Office + 4k + Upgradeability

T

tmayne786

n00b
Joined
May 19, 2015
Messages
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Approximate Purchase Date: By May 25

Budget Range: $550 to $600 {no Mail-in-Rebate, include shipping + taxes}

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Small Form Factor / Photoshop / InDesign / Microsoft Office / 4K Resolution Support + Media Playback / Look Clean :)

Parts to Upgrade: Motherboard, RAM, CPU, PSU, Case

Location: City, State/Region, Country - Orlando, Florida, USA

Overclocking: Maybe

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920 x 1080, will be upgrading to 4K UHD within next year

Why Are You Upgrading: I have an old Dell Optiplex 780, it looks old and isn't very fast on the Intel Core 2 Duo. Also I used to have a gaming computer when I was in high school, but now would just like a nice clean one that is also got some power to it.
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*Small Form Factor
*Run and Perform Fast: Photoshop / InDesign / Microsoft Office / Multiple Applications (3 - 10 simultaneously, average 5)
*4K Resolution Support + Media Playback. Needs to be able to do this on integrated graphics, no GPU yet
*Future GPU installation when turning into a gaming PC
*Upgrade CPU to Skylark if possible with motherboard
*Not too noisy, don't mind some but it cannot sound like a vacuum cleaner
*Low Power Usage
*Possibly Visualization?

Hello, this is my first time posting on this amazing forum; however, I have been a long time reader. Please advise me on my build that I hope to complete within the next couple weeks. My main use would be as an Office/Entertainment pc. I would like to be able to display 4k and run media in that resolution when I purchase the monitor by end of this year. I would also like the ability to upgrade if the motherboard lets me. I would appreciate anyone's advice on the parts I've chosen and if anyone can advise me of a cheaper price or alternative:

Motherboard: Gigabyte LGA 1150 Intel Z97N IWi-Fi-Bluetooth HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Mini ITX DDR3 1600 Motherboards GA-Z97N-WIFI - $135.90

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K Processor 3.5 GHz - $235.99 [Is this the best core i5 processor that is out for the 4th Gen? And this is the Haswell Refresh E series right with the Devil Canyon they promoted?]

Case: Please advise

PSU: I have a CORSAIR HX series HX650 650W lying around, should I use this or buy a PSU with less watts?

RAM: Please advise. 8gb or 16gb, or I already have 2 x 2gb G.Skill DDR3 1600mHz sticks from 4 years ago

SSD: Already have a 240GB Intel SSD 530
 
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Your Lian Li case will not work with a regular power supply, you'll have to buy an sfx power supply. There's two versions by Silverstone one is modular one is not.

8g should be fine but 16g is best if your are doing any video encoding or large photopshop files.

you can run 4k on integrated graphics but it'll be pretty slow, don't expect it to be quick. Best thing is invest in small form factor gpu like this one below.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121916

Then You'll be able to run 4k like a champ!
 
MFDOOM1 said:
Your Lian Li case will not work with a regular power supply, you'll have to buy an sfx power supply. There's two versions by Silverstone one is modular one is not.

8g should be fine but 16g is best if your are doing any video encoding or large photopshop files.

you can run 4k on integrated graphics but it'll be pretty slow, don't expect it to be quick. Best thing is invest in small form factor gpu like this one below.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121916

Then You'll be able to run 4k like a champ!
Click to expand...

Ya, I decided against the case, it looks nice, but its too expensive. I'm thinking of going with a corsair carbide mini itx case or a bitfenix, both about ~$80

how slow are we talking on integrated graphics pushing 4k resolution? Like will there be lag in regular desktop environment or jutter in 4k video playback? Or are you talking about 4k encoding, which I don't plan on doing.
 
Those cases will work fine. As for 4k on integrated, it will run but not smooth, it'll be choppy, Intel HD 4600 has a hard time with 4k.
 
Cool. I'm also thinking about an Intel Xeon E3-1246v3 processor instead of the core i5. If I was to build a File server, would higher clock rate per core matter as much as core #? Would there be a significant difference between 3.0 ghz - 3.5 ghz for a server that would probably have 4 1080p streams simultaneously [probably without trans coding, all devices we have support 1080p] and maybe file transfers with 4 other computers same time as well?
 
So I decided to go with these parts:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1246 V3 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($267.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($67.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair Air 240 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $530.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-19 20:34 EDT-0400

Parts I have:

SSD: Intel 530 Series SSD 240GB
PSU: CORSAIR HX650 650W ATX

So how does this build look for my needs? Complete overkill? Or good enough room for upgrades in future? I'll be adding a GPU in the future, any recommendations for 4K gaming?
 
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Not sure why you need a server grade processor. Your fine with core i5 I rather put that extra bit of money towards a gpu even a cheap one then upgrade later. As for 4k gaming, I think you might be able to squeeze in a AMD 295x2 that probably the best you can do in that size case. Should more than fit your needs.
 
MFDOOM1 said:
Not sure why you need a server grade processor. Your fine with core i5 I rather put that extra bit of money towards a gpu even a cheap one then upgrade later. As for 4k gaming, I think you might be able to squeeze in a AMD 295x2 that probably the best you can do in that size case. Should more than fit your needs.
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Because for $30 more I basically get a i7-4770 with 100MHz more clock speed and hyper threading which none of the core i5 have. Also I will probably retire this build and reutilize it as a server in the future down the road when the new cpu come out and require a new motherboard, like 2 or 3 generations down the line.

EDIT: I may instead be going with an Intel E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz since its a quad-core that supports hyper threading. The E3-1246 V3 has only 100MHz more clock speed but doesn't support hyper threading. Also this one is cheaper by about 30 bucks and even uses 4w less power. This would probably be a better CPU for some video rendering as well I believe please correct me if I'm wrong.

EDIT: Just realized that the Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 doesn't have integrated graphics processor. Should I spend the $30 more and get the E3-1246 V3 with the IGP P4600 and fore go the hyper threading while adding 100MHz more per core, or stick with the E3-1231 V3 and get a cheap low powered GPU for display [supporting up to 4K for display and media playback]?
 
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tmayne786 said:
Because for $30 more I basically get a i7-4770 with 100MHz more clock speed and hyper threading which none of the core i5 have. Also I will probably retire this build and reutilize it as a server in the future down the road when the new cpu come out and require a new motherboard, like 2 or 3 generations down the line.

EDIT: I may instead be going with an Intel E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz since its a quad-core that supports hyper threading. The E3-1246 V3 has only 100MHz more clock speed but doesn't support hyper threading. Also this one is cheaper by about 30 bucks and even uses 4w less power. This would probably be a better CPU for some video rendering as well I believe please correct me if I'm wrong.

EDIT: Just realized that the Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 doesn't have integrated graphics processor. Should I spend the $30 more and get the E3-1246 V3 with the IGP P4600 and fore go the hyper threading while adding 100MHz more per core, or stick with the E3-1231 V3 and get a cheap low powered GPU for display [supporting up to 4K for display and media playback]?
Click to expand...

I recommend you get the 1231 V3 with a dGPU, I always preferred dedicated GPUs to integrated ones, even the cheap ones.
Edit: Oh! BTW the 1246 V3 does have hyper-threading AFAIK. The only E3 Xeons that don't have hyper-threading are the 122X ones.
 
Black5lion knows whats up! Ya even a cheap 750, way better than integrated graphics. But the ya your right on the processor, especially if its moving into a file server later on. the 1246 V3 would do great!
 
I will go with the 1246 v3, and I am going to get a nice graphics card later on when I'm ready for some gaming. I dont know what I'd do with a shity graphics card if I bought it now and had to replace it later. Thank you both for your advice and help :)
 
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