Build Advice Hey guys, what do you think? £700>

Quick bit of background:

. Screen/Keyboard/Mouse/Speakers are not required.
. OS isn't required (Hooray for MSDN!).
. Storage isn't required (Gonna ultimately have 2 x 2 tb RAID array, once I buy two external drives to harvest).

I'm not a massive gamer (Command and Conquer series, although I don't think they're that graphics intensive), but I need a computer that:

. Good for 3D modelling software (NX/Solidworks).
. Good at video encoding (For my apple TV, I need to rip ALL my videos. This is important!)
. Generally fast.

Here's a quick build list I was thinking of:



Here's what I'm replacing:

 

Oh, what do you guys think lol?

 

Ok. Replace that SSD with a Crucial M4, for starters. I don't recall AMD cards being great for CAD, and the 6770 isn't really worth it. I'd try to splash a bit more cash on that.

 

Fair enough! Will do!

I've not been in the game for so long, I have NO idea what's good and what's not these days.

Back when I built up, It was all Nvidia GPUs, and AMD CPU's lol.

 

What's in the bundle?

 

Bundle, but with the 8GB option

Just going for simplicity.

 

Well, these days, its intel for anything truly powerful, and nVidia if you fold.

 

You can overclock with that board making the 2500K pointless.

Maybe something like this?

 

What do you mean? You can OC with both your quoted MOBO, and the one in the bundle, can't you?

Does it matter that the RAM you quoted run's at 1333mhz, where as in the bundle, it's @ 1600mhz?

 

First of all I wouldn't use overclockers uk to buy any parts. They are pretty useless. Use scan.co.uk and if you have over 20 posts on here you get free postage.

Would use a £100 mobo Like a Msi p67a-gd53 - I have personally built 3 systems with it with no problems.
Would defo go i5 2500k
I use cad alot and nvidia gpus all the way, get the best you can. More memory the better
A gtx 550 Ti 2gb model would be an advantage but 1gb will do the job.
Get cheap 8gb of ram for about £40. Scan do today only deals with corsair low profile 8gb kit for £37. Best to get this 8gb kit then 2 lots of 4gb kits for comparability and upgradable-ness. Psu with a logo/brand and a case of your liking.

 

I just used the ram as an example. There is a good few 1600mhz options.

 

I got 1x4gb blackline 1600mhz ill sell you for £15inc

 

If you plan to keep your old 250GB HDD, don't. You want a less platter and highest capacity. The main thing that makes HDD slow, is the access time. SSD have none, so you feel and it is, your computer a lot more responsive and feels fast.

I suggest the Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black 7200RPM
Or if it's too expensive (especially due to the HDD shortage that is expected to stay that way until end of next year, possibly more as it restart production and start filling demand (if demand is high, store prices will be high).
or the Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB

The Western Digital is very close to the Spinpoint performance (you won't notice the difference in real world performance), but is much quieter drive in comparison.

OR

Get a 120GB SSD so that you can store Windows + programs + some of your projects, and maybe personal files, based on number of programs you have installed and size of your currently working on project. You should also have room for any currently playing games that you might have.

In other words, you can keep your backups, ISO's, games that you play often or currently, music, videos, in your HDD, and keeps the SSD for anything that needs the performance.

You may also want an Nvidia GPU for your CAD work. It will provide you greater performance in that field than the Radeon card you selected. Also, if you use software that can use the GPU for video encoding, then Nvidia GPU will fly compared to Radeon solution.
AMD Radeon card are really focused on gaming, while Nvidia is more "Let's do a new GPU that is aimed to be a Quadro class one, and let's cut things out to reduce production cost significantly, and remove some of the expensive features that is not used in gaming, and call it Geforce".mSop yes, technically you need a Quadro.. but I highly doubt you have the budget, especially if you don't do professional work on it, it's a bit a waist of money. Getting a Geforce will be a wiser choice, especially if you play games.

 

No no, regarding HDD's, you got it wrong my friend!

I'm not using my old ones at all, currently buyign 2 x 2tb for an RAID array, but harvesting external drives for it. Thinking Seagate ones.

I want a SSD for booting/Office/NX/Solidworks/Matlab/Etka. I'll install a game at a time when I fany it.

I'd love a Quadro, it's what we use at work, but You're right, it's far to expsnive lol! I'm not sure if I need massive GPU performance, as NX/Solidworks has been fine on my 7800GT @ 1920x1080................

Thanks your for the input though.

 

These are the hard drives I'll be ripping apart Click here

Cant find anything on internet about speeds in them though.......

 

What about the newly revised listing?

Any compatibility issues?

 

I still think you should use a Crucial M4 64GB as your boot drive. You can get them for ~£5 cheaper (sometimes), and they are absolutely fantastic.

 

I have NEVER heard of this Xclio brand PSU.

May I suggest a better PSU: Corsair AX650 or AX750 (if the AX750 is a few dollars more over the 650, why not)
-> Fully modular
-> 80Plus Gold Certified (90% efficiency)
-> 7 year warranty
-> So efficient that the PSU fan does not spin when your computer is idle, as it's not warm enough. And the fan is super duper quiet when it kicks-in. Everything else will be louder.
-> It's actually a Seasonic PSU.
(it's top of the line, so the price goes with it)

But alternatively, the Corsair HX series, or Antec or BeQuiet are also great.



You can save on memory (price wise), by having a look at G.Skill branded memory. They are just as good as Corsair's. They are usually lower voltage and lower timing as well.

If you use a video encoder that uses the GPU to do it's task (faster than the CPU), then you may want a faster GPU... like the GTX 560 (not to be confused with the more powerful GTX 560Ti, which is a med range gaming GPU). If not, then it does not mater.

 

Few issues
- memory is very expensive - 4gb for £36 when you can get corsair lp 8gb kit for £40 which is also 1.5v instead of 1.65v

- I5 2500 is the locked CPU an cannot be overclocked. For another £6 you can get the fast, better i5 2500k. Just for longevity I would get it. Even if your not overclocking right away it may come handy in the future.

- crucial m4 SSD are abit cheaper and performer better after there recent software update.

- get a better psu - something more of a brand. Can get non-modular corsair psu for decent prices. This will help run your system cheaper but also reduce the likelihood of it going POP

 

How about now?

Issue is, none of it is in stock :-(