Building new PC (1 Viewer)

[anomalousdecay]

$3000 is overboard.

Some things people neglect that you shouldn't because I'm here to tell you about them:

-Casing choice is important. Choose one based on air ventilation if you are looking for a lifespan of ~10 years

-Cross check that all parts are compatible eg some components require a specific motherboard type (use manufacturers website for this..)

-Cross check that your PSU can handle the energy requirements, particularly for graphics cards which require boat loads

-When choosing RAM, don't simply opt in for the latest 32GB if you know you'll never use that. More components = more heat = shorter life span

-INVEST IN SURGE PROTECTION

-When choosing your CPU, it's not the GHz that matter, its the relative benchmark https://www.cpubenchmark.net/. Same thing with graphics card, too

-Some hardware combinations offer performance boosts specific to manufacturers (not really relevant, but worth nothing)

-

apologies in advance if you know any of these, or if you have taken them into account already.

With cases, I've set a limit of 500 mm (height) x 260 mm (width) x 500 mm (depth). In terms of the ventilation, it's good from the front only. Rest is kinda blocked off because of the position it is in. The less the height and width, the better the ventilation across the sides. The back is pretty much blocked off from any sort of ventilation.

I will most likely be doing cross checking once I have a feel for the parts and feel a bit more comfortable with understanding how everything will be set. Most likely will be done once I can affirm a spec.

PSU seems to be completely fine with what I'm running at the moment from the site. Will double check later on with the spec of individual components and do a manual check.

Nah RAM will be a progressive thing. 16 GB is good enough for me at the moment.

Surge protection is the big issue currently. Need to look more into that.

I pretty much thought of the i7-4790k because it has good performance and isn't too pricey. Any better suggestions than this?

The hardware combinations offering performance boosts was one other reason why I did originally consider factory models rather than custom build. However I'm not really sure to the extent of how much this compares to just building your own PC.

All good. I was aware of a few of them but being new to this I prefer any comments to remind me or keep me up to date with it all.

Semi-modular is alright as long as you have good cable management. I went with a full modular psu just for convenience and if I had to change a wire for whatever reason, I wouldn't need to worry about which one. 650W is plenty. One issue I had when building my PC was my 20+4 pin ATX main power cable was cut incorrectly so the latch didn't click onto my mobo. I kind of forced it on instead of exchanging it...so this a reason for full modular - I would not need to remove my entire psu and all its existing connections in order to replace one cable.

Consider getting extra fans for general air flow throughout the case (this is case dependent). If overclocking is a potential future decision, then make sure your components can handle an increase in GHz.

CAD + Chrome is nothing with those specs. I can easily run it with Intel Core i7-4770K, 16GB ram and GTX 760 graphics. Go with 2 8GB ram sticks and so you should have 2 extra slots for later on if you need it. I can easily run CS:GO on high graphics and around 300 fps. Although admittedly, my graphics card fan does make a fair bit of noise (not quite sure what to do).

Also, I haven't checked yet but see if your mobo has on board wifi and/or an ethernet output. You probably won't need an additional one straight up.

Yeah the full modular's are a bit more to pay for (about $50 or so). Will consider it though. The only issue I can figure regarding full modular's was when I was reading up that they can add to resistance with the plastic and especially when dust goes inside. However I don't think that will be a big issue here.

I was thinking of using the external and internal bays as a place to add more fans to the rig. Is this possible?

That seems alright then. Given that, then the specs should be fine for future CAD or moderate end gaming for the next few years.

Checking that up.

______________

Thanks everyone for the advice so far. Will be looking into updating a few things into a more revised rig in the next week or so and will have a look at reviewing it like this again soon. Let me know on anything else that might help.

 

[anomalousdecay]

Final compiled version. Had a mate help out.

http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/QRwwHx

The case was chosen on the basis that I need cooling to be done from the top and front based on where the rig will be stored. Cooling from the back is not very reliable for where it will be (back is facing a wall), so the front, top and sides have to be utilised. It has one fan on the back but that isn't much of an issue as the current rig I'm using has one at the back and is coping fine.

Also, this case fits where it will be stored. There will be quite a bit of space on the sides, an open front and a few centimetres of clearance from the top. I'm also going to buy all the necessary fans so I'll have 5 fans all up.

Did a rather big change overall in terms of components but now it seems more reliable and more suited to a multi-tasking and high speed requirement spec. Also all the specific components have been picked to account for longevity. The price isn't an issue as far as I'm concerned as it is well within my budget and overall I'm not spending much.

I'm actually going to get all the parts in store for about ~$2350 so I don't have to worry about shipping surcharges.

Any last thoughts? Pretty much going to go and grab everything either on Sunday or Monday.

 

[Kaido]

I have not read what you've previously said, but that cpu is def overkill.
But if you've got the money and cbb changing last minute (since cpu requires a good extent of research) then the cpu is fine...

 

[FlameLash]

I doubt you could get 8-10 years of consistent performance with any contemporary build due to the physical lifespan of the components themselves. PSU's are not produced to last that long and high-end GPU today will be mid-range at best in half a decade's time. That's just about all I can add; the build itself looks fine.

 

[AAEldar]

I have not read what you've previously said, but that cpu is def overkill.
But if you've got the money and cbb changing last minute (since cpu requires a good extent of research) then the cpu is fine...

How can you say its overkill if you haven't read what he's using it for?

@anomalous: I would have gone for the 4790k personally as I don't see much benefit at this stage in having the extra cores, but either one is going to easily handle what you're going to want to be doing. Overall build looks pretty good - not what I would build but again its for you and not for me!

 

[anomalousdecay]

I doubt you could get 8-10 years of consistent performance with any contemporary build due to the physical lifespan of the components themselves. PSU's are not produced to last that long and high-end GPU today will be mid-range at best in half a decade's time. That's just about all I can add; the build itself looks fine.

Well the PSU can be changed from time to time but I highly doubt the PSU will have too many issues if I'm not even overclocking it.

For the first 3 years I really doubt I will be anywhere near overclocking the CPU or GPU. From experience, the CPU and GPU play a hand in hand role. A lacking in the GPU will really slow down the CPU big time. In that case, I could go for a replacement GPU if ever required since I've picked an X99 mobo to account for this case in the future.

@anomalous: I would have gone for the 4790k personally as I don't see much benefit at this stage in having the extra cores, but either one is going to easily handle what you're going to want to be doing. Overall build looks pretty good - not what I would build but again its for you and not for me!

Extra cores will have added benefit in the future when multi-tasking (so in 5 years time, I can multi-task with lower end performance still). Really that's the investment. Also the reason why I opted for 4 x 4 GB RAM. I still will have 4 slots left over which I can easily buy later on as a small upgrade. Use of X99 is also so that minor upgrades along the way are simple and easy to do if ever required.

Also, 4790k is a 1150 socket. X99-A has a 2011 socket. Everything that goes on a 2011 socket uses hex core.

 

[AAEldar]

Extra cores will have added benefit in the future when multi-tasking (so in 5 years time, I can multi-task with lower end performance still). Really that's the investment. Also the reason why I opted for 4 x 4 GB RAM. I still will have 4 slots left over which I can easily buy later on as a small upgrade. Use of X99 is also so that minor upgrades along the way are simple and easy to do if ever required.

Also, 4790k is a 1150 socket. X99-A has a 2011 socket. Everything that goes on a 2011 socket uses hex core.

I'd probably be looking to upgrade after 3 years at the most. You're right that you'll still have lower end performance, but that's all you'll get out of it by the (but of course, the longer it runs comfortably with what you do the better!).

Yea that's the reason I didn't really push the change in CPU. Would have to change the board plus unsure if 1150 has DDR4 at this time anyway?

But yea, solid build!

 

[anomalousdecay]

Nah trust me I can personally cope without an upgrade for a long time. Should be easily comfortable personally for many years. I want to make sure the parts themselves are comfortable under an at most medium load.

DDR4 and X99 are exclisively only for 2011 socket CPUs at the moment.

 

[seremify007]

Don't laugh but I just bought an Asus Transformer TA100 with a super fast quad-core Intel Atom CPU and 2gb of ram!

 

[anomalousdecay]

Don't laugh but I just bought an Asus Transformer TA100 with a super fast quad-core Intel Atom CPU and 2gb of ram!

I'm guessing you'll just use it for MS Office and the Internet so it should be fine. Tbh if I ever get a laptop for uni I'll probably get some low end Surface that does me the job.

 

[turntaker]

I'm guessing you'll just use it for MS Office and the Internet so it should be fine. Tbh if I ever get a laptop for uni I'll probably get some low end Surface that does me the job.

You could have went with a hackintosh build.
You could dual boot or triple boot and it would work fine. Also I think 2000 should be enough to build a PC for your need. I spent about $700 on a mid-high end PC and it has been working fine and running a lot of high end games at medium settings for 3 years now.

 

[turntaker]

Also source engine games are not GPU demanding at all so if you're not gonna edit movies or do 3D modelling you can save money on your GPU. That's if you are only going to play source games. I have the ATI 7770 and it runs BF3 at medium settings just fine

 

[turntaker]

For your CPU get an unlocked i7 and liquid cooling to make over clocking easier. This will make sure you can keep your PC for as long as possible. 16gb of ram should be more than enough. For power go for 700-1000watt. If your doing an hackintosh build your motherboard and GPU are the most important parts so pick them carefully and you will be pleased in the long run. The case doesn't really matter. For storage I would go for 2SSDs (maybe 128gb) and a 2 tb hard drive. This is to put each of your operating systems on one SSD and get zipping fast boot speeds. For storing large files like games you can use the hard drive. (You may have to partition your HDD into two parts cause OSX uses a different system format to store files). Go for a DVD writer. Its cheap and you'll barely use it. So dont go with bluray. Make sure to buy the right socket and ram for the motherboard you choose.

That's about it really

 

[seremify007]

I'm guessing you'll just use it for MS Office and the Internet so it should be fine. Tbh if I ever get a laptop for uni I'll probably get some low end Surface that does me the job.

Pretty much and just in case I want to run a Windows app. I googled and found a lot of people use it for gaming from a couple of generations ago- so now am debating between UT99/UT2004 for some memories. I know price-wise I could've gotten a custom build PC/etc but for me, it's more about the form factor and working with my lifestyle.

You could have went with a hackintosh build.
You could dual boot or triple boot and it would work fine. Also I think 2000 should be enough to build a PC for your need. I spent about $700 on a mid-high end PC and it has been working fine and running a lot of high end games at medium settings for 3 years now.

Shudder. I did a Hackintosh before and totally not enjoyable at all trying to make drivers work, laggy performance (admittedly it was on a netbook), getting software updates was a no-no, the trackpad wasn't supporting gestures properly, the more-than-just-occasional kernal panic, etc. IMO having to hack/tweak/etc just to get it to work kindof defeats the satisfaction one usually gets from a Mac of it working easily out of the box.

 

[turntaker]

Pretty much and just in case I want to run a Windows app. I googled and found a lot of people use it for gaming from a couple of generations ago- so now am debating between UT99/UT2004 for some memories. I know price-wise I could've gotten a custom build PC/etc but for me, it's more about the form factor and working with my lifestyle.




Shudder. I did a Hackintosh before and totally not enjoyable at all trying to make drivers work, laggy performance (admittedly it was on a netbook), getting software updates was a no-no, the trackpad wasn't supporting gestures properly, the more-than-just-occasional kernal panic, etc. IMO having to hack/tweak/etc just to get it to work kindof defeats the satisfaction one usually gets from a Mac of it working easily out of the box.

Some parts work very well. You need to choose carefully

 

[seremify007]

Maybe. But if you really want to enjoy the Mac experience where everything works, and all the graphics/etc reflect the hardware you're actually using, etc... just get a Mac. IMO they've come down a lot in price relative to their non-Mac counterparts so would highly recommend it. That, and Apple's post-sales service/support has been amazing even without Applecare (extended warranty).

 

[OzKo]

For your CPU get an unlocked i7 and liquid cooling to make over clocking easier. This will make sure you can keep your PC for as long as possible. 16gb of ram should be more than enough. For power go for 700-1000watt. If your doing an hackintosh build your motherboard and GPU are the most important parts so pick them carefully and you will be pleased in the long run. The case doesn't really matter. For storage I would go for 2SSDs (maybe 128gb) and a 2 tb hard drive. This is to put each of your operating systems on one SSD and get zipping fast boot speeds. For storing large files like games you can use the hard drive. (You may have to partition your HDD into two parts cause OSX uses a different system format to store files). Go for a DVD writer. Its cheap and you'll barely use it. So dont go with bluray. Make sure to buy the right socket and ram for the motherboard you choose.

That's about it really

I don't think he needs to over clock at the moment considering the computer won't be used for anything too strenuous. It would be worth revisiting the liquid cooling option in the future, once over clocking is a necessity to maintain performance.

 

[turntaker]

I don't think he needs to over clock at the moment considering the computer won't be used for anything too strenuous. It would be worth revisiting the liquid cooling option in the future, once over clocking is a necessity to maintain performance.

Yeah true but eventually he would wanna over clock if faster CPUs come out.

But nowadays technology doesn't slow as fast as in the 2000s.

Moore's law

 

[anomalousdecay]

I don't think he needs to over clock at the moment considering the computer won't be used for anything too strenuous. It would be worth revisiting the liquid cooling option in the future, once over clocking is a necessity to maintain performance.

This pretty much. I will make upgrades and changes here and there in the future after noticing it will be necessary. However, the main parts (RAM, Motherboard, CPU, case, drives) I want to maintain. There is always the chance the SSD and/or the SSHD too, but I I think they'll be fine for a while.

Overall happy with the current build. Am going through a bit of testing at the moment to ensure all is well and to keep it in good maintenance.

Yeah true but eventually he would wanna over clock if faster CPUs come out.

But nowadays technology doesn't slow as fast as in the 2000s.

Moore's law

I won't need to overclock much. There's a reason why I went for this particular CPU and GPU combo in the first place.

And yeah on the point of Moore's Law, I've pretty much made this based on the fact that I think I'll only be getting or making one more Silicon based CPU after this until some new technology will have to take over.

 

[trapizi]

Under $2000
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($445.00 @ Centre Com)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($39.00 @ CPL Online)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($194.00 @ IJK)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Z Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($209.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Storage: OCZ ARC 100 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($125.00 @ Centre Com)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($67.00 @ PLE Computers)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($519.00 @ IJK)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($84.00 @ PLE Computers)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($145.00 @ CPL Online)
Total: $1827.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-03 21:35 EST+1100

$2600 Build
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($515.00 @ IJK)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($149.00 @ Centre Com)
Motherboard: ASRock X99 Extreme4 ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($299.00 @ Centre Com)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($599.00 @ CPL Online)
Storage: Crucial M500 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($89.00 @ CPL Online)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($102.00 @ CPL Online)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card ($525.00 @ CPL Online)
Case: NZXT H440 (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case ($158.50 @ Centre Com)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($145.00 @ CPL Online)
Total: $2581.50
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-03 21:52 EST+1100