Time for a new build! Been out of the game for a while.

[jez006]

Hi all, my current computer is 7 years old and in need of a refresh.

My current build
Intel E8400 3Ghz dual core
Asus Rampage Formula (http://www.asus.com/uk/Motherboards/RAMPAGE_FORMULA/)
4GB DDR2 OCZ Reaper RAM
60GB Vertex 2 SSD
Plus HDDs for storage
Sapphire Radeon HD 7750 Ultimate (http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/Sapphire_HD_7750_Ultimate/) (no fan = super quiet pc!) I like my PC to be very quiet and this GPU meets my needs.
RME HDSP 9632 sound card (http://www.rme-audio.de/en_products_hdsp_9632.php)

I'd like to build something that will blow away my current setup. I'm going to be keeping my storage drives, case, GPU and sound card. I'd like to keep the PSU as well but I've been having problems with my PC lately and the PSU is one of the suspects.

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
I do not game on my PC. I listen to music, browse the web, watch films, emails, microsoft office, etc. and I sometimes use photoshop. I often have a lot going on at once though and would still like things to open up lightning fast.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
Let's say £400 all in for:

-CPU
-Motherboard
-8GB DDR3
-SSD for Windows
-PSU

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
England

4. IF you're buying parts OUTSIDE the US, please post a link to the vendor you'll be buying from.
We can't be expected to scour the internet on your behalf, chasing down deals in your specific country... Again, help us, help YOU.
www.ebuyer.com most likely. I do not expect anyone to scour the net for me. I would just like to be pointed in the right direction/right balance for suitable components for my needs.

5. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.
hmmm probably Intel. Had problems with AMD in the past. It was years ago, but I'd like to stick with Intel.

6. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
-Case (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811235005)
-Storage HDDs
-Sapphire Radeon HD 7750 Ultimate (http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/Sapphire_HD_7750_Ultimate/)
-RME HDSP 9632 sound card (http://www.rme-audio.de/en_products_hdsp_9632.php)
-SATA CD/DVD drive
-Probably re-use my tower CPU cooler/heatsink

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
Might as well overclock it a little, my case is very well ventilated. But as I said, I'm not gaming.

8. What resolution, not monitor size, will you be using?
1920x1080

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Note that it is usually not cost or time effective to choose your build more than a month before you actually plan to be using it.
As soon as possible.

X. Do you need to purchase any software to go with the system, such as Windows or Blu Ray playback software?Already have Windows 7 64 bit.
I thought I might as well just throw these together as a base but please tell me otherwise, I have no clue at the moment what's good and what's not...haven't build a PC for 7 years.

SSDs
Kingston, Corsair or Intel good choices? It's only for windows so doesn't need to be big.

http://www.ebuyer.com/503487-kingston-ssdnow-kc300-120gb-sata3-2-5-ssd-skc300s37a-120g
http://www.ebuyer.com/413654-corsair-128gb-force-gs-2-5inch-ssd-cssd-f128gbgs-bk
http://www.ebuyer.com/567933-intel-530-series-120gb-2-5inch-7mm-oem-ssd-ssdsc2bw120a401
(Roughly £65 from those ones)

RAM
DDR3, but do I go for 1600Mhz?
Something like this?
http://www.ebuyer.com/509513-corsair-8gb-ddr3-1600mhz-vengeance-kit-intel-haswell-cmy8gx3m2a1600c9b
http://www.ebuyer.com/264750-g-skill-8gb-ddr3-1600mhz-ripjawsx-memory-f3-12800cl9d-8gbxl
(£75)

CPU
I normally buy whichever CPU is before the price jump. Right now, it is the i5-4690k.
http://www.ebuyer.com/645547-intel-...1150-6mb-l3-cache-retail-boxed-bx80646i54690k
(£170 from amazon)

Motherboard
It seems a few people are going for the asrock H97?
I really have no clue motherboard wise. There's too much choice!
http://www.ebuyer.com/666760-asrock...xn74PbzZxRrSwRZgHeH-ew9pOd5RqO4LUDBoCfMXw_wcB
(£90)

PSU
My GPU uses a max of 75watts apparently. So will a 500W PSU be sufficient? I'd like something really quiet, and if possible modular. I like my whole computer to be very quiet, and I can't put a resistor on the PSU fan power cable!

http://www.ebuyer.com/520266-be-quiet-pure-power-l8-500w-fully-wired-80-bronze-power-supply-bn223
http://www.quietpc.com/bequiet-pure-power-l8 (The 630w modular one looks good)
(£58)

Right...so I've hit £458. That's not so much of an issue but if possible I'd like it a little cheaper. I'm guessing I'm going a little overboard on the CPU and mobo for my needs but like my current build, I'd like this one to last me the best part of 10 years. If it can't be done for cheaper then I'll accept that.

Opinions please? Please feel free to through all my suggestions out the window and start fresh!

Thanks,

Jez

 

[crashtech]

Here's what I came up with, hope you don't mind me using PC Partpicker since the interface is easy for me to use. It comes closer to your desired budget and is priced in GBP:

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/ZcwP99

I think the CX series has a pretty quiet fan unless you are asking a lot out of it, most of the noise will come from the stock CPU fan under load. The PSU fan is 120mm and runs very slowly under normal conditions. Since you want to overclock I chose a Z97 board.

Best thing to reduce noise levels would be to add an aftermarket cooler like the Hyper 212 Evo:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0068OI7T8/?tag=pcp0f-21

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I like that build, except I'd probably skimp on the PSU a little more if it'd save me a few bucks.

Then again, that's already a pretty good price, so I might not bother. But yeah, if your GPU is a 7750 and you don't game, you can probably get away with a (good quality, like Corsair) 400W PSU, even if you're doing mild OCing.

 

[doubledeluxe]

Run the hardware through a calculator and keep it at 70% max power. I have gone through way too many PSU´s to skimp on one. Especially when you´re really not talking about that much money.

 

[Cerb]

1. TBH, any Haswell i3 or better, and a new SSD, should do well enough. Whether it blows away your old PC is a difficult question, but even an i3-4150 will be a solid upgrade. But, an i5 will be a little better for Photoshop, and any multitasking.

Also, IGP may be quite good enough. Keeping your video card, or not, both make sense.

SSD: make it at least a 240GB, today. Crucial's M500, M550, and MX100, Samsung's 840 Evo, and Sandisk's Ultra Plus, Ultra II, or Extreme II, should all be fine SSDs.

RAM: Yes. 1600, CAS 9, 1.5V will get you to where more faster be diminishing returns.

CPU: TBH, not gaming, with just some Photoshop to occasionally stress it, an i5-4570 (just for the Turbo than i5-44xx) or higher should be fine. The K model will not overclock much without a Z chipset (I think running all cores at Turbo can be done with many H97 boards, though), and Intel is a bit chinsy on their coolers, these days, so not much point in the K, unless you will get a Z97, and an aftermarket cooler, and OC it.

Motherboard: H97 gives you most everything but overclocking. Z97 gives you overclocking, with a K CPU. Different boards will have some extra features, different slot layouts, different fan header arrangements, and things like that. ASRock makes good boards for the money, has very well thought out firmware options, a stable monitoring/tweaking utility, and most features are equally well implemented from nearly their lowest-end boards to their highest.
Since you have the sound card, and it's PCI, I would look for a board that has PCI slots towards the bottom. ASRock again, but their H97 Pro4 and H97 Performance look like good ones with that. That way, you can keep some space between the sound card, CPU power section, GPU, and PSU, to minimize any noise pickup.

No problems with Asus or Gigabyte, though. Asus just carries a price premium that isn't typically justified. Gigabyte tends to to use a bit more efficient VRMs for given classes of boards, but outside of nice overclocking boards, that's a difference of just a few Watts under heavy loads (meh).

PSU: should be fine. Your case cooling and HDDs are likely to be far louder under all circumstances. Even with the HDDs, and an inefficient motherboard, you're not going to reach over 200W. Those are pretty good PSUs. You don't need the power, just good quality for the money. I don't know what else is readily available, so can't say if there are better for the money or not, however.

Also, just for the Hell of it, if you don't have another home for the 60GB SSD, and it has been a reliable one, try repurposing it as an SRT drive for one or more (with partitions) of the HDDs (H81 and B85 chipsets can't do this, but H97 and Z97 can). Basically free performance, as long as you have spare SATAs--why not?

 

[crashtech]

OP, Cerb's right, you in no way need a 4690K. But since you want to overclock, keep your PC for a long time, and seem to have the budget for it, I figured why not go along with your original specification. But an H97 board and a fast i3 would actually serve your needs nearly as well as a Z97 and an unlocked i5. It's up to you to determine if you want to spend extra money to anticipate future demands on your PC, or build it for less using today's workload as your guide.

 

[jez006]

Hi guys, thanks so much for your replies, you've given me a few things to think about and a lot of helpful information.

A few things I've learned then (also checklist for myself when buying)

1. Go for a Z97 chipset
2. Get a motherboard with a PCI slot at the bottom for my sound card
3. DDR3 1600Mhz CL9 1.5V
4. Calculate PSU requirement based on 70%
5. Potentially use my spare 60gb SSD as an SRT

A few questions:

1. I've had a think today and there's the possibility that I game on my computer in the future. I haven't done for a while, as seen by my Radeon 7750, but I'd like to keep my options open. I used to have an 8800GTS 512 ("the card" to have 7 years ago!) but when the 512 gave me problems I downgraded since I didn't have the need for something better at the time. Are there any particular considerations I should take into account for "light" gaming sessions? Just the PSU?

2. SSDs - everyone seems to be going for higher capacity SSDs these days? I'm only going to put windows on it so is there any need for 256GB?
http://www.ebuyer.com/413654-corsair-128gb-force-gs-2-5inch-ssd-cssd-f128gbgs-bk
http://www.ebuyer.com/644023-crucia...nch-7mm-with-9-5mm-adapter-ssd-ct256mx100ssd1

These two are the same price but the Corsair has higher write speeds and slightly higher IOPS, so is it not better for my needs? I'm not saying I would go for that, I mean we're talking very slight performance gains and half the capacity but just playing devil's advocate here...

3. A friend is trying to convince me to go for an i7 cpu. We're talking an extra £50 for an i7-4790 compared to the i5-4690k...
http://www.ebuyer.com/629964-intel-...-1150-8mb-l3-cache-retail-boxed-bx80646i74790

Is this just overkill for my needs? Even if I did eventually upgrade my GPU and game a little? He's saying "8 threads vs 4 threads, no brainer, lalala, etc." lol.

How would the i5 and i7 compare for multitasking, heavy browser use, photoshop, etc. When would I actually notice a difference between the two?

Also the i5-4690k is 3.9Ghz when overclocked, and I wouldn't be able to easily overclock the i7-4790?

4. Will my 775 socket cpu cooler fit the 1150 socket? I'll probably be missing the additional brackets or backplates though?

I'm pretty sure this is my cooler:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/ther...-heat-pipe-heat-sink-cooler-fan-intel-775-115
http://www.thermalright.com/html/archives/cpu_heatsink/u-120_ex_1366rt.html

5. I'm not saying I'm going for gigabyte, but would a cheap motherboard like this be ok?
http://www.ebuyer.com/642653-gigaby...mi-8-channel-audio-atx-motherboard-ga-z97p-d3

What would I really be gaining by going for a more expensive board?
http://www.ebuyer.com/642647-gigaby...mi-8-channel-audio-atx-motherboard-ga-z97-d3h

Just more USB ports/1 more PCI slot/an extra DVI port? Is the only difference more ports? Are there ever performance gains between motherboards of the same chipset? Sorry for the slightly newbish question.

6. Can I use both the HDMI out from the motherboard and the HDMI out from my graphics card simultaneously? (I have my computer screen and also a 32inch LCD for watching films and series)

7. Could I run into any fitment issues with some of the RAM with large heatsinks and a CPU heatsink tower? Like these:
http://www.ebuyer.com/262580-corsair-8gb-ddr3-1600mhz-vengeance-memory-cmz8gx3m2a1600c9b

Thanks again for all the help

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Re SSD size: Windows alone takes up maybe 20 GB; it's up to you to decide how much space you need beyond that for applications. The trend toward higher SSD size recommendations is driven mostly by price decreases in the last couple of years. Mine is only 80 GB and I use only 35 GB, so have no need for more. I assume you won't keep anything on it but Windows and apps, with all storage going on HDD? In that case, you might be fine with a 120 GB SSD.

I'd lean toward Crucial MX 100, Samsung 840 EVO, or an Intel.

Those 2 boards you picked differ in sound chip, video ports, LAN, USB ports, etc. Do you need the extra features of the more expensive one? It appears you don't need the onboard sound. Intel is the favored LAN chip, but I've never had an issue with Realtek. There's a point of diminishing returns in motherboards beyond a certain price, where you can easily get lost in marketing babble and "coolness" that doesn't add anything practical. I don't hear you saying you are going after a very high overclock.

If your current PSU is 7 years old, I'd replace it.

If you are the type to rebuild only every 4 plus years, I could see getting the strongest CPU you can afford, figuring it won't be replaced until maybe 2019 or 2020, although it wouldn't matter much for your use case today.

An i7 mainly gets you hyperthreading, which doesn't do much for your intended purposes. I'd lean toward a high level i5 in the K series so you can overclock.

 

[Cerb]

1. I've had a think today and there's the possibility that I game on my computer in the future. I haven't done for a while, as seen by my Radeon 7750, but I'd like to keep my options open. I used to have an 8800GTS 512 ("the card" to have 7 years ago!) but when the 512 gave me problems I downgraded since I didn't have the need for something better at the time. Are there any particular considerations I should take into account for "light" gaming sessions? Just the PSU?

Technically, yes, but even the new GTX 980 comes in under 200W, for official spec models, so even with some OCing, you're like to be at or under 350W.

If not needing to get anything now, new midrange cards are due early/mid next year from both AMD and nVidia.

2. SSDs - everyone seems to be going for higher capacity SSDs these days? I'm only going to put windows on it so is there any need for 256GB?

To not only put Windows on it, of course . You will not, realistically, notice any performance differences. There's a good chance you'll notice a new good SSD to be faster than your old one, but not any differences between various new ones. Reviewers keep updating their suites to hammer SSDs as much as they can, while very few humans actually do that.

3. A friend is trying to convince me to go for an i7 cpu. We're talking an extra £50 for an i7-4790 compared to the i5-4690k...
http://www.ebuyer.com/629964-intel-...-1150-8mb-l3-cache-retail-boxed-bx80646i74790

Get the i7-4790K, for the 4.4GHz Turbo and 4GHz base, or stick to the i5s. The i7-4790 is not compelling for its price.

Is this just overkill for my needs? Even if I did eventually upgrade my GPU and game a little? He's saying "8 threads vs 4 threads, no brainer, lalala, etc." lol.

Yes. Even games that use more won't get that much more out of it, generally. This is especially true if you're going to overclock, since the extra speed will give you more gains. The i7's main advantage is going to be for multitasking, in general, but the new K model is also quite fast out of the box.

How would the i5 and i7 compare for multitasking, heavy browser use, photoshop, etc. When would I actually notice a difference between the two?

Whenever you have enough running that Windows has trouble scheduling all the processes well enough to keep it snappy, but you still have enough CPU cache. The more you rely on many programs open at once, the more the extra threads may be of use. I got a Xeon E3-1230V3, and it's great, for me, compared to an i5. But, I have quite a few programs I only close when Windows Update forces a reboot, so there's something vying for some CPU time slices, even with low total utilization. Gaming performance is pretty much in line with a comparable i5.

Also the i5-4690k is 3.9Ghz when overclocked, and I wouldn't be able to easily overclock the i7-4790?

Again, even if not OCing, the i7-4790K is the one to be looking at, or just stick to the i5 series.

4. Will my 775 socket cpu cooler fit the 1150 socket? I'll probably be missing the additional brackets or backplates though?

I'm pretty sure this is my cooler:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/ther...-heat-pipe-heat-sink-cooler-fan-intel-775-115
http://www.thermalright.com/html/archives/cpu_heatsink/u-120_ex_1366rt.html

If it is an aftermarket cooler, and has support for LGA1156, yes. The mounting is the same for all the 115x sockets. LGA775, though, is different. You can probably get a bolt-through kit that work with that cooler. Verify that's the one, and Google a little.

What would I really be gaining by going for a more expensive board?
http://www.ebuyer.com/642647-gigaby...mi-8-channel-audio-atx-motherboard-ga-z97-d3h

Probably not much. Better power delivery, for higher overclocking, mostly.

Just more USB ports/1 more PCI slot/an extra DVI port? Is the only difference more ports? Are there ever performance gains between motherboards of the same chipset? Sorry for the slightly newbish question.

There can be, but unless you do audio/video production, not enough worth worrying over. Some boards still occasionally have DPC latency issues, but most popular enthusiast models do not.

6. Can I use both the HDMI out from the motherboard and the HDMI out from my graphics card simultaneously? (I have my computer screen and also a 32inch LCD for watching films and series)

Maybe. Windows supports it, and you can get more desktop space that way, but as far as 3D and video playback, it gets iffy. I don't see why you'd need to, though. You should be able to push 2 HDMI outputs from the 7750. Looks to me like it's got a DL-DVI-I, HDMI, and DP. A passive DP to HDMI adapter cable should give you 2 HDMIs. Though, if your monitor has a DVI port, which is common, you could just use that for the main desktop.

7. Could I run into any fitment issues with some of the RAM with large heatsinks and a CPU heatsink tower?

Maybe. Best to check your clearances, or just avoid such RAM. The heatspreaders are decorative.

 

[mfenn]

For your intended purposes, I see no reason to spend extra money on a Z series chipset or a K series processor.

i5 4460 £136
ASRock H97M £61
Corsair DDR3 1600 16GB £116
Crucial MX100 256GB £75 - put more than Windows on it, install all your programs there as well as any big PSDs that you work on
Corsair 430CX V2 £38
Total: £426

If you'd like to stay strictly below £400, you can either go down to 8GB of RAM or the 128GB version of the SSD. I'd probably drop the RAM down though because that's easier to upgrade.

There is a bracket that will let your TRUE mount to an 1156/1155/1150 socket, but it seems to be pretty scare by now.

 

[riahc3]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
I do not game on my PC. I listen to music, browse the web, watch films, emails, microsoft office, etc. and I sometimes use photoshop. I often have a lot going on at once though and would still like things to open up lightning fast.

Personally, for what you are looking for, you don't need a new PC.

Max your RAM out at 8GB and get a good SSD. You should see a big improvement for a smaller price than building a new PC.

A fanless graphics card for Photoshop is going to be difficult to come by. Best is to get a prebuilt watercooling kit for a GPU and replace the fan.

Just a opinion.


My PC has more or less your age and my next upgrade is going to be a CT512MX100SSD1. Big upgrade at a small price.

 

[doubledeluxe]

He has a SSD. Will he notice a difference in a new one? I'm mostly curious since I had that SSD but it died and I was so put off by the performance difference (compared to s raptor) that I have yet to get another SSD.

I agree that unless you use Photoshop a lot you're not going to get much out of an upgrade.

Get more memory and maybe call it a day. Especially if you're getting out of memory warnings.

 

[riahc3]

He has a SSD. Will he notice a difference in a new one? I'm mostly curious since I had that SSD but it died and I was so put off by the performance difference (compared to s raptor) that I have yet to get another SSD.

I agree that unless you use Photoshop a lot you're not going to get much out of an upgrade.

Get more memory and maybe call it a day. Especially if you're getting out of memory warnings.

Not only is this SSD using outdated technology internally, it is EOL, very small, etc.

Budget wise, performance wise the Crucial MX100 is right now the best on the market. The price/performance/space ratio is amazing.

NOW, performance wise, it is still not the best. That crown belongs to either the SanDisk Extreme Pro or the Samsung SSD 850 PRO.

But, just for comparison:

Samsung 850 PRO 256GB = 156,20 €
SanDisk Extreme PRO 240GB = 145,05 €
Crucial MX100 256GB = 92,10 €

As you can see the price difference is there but for what he wants to do, I think the Crucial will be enough. Or, instead of looking at the Samsung/SanDisk, look at something else above the Crucial.

 

[Cerb]

P
A fanless graphics card for Photoshop is going to be difficult to come by. Best is to get a prebuilt watercooling kit for a GPU and replace the fan.

the OP already has a fanless graphics card for Photoshop. No need for water or anything like that.

 

[riahc3]

the OP already has a fanless graphics card for Photoshop. No need for water or anything like that.

Correct. I misread. My apoligies.

 

[doubledeluxe]

Not only is this SSD using outdated technology internally, it is EOL, very small, etc.

Budget wise, performance wise the Crucial MX100 is right now the best on the market. The price/performance/space ratio is amazing.

NOW, performance wise, it is still not the best. That crown belongs to either the SanDisk Extreme Pro or the Samsung SSD 850 PRO.

But, just for comparison:

Samsung 850 PRO 256GB = 156,20 €
SanDisk Extreme PRO 240GB = 145,05 €
Crucial MX100 256GB = 92,10 €

As you can see the price difference is there but for what he wants to do, I think the Crucial will be enough. Or, instead of looking at the Samsung/SanDisk, look at something else above the Crucial.

Looking at Benchmarks I do not think you´re going to see any real world difference between a MX100 and a Vertex 2. That´s just looking at a chart though.

Will he actually see any difference? Beyond capacity of course. I´m still using a Raptor and although a SSD does boot up faster I was unable to see any difference elsewhere with the OCZ drive. Saving 2.5 seconds on startup doesn´t really do much for me.

 

[riahc3]

I´m still using a Raptor and I was unable to see any difference elsewhere with the OCZ drive. Saving 2.5 seconds on startup doesn´t really do much for me.

Then obviously your system was configured incorrectly.

I dont care if a HDD is at 10,000 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutions_per_minuteRPM or at 5000000000000000000 RPM. A non mechanical moving part will always beat it (if configured properly and correctly of course).

 

[doubledeluxe]

I can´t remember. The dumb drive lasted a week.

 

[jez006]

Some great responses here, they're very appreciated.

I'm not going to go through everyone's posts, but I'm going to spend some time now speccing up the new build and post it up here.

I know I don't really need a new build with what I use my computer for but I need a new psu and potentially new SSD (posted thread in problems forum), and I'd like DDR3. Might as well just go for a new cpu and motherboard then...I don't mind spending a little extra and it'll keep me happy for the best part of 10 years...or longer, I can't imagine getting bored with this new build but currently I find my computer can be a little slow.

 

[Cerb]

Looking at Benchmarks I do not think you´re going to see any real world difference between a MX100 and a Vertex 2. That´s just looking at a chart though.

Performance over time, with TRIM, is where most newer drives shine, compared to generations-old ones. They don't noticeably slow down, unless you fill them right up (even newer SF drives, SF-2281-based, are fairly good about it). AT doesn't try to test that, but some others, like Xbit, IIRC, do. It won't be, "OMG this is amazing," faster, but still better.

 

[jez006]

Not quite there with the list yet, but I'll finish it soon and post it up.

Please can someone point me to some detailed threads for setting up a fresh installation of windows 7. I've done it loads of times but there are always things I forget (like AHCI) and I'd like to get it right first time on my new build.

Also...should I consider windows 8.1 if the alternative is my already owned copy of windows 7 64 bit?

Thanks again

 

[Cerb]

1. Make sure AHCI is on in the BIOS (default for most new mobos, but check anyway).
2. Make sure the only storage drive connected for the install is the one the OS is to be installed to.
3. Install.

That's it. Anything else will be entirely optional, and easy to do later.

 

[jez006]

Ha, ok I thought there was more to it than that. Thanks Cerb.

 

[Cerb]

With XP, Vista, or an itty bitty SSD, there would be more. With a big enough SSD to hold the hibernate and page files, and still have plenty of room left over, not so much; and Win7 SP1 and newer automatically align new partitions to 1MB on pretty much any storage device.

 

[jez006]

Hi Cerb, please can you expand on "Win7 SP1 aligns new partitions to 1MB on pretty much any storage device"?

I would be installing an old version of windows 7 and then updating it with SP1 after the install.

Also..do you think I should consider windows 8?