New Work Computer - Please Review

[JestrzPlague]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
This computer will be used as a work computer running ESRI ArcMap 10 to create planemetric maps.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included
My budget is $800-900, all inclusive.

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

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+heat sink
Motherboard
Power Supply
SSD (Primary)
>1TB SATA HD
DDR3 RAM
Video card
Case + cooling
Monitor
Keyboard + mouse
Operating system

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
None.

6) Will you be overclocking?
No.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1920 x 1080, 23.6" wide -- potentially two of these.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within the next 2 weeks.

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.
I don't need sound or video on board, and I'm flexible on the rest as long as it optimizes the rest of the configuration.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
No. I will be purchasing Windows 7 64-bit, but haven't decided/compared the versions for which flavor I'll get.

I know some of these are time-limited offers, but I do plan to shop for similarly discounted items should I not make the cutoff.


$190 - CPU: Intel Core i5-3450 Ivy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.5GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2500 BX80637I53450

$135 - Motherboard: MSI Z77A-G45 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

$40 - Power Supply: CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 V2 500W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Harddrives:
$71 - Corsair 90GB Force 2.5" SATA 6Gbps SSD- (Sale ends 6/28/12, $30 rebate)
$100 - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EALX 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

$92.99 - RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CML16GX3M4A1600C9B

$120 - Video card: GIGABYTE GV-N550D5-1GI GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

$40 - Case: Rosewill REDBONE Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

$130 - Monitor: Samsung 24" 1080p LCD Display

$13 - Keyboard+Mouse: Gigabyte GK-KM5200 Slim Type USB Keyboard and Mouse Combo Set

$90 - Operating system: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit Full

This build currently comes in at $1,042, so I'd like to find some way to cut back, but not sure where best to do so. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks fellas!

 

[Sn0_Man]

This thread may be of interest to you.

Basically, it says you can ditch the Graphics card completely, and that you should try to get a better processor if at all possible.

I'm fairly sure you could save a bit of money on the Motherboard too since, well, all you need is the most basic stuff. Additionally, no need for a CPU heatsink since Intel CPU's come with one that will be just fine if you don't overclock. I'm curious as to hard drives. How much stuff do you really need to store on this PC (vs network shares, etc).

I can't comment on case/PSU cuz I don't know much about them

 

[JestrzPlague]

This thread may be of interest to you.

Basically, it says you can ditch the Graphics card completely, and that you should try to get a better processor if at all possible.

I'm fairly sure you could save a bit of money on the Motherboard too since, well, all you need is the most basic stuff. Additionally, no need for a CPU heatsink since Intel CPU's come with one that will be just fine if you don't overclock. I'm curious as to hard drives. How much stuff do you really need to store on this PC (vs network shares, etc).

I can't comment on case/PSU cuz I don't know much about them

Interesting. I'm not sure how much weight to place on that information because there are so many different ways ArcMap can be used. Although I just found this as well: http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/88...nce-between-workstation-and-consumer-hardware

I think I'll hold off on a video card, use an on-board card, see how that performs and upgrade if needed. What motherboard would you recommend? I don't see any LGA 1155 mobos with on-board video.

Also, without the graphics card, do you think it's worth it to try and bump up to an LGA 1155 i7 instead (while staying <$1k)?

On the drives themselves, I'll easily max out the 1TB drive. I'd like to have 2TB, but can work with less. The SSD will be used solely for running Windows + ArcMap, while referencing the data from the 1TB drive.

Good catch on the heatsink, and thanks for your feedback!

 

[Sn0_Man]

Okay. I'm bad at recommending MoBos but note that LGA 1155 CPU's have build in graphics that will do you just fine. Something like this motherboard for $100 ought to save you a bit.

Add the savings from the Heatsink + No GPU and you should be able to buy an i7-3770 (No K). They retail for $320 but I'm fairly sure you should be able to find one for $300-310.

Really, paying $300 for a processor almost makes me want to recommend a LGA2011 setup since the cheapest processor there is also $300 (plus 20 bucks off from newegg until friday) but then you have to buy a discrete GPU (could get one for like $50 easy), I think a CPU cooler too (not sure on this one) and the mobos start over $200 so its not quite possible

You could also try for a 60GB SSD to save a few bucks if you are really good about managing your space. Thats a pretty good deal on the 90GB one though so it's no biggie.

 

[800XL]

I work with ArcMap and I can tell you, running Arc and the OS from an SSD is a very good plan. The one thing I spend the most time waiting on is just for ArcMap 10 to fire up when I start it. Seriously that program takes longer to start up than anything I can think of, especially first run of the day.

The other main factor to keep is mind is CPU, and for now at least the number of cores doesn't seem to be as important as performance of one core at max speed. ArcMap 10 isn't all that multi-thread/multi-core friendly despite what you might read from ESRI. That may change in the future, and may depend on the specific GIS tasks you are doing.

As mentioned in the links you've already read, high end graphics cards are largely wasted on ArcMap unless you do a few specifics with 3D modeling, or if you want to write your own CUDA code in Python or something to utilize the GPU. I bought based mostly on connectors.

My workstation is older now and HP brand (choice limited by service agreements) but it still gets the job done well enough. I'd upgrade to an SSD for boot/apps if anything.
Xeon W3565 CPU at 3.2Ghz
12GB RAM
Hitachi 1TB 7200 RPM drive
nvidia quadro NVS 450 card, mainly because it had 4 ports
Planar PX2710 27" LCD with two PL1910 19" (4:3 form) LCDs on either side

 

[JestrzPlague]

I work with ArcMap and I can tell you, running Arc and the OS from an SSD is a very good plan. The one thing I spend the most time waiting on is just for ArcMap 10 to fire up when I start it. Seriously that program takes longer to start up than anything I can think of, especially first run of the day.

The other main factor to keep is mind is CPU, and for now at least the number of cores doesn't seem to be as important as performance of one core at max speed. ArcMap 10 isn't all that multi-thread/multi-core friendly despite what you might read from ESRI. That may change in the future, and may depend on the specific GIS tasks you are doing.

As mentioned in the links you've already read, high end graphics cards are largely wasted on ArcMap unless you do a few specifics with 3D modeling, or if you want to write your own CUDA code in Python or something to utilize the GPU. I bought based mostly on connectors.

My workstation is older now and HP brand (choice limited by service agreements) but it still gets the job done well enough. I'd upgrade to an SSD for boot/apps if anything.
Xeon W3565 CPU at 3.2Ghz
12GB RAM
Hitachi 1TB 7200 RPM drive
nvidia quadro NVS 450 card, mainly because it had 4 ports
Planar PX2710 27" LCD with two PL1910 19" (4:3 form) LCDs on either side

Very cool. Glad to have your input!

Do you have any idea how ArcMap handles this "large memory awareness" stuff? I know ArcMap doesn't tap into 64-bit potential and cannot use more than 4GB of RAM, but I've been reading that it still makes use of the additional RAM in certain functions. Is 16GB wasted? What are your thoughts on this?

 

[Dangman]

$190 - CPU: Intel Core i5-3450 Ivy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.5GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2500 BX80637I53450

$135 - Motherboard: MSI Z77A-G45 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

The Motherboard that Sn0_Man is a good choice. In fact, buy that CPU and the recommended mobo from this combo link to shave off another $12:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.974902

$40 - Power Supply: CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 V2 500W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Not a good choice for a PSU. Considering that there are higher quality PSUs out there for not much more:
$53 - Antec NEO ECO 400C 400W PSU
$64 - Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W PSU

$71 - Corsair 90GB Force 2.5" SATA 6Gbps SSD- (Sale ends 6/28/12, $30 rebate)

Not a good choice if you want something reliable. Stick with the Crucial M4, Plextor m3, Corsair Performance Pro, Intel 520, or Samsung 830 series SSDs if you want something reliable and fast.

$100 - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EALX 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Though taking Newegg user reviews with a grain of salt, the fact that the HDD has a very high 1 star rating makes me extremely reluctant to recommend this. I recommend spending the extra $10 for this Samsung:
$110 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

$40 - Case: Rosewill REDBONE Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

I'd spend the extra $10 for significantly better cable management and front-panel USB 3.0:
$50 - NZXT Source 210 Elite White with Black Front Trim ATX Case

 

[800XL]

I found this link about large address aware and ArcGIS 10.1: Overlaying large datasets... Look a bit down the page under additional recommendations. There are several tips regarding memory and 64bit processing. 16GB of memory might not be fully utilized by ArcGIS 10.1 desktop, but it won't hurt and dropping back to 12 or 8GB seems like a hit for any other uses the machine might have. ArcGIS will get more memory to use on a 64bit system even being 32 bit, the OS has more memory to give and some of the back end processing modules of Arc run as separate processes in their own memory. This also gets more CPU cores into the action as well. I have also sometimes run two instances of Arc at the same time, one geoprocessing some data, and one that I'm using more interactively doing edits.

The CPU issue has gotten a lot of discussion around the GIS forums. Most of the discussions agree though that quad core is plenty, and the faster raw speed or turbo frequency you can get from one core the better. Everything else being equal like caches and memory bandwidth.

 

[JestrzPlague]

Excellent feedback. I'm going to scrap this particular build and work on a more focused setup. Thanks for your help!