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What would be the best PC for everything? Need help picking out parts.

S

Silvex

Junior Member
Well, my sister has been asking me a bunch of computer questions because her boyfriend is going to build a PC mainly for AutoCAD 2014 and he just wants something that will last a really long time and is overall good at everything (Im not sure, but he may be doing some gaming)

But uh yeah, im not really sure where to start to be honest. My knowledge on computer parts is a bit vague in the higher end market. Ive always kind of just stuck around the neutral/budget area.

Here are some things you guys should know before suggesting parts.
-Budget is around 1000 dollars just for the tower
-Graphics card doesn't have to be too high end, just enough to last maybe 5 or 6 years
-He wants a fairly decent sized SSD (Im assuming 512gb would be good)
-He wants a Blu-ray burner/reader
-The case doesnt need to be too flashy or high end, just something fairly nice that will house his parts
-He wants an i7 processor
 
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I don't know if a pro type graphics card is needed since you didn't mention anything beyond Autocad 2014, and how serious he is as a gamer and what sort of games he plays. The sticky bearing the title mid-range builds will be a start.

What really jumps out is the need to have a not too-high-end card which will last 5-6 years. Are you talking about performance or reliability (card not breaking down)?
 
Silvex said:
Well, my sister has been asking me a bunch of computer questions because her boyfriend is going to build a PC mainly for AutoCAD 2014 and he just wants something that will last a really long time and is overall good at everything (Im not sure, but he may be doing some gaming)
Click to expand...

Please post answers to these so we can help you better

But uh yeah, im not really sure where to start to be honest. My knowledge on computer parts is a bit vague in the higher end market. Ive always kind of just stuck around the neutral/budget area.
Click to expand...
$1000 doesn't really buy a high end PC though, more like a mid range PC.

Here are some things you guys should know before suggesting parts.
-Budget is around 1000 dollars just for the tower
-Graphics card doesn't have to be too high end, just enough to last maybe 5 or 6 years
-He wants a fairly decent sized SSD (Im assuming 512gb would be good)
-He wants a Blu-ray burner/reader
-The case doesnt need to be too flashy or high end, just something fairly nice that will house his parts
-He wants an i7 processor
Click to expand...
Budget. Good. Can maximize bang for buck.
Graphics card. Even the highest end graphics card will start choking in games sooner than that, and if you're referring to reliability/physical lifetime, you can expect any card to last about the same amount of time (could be anything from 3 to 10+ years)
SSD. 512GB SSD's are too expensive for this budget, and unnecessary as well. All he really needs to put in the SSD to get 95% of the benefits are the operating system and the main programs, so 120GB would be plenty. The budget could fit 250GB though.
Blu-ray. Burner or reader? Different price
Case. Good thinking.
CPU. I would actually recommend a Xeon that is equal to an i7 without the integrated GPU. Saves a bit of cash, and the iGPU isn't needed since a dedicated graphics card will be used.
 
Silvex said:
st stuck around the neutral/budget area.

Here are some things you guys should know before suggesting parts.
-Budget is around 1000 dollars just for the tower
-Graphics card doesn't have to be too high end, just enough to last maybe 5 or 6 years
-He wants a fairly decent sized SSD (Im assuming 512gb would be good)
-He wants a Blu-ray burner/reader
-The case doesnt need to be too flashy or high end, just something fairly nice that will house his parts
-He wants an i7 processor
Click to expand...

i dont think i even have a complete NAS which is 5-6yrs...

Infact the only thing i own which is most likely 5-6yrs is probably my watercooling pumps. :X

does your sisters boyfriend really expect his desktop to last 5-6yrs?

i dont think SSD's have even been tested that long.


PC's today are not like how it was yesterday.
Ask him does he expect to hold onto a tablet for 5-6yrs?
Because thats how PC's are progressing... upgrade every 3-4yrs is how im seeing the trend right now to keep up date with technology.

And How much CAD is he designing?
How big of a file is he working with?
AutoCAD is pretty much a single threaded program which is heavily ram dependant.
You may want to look at beefing up his RAM, more so then his IO speed with SSD.
 
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Yeah that's why I'm not really sure where to start either. The information on what exactly he wants is a bit vague. All i really know is that he wants something that multitasks very well and will not lag and that he is mostly going to be using it for AutoCAD 2014.

And also, he doesn't really have a budget. The 1000 dollar budget is just a start. But yeah, he just wants something that will last him awhile then he will upgrade it later down the road. And on a side note i know that he wants something that will pretty much run all the games and that he wants to be able to watch and burn blu-ray movies.
 
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Only thing I can think of is to look into what the best parts would be for putting together an "everything machine", see what the cost is and go from there. If he can afford it, fine. If not, he will have to decide where he wants to compromise. Also, I would assume he would want a pretty high end monitor.

The Wife
 
"512GB SSD", "i7", and "run all games [presumably well]" doesn't come close to fitting into a $1000 budget. Sure we could put together some $3000 moonshot PC, but if your sister's boyfriend balks at that price, we'll have all wasted our time.

I suggest figuring out a firm budget and list of requirements (i.e. what the machine must do, not requested parts), and we'll go from there.
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboB...=Combo.1292337
AMD FirePro W5000 2GB GDDR5 Workstation Video Card, Intel Core i7-3770 Ivy Bridge Quad-Core Processor, MSI Z77 MPOWER Motherboard, G.SKILL 32GB Memory and Samsung 840 Pro Series 512GB SSD

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811146075
NZXT Source 210

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151096
SeaSonic S12II 620

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832416552
Microsoft Windows 8 Professional 64-bit

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827129074
Pioneer Black 15X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 12X BD-ROM 4MB Cache SATA 15X Internal Blu-ray Burner BDR-208DBK

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824260143
Dell E2014H Black 19.5" 5ms Widescreen LED Backlight LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 1000:1

Comes out to a little under 2k. If you have a case, psu, monitor and or operating system you can make that a bit less.
 
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Silvex said:
Yeah that's why I'm not really sure where to start either. The information on what exactly he wants is a bit vague. All i really know is that he wants something that multitasks very well and will not lag and that he is mostly going to be using it for AutoCAD 2014.

And also, he doesn't really have a budget. The 1000 dollar budget is just a start. But yeah, he just wants something that will last him awhile then he will upgrade it later down the road. And on a side note i know that he wants something that will pretty much run all the games and that he wants to be able to watch and burn blu-ray movies.
Click to expand...

You could start by filling out the form given in the link in post#3 or you might not get detailed answers from the big guns on this forum. No graphics card is going to be able to play the latest games at med-high settings 6 years down the road especially let alone something on a i7 $1000 budget. Autocad doesn't utilize many threads and ht is even less useful so the more expensive i7 doesn't make much sense.
 
Agent11 said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboB...=Combo.1292337
AMD FirePro W5000 2GB GDDR5 Workstation Video Card, Intel Core i7-3770 Ivy Bridge Quad-Core Processor, MSI Z77 MPOWER Motherboard, G.SKILL 32GB Memory and Samsung 840 Pro Series 512GB SSD
Click to expand...

Why a last gen CPU and an overkill $190 motherboard? That motherboard alone eliminates any savings from that combo.

840 Pro is pretty expensive, can find a decent SSD for less. And that RAM is also more expensive than needed.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824260143
Dell E2014H Black 19.5" 5ms Widescreen LED Backlight LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 1000:1
Click to expand...

Only 19.5"? I don't get why this is a component he should save on. Just get 23-24" like Dell U2412M IPS
 
A few bucks, as in almost $200, or more with a 256GB SSD which would be easily large enough. 😉 The OP specifically said the budget is around $1000, so it makes absolutely no sense to suggest a $2K build.
 
It has everything he asked for. A good basis for shaving off what he decides he doesn't need.

For instance if he switched to a 7770 or a 650 he could save a few hundred.

I don't know whether he requires a professional card or not though.

I always over spend on my motherboards, I really hate budget ones because they usually lack a flexible upgrade path, and often lack features. Spending a little more on the motherboard goes a long way.
 
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Agent11 said:
It has everything he asked for. A good basis for shaving off what he decides he doesn't need.
........
I always over spend on my motherboards, I really hate budget ones because they usually lack a flexible upgrade path, and often lack features. Spending a little more on the motherboard goes a long way.
Click to expand...

Why suggest a $2k build and then leave it up to the OP to shave it down to $1k?

What features exactly and what sort of 'flexible upgrade path' does a cheaper $100-120 mb lack compared to your $190 Z77 Mpower?
 
bononos said:
Why suggest a $2k build and then leave it up to the OP to shave it down to $1k?
Click to expand...

As for the price, that is exactly what the OP requested. Obviously there are cheaper alternatives to several of the parts. It is his decision to either increase his budget or decrease his expectations.

bononos said:
What features exactly and what sort of 'flexible upgrade path' does a cheaper $100-120 mb lack compared to your $190 Z77 Mpower?
Click to expand...
Depends, why don't you select one and I'll tell you. Then we can argue about whether you think the $30-$60 difference is worth it.

Honestly I didn't spend very much time looking at it. I saw a bundle that fit what the OP wanted to a T while on newegg and posted it.

Upon cursory inspection the motherboard was a fine example of its chipset and pricepoint.
 
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Agent11 said:
As for the price, that is exactly what the OP requested. Obviously there are cheaper alternatives to several of the parts. It is his decision to either increase his budget or decrease his expectations.

Depends, why don't you select one and I'll tell you. Then we can argue about whether you think the $30-$60 difference is worth it.
......
Click to expand...
Exactly? The OP wanted a $1k build not $2k.

Why argue? it should be easy for you to quickly detail how cheap mbs often lack features and flexibility that impeded your upgrade efforts as you described. Why don't you tell me what that fine example of a Z77 chipset and $190 pricepoint have over a $100/120 mb?

At a $100-120 pricepoint, mbs typically have 4 ram slots, 6 sata, 2 fullsize pcie, 2 pcie 1x and 3 pci slots. The main advantage of more expensive mb's typically are more 8x/16x pcie slots for optimum sli speeds or more usb3 ports.
 
You don't think it is beyond the realm of possibility that someone who wants the best of everything may want to add a raid card in the future?

the cheapest lga1155 z77 motherboard with 3 pcie slots is MSI Z77A-G45 Thunderbolt LGA 1155 Intel Z77

thunderbolt 3 PCIE (16/0/0, 8/8/0, 8/4/4)

Mpower 3 PCIE (16/8/4)

So would he like to have any pcie expansion slots?
 
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I think you're taking his "best of everything" a little bit too literally. The way I interpreted it was "what PC would be the best for what I want to do with the money I have." I.e. he wants to maximize bang for buck without losing any essential functionality.

You're still looking at last gen Z77 motherboards. Did you not know Haswell is out? Here's an MSI Z87-G45 for $140 AP, PCIe 8/8/4. Although I still think it's too pricey for a $1000 rig given all the other requirements.
 
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The OP on a $1k probably won't be needing a $500 cpu or 32Gb of ram for nearly $300. And the 16Gb Gskill Trident you linked is again another overpriced item since the lower latency and fancy heatsink is of dubious value.

Agent11 said:
You don't think it is beyond the realm of possibility that someone who wants the best of everything may want to add a raid card in the future?

the cheapest lga1155 z77 motherboard with 3 pcie slots is MSI Z77A-G45 Thunderbolt LGA 1155 Intel Z77

thunderbolt 3 PCIE (16/0/0, 8/8/0, 8/4/4)
Mpower 3 PCIE (16/8/4)
So would he like to have any pcie expansion slots?
Click to expand...

Not impossible but highly unlikely that the OP would be needing 3 16/8x pcie slots, it would be something that he would've mentioned if he's friend wanted to sli and another 8x for a big raid controller.
 
It would be useful to have more info, because AutoCAD is most suitable with an i5. It does not have much multithreaded code(or in other words, the math it does has to be done sequentially). Will he be doing video encoding or something that is more core hungry?

Also, does he need Windows?

People who use AutoCAD are probably engineers, architects, and other "designers" the need to draw pictures for professional work. They'd probably be getting Dell Precisions if shopping for a prebuilt. Since you say he is mainly building the box for AutoCAD, then my suggestions will reflect that.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1E30u
PCpartpicker does quite have all the deals, so I'll type them out myself.

i5-4670K+GA-Z87M-D3H($325)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...=Combo.1420820


G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series ($119 after $15 off promo)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231615


Samsung 840 SSD ($169.65)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009NHAEXE/

Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB ($59.99 AP[$10})
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148840

SAPPHIRE 100355-1GOCL ($119 AR [$15])
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202004

NZXT Source 210($29.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811146075

Corsair CX430M ($24.99 AP [$5] AR[$20])
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139049

Pioneer BDR ($57.99)
http://www.adorama.com/PIBDR208DBK.html

Windows 7 Home Preimum OEM ($90.88)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004Q0PT3I

$995.65 after promos and rebates. $1030.65 after promos but before rebates.

Only reason I chose a "K" chip is that overclocking can help improve single-threaded performance. But you will need an aftermarket cooler like the Hyper 212 EVO if he really needs it, and I'm not sure if overclocking a box that will be used for some work is the best idea.
 
Agent11 said:
yep haswell i7 is a bit more than ivy though, and it isn't in a convenient bundle of everything like the first one I ran across 😛
Click to expand...

Convenient for you to link is not the same as good for the OP. That one combo you linked is 1.5 times the OP's entire budget (after the paltry $108 discount).
 
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Instead of just telling him he couldn't afford what he wanted I showed him how much it would cost... And you guys all got bent out of shape.

lol.
 
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I've already shown you that the components you recommended were overpriced. Thus it is not what it would cost to "get what he wants"
 
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