Need advice for system build

[trents]

I've been active on the AMD side for several years but I wish some input from my Intel brethren for an Intel-based system build. My daughter who lives out of state wants to put a system together herself. I will be helping her at times I'm sure via email, phone or Skype but I think she has enough tech savvy to so this. One important fact you need to know is that she will not be overclocking this system. She doesn't want the loud fan noise that typically goes along with heavy overclocking. That's why I'm leaning to the Intel side this time. It's got to perform well out of the box. Budget is approximately $1000. She already has the GPU, a GTX 580 3 gb. She will use this system for gaming and occasional Photoshop projects. So she will need a CPU that will not limit the GPU and plenty of RAM as well as plenty of quick, fixed storage. I would appreciate your input on these preliminary choices:

Core i5-3570k ($220) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504 (chose the “k” model in case she changers her mind about overclocking. Ony $20 more).

ASRock Z77 Extreme 6 ($155) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157295

Crucial Ballistix DDR3 8gbx2 CL 9 ($139.0) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148545

Corsair 650-TX PSU ($90) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

Crucial 240gb SSD ($149) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148694

Segate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2 gb 7200 rpm hard drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Page=1#scrollFullInfo

Edit: This is the case I think she might choose: ($170) http://www.nzxt.com/product/detail/111-switch-810-case.html

Cost so far is $985 but there may be other incidentals such as OS and DVD burner.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

This

 

[Mjolnir]

Not sure why you're bothering with K model CPU's and Z87 boards. (EDIT: Re-read the 'chose the K model' part. But in doing so the board is also more expensive; where I'd be looking at (personally) a sub 100 dollar board, and put the money towards an i7 4770 non K, which will hold it's own for a long while without any OC, and if she gets more into the whole photoshop/graphics works the i7 will help)

I'd be looking at a simpler non-K build, with a B85/H87 board.

Trents: I'd be looking at a cheaper board for sure, and on the Z87 platform, running haswell vs Ivy Bridge.

I'd also consider a Samsung Evo 840 over the crucial (250GB)

What case is this all going in? If she's after silence I'd probably look at perhaps the Fractal Define Mini, with a low-profile heatsink cooler, an M-ATX board. Maybe Corsairs new RM 550 PSU for a solid silent rig?

 

[trents]

She already has two cases in mind and I have edited my first post with the info concerning one of them, the one from the two she chose that I think would work best. The appearance of the thing is important to her and she wants white.

 

[Mjolnir]

I don't see that case being super silent. It's not necessarily designed for it.. And that case is very much designed for water cooling setups or slightly more 'heavy' rigs.. And is slightly expensive for this build IMO.

As much as I dislike NZXT; how about the H230 white? Or does she wanna see the goodies inside? XD.

 

[Mjolnir]

This is my proposed build... Admittedly a little over budget without an OS.. Hmm.

 

[trents]

Not sure why you're bothering with K model CPU's and Z87 boards. (EDIT: Re-read the 'chose the K model' part. But in doing so the board is also more expensive; where I'd be looking at (personally) a sub 100 dollar board, and put the money towards an i7 4770 non K, which will hold it's own for a long while without any OC, and if she gets more into the whole photoshop/graphics works the i7 will help)

About $100 more, though, for the same core speed.

I'd be looking at a simpler non-K build, with a B85/H87 board.

Trents: I'd be looking at a cheaper board for sure, and on the Z87 platform, running haswell vs Ivy Bridge.

I'd also consider a Samsung Evo 840 over the crucial (250GB)

Good suggestion.

What case is this all going in? If she's after silence I'd probably look at perhaps the Fractal Define Mini, with a low-profile heatsink cooler, an M-ATX board. Maybe Corsairs new RM 550 PSU for a solid silent rig?

My biggest concern is with downgrading the motherboard. On the AMD side it generally doesn't work well to go with a cheap board when running their top end processors as you get down-throttling. Not sure if that's a problem on the Intel side.

How well do the i5s and i7s do on the stock coolers? Are the stock coolers loud under load?

 

[Mjolnir]

Nah; that issue doesn't really present itself on Intel; Power phases and VRM section components aren't nearly as important, they haven't really been since Sandy bridge for Intels Mainstream line. Haswell will OC to 4.5-4.7ghz (Chip/cooling dependent) with a 4-power phase design on some cheaper Z87 board. You won't get that throttling with Intels Mainstream line, as long as temps(cooling on the CPU itself) are in check.

 

[trents]

I don't see that case being super silent. It's not necessarily designed for it.. And that case is very much designed for water cooling setups or slightly more 'heavy' rigs.. And is slightly expensive for this build IMO.

As much as I dislike NZXT; how about the H230 white? Or does she wanna see the goodies inside? XD.

Doesn't have to be super silent but she doesn't want a wind tunnel either. She was also drawn to the NXT H630 which doesn't have a see through pane. But it does have 200mm fan and I don't like those.

 

[Mjolnir]

Sorry my inner silence-nut coming through. The loudest fan in my rig is an AP181 180mm at 600RPM.. My CPU fan is a 1150rpm Gentle Typhoon and my 670 is a DCUII which is dead silent even gaming... XD. (In short I can't hear it unless it's dead middle of the night and almost no ambient noise)

Hmm. 200mm fans I'm not a fan of either (no pun intended). I've used an NZXT 200MM fan though previously on my Corsair 650D and it was alright noise/airlfow wise; nothing fancy but not a windtunnel at all. The Bitfenix Spectre Pro I replaced it with was louder. (Stock corsair 20mm fan sucked at both noise/airlfow).

Also just read the question about stock coolers. I'm not sure how the higher models go; but I've used stock coolers on a couple rigs, (like i5 3470) and they aren't horribly loud honestly. Haswell might be a different story purely due to temps though. The Ivy Dual core in my parents rig is quieter than my rig (Silverstone SG05 ITX); so I'm not sure. That's using the stock cooler. Unless they're pegged at 100% I don't think they're too horrible; but that said over time I do believe the TIM dries out (at least it has in the past for older chips for me). So I'd rather just spend 20-30 bucks now personally and just leave it long-term, rather than worrying about it later on. (As putting the cooler on during initial installation is always easier as you'd know)

 

[trents]

Hey, Mjolnir, thanks a ton for your input.

But tell me, is the quad core i7 really that much stronger than the quad core i5? Sure it has a little more L3 but does it really make that much difference?

 

[Mjolnir]

It's the hyperthreading that's the change. 4 cores 4 threads vs 4 cores 8 threads. If she's doing a lot of the photoshop type stuff or any rendering the i7 may be worth it. If not stick to the i5. Think of the i5 like the 6300 and the i7 like the 8350 in amd terms I guess? (noting the i5 is usually compared with the 8350)

If it's for gaming more than it is graphics and media, then the i5 is more than enough, in which case grab a semi decent Z87 board(asrock extreme 3 z87) and perhaps a k model 4670k.

 

[manu2b]

Mjolnir summed it up pretty well.

Unless she does pro/semi pro image/video editing, the i5 will serve her well. It runs cooler than the i7 (due to no HT), so, with a 212 and silent fans, she will certainly achieve a good 4.1/4.2GHz, without much, if any, noise. And at this frequency, it is as fast in multuthreaded apps than an i7 at stock, and much faster for for apps using up to 4 threads.

 

[trents]

I think the Photoshop stuff will be more occasional computing activity whereas the gaming will be everyday. I really appreciate your suggestions guys. I'm going to revamp my original list to reflect the changes I will make accordingly.

 

[trents]

How does this look?:

CPU: ($240) Intel Core i5-4670K Haswell 3.4GHz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116899

CPU Cooler: ($36 w/shipping) Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120 mm PWM Fan http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

Motherboard: ($115) ASRock Z87 PRO4 LGA 1150 Intel Z87 ($115) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157381 I decided to go with a full ATX board rather than a MATX for better heat dissipation. Besides, it seems a shame to put a micro ATX board in a full tower case.

Memory: ($139) Crucial Ballistix DDR3 8gbx2 CL 9 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148545

Power Supply: ($93 w/shipping) SeaSonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI* http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151119

Main System Drive: ($185) SAMSUNG 840 EVO MZ-7TE250BW 2.5" 250GB SATA III TLC* http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA2W00YW3571

Storage Drive: ($100) Segate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2 gb 7200 rpm hard drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Page=1#scrollFullInfo

Case: ($150) NZXT SWITCH 810 White http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146088

Cost so far is $1058. There are other things that may or may not need to be added in like OS, keyboard, mouse and DVD burner. But she may just scavenge these from her present system.

 

[manu2b]

That looks good!

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Looks much better than the original build

 

[dj1992]

the second build is what I would suggest. Get a 4670K...who knows ?? In the future, your daughter might want to overclock the CPU. But if she is planning on using the GTX 580, change the PSU. Nvidia recommends 600W but the PSU you listed is 550W. I wouldn't risk it. By the way, GTX 580 is pretty old and power hungry. You can get a GTX 770 and it'll run cooler, quieter than the GTX 580. Even the power requirements will be a lot less and performance will be a lot more than the GTX 580.

check out the gtx 770 here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500301

Here check out the comparison between GTX 580 and GTX 770 at Anandtech:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/767?vs=829

 

[ATMINSIDE]

the second build is what I would suggest. Get a 4670K...who knows ?? In the future, your daughter might want to overclock the CPU. But if she is planning on using the GTX 580, change the PSU. Nvidia recommends 600W but the PSU you listed is 550W. I wouldn't risk it. By the way, GTX 580 is pretty old and power hungry. You can get a GTX 770 and it'll run cooler, quieter than the GTX 580. Even the power requirements will be a lot less and performance will be a lot more than the GTX 580.

check out the gtx 770 here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500301

Here check out the comparison between GTX 580 and GTX 770 at Anandtech:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/767?vs=829

That power supply is just fine for a 580.

I see no reason to change the 580 unless she finds that it doesn't do what she needs.

 

[Mjolnir]

That power supply is just fine for a 580.

I see no reason to change the 580 unless she finds that it doesn't do what she needs.

+1