Sanity check on components for new build

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Karsten75

Karsten75

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We're about to pull the trigger on ordering these parts for a new PC for a friend.

He's a game dev and is struggling with his 4-year old i7-860 and 8GB of RAM. The thing that most kills him is disk performance and the difficulty of making promo videos for his game. So we're thinking of going with the quad-channel line of CPUs rather than the dual-channel Haswell-based CPUs.

We also figure that next year or so Intel will probably announce a better the -E processors, so instead of planning this build to last for 4 years, he's hoping to get one good year out of it and then build a more powerful rig maybe this time next year. He also needs Windows 8 right now so he can write for the Store on Windows 8. Or so he says. :)

You can see the entire planned build in this Newegg wishlist, but here's a summary:

Case: Fractal Design Define R4
Mobo: ASRock x79 Extreme6 LGA 2011
CPU: Intel Core i7-4820k Ivy Bridge-E
GPU: MSI Gaming N770 TF 4GDS/OC Geforce GTX 770 4GB
PSU: XFX P1-850B-BEFX 850W
SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 500GB
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 32GB (4x8GB) 1866 DDR3
Cooler: Intel BXTS13X Liquid Cooling Thermal Solution for Socket LGA 2011

We don't plan to overclock this in any way and quietness was a factor in selecting some components.

Any inconsistencies or glaring errors, I'd appreciate a heads-up.

Thanks!
 
Solution
Sangeet Khatri
For your budget range that is upto $2000, this is the best build.

+ 4930K --> 6 Core 12 Thread, based on Ivy Bridge architecture, complete beast for processing works.
+ Nvidia 780, awesome GPU with being quite and runs cool.
+ 16GB Quad Channel RAM is ideal for any kind of general processing work.
+ Gigabyte X79-UP4 is a great board for this CPU.
+ 250GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD with 2TB HDD, enough storage for storing about anything.
+ NZXT tempest 210, nice case with great cooling, build in fan filters and looks great too.
+ Antec's 80 Plus Platinum Power Supply which is of very high quality. 650W is enough to power.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4930K...
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AxlFone

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May 21, 2013
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Well u do not have much frend left if you buy that :D

How much was or is budget?

Try this.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V3 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($244.48 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($79.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($72.00 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra Plus 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($159.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($508.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: Rosewill Lightning 800W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($95.99 @ Adorama)
Total: $1527.36
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-06 22:42 EST-0500)

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Xeon+E3-1230+v3+%40+3.30GHz&id=1942
 
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

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Jun 5, 2013
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Karsten75

Good build, on the mobo, might look at the Asus X79 Deluxe, brand new for the new CPUs ans backward compatible for the older ones - should fit the bill for your friends needs - on the DRAM - you don't list what freq of the Ares, but I would suggest 2133/9 anyway and may want to look at the Tridents or the Ripjaws Z for your X79, would also grab a platter drive for data and use the SSD only for OS and primary apps
 
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Karsten75

Karsten75

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Dude, that's pretty awesome, thanks much.

We were hoping to come in around $2,000.

There are a few issues in your config, but a LOT of good ideas, His current PC has 8GB of memory and he is the only guy I know that crashes on memory - yesterday he was running stuff and he was at 7.9GB committed memory. He also needs to run VMWare and bring up a Linux system to port the game to Linux, so more memory.

I've pushed him on a large hard drive, but (and again, it's hard to believe) his current machine has a 250GB hard drive and he has 10GB free. He bought a Samsung 840 Pro as a work disk to do video capture to and he really wants to stay SSD-only. I pushed on this and he's set. If I could, I'd make him buy a bigger SSD then, but it's his money. :)

About 2 weeks ago there was a terrific deal on a 1TB HDD on Newgg, and I got him to buy it, now it's sitting on his desk and he is not installing it. Maybe he'll put it in this machine. :)


I'm going to do some serious thinking....
 
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

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Does he know writes to SSDs shorten the lives of them - yes they are much better, but have him give thought to that and how many there will be with video, better to keep the data on a platter drive then when working with the data to put it in a RAMDisk first then pull and work with it from there, that's what most a lot of the Pros that work in video and development do. Also of my clients involved in this type work, don't have any running Xeon's and might not be to thrilled with the heat you might run into on a B85 chipset doing heavy duty work
 
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Karsten75

Karsten75

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It was one of these things. He had only 8GB of memory on his current machine, and he was out of HD space. He knew he could not capture 1080p video at the frame rate he needed on his machine - he tells me it's not running in AHCI mode, so he just got the 840 Pro and he's happy to use it till it conks out as a scratch disk... :) What can I say.

It was my suggestion that he does something else, but ...

I'll probably give the Xeon a miss, it wasn't *that* much cheaper than the i7-4820K and it benchmarks a little slower.

I'm still looking through the other bits and pieces.
 
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Karsten75

Karsten75

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Unless I'm mistaken, Newegg says that mobo is discontinued. I checked and the ASRock one is compatible with IVB-E processors. Or so they say. :)

 
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g-unit1111

g-unit1111

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Well that Intel liquid cooler is actually a junk, generic Asetek unit and they're known for being low end, poor quality units. If you're going to use liquid cooling get a Swiftech H200, a custom loop or don't get anything at all.

I'll probably give the Xeon a miss, it wasn't *that* much cheaper than the i7-4820K and it benchmarks a little slower.
Click to expand...

Yeah the Xeon is way overrated and doesn't do anything that an i7 or X79 does better.
 
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Karsten75

Karsten75

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I have the older Intel Intel BXRTS2011LC in a build for the past 3 years with no problem. I didn't realize that the newer one was so bad.

Last I looked (when I wanted a Swiftech H200) they were not available anywhere to buy - and they were hellishly expensive.

I've built with a few closed loop liquid coolers and I'm pretty happy.

I'll think on it some more.
 
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Karsten75

Karsten75

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It is fun! I love building PCs. This year I've built 2 already, and now I am out of ones to build for myself, so I'm happy to help with this one and I'm just being a little careful, since it's someone else's money. :)

If I build something and I mess up, it's no biggie - I learn something from it and make a better build next time. But for other people, it needs a bit more care, hence me asking about it in so much detail.

It's not really exactly what I would have chosen - in many ways, I'd have preferred to try out a Deep Silence case, for instance, but I'm not paying for the parts, so... :D

I'm struggling to understand the memory a bit, maybe I'll spend a little more time researching g on that. Wikipedia on CAS latency is confusing.
 
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Tradesman1

Tradesman1

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The Deluxe is just out of stock, it's a brand new mobo and has been going like Hotcakes should have more by the weekend or first of next week I would think, any particular DRAM questions, if you want feel free to PM me, it's sort of a specialty, been working the GSkill forums for about 5 years now, I'm an Admin over there...and your right to be careful with others stuff on builds, get a few more builds under you and it can be profitable and lead to bigger and better things....
 
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Sangeet Khatri

Sangeet Khatri

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May 26, 2013
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For your budget range that is upto $2000, this is the best build.

+ 4930K --> 6 Core 12 Thread, based on Ivy Bridge architecture, complete beast for processing works.
+ Nvidia 780, awesome GPU with being quite and runs cool.
+ 16GB Quad Channel RAM is ideal for any kind of general processing work.
+ Gigabyte X79-UP4 is a great board for this CPU.
+ 250GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD with 2TB HDD, enough storage for storing about anything.
+ NZXT tempest 210, nice case with great cooling, build in fan filters and looks great too.
+ Antec's 80 Plus Platinum Power Supply which is of very high quality. 650W is enough to power.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4930K 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor ($549.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X79-UP4 ATX LGA2011 Motherboard ($208.49 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($138.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($174.93 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: PNY GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($469.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: NZXT Tempest 210 ATX Mid Tower Case ($45.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Platinum 650W 80 PLUS Platinum Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($71.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - OEM (64-bit) ($98.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1891.29
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-07 03:09 EST-0500)

I hope this helps. It is indeed a very good build. Your friend would appreciate it.
 
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Solution
Karsten75

Karsten75

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Wow. dearly shows the difference between when a pro assembles components vs an amateur like me. I'm impressed.

Thank you,
 
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Sangeet Khatri

Sangeet Khatri

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It is always welcome.

So I believe that your question has now been answered. So you should now mark the thread as solved by "Picking A Solution". It would be appreciated by people who are looking for similar answers and it would also be appreciated by the TomsHardware community too.

Also is there anything you need help with?
 
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