New mATX build

[cinohpa]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

'Work', gaming, web surfing. Work involves programming and data analysis. I've never owned a computer that had so much RAM and cpu speed that I didn't occasionally use it all for one thing or another. For this reason I probably want to go with n i7-4770K (looking at the list of improvements over ivy bridge, it seems it would be worth it to me to go with Haswell for better handling of vector processing and single threaded uses) and at least 16gb of ram. The cpu will be a big upgrade for me, but I had that much ram on my previous system and used it.

As for games, I like to play old ps2 roms, but my brother games a lot so sometimes he gets me into new games or I want to play a newer game to play online with him. I'd like to be able to play new games on close to max settings. After looking around I'll probably want to get BF4 and AC4 when they come out, so I'd like to be able to play those at 2560x1440.


2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

No real budget. Let's say $2000.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

San Francisco, CA.

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.


CPU, RAM, GPU, Case, MoBo, PSU, hdd, ssd (?).




5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.

Monitor.

6) Will you be overclocking?

No.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?

I ultimately (within the next 2 months) intend on going with a 3 monitor setup. 2 new monitors in addition to my current 24 in. Only one will ever be used for gaming though. I am going to get a dell u2713hm so 2560x1440 on at least 2 and 1920x1080 on one. Games at 2560x1440 on only one.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?

I want to be able to build by the weekend of the 9th.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.

Onboard video is nice--in case I decide to wait on GPU or if I have problems--I use linux a lot and sometimes onboard is better supported than a bleeding edge gpu. Otherwise all the latest bells and whistles (sata 6gb/s, usb3.0, etc) would be nice.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?

No. I guess I need to get a new windows license for the games.... x64bit. If I only need windows for games (work happens in linux land) is there any reason to get anything besides the most basic windows os?

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I guess this isn't explicit, but I want to go with an m-atx build. I'm slightly concerned about case space so I want a fully modular psu and to be sure before hand that my gpu will fit.

Also, I've never had an ssd in a desktop. Should I spring for one? I've never really been unhappy with a normal hdd, but I have had my boot drive fail on me quite a few times, so I guess some added reliability would be nice. I'm also afraid about fitting an ssd, a normal hd, and a gpu in a mini-case, but I'm sure I could do it with a thoughtfully laid-out one. I saw Danny's suggestions for cases and kind of like the second silverstone one, but just out of curiosity is there any reason not to go with this fractal case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352011 I happen to like the fractal design a little more, and noting my case layout concerns it seems like reviewers were very positive about fitting big gfx cards in their cases.

I will be spending a lot of time with this machine, so I want to love it.

Thank you!

Tentative build:

$397 - Intel Core i5-4770 CPU + MSI Z87M-G34 Intel Z87 mATX Motherboard
$121 - Crucial BLS2CP8G3D1609DS1S00 Ballistix Sport 2 x 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$459 - GIGABYTE GV-N770OC-4GD GeForce GTX 770 4GB 256-bit
$172 - Samsung 840 Series 250GB SSD
$92 - Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$20 - LG GH24NS95B DVD Burner
$80 - Seasonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W Modular PSU
$100 - Silverstone TJ08B-E mATX Case
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1441

 

[Dangman]

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?

Next two weeks. Absolutely by the end of August, but maybe even this week.

Please bump up this thread on Friday. By then, Newegg's August CPU and motherboard combo deals should be out and there might be a solid deal for your needs.

Also, I've never had an ssd in a desktop. Should I spring for one? I've never really been unhappy with a normal hdd, but I have had my boot drive fail on me quite a few times, so I guess some added reliability would be nice. I'm also afraid about fitting an ssd, a normal hd, and a gpu in a mini-case, but I'm sure I could do it with a thoughtfully laid-out one.

Yes get a SSD. That'll make a huge difference in performance.

I will be spending a lot of time with this machine, so I want to love it.

Whiel we wait till Friday to setup your build, choose a case. I recommend the following:
$75 - Silverstone PS07B mATX Case
$100 - Silverstone TJ08B-E mATX Case
$120 - Lian Li PC-V354B Black mATX Case

 

[cinohpa]

Well it's Friday now, so bump!

P.S. note my question about the cases Danny suggested. Any reason--noting the concerns I mentioned above about having enough space in my case--to go with the cases Danny mentioned over one of the fractal ones?

Thanks all.

 

[Dangman]

I generally only recommend that specific Fractal Design case if extremely low noise is far more important than cooling to the user. Otherwise, for people who don't mind a bit of noise, I'd recommend the other cases due to their better cooling.

$397 - Intel Core i5-4770 CPU + MSI Z87M-G34 Intel Z87 mATX Motherboard
$121 - Crucial BLS2CP8G3D1609DS1S00 Ballistix Sport 2 x 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$260 - Gigabyte GV-N760OC-2GD GTX 760 2GB PCI-E Video Card
$172 - Samsung 840 Series 250GB SSD
$92 - Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$20 - LG GH24NS95B DVD Burner
$80 - Seasonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W Modular PSU
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Total: $1142 shipped

Notes:
- It is well above your budget. However that's mainly due to the larger SSD. I highly recommend 250GB if you can afford it. If you can't, then drop down to the Samsung 840 120GB.
- That's 16GB of RAM to start. You can add another 16GB of RAM later on for a total of 32GB of RAM
- I cannot say with 100% certainty that the GTX 760 2GB will be able to handle BF4 at 2560x1440 very well. But it should get you near there.

 

[cinohpa]

Is there a better single card solution I could go with to get me there--ignoring budget?

 

[Dangman]

Is there a better single card solution I could go with to get me there--ignoring budget?

The $410 GTX 770 2GB should get you close to there.

 

[cinohpa]

Hmm... would the 780 be going... too far?

I set the budget not thinking very hard about how much graphics cards cost/not remembering. Let's go to $2000. BTW, I was complaining about needing cpu and ram power, but if I learn to run my code on the gpu (acutally not hard) I could probably even justify spending on the gfx card for 'work'

My only question would be are the gtx cards (esp the 780) well supported in linux (ubuntu or mint)? I've definitely had a lot of problems with graphics drivers in ubuntu even when installing the proprietary drivers. This is just a general question to the crowd if anyone has a dual boot system using a gtx 7xx card that works well in a linux distro and what that distro is? I can research this myself too, just figured I would ask in case anyone is looking at this and knows off of the top of their heads.

Also, what version of windows do I need? I remember there is something stupid about the entry level versions of windows not letting you use all of your ram even if it is x64bit or something?

 

[Dangman]

Hmm... would the 780 be going... too far?

IMO yes. The GTX 780 3GB is really only a good choice if you want as fast as performance possible regardless of cost. In other words, you would have to not care at all about hardware costs.

My only question would be are the gtx cards (esp the 780) well supported in linux (ubuntu or mint)? I've definitely had a lot of problems with graphics drivers in ubuntu even when installing the proprietary drivers. This is just a general question to the crowd if anyone has a dual boot system using a gtx 7xx card that works well in a linux distro and what that distro is? I can research this myself too, just figured I would ask in case anyone is looking at this and knows off of the top of their heads.

Can't help you there.

Also, what version of windows do I need? I remember there is something stupid about the entry level versions of windows not letting you use all of your ram even if it is x64bit or something?

You will need Windows 7 Pro or regular Windows 8.