Strong Office System

[chaosflaws]

I would like to build a powerful Office PC in the 500 € to 1000 € range that is silent (most of the time). Being a computer science student, "office" means programming and being able to do some cpu-expensive stuff. Before reading the Midrange Guide, I had some thoughts of my own, and they coincide with what is written there with subtle differences:

CPU: I changed my mind twice - from the 6600T to the 6600K. The extra 20 € seem to be a fair trade-off for the flexibility and higher base clock.

Now the question is: will the CPU still be reasonably quiet?

GPU: I don't need one. I have a separate gaming PC and any multimedia tasks will be done there. I don't see the point of getting an entry-level one if the CPU can already deal with the loads?

And I like two-monitor setups. It should not be a problem to connect one to the HDMI and one to the DVI port, right? (while this is not extensible...)

MB, RAM: No difference here.

PSU: I am worried about the sound level of the PSU, so I had a look at the X-Series Fanless: http://www.seasonicusa.com/NEW_X-series_Fanless.htm

Is it worth the money or will a bequiet do the job as well?

Storage: I think I will get the Samsung 950 Pro. Given that I/O is often a limiting factor, I think it's worth it.

Is there a point of having three levels of storage speed (M.2 SSD, SATAe SSD, HDD) instead of two levels (M.2 SSD and HDD)? My feeling is that all the stuff that needs to be fast should fit into 256 GB and I am not quite ready to spend half of the PC budget on the 512 GB M.2 SSD. (Then again, the 850 Pro 512 GB is about 225 €, so you end up paying the same...)

Case: I honestly don't know. Is there a point putting everything into a Mini ATX?

Or is all this just "too much"?

PS: A new gaming PC would be nice too. Hovewer, it looks like the CPU market is as alm as a millpond until the second half of 2016. Should we wait for AMD's Zen to bring Intel's prices down? (Should I open a new thread? Has this been discussed elsewhere?)

 

[Ken g6]

CPU: I changed my mind twice - from the 6600T to the 6600K. The extra 20 € seem to be a fair trade-off for the flexibility and higher base clock.

Now the question is: will the CPU still be reasonably quiet?

CPUs are usually very quiet. Their fans, however, can be loud. The 6600K doesn't come with a cooler or fan, so that's an extra expense. But it can also allow you to get a quieter fan on a more efficient cooler. But you don't want to go too big on LGA1151 as really huge coolers have been known to damage the CPU. For a big, quiet cooler, this springs to mind: http://www.bequiet.com/en/cpucooler/235 Also some Noctuas, but don't get the giant nh-d14.

GPU: I don't need one. I have a separate gaming PC and any multimedia tasks will be done there. I don't see the point of getting an entry-level one if the CPU can already deal with the loads?

And I like two-monitor setups. It should not be a problem to connect one to the HDMI and one to the DVI port, right? (while this is not extensible...)

All good. :thumbsup:

PSU: I am worried about the sound level of the PSU, so I had a look at the X-Series Fanless: http://www.seasonicusa.com/NEW_X-series_Fanless.htm

I'd look at PSUs with fans, but which can stop their fans when not under heavy load. So, yeah, look at a be quiet! or similar. A lot of gold or platinum PSUs will do this.

Case: I honestly don't know. Is there a point putting everything into a Mini ATX?

Bigger cases allow for bigger, slower, quieter fans.

 

[chaosflaws]

Thanks for the reply.

Thinking about it, the setup I posted could well be used as the basis for a good gaming PC. Well, I am not on a "budget", but I don't know if the current approach is worth it.

How much would I lose if I stepped down to an i3-6320?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

How much would I lose if I stepped down to an i3-6320?

Depends. For a typical four year computer science curriculum? You won't notice the difference. And if you do write something that eats a lot of CPU (on purpose) then you can always offload it to your gaming rig. (You might end up doing that anyway if you get into GPGPU-style very-parallel programming. Or whatever they're calling it these days.)

Scientific research will often push people to buy multi-socket workstation systems with the expectation that they'll be doing modelling and simulation work. If you're not pursuing a graduate degree in hard sciences, I'd be tempted to forgo that expense and spin up an EC2 instance when I need something crunched in a hurry.

Working in software development, I see a lot of i7 workstations, but mostly to support multitasking and VMs (we have a build farm) and - even moreso - because people think they need it, not because they actually do. There's even danger there, if people get into a "well, it works fine on MY system" mindset and return a product that sucks eggs on anything but the latest/fastest rig.

Finally, you're in college. People change majors and stuff all the time. It would suck if you went and built some monstrously expensive dev rig just so you could change your major to Elementary Education in two years.

 

[Cerb]

CPU: I changed my mind twice - from the 6600T to the 6600K. The extra 20 € seem to be a fair trade-off for the flexibility and higher base clock.

Good, though you could also make it an i7, and probably make use of it. Or, an i3, for that matter, sacrificing CPU performance for more RAM, SSD, or expensive quiet cooling goodies. With a Core-branded non-T non-S Haswell or Skylake, you'll be doing well, however much you are willing to spend on it. For most interactive work, an i3 will be just as good as i7. It's when you load down the CPU, and can either get more done quicker with more threads, or have multiple threads using up CPU cores, and still wanting it to feel snappy, that i7 > i5 and i5 > i3.

Now the question is: will the CPU still be reasonably quiet?

That's the case/case fans, PSU fan, and CPU cooler's area, in reverse order of importance. If you're into quiet, don't bother with Intel's stock cooler. If your budget allows, just go straight to low/mid Noctua, like the NH-U12S or NH-U14S, Thermalright Macho 120, or maybe Scythe Kotetsu or Ninja 4.

PSU: I am worried about the sound level of the PSU, so I had a look at the X-Series Fanless: http://www.seasonicusa.com/NEW_X-series_Fanless.htm

Is it worth the money or will a bequiet do the job as well?

Hard to answer. I'd go with an EVGA Supernova NEX G2 650W or 750W, personally, for a nice PSU that won't break the bank. 95% of the time, it'll sit there and be quiet, since case cooling will keep its temps low enough. I say that, as I use a rebranded Super Flower Golden Silent fanless PSU . But, I would have a hard time bringing myself to pay the everyday price for mine.

Storage: I think I will get the Samsung 950 Pro. Given that I/O is often a limiting factor, I think it's worth it.

Is there a point of having three levels of storage speed (M.2 SSD, SATAe SSD, HDD) instead of two levels (M.2 SSD and HDD)? My feeling is that all the stuff that needs to be fast should fit into 256 GB and I am not quite ready to spend half of the PC budget on the 512 GB M.2 SSD. (Then again, the 850 Pro 512 GB is about 225 €, so you end up paying the same...)

IMO, no. Get a single big SSD. With the budget, that may mean SATA, but in terms of IOPS, even if you lose out to NVMe, you'll still be alright, and having a 1TB SSD will end up way better in the end than managing two SSDs and an HDD.

For HDDs, consider NAS drives, for consistently low noise across samples.

Case: I honestly don't know. Is there a point putting everything into a Mini ATX?

It can be smaller. You'll probably want a case with a closed front, and not too much in the way of open surfaces (Fractal Design Define R4, R5, and Mini being the normal recommendations, but hardly the only ones out there). Even limiting yourself to cases made to run quietly w/ HDDs inside, there are still many to choose from...

PS: A new gaming PC would be nice too. Hovewer, it looks like the CPU market is as alm as a millpond until the second half of 2016. Should we wait for AMD's Zen to bring Intel's prices down? (Should I open a new thread? Has this been discussed elsewhere?)

If Zen meets all of AMD's claimed performance targets, and they can pull off decent high-end SKUs, it might be able to put some pressure on Intel's HEDT CPUs. For low-end and mid-range, AMD will benefit from profiting on the CPUs, if it meets their public goals, but I wouldn't expect Intel's prices to need to change.

 

[Charlie98]

It can be smaller. You'll probably want a case with a closed front, and not too much in the way of open surfaces (Fractal Design Define R4, R5, and Mini being the normal recommendations, but hardly the only ones out there). Even limiting yourself to cases made to run quietly w/ HDDs inside, there are still many to choose from....

I have both my main PC and my HTPC in Define Minis. Even with 3 HDDs, 3 case fans, a CPU cooler (stock Intel on the HTPC, ) a GPU (an old loud GTX560Ti in the HTPC) and a fanned PSU in each, they make very little noise. In the OP's case, no GPU will be half the battle (no extra heat to disappear,) I wouldn't pursue a fanless PSU, just one of the smart ones previously mentioned, or, really, a quality one like a Seasonic. I don't think you would have any problems.

 

[chaosflaws]

This is my preferred part list:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (€249.72 @ Mindfactory)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U14S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler (€69.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Motherboard: MSI Z170A GAMING PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (€150.84 @ Mindfactory)
Memory: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (€72.94 @ Mindfactory)
Storage: Samsung 950 PRO 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (€186.86 @ Mindfactory)
Storage: Western Digital WD Green 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (€81.38 @ Mindfactory)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Titanium) ATX Mid Tower Case (€110.83 @ Mindfactory)
Power Supply: be quiet! STRAIGHT POWER 10 400W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply (€70.56 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM (64-bit)
Monitor: Dell U2415 60Hz 24.1" Monitor
Total: €993.03

PCPartPicker does not have a lot of merchants to choose from in Germany; so I will probably save about 50 € buying at the right places.

Does this look ok?

 

[frozentundra123456]

Skylake is pretty sensitive to memory speeds. I think you should go for at least 2666 ram. Otherwise looks good.

 

[piasabird]

A lot depends on where you live when you go to college, like stay at home versus live in a dorm or rent a flat. This is where having a large monitor may or may not be a good idea. At the average house, a 24 inch monitor is fine. In a dorm, you may have a lot less room. Everything is a trade-off. If you can go see the dorm if that is where you plan on living. Then some people may also want to watch TV also.

 

[yinan]

Just get a NUC