - Big Thanks for the detailed break down... exactly what I was looking for. Without being a PITA, do you think you could provide a few specific vid card examples? As I wade through vid card specs, it gets a bit overwhelming. Something middle of the road, maybe some light gaming, that will match my components, etc.

Damn, PSU out-out-stock on NewEgg. I'll try to find it elsewhere.

 

[alyarb]

the radeon 5770 is what you might call middle of the road.

 

[mfenn]

Mfenn - Big Thanks for the detailed break down... exactly what I was looking for. Without being a PITA, do you think you could provide a few specific vid card examples? As I wade through vid card specs, it gets a bit overwhelming. Something middle of the road, maybe some light gaming, that will match my components, etc.

Damn, PSU out-out-stock on NewEgg. I'll try to find it elsewhere.

Not a problem 🙂

OP, with an i7 860, any video card is a good match; it just depends on how much gaming you want to do.

As aylarb said, the 5770 is a good choice. It would let you run games on your 19" panel for quite a while (I'm assuming it is 1440x900 or 1280x1024) and a 22" at 1680x1050 for almost as long. If you plan you upgrade to a 24" at 1920x1080 or 1920x1200, you should seriously consider the 5850. The most expensive GPU that any sane person would buy right now is the 5870, which is a beast, but might not fit into your budget. The 58xx cards are also quite a bit louder than the 57xx cards. Check out Anand's reviews for the gory details.

Also, the 650HX is $110 after MIR on Newegg right now. That's not a bad price.

 

[Freefly]

Great info again gents. Since I have your attention, I'd like to ask a CPU follow up question; Am I REALLY going to see/notice significant difference between the i7 860 & i5 750? The editing I plan to do is for home/friend use and not at the professional production level (I'll be using Sony Vegas 9.0).

I was thinking about going back down to the i5 750 (with same MB) and invest the dollars saved into other areas. However, if HT on i7 860 will actually be that valuable and noticeable with video editing I'll stick with it. Thoughts.

 

[Dasda]

Great info again gents. Since I have your attention, I'd like to ask a CPU follow up question; Am I REALLY going to see/notice significant difference between the i7 860 & i5 750? The editing I plan to do is for home/friend use and not at the professional production level (I'll be using Sony Vegas 9.0).

I was thinking about going back down to the i5 750 (with same MB) and invest the dollars saved into other areas. However, if HT on i7 860 will actually be that valuable and noticeable with video editing I'll stick with it. Thoughts.

I would love to know the same thing. Is hyper-threading really worth it in real life usage or just a marketing scheme by intel?

 

[mfenn]

Great info again gents. Since I have your attention, I'd like to ask a CPU follow up question; Am I REALLY going to see/notice significant difference between the i7 860 & i5 750? The editing I plan to do is for home/friend use and not at the professional production level (I'll be using Sony Vegas 9.0).

I was thinking about going back down to the i5 750 (with same MB) and invest the dollars saved into other areas. However, if HT on i7 860 will actually be that valuable and noticeable with video editing I'll stick with it. Thoughts.

Anandtech's Bench is a wonderful tool for these sorts of situations. It will give you a comparison of 2 CPUs in every benchmark Anand runs. Here's a link to the i5 750 vs. i7 860 comparison: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=109&p2=108

As you can see, the 2 CPUs are really close in most cases, but the i7 860 does have a 10%-15% advantage in the encoding benchmarks.