Building a higher performance PC that doesn't kill the electric bill :(

gbkinum1 · Aug 11, 2013

Approximate Purchase Date: Probably ~2-3 weeks

Budget Range: Hoping to stay below $1500 after taxes/rebates etc

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Data processing in research (often run scripts that take hours to complete, multi tasking is important), casual browsing/school work, occasional gaming, and probably have it running 24/7 with ftp/vnc/vpn/etc services for when I'm not at home.

Are you buying a monitor: Buying dual monitors

Parts to Upgrade: Planning to upgrade motherboard, CPU, ram, video card, PSU (maybe), SSD, monitors

Do you need to buy OS: No

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg, amazon (but not really picky)

Location: Southern CA

Parts Preferences: Nothing in particular

Overclocking: Most likely

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080 or 1920x1200 ideally

Additional Comments/why I'm upgrading: My current computer is getting a bit aged (built ~4 years ago), and have a number of minor things I wanted to change/add, but thinking I want to just upgrade everything together. I also left home for the summer (summer research opportunity out of state), and was told by my family that the electric bill dropped over $100/month since I was gone, so would like to keep power efficiency in mind while building this computer (I am moving back home in 2 weeks). I am going to reuse my current case (HAF X) and custom water cooling loop (cpu + gpu loop), and various peripherals (dvd writer, mouse/keyboard, 1 TB hdd, etc) so can hopefully save a few bucks there.

The problem with this build for me is that my two top priorities are high performance and low power consumption, which generally do not play well together. I want my scripts to finish more quickly, but because I keep my computer on 24/7.. I would hope that some of the less computationally intensive scripts would not destroy the electric bill if possible. Just for fun and because I have the cooling, I will probably OC slightly, but not intending to go too crazy with it (obviously OCing is just about the worst thing you can do if you are concerned with power consumption). I've been doing a little looking around, and was looking at these parts so far.. if anyone has any suggestions/comments, I'd love to hear them!

Intel Core i7-4770K Haswell 3.5GHz LGA 1150 84W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics BX80646I74770K
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=19-116-901&SortField=0&SummaryType=1&Pagesize=10&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Page=2#scrollFullInfo

ASUS Z87-A LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13-131-981&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Page=2#scrollFullInfo

CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ16GX3M2A1600C10
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233246

SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD128BW 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147192

Rosewill FORTRESS-750 750W Continuous @50°C, Intel Haswell Ready, 80 PLUS PLATINUM, ATX12V v2.31 & EPS12V v2.92, SLI/CrossFire Ready, Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182084&nm_mc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r&cm_mmc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r-_-Power+Supplies-_-Rosewill-_-17182084

ASUS HD7870-DC2-2GD5-V2 Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121649

Acer G246HLAbd Black 24" 5ms Widescreen LED Monitor 250 cd/m2 ACM 100,000,000:1 (1000:1)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=24-009-422&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=4&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Keywords=%28keywords%29#scrollFullInfo

P.S. Barely even looked at video card/RAM, so I'm especially curious about those in particular.

Thanks in advance!

ps3hacker12 · Aug 11, 2013

Possible changes:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($279.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-D3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($112.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($124.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Platinum 650W 80 PLUS Platinum Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($102.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Monitor: Asus VS229H-P 21.5" Monitor ($134.02 @ Amazon)
Total: $1059.95
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-08-11 21:57 EDT-0400)

The monitor there is a great little IPS panel display.

gbkinum1 · Aug 12, 2013

ps3hacker12 :

Thanks for the response!

I'm not really sure if I should even be concerned with this, but I was looking at the memory compatibility list of the motherboard you suggested and it doesn't specifically mention the ram you have listed (http://download.gigabyte.ru/memory/mb_memory_ga-z87x-d3h.pdf). I would assume this list is just some ram that they've tried and it worked with, I'm just curious if I should stick to the list or if ram is similar enough now a days where I'd be fine as long as I went with a reputable brand.

I really like the monitor you suggested, I may end up going with a 23" version of the same thing, thanks for that suggestion!

Actually the whole list is great, it saves a good chunk of change over what I'd been looking at

I guess my last question is just if this build would seemingly meet my goals. After looking at http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2013/06/01/intel-core-i7-4770k-cpu-review/7, I think it'd be fair to say that my build would use less than or equal to the same wattage as they were, which would mean I'd be using ~75 watts idle and ~135 watts when cpu is under load (gpu isn't likely to be stressed all that often, and assuming I leave everything @ stock). If I'm not utterly failing at math here, assuming 137 watts continuously at $.28 kWh would cost $27.62 in 30 days (OC 171 watts would be $34.48 in 30 days).. both of which are significantly less than what my current pc is being accused of using (I'm not entirely convinced, I suspect some exaggeration may be in play.. but.. meh). If my assumption is correct (similar setup) and my math was okay, I think this will work just fine

spat55 · Aug 12, 2013

So you have about $400 for 2 monitors, if you don't want the OS make that $500. The PSU will only pull as much as it needs from the wall so don't worry, I made it bigger than it needs so you can overclock etc easily. Also ask your parents if the tariff has changed, might be why it was lower?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($249.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: MSI Z77A-G41 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($85.98 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: GeIL EVO Veloce Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($53.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card ($289.60 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 750W 80 PLUS Silver Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($104.52 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $964.05
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-08-12 03:13 EDT-0400)

gbkinum1 · Aug 12, 2013

spat55 :

Thanks for the response. I am pretty well decided that I want to go with 16GB of ram minimum, I'm constantly going into the paging file with my current setup (4GB of ram), and although 8GB would likely be fine for what I'm currently doing, I would like to future proof my computer as much as possible.. especially when ram is as cheap as it is now.

I also noticed the video card you are suggesting is upgraded quite a bit over what I was looking at, I'm not sure I really need something as beefy as that. I do play games, but I'm not super picky about playing games on max settings (I will play on the highest settings I can, but I probably wouldn't invest in new hardware unless I was absolutely unable to play a game.. playing low-mid settings really wouldn't bother me much if I had to). I get the impression that the 7870 will run just about anything out there right now, and is relatively power efficient for its tier.

I also do not need to purchase an OS, so that won't be an issue. The other suggestions look like they are primarily cutting costs by a little and with minor reductions in performance, which I'll keep in mind just before making my final decisions. Just gotta see how the checkbook is doing

Thanks again for the response

ps3hacker12 · Aug 12, 2013

gbkinum1 :

The monitor was simply because hte one you listed is often reviewed to be "EXTREMELY sensitive to viewing angle", personally having had non-IPS monitors then switching to IPS ones whereever possible, its very useful to have great viewing angles, i just love IPS panels

If you want to reduce power consumption (as you already chose) a 80+ platinum or gold PSU is what you need to be looking for (which you alreayd were

)

As for ram as long as its running at 1.5V (for haswell), its from a reputable brand and your motherboard supports 1600Mhz ram, you'll be 100% fine. You are right manufactureres list ram that they test with making the mobo, so do not list everything.

The E3-1230 V2 os a good low power consumptions processor (4 cores 8 threads), but sadly it cannot be overclocked so is probably not good for your needs. ( http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80637e31230v2 )

spat55 · Aug 12, 2013

gbkinum1 :

spat55 :

Thanks for the response. I am pretty well decided that I want to go with 16GB of ram minimum, I'm constantly going into the paging file with my current setup (4GB of ram), and although 8GB would likely be fine for what I'm currently doing, I would like to future proof my computer as much as possible.. especially when ram is as cheap as it is now.

I also noticed the video card you are suggesting is upgraded quite a bit over what I was looking at, I'm not sure I really need something as beefy as that. I do play games, but I'm not super picky about playing games on max settings (I will play on the highest settings I can, but I probably wouldn't invest in new hardware unless I was absolutely unable to play a game.. playing low-mid settings really wouldn't bother me much if I had to). I get the impression that the 7870 will run just about anything out there right now, and is relatively power efficient for its tier.

I also do not need to purchase an OS, so that won't be an issue. The other suggestions look like they are primarily cutting costs by a little and with minor reductions in performance, which I'll keep in mind just before making my final decisions. Just gotta see how the checkbook is doing

Thanks again for the response

Think about getting a 840 pro instead then, if you are going to save money on the GPU.

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Building a higher performance PC that doesn't kill the electric bill :(

gbkinum1

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