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KKD
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First Build Help.

Sat Jul 26, 2014 5:54 pm

Hi Everyone. My first post here and a TOTAL noobie @ computers. :oops: So please go easy on me. LOL. I do wanna learn.

Ok, so I'm a screen printer that does a LOT of graphic design(Corel X5, Photoshop, ect.) work. My HP 6787P desktop just stopped working. Not sure what went wrong....but I'm over it. :evil: I just wanna start a new build that will last me and perform faster then the HP I had. My budget is roughly $1200.00. I do surf the web a lot and stuff like that, but my graphics work is whats most important. I did put a small list together, but being as inexperienced as I am, I thought it be a good idea to ask more experienced people (like yourselves) about it before pressing the go button. I sure could use all of your help, as I'm currently using my laptop to design and it is just WAY to small. I plan on using the 2- 21" monitors that came with my HP. I also plan on using a WD External HD I have too. Thanks very much!

Curt

Here is what I put together so far:

Cooler Master HAF X - High Air Flow Full Tower Computer Case with Windowed Side Panel and USB 3.0 Ports

ASUS MAXIMUS VII HERO LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core i7-4770K Haswell Quad-Core 3.5GHz LGA 1150 84W Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics BX80646I74770K

EVGA 04G-P4-3768-KR GeForce GTX 760 FTW 4GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 SLI Support Video Card w/ EVGA ACX Cooler

2- Western Digital WD Blue WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive - OEM

Cooler Master V750 – Compact 750W 80 PLUS Gold PSU with Modular Molex/SATA Cables (SLI/CrossFire Ready)

Please let me know if this will work for me? Thanks again.
 
biffzinker
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Re: First Build Help.

Sat Jul 26, 2014 6:48 pm

If your interested in the 4770K might as well get the Intel Core i7-4790K (higher base clock 4.0 GHz plus turbos to 4.4 GHz)

Edit: http://ark.intel.com/products/80807/Intel-Core-i7-4790K-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-4_40-GHz
It would take you 2,363 continuous hours or 98 days,11 hours, and 35 minutes of gameplay to complete your Steam library.
In this time you could travel to Venus one time.
 
JustAnEngineer
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Re: First Build Help.

Sat Jul 26, 2014 6:54 pm

KKD wrote:
Hi Everyone. My first post here.
Welcome to the Tech Report!

KKD wrote:
My HP 6787P desktop just stopped working.
This one?

KKD wrote:
My budget is roughly $1200. I surf the web, but my graphic design work (Corel X5, Photoshop, etc.) is what's most important. I plan on using the 2- 21" monitors that came with my HP. I also plan on using a WD External HD I have, too.

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K Haswell Quad-Core 3.5GHz
Motherboard: Asus Maximus VII Hero LGA1150 Z97 ATX
RAM?
Graphics: EVGA 04G-P4-3768-KR GeForce GTX 760 FTW 4GB ACX Cooler
SSD?
Hard-drives: 2ea 1.0 TB Western Digital WD Blue WD10EZEX 7200 RPM
Optical drive?
Card Reader?
Case: Cooler Master HAF X Full Tower ATX with Window
PSU: Cooler Master V750 – 80+ Gold, Modular
Operating System?
The builds in the System Guide are mostly geared toward gaming, but the discussion of components there could help you select pieces for your system.

CPU
You probably want to start with a quad-core LGA1150 Haswell processor.
$225 Intel Core i5-4690 quad-core 3.5 GHz
or $340 -65 combo Intel Core i7-4790K hyper-threaded quad-core 4.0 GHz

CPU cooler
If you're going to overclock or you want a quieter system, you'll want to upgrade the CPU cooler.
$0 Included Intel heatsink and fan
or $36 CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Evo

Motherboard
I suggest a micro-ATX LGA1150 motherboard that doesn't waste any space on obsolete PCI slots. Choose the Z97 chipset if you want to overclock your "K" processor. All of the MSI boards and the Asus Gryphon Z97 include DisplayPort. For the others, you'd need to use DVI and HDMI if you use the integrated graphics.
$103 Asus H97M-E/CSM
or $95½ MSI H97M-G43
or $115½ MSI Z97M-G43
or $135 -10MIR Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5
or $142 -10MIR ASRock Z97M OC Formula
or $160 MSI Z97M Gaming
or $165 Asus Gryphon Z97
or $210 Asus Maximus VII Gene

RAM
All of the motherboards that I linked above have four DIMM slots. Start with 16 GiB in two DIMMs for your memory-hungry photo editing. If you find that you need more memory, you can double it later.
$150 2x8 GiB PC3-12800 Crucial Ballistix Sport BLS2K8G3D1609ES2LX0 (DDR3-1600, 9-9-9-24, 1.35 V, low profile)
or $175 2x8 GiB PC3-12800 Crucial Ballistix Tactical BLT2K8G3D1608ET3LX0 (DDR3-1600, 8-8-8-24, 1.35 V)
or $160 2x8 GiB PC3-14900 G.Skill Ripjaws X F3-1866C9D-16GXM (DDR3-1866, 9-10-9-28, 1.5 V)
or $180 2x8 GiB PC3-14900 Crucial Ballistix Tactical BLT2KIT8G3D1869DT1TX0 (DDR3-1866, 9-9-9-24, 1.5 V)

Graphics
$0 Integrated DVI and HDMI ports
or $120 -20MIR MSI Radeon R7-260X 2GD5 OC

SSD
You need an SSD for your operating system and installation of your most-used programs.
$140 -25 combo 0.250 TB Samsung 840 Evo
or $111 0.256 TB Crucial MX100
HD
$140 3.0 TB Hitachi Deskstar NAS H3IKNAS30003272SN(0S03660)
or $110 3.0 TB Toshiba DT01ACA300
or $175 4.0 TB Hitachi Deskstar NAS H3IKNAS40003272SN(0S03664)
Blu-ray
$55 LG WH16NS40

Case
Both of these cases hold Micro-ATX/DTX/Mini-ITX motherboards. The Corsair Obsidian case is as large on the outside as a typical ATX case, while the Silverstone case is slightly smaller than your existing HP micro-ATX case. Either of these tower cases is wide enough to accept the tall CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Evo cooler.
$80 -10MIR Corsair Obsidian 350D
or $120 Silverstone Temjin TJ08-E

Power Supply
Without a graphics card, you could easily get by with a good 360-watt power supply or an even cheaper PSU. Spending a bit more gets you an efficient unit with more capacity than you need for a single-GPU system as well as modular cabling to reduce clutter inside your case.
$87 SeaSonic SSR-550RM
or $85 Corsair CS550M

Input
$0 Existing mouse, keyboard, digitizer tablet, etc.
or $52 Logitech G400s
or $65 Rosewill RK-9000BR

Speakers
$0 Existing speakers, headphones, etc.

Monitor
$0 Existing 2x21" displays
or $409 2560x1600 30" Yamakasi 301 Sparta S-IPS LCD monitor
or $344 2560x1440 27" QNIX QX2710 IPS LCD monitor
or $460½ -55 code "MP12" 2560x1440 27" Monoprice 10489 IPS LCD monitor
or $398½ -48 code "MP12" 2560x1440 27" Monoprice 10509 IPS LCD monitor

Operating System
$100 Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM 64-bit
· R7-5800X, Liquid Freezer II 280, RoG Strix X570-E, 64GiB PC4-28800, Suprim Liquid RTX4090, 2TB SX8200Pro +4TB S860 +NAS, Define 7 Compact, Super Flower SF-1000F14TP, S3220DGF +32UD99, FC900R OE, DeathAdder2
 
vargis14
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Re: First Build Help.

Sat Jul 26, 2014 7:06 pm

Welcome to TR,
1st off if you live near a Microcenter store get your MB and CPU there It will save you a good bit of money
2nd get the new I7 4790K it is the same price as the 4770K but runs a lot cooler and the base clock is higher/faster.

I like the HAF cases "I have a haf 922" with 2 4gb ACX cooled EVGA 770's in SLI but the ACX cooled cards throw so much heat towards the side panel I had to switch my 2 side panel 120mm intakes to exhaust. But I am using 2 cards. So if you ever plan on ever running 2 cards in SLI some side exhaust would come in handy. Actually save some money and get the new HAF922 with USB3. Since they cost 90-100$ and the money you save on the CPU and motherboard you really need to invest in a Solid state drive 240/256gb in size for your OS and any programs used often.

A aftermarket cooler is needed also since intels stock one stinks. A 30$ coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO is a great cooler for the money. But the choice of a cooler is ultimately yours. you might want a corsair H80i AIO water cooler.

If your broke computer does have the Phenom 2 840t it may be able to be unlocked into a 6 core making it worth a little bit of money if someone is willing to play the silicone lottery and try to get 2 free cores.
2600k@4848mhz @1.4v CM Nepton40XL 16gb Ram 2x EVGA GTX770 4gb Classified cards in SLI@1280mhz Stock boost on a GAP67-UD4-B3, SBlaster Z powered by TX-850 PSU pushing a 34" LG 21/9 3440-1440 IPS panel. Pieced together 2.1 sound system
 
puppetworx
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Re: First Build Help.

Sat Jul 26, 2014 7:33 pm

Stick an SSD in there too, they're just way too cheap to forego these days. Even if it's just a small cheap one used for caching with Intel Smart Response the response difference will be significant (ISR uses 64GB, you can install your photo editing software on the remaining space).
 
deepblueq
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Re: First Build Help.

Sun Jul 27, 2014 2:23 pm

Welcome!

A lot of the stuff you spec'd out looks a bit overkill. It'll certainly get the job done, but you could likely save some money.

The HAF X is a fairly beastly case, and it looks like Newegg is selling it for $180. It looks great if you would ever like to turn this into a powerful gaming machine (upgrade room), but by your description of your needs, you could easily save $50 here and not notice the difference. TR has some good case reviews here. Personally, I like the looks of the Corsair Obsidian 450D, or for something a bit cheaper yet, the Corsair Carbide 200R. Either of these still have plenty of room for expansion, and the cooling will be fine unless you're packing in $800 worth of video cards.

For a power supply, again, 750W is powerful gaming machine stuff. Even an OC'ed 4790k and a GTX 760 (which I again think is overkill - more on that below) would be drawing ~300W combined, and the rest of the system doesn't add up to a whole lot. For high efficiency and some expansion headroom, how about 600W or so? That would still support an OC'ed 4790k with a top of the line video card (780 Ti / 290X) no problem, if you ever wanted to do that. Also, I'm not a huge fan of Cooler Master. They're often a great value, but I've never been impressed with their quality. For cooling they're a great choice, but I don't like the idea of buying a power supply from them. Looking for stuff that gets good reviews on Newegg, the EVGA 600 B looks like a good value option, but it's not modular and there's more efficient stuff out there. Corsair is well liked around here - the CX600M adds modularity over the EVGA, and the CS650M is 80+ gold (same efficiency bracket as the Cooler Master you picked out).

It's hard to beat the 4790k for a CPU, and that's probably what you want. The question is whether it's overclocked or not (that affects motherboard and cooling choices). In this case, I probably wouldn't. The 4790k has pretty high stock clocks (especially counting turbo), so there's not a whole lot to gain unless you're pushing a lot more power to it, with obvious drawbacks in system power consumption, CPU temperatures, and cooling noise. Also, if you're not overclocking, you can save a fair bit on the motherboard and cooling.

Specific motherboard selection is not my thing, but if you're not overclocking, most anything H97-based should do just fine (the main difference between H97 and Z97 is that Z97 supports overclocking). Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, and ASRock are all good brands, and I'd tend towards Asus and away from ASRock in the absence of other data. Like I was saying, I'm not very familiar with specific motherboards, so I'll defer to the TR system guide for that. Again, unless you decide to upgrade this to something seriously extreme at a later date (or try to squeeze out that last 1% overclock) you won't notice the difference between the board you picked out and one that's $50 cheaper (unless it's the cool factor :wink:).

If you're not overclocking, cooling isn't a big concern, but an aftermarket CPU cooler will still be a lot quieter. If you are overclocking, it becomes a necessity. I'm personally a fan of Noctua (terrible pun not intended), but they are somewhat pricey. The Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO seems to be very well liked, for a cheaper option.

I like G.Skill for RAM, myself. If your old system performed well for your work with 8 GB, that's probably plenty. If not, it's hard to tell whether or not RAM was a limitation. If it turns out to be limiting, you can always add another 8 GB later. This ticks all the boxes (including lower latency and low profile), and this is faster (2133 vs. 1600). RAM speed has little impact on system performance, but at $2 more, why not? For 16 GB, this looks good.

If an HD 6450 was working at all for you, a GTX 760 is almost certainly massive overkill. It has 9 times the number crunching ability and 16 times the memory bandwidth, among other things. The current state of the art is the GTX 750 and 750 Ti (actually a newer architecture than the 760, however that's supposed to make sense). They're half the cost and use only 1/3rd of the power of the 760, and the Ti variant is actually a quite good gaming card at 1080p. They'll blow through any non-gaming tasks you have like they're not even there. This looks like a good option, and this is a bit more powerful.

Finally, SSDs are very nice. Nothing else will make quite the same difference in responsiveness. The Crucial MX100 currently has about the best price per GB on the market, and it's not bad at anything else.

Edit: you should probably go straight to 16 GB of RAM. I may be biased towards lower amounts because my software setup / typical usage hardly uses any.
Pentium G3258 @ 4.3 | MSI GTX 650 Ti Boost | 8GB G.Skill DDR3-2133 | ASRock Z97E-ITX/ac | Crucial MX100 256GB | Corsair Graphite 380T
 
JustAnEngineer
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Re: First Build Help.

Sun Jul 27, 2014 4:34 pm

deepblueq wrote:
8 GB, that's probably plenty. Edit: you should probably go straight to 16 GB of RAM. I may be biased towards lower amounts because my software setup / typical usage hardly uses any.
I like G.Skill for RAM... This (PC3-12800, 9-9-9-24)... or for 16 GB, this (PC3-12800, 9-9-9-24) looks good. This (PC3-17000, 9-11-11-31) is faster (2133 vs. 1600). RAM speed has little impact on system performance, but at $2 more, why not?
The longer cycle latency gives back most of the speed from the higher frequency to produce a very similar total latency.

While the G.Skill Ares PC3-12800 is good memory at 1.5 V, it is the same price as the better 1.35 V low-profile Crucial Ballistix Sport PC3-12800 that I linked. You don't see it in the specifications on the Newegg page, but the SPD in the Crucial Ballistix Sport PC3-12800 defaults to DDR3-1600 speed when you install it, while the G.Skill memory's default SPD is PC3-10666 (DDR3-1333). You have to select the alternative profile in your BIOS to get this memory to run faster.

Note that the Asus H97 motherboard that I linked officially supports up to PC3-12800 (DDR3-1600) speed. If you want to use faster memory, pick one of the overclocking-friendly Z97 motherboards.
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climatepete
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Re: First Build Help.

Sun Jul 27, 2014 5:51 pm

Hi KKD, I'm new here myself. I just built a new machine based on th May systems review. My thoughts:

0. for perspective look up Brix and Valve steam machines.

1. these days your case is a fashion statement. I went with the dull black windowed "steampunk" look.
You can get a striking white or cherry red case if you wish.

2. motherboard + CPU determines what sort of computer you have.
2.1 all the Z97 boards do the same thing: run certain chips with easy overclocking.
2.2 all the Z97 CPUs are essentially equivalent. Look for two reviews of the Anniversary Pentium vs i7 at legitreviews and one at techreport. (I can not post urls.)
The core-x chips may get more video frames per second but a) I think you need just one frame to hold still while you work on it; b) people who desire thousands of frames per second generally use a separate video card anyway.
2.3 btw it seems that PC gaming drives PC hardware, especially super hot CPUs, video cards and the super cooling devices needed to keep them alive. This is nice but advancing it is not your responsibility. Don't be lured into spending several hundred dollars more than you need to.

3. CPU cooling tower: yes - if you are going Z97 your mobo's BIOS (a trip in itself) will make overclocking easy. As I understand it, there is no problem with it as long as you do not increase any voltages. I think the Thermaltake NICs recommended in the Systems Guide would be good. I got the Cooler Master evo 212 something only because the NICs were sold out. NIC vs Cooler Master: the NIC starts the cooling fins a bit higher so that the fan can clear your RAM and still cool all the fins. With the CM, note how the fan clips work and move the main fan up a ways to clear your RAM. The lowest and probably hottest fins don't get strong fanning but I don't expect this to matter much. (Put a second fan on the other side of either cooler to pull air through. This fan can be down where you want it.) A cooling tower is strange looking contraption. Look for an online guide specifically for whichever one you get.

4. even fans are reviewed in detail. See for instance the review of Aerocool dead silence fans at eteknix.

5. a bargain PSU? Ask jonny guru.
Modular is good. It means you get a bunch of cables on the side, and there are holes in the unit to plug in the ones you use.

6. Build it. Read the How to built it guide here. I suggest: put the CPU cooler base plate on first, then set it aside. Fasten the mobo and PSU in the case. Watch out for various connections above where the CPU cooler and its fans will be. Connect them while there is still room to reach them. Finish the CPU cooler last.

7. software: there may be great free open source programs you never dreamed of. Look up Blender and Valve's graphic apps.

8. bargains: sign up with Newegg & Tiger. They will keep sending you email bargains. (Check prices before jumping.) MIRs (mail-in rebates); be on your toes. You have just a short time to mail them in, but to do so you must cut the bar code out of the box, and then "You have damaged our beautiful box! No returns allowed." So you have to decide quickly.
 
JustAnEngineer
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Re: First Build Help.

Sun Jul 27, 2014 6:16 pm

climatepete wrote:
Hi KKD, I'm new here myself.
Welcome to the Tech Report!

climatepete wrote:
3. CPU cooling:
I think the Thermaltake NICs recommended in the Systems Guide would be good. I got the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo only because the NICs were sold out. NIC vs Cooler Master: the NIC starts the cooling fins a bit higher so that the fan can clear your RAM and still cool all the fins.
I believe that a better solution is simply to buy memory that doesn't have huge decorative heatsinks sticking up to interfere with your CPU cooler. The low profile Crucial Ballistix Sport memory is only 30mm tall. It will easily fit under most CPU coolers.

climatepete wrote:
2.2 Graphics:
a) I think you need just one frame to hold still while you work on it; b) people who desire thousands of frames per second generally use a separate video card anyway.
2.3 btw it seems that PC gaming drives PC hardware, especially super hot CPUs, video cards and the super cooling devices needed to keep them alive. This is nice but advancing it is not your responsibility. Don't be lured into spending several hundred dollars more than you need to.
AMD's gaming graphics cards are strong in OpenCL computing applications. Not everything in Photoshop is accelerated by OpenCL, but if you use the OpenCL enabled operations frequently, you may find that a low to mid-range Radeon graphics card is worthwhile if the budget allows this luxury. I linked to a Radeon R7-260X with 2GB of memory based on the "Bonaire" GPU, the first of AMD's GCN1.1 graphics chips.
http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/pho ... -faq1.html
http://www.pcper.com/news/General-Tech/ ... nCL-Claims
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ThatStupidCat
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Re: First Build Help.

Sun Jul 27, 2014 8:12 pm

If you still have your old rig then find a power supply that you might use in the future and stick it in your old rig. If it works again then great. If not then you have your future power supply.

Well, that's what I'd do after checking all the cables. Aside from that I really don't know much.
I'm clueless about computers.
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Dagwood
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Re: First Build Help.

Mon Jul 28, 2014 12:16 am

JAE (Just an Engineer) posts are fantastic. You will never go wrong by taking his advice. He should writing the TR system guides.

I would like to add a vote seeing what you can get for 1200 bucks from the "store" before you build your own. These days building your own is more of a hobby in of it self than a way to get more for your money.
 
deepblueq
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Re: First Build Help.

Mon Jul 28, 2014 12:25 am

JustAnEngineer wrote:
deepblueq wrote:
8 GB, that's probably plenty. Edit: you should probably go straight to 16 GB of RAM. I may be biased towards lower amounts because my software setup / typical usage hardly uses any.
I like G.Skill for RAM... This (PC3-12800, 9-9-9-24)... or for 16 GB, this (PC3-12800, 9-9-9-24) looks good. This (PC3-17000, 9-11-11-31) is faster (2133 vs. 1600). RAM speed has little impact on system performance, but at $2 more, why not?
The longer cycle latency gives back most of the speed from the higher frequency to produce a very similar total latency.

While the G.Skill Ares PC3-12800 is good memory at 1.5 V, it is the same price as the better 1.35 V low-profile Crucial Ballistix Sport PC3-12800 that I linked. You don't see it in the specifications on the Newegg page, but the SPD in the Crucial Ballistix Sport PC3-12800 defaults to DDR3-1600 speed when you install it, while the G.Skill memory's default SPD is PC3-10666 (DDR3-1333). You have to select the alternative profile in your BIOS to get this memory to run faster.

Note that the Asus H97 motherboard that I linked officially supports up to PC3-12800 (DDR3-1600) speed. If you want to use faster memory, pick one of the overclocking-friendly Z97 motherboards.


???

I'm having some trouble figuring out what's supposed to be going on with that quote...

2133 / 11 is still higher than 1600 / 9, so the 2133 kit is all around faster. I seem to recall some testing showing a small performance difference up to 1866 or 2133, but how to prioritize latency vs. bandwidth is an interesting question. It's true the 2133 kit uses more power and has taller heatsinks, but I thought both of those specs were still well within reason.

Ha, that Crucial kit does look excellent. I wasn't aware RAM that low profile existed.

Just curious on the SPD stuff (I haven't looked into it much) - I thought the default was 1600 / 12 for anything that supported at least that speed, and anything faster had to go through XMP anyway. I don't doubt that they do, but why would a manufacturer default something lower if they can help it?

Good point on the H97 RAM speed limit, I had forgotten about that.
Pentium G3258 @ 4.3 | MSI GTX 650 Ti Boost | 8GB G.Skill DDR3-2133 | ASRock Z97E-ITX/ac | Crucial MX100 256GB | Corsair Graphite 380T
 
just brew it!
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Re: First Build Help.

Mon Jul 28, 2014 9:13 am

deepblueq wrote:
JustAnEngineer wrote:
The longer cycle latency gives back most of the speed from the higher frequency to produce a very similar total latency.

I'm having some trouble figuring out what's supposed to be going on with that quote...

2133 / 11 is still higher than 1600 / 9, so the 2133 kit is all around faster.

He didn't say the latency would be worse, he said it would be "very similar". Which they are. Latency of 11 @2133 is ~9% lower in absolute terms than 9 @1600; in anything other than a synthetic memory benchmark, a 9% difference in latency will be lost in the noise. Furthermore, if you end up needing to bump it to 12 @2133 to get the RAM stable (certainly not out of the question), then the latencies are effectively identical.

You'll still see a performance benefit in anything that is sensitive to streaming bandwidth, of course.
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
 
Chrispy_
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Re: First Build Help.

Mon Jul 28, 2014 9:58 am

Your spec is overkill, though that might be your intention.

Do you have a decent color-accurate screen already?
If not, consider getting a lighter-spec PC and spending the rest of a good quality IPS or PLS screen along with a colorimiter for calibration.
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deepblueq
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Re: First Build Help.

Mon Jul 28, 2014 4:45 pm

just brew it! wrote:
He didn't say the latency would be worse, he said it would be "very similar". Which they are. Latency of 11 @2133 is ~9% lower in absolute terms than 9 @1600; in anything other than a synthetic memory benchmark, a 9% difference in latency will be lost in the noise. Furthermore, if you end up needing to bump it to 12 @2133 to get the RAM stable (certainly not out of the question), then the latencies are effectively identical.

You'll still see a performance benefit in anything that is sensitive to streaming bandwidth, of course.


Bleh, I shouldn't post while sleepy. :)

I guess what I was trying to say was that I thought the 9% lower latency and 33% more bandwidth were worth the $2 and small increase in power consumption, but I definitely could have put that in clearer terms.

Let's say you have two hypothetical kits, identical in every way except bandwidth and latency. One is 1600 and the other is 2133. How much lower latency would the 1600 kit have to be to be preferable (in the opinion of anyone here who has an opinion)? I haven't seen any testing along those lines, but it would inform some choices better.
Pentium G3258 @ 4.3 | MSI GTX 650 Ti Boost | 8GB G.Skill DDR3-2133 | ASRock Z97E-ITX/ac | Crucial MX100 256GB | Corsair Graphite 380T
 
JustAnEngineer
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Re: First Build Help.

Mon Jul 28, 2014 8:28 pm

Monoprice's current 12% off store-wide sale brings that 2560x1440 IPS LCD monitor down to $350½.
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DPete27
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Re: First Build Help.

Wed Jul 30, 2014 1:39 pm

deepblueq wrote:
...How much lower latency would the 1600 kit have to be to be preferable?...I haven't seen any testing along those lines

Here is the information you seek!

They also did the same study for Haswell, but the Ivy article explains the nuts & bolts better.
Main: i5-3570K, ASRock Z77 Pro4-M, MSI RX480 8G, 500GB Crucial BX100, 2 TB Samsung EcoGreen F4, 16GB 1600MHz G.Skill @1.25V, EVGA 550-G2, Silverstone PS07B
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KKD
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Re: First Build Help.

Wed Jul 30, 2014 2:56 pm

Hi Guys. Trying to post "links" to my order, but it won't let me. I want to run my order past you guys before pressing the "buy" button. Can anybody help? Thanks

Curt

Let's try this? https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySa ... D=22707491
Last edited by KKD on Wed Jul 30, 2014 3:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 
DPete27
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Re: First Build Help.

Wed Jul 30, 2014 3:10 pm

Top of your response window there are multiple icons for formatting. Click the "URL" button and paste your link between the brackets. Here, I'll give you a broken one.
[url]http://techreport.com/review/26747/system-guide-current[/url ]
or you can put a link in-line with text (like I do) as such:
[url=http://techreport.com/review/26747/system-guide-current]text here[/url ]
Main: i5-3570K, ASRock Z77 Pro4-M, MSI RX480 8G, 500GB Crucial BX100, 2 TB Samsung EcoGreen F4, 16GB 1600MHz G.Skill @1.25V, EVGA 550-G2, Silverstone PS07B
HTPC: A8-5600K, MSI FM2-A75IA-E53, 4TB Seagate SSHD, 8GB 1866MHz G.Skill, Crosley D-25 Case Mod
 
KKD
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Re: First Build Help.

Wed Jul 30, 2014 3:15 pm

Thanks DPete27! Got it now. :oops:
 
deepblueq
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Re: First Build Help.

Wed Jul 30, 2014 10:09 pm

DPete27 wrote:
Here is the information you seek!

They also did the same study for Haswell, but the Ivy article explains the nuts & bolts better.


Thanks! The haswell article (with 3D graphing, MHz/tCL/performance) was exactly what I was looking for. :D

KKD wrote:
Hi Guys. Trying to post "links" to my order, but it won't let me. I want to run my order past you guys before pressing the "buy" button. Can anybody help? Thanks

Curt

Let's try this? https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySa ... D=22707491


That link is still to an area behind security (we're not logged in as you). :wink:

A simple copy-paste over here would work, assuming the page layout is decent.
Pentium G3258 @ 4.3 | MSI GTX 650 Ti Boost | 8GB G.Skill DDR3-2133 | ASRock Z97E-ITX/ac | Crucial MX100 256GB | Corsair Graphite 380T
 
 
JustAnEngineer
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Re: First Build Help.

Thu Jul 31, 2014 4:46 am

The regular Core i5-4690 processor cannot be overclocked. If you believe that you'll want to overclock, you should get the Core i5-4690K processor to go with your Z97 motherboard.

You shouldn't need the tube of Arctic Silver. CoolerMaster includes a very small tube of white heat transfer paste in the box with their cooler. It'll perform satisfactorily for several years before it dries out.

The Obsidian 450D case that you selected will work for the $115½ -20 combo micro-ATX motherboard on your list, but you could fit a larger ATX motherboard like the $140 -25 combo -10MIR MSI Z97-G45 Gaming in there if you wanted.
· R7-5800X, Liquid Freezer II 280, RoG Strix X570-E, 64GiB PC4-28800, Suprim Liquid RTX4090, 2TB SX8200Pro +4TB S860 +NAS, Define 7 Compact, Super Flower SF-1000F14TP, S3220DGF +32UD99, FC900R OE, DeathAdder2
 
climatepete
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Re: First Build Help.

Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:48 am

Hi KKD,

I think you have your choices made. I'll make a couple remarks for the sake of others who may read this thread someday.

Beware of magical thinking: If I spend more it will automatically be better.

RAM: with your graphics work you may need more than 4, but it is perfectly legal to start with 8, use a utility
program (ask JustAnEngineer) to find out if you truly use more than 4 and sometimes 5, and get more if needed.

SSD capacity: I got a much smaller SSD than your HD after a couple seconds reflection on the total file storage
I have needed in my lifetime.

Case: spending more than 50 - 70 should probably be budgeted under self expression rather than computer. ;)

CPU: If you really hope to do better than the $75 Pentium 3258, go to i7. Notice that reviewers hardly bother
comparing the 3258 with i<7.

I still can't post the links. :(

But i7 can't help with graphics because you are doing graphics better with your dedicated card. i7 can't can't
help with highly multi-threaded software unless you seek out such programs. I do not know what they are. Maybe someone else here knows.

What about gaming? A few games are multi-threaded. Alas, i7 can't help you there because of far larger factors: you need a gaming mouse and keyboard with all the extra buttons and keys. Then you need to neglect other things for a couple years to learn the gear and develop reflexes and game-specific knowledge to come up to the level where a slight processor advantage will matter. But then from a kid's POV
"You're not bad for a grown-up mister but your CPU is out of date." ;)
 
climatepete
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Re: First Build Help.

Thu Jul 31, 2014 11:21 am

JustAnEngineer wrote:
CoolerMaster includes a very small tube of white heat transfer paste in the box with their cooler. It'll perform satisfactorily for several years before it dries out.


Thank you JAE! That's the clue I need. My ancient XP machine goes into overdrive far too much. An old Computer Shopper article titled "Install A New CPU Cooler" just about convinces me that real builders do it with cooling towers, but I think all that one needs is to re-paste the stock cooler. If I can eliminate heat and dust problems it will probably last forever. I do not think it is upgradeable (except to Linux like my new machine) because it uses the old ribbon cables.
 
ThatStupidCat
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Re: First Build Help.

Thu Jul 31, 2014 11:32 am

The cases I have used are the Antec 300's. Even better if you can get hold of the 300 illusion because they already include the front fans. For me this has been the best price for performance. I currently am using 5 of these and hoping to get one more. The egg has the 300 for $45.00 with promo code and a rebate that knocks it down to $35. I'm waiting for the illusion to go on sale but no rush here.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042&cm_re=antec-_-11-129-042-_-Product

Well that's about what this clueless cat knows. Oh, heat rises and the fan opening at the top of the 300 is great.

The only thing I don't like with the 300 is that you can't just go in and open it and pull out your drives. I rarely do this so it's no big deal.
I'm clueless about computers.
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just brew it!
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Re: First Build Help.

Thu Jul 31, 2014 11:57 am

climatepete wrote:
Thank you JAE! That's the clue I need. My ancient XP machine goes into overdrive far too much. An old Computer Shopper article titled "Install A New CPU Cooler" just about convinces me that real builders do it with cooling towers, but I think all that one needs is to re-paste the stock cooler.

The main advantage the tower-style coolers have over stock is that they are much quieter for a given amount of cooling performance, because they use larger diameter (and lower RPM) fans.
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
 
DPete27
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Re: First Build Help.

Thu Jul 31, 2014 12:03 pm

just brew it! wrote:
The main advantage the tower-style coolers have over stock is that they are much quieter for a given amount of cooling performance, because they use larger diameter (and lower RPM) fans.

And that added performance of towers comes from the larger surface area of the heatsink, paired with the physical layout directing hot air right toward the rear of the case where there's typically an exhaust fan to get the hot air out of the case. Stock HSFs blow the hot air down onto the mobo, then suck it back in.
Main: i5-3570K, ASRock Z77 Pro4-M, MSI RX480 8G, 500GB Crucial BX100, 2 TB Samsung EcoGreen F4, 16GB 1600MHz G.Skill @1.25V, EVGA 550-G2, Silverstone PS07B
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deepblueq
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Re: First Build Help.

Thu Jul 31, 2014 3:28 pm

KKD wrote:


What JAE said about the CPU overclocking ability. If not overclocking, a Z97 mobo isn't needed, if overclocking, then a k-suffix CPU is needed. Other than that, it looks good.

climatepete wrote:
CPU: If you really hope to do better than the $75 Pentium 3258, go to i7. Notice that reviewers hardly bother
comparing the 3258 with i<7.


I think i5s can be perfectly valid options. Unless you don't plan on overclocking at all and want the high stock clocks on the 4790, you're basically paying $90 more for hyperthreading alone. There are situations where that would be valid, and those where it wouldn't (one thing is clear though - Intel's artificial product segmentation sucks).

For gaming, the G3258 is pretty good, but in this case not so much. Quad-core is really going to help here.
Pentium G3258 @ 4.3 | MSI GTX 650 Ti Boost | 8GB G.Skill DDR3-2133 | ASRock Z97E-ITX/ac | Crucial MX100 256GB | Corsair Graphite 380T
 
climatepete
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Re: First Build Help.

Thu Jul 31, 2014 6:22 pm

deepblueq wrote:
Quad-core is really going to help here.


Aha! Deepblueq has it. I googled corel draw quad core. :oops:

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