Can you help me optimize this build and maybe even reduce the price?

G

Guest

Guest
Hey guys,

I made a thread about 2 weeks ago asking for help and some people helped me a lot, so thank you. After doing some more research and taking a little break I came up with this build, but it still feels a little too fancy for what I'll be doing, or maybe that's just me not wanting to spend so much. I will be using this PC mostly to play games, Photoshop stuff, manage my business, and also render videos for YouTube. I'm not a pro, but I do want to use this PC to become better so I went a little higher end right away. I'm not sure if that was the best idea though so let me know what you think of this because I think it's still a little too expensive.

Only two things to keep in mind is I'm in Canada so stuff costs more sadly, and I like the case I chose because it's silence optimized. I don't want a jet engine in my bedroom when I'm trying to sleep.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V3 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($319.88 @ DirectCanada)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($36.00 @ DirectCanada)
Motherboard: Asus H97-PLUS ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($125.99 @ DirectCanada)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($186.43 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $181.26)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($224.14 @ DirectCanada)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB Dual Superclocked ACX Video Card ($316.37 @ Amazon Canada)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($124.28 @ Memory Express)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($162.52 @ Newegg Canada)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($18.97 @ DirectCanada)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (32/64-bit) ($121.11 @ DirectCanada)
Monitor: Dell U2414H 60Hz 23.8" Monitor (Purchased For $307.63)
Monitor: Dell U2414H 60Hz 23.8" Monitor (Purchased For $307.63)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WDN4800 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($39.53 @ Canada Computers)
Total: $2471.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
 
Solution

Chunky24r7

Reputable
May 15, 2014
23
0
4,510
Id say that you should get a wireless network card than an adapter. Your life will be a bit easier... and i think you could get a better monitor for 300$. And i think you should get windows 7 pro rather than windows 8. You get a LOT of problems with win 8.
 
Check this revised build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V3 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($283.08 @ DirectCanada)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($31.86 @ DirectCanada)
Motherboard: Asus H97-PLUS ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($111.50 @ DirectCanada)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($164.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $181.26)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($57.99 @ Canada Computers)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($57.99 @ Canada Computers)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB Dual Superclocked ACX Video Card ($279.98 @ Amazon Canada)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.99 @ Memory Express)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($56.99 @ NCIX)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Memory Express)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (32/64-bit) ($107.18 @ DirectCanada)
Monitor: Dell U2414H 60Hz 23.8" Monitor (Purchased For $307.63)
Monitor: Dell U2414H 60Hz 23.8" Monitor (Purchased For $307.63)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN722N 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 Wi-Fi Adapter ($13.50 @ DirectCanada)
Total: $2086.56
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

I've changed the PSU to 550W XFX series. 750 was way overkill.

Remove the WD Black and give you two WD 1TB Blue. Use them in RAID 0 and you'll be better off.

Remove the expensive wireless router. Give you USB based dongle adapter.
 

Traciatim

Distinguished
I agree with Numanator, you might be able to shave off a bit on teh PSU by grabbing a 550-600 watt range if you aren't planning on going for more video cards. Generally a great quality 550 or 600 would handle something like a 780 ti anyway.

If possible, just run a cable to where your desktop is going to be, it will be far more reliable and consistent than wireless, but if wireless is your only option then it will do.

This seems like a really well thought out and nice build, I can't think of good ways to make changes to shave cash without making some kind of sacrifice in performance. In fact, I would almost think with the pricing on that video card you could spring for a 770 instead. NCIX Canada has some 770's as low as 349 and Tiger Direct has their Daily Deal (today only) slasher as a 770 for 309.

Edit: I would not suggest a RAID0 on drives you plan on storing things for long periods of time like Easylover suggested. If it's just a working drive and you are actually storing things elsewhere then the performance is nice but the trade off for the safety of the data just isn't worth it IMO.
 
G

Guest

Guest


Naw, but I can definitely tone down the CPU a bit. My logic was go higher so I don't need to buy another one for a new system in 4 years, but I don't ever plan to SLI so I could probably get away with a 650 for a while, or even a 550.

EDIT: In the time I wrote this a few more people posted comments and I don't know how to multi quote. How do I do that?
 
G

Guest

Guest
I have no access to direct line, I need to use wifi sadly. :(

The monitors can be exchanged and I've heard of some Display Port issues with them, especially with Nvidia, so I may swap them for an ASUS ProArt series that costs a little more. I'm not sure what else is good, I just need an IPS with near 100% sRGB that I can also game on. I like 8.1 more than 7 actually, and I've been using 8 on a laptop for a year now so there's no point in going back.

@EasyLover I like what you did, and I do plan to get some kind of a RAID 1 going but not yet. My biggest reason for getting a 3TB is it will be easier to do a little data recovery off a big drive of mine, but I could probably get away with 2TB. I went WD over Seagate because of quality. Why the USB wifi though, isn't PCI always a better option for something like that, especially if I'm gaming? I wouldn't want to knock it out accidentally mid game.

@Traciatim Thanks! I've been doing an insane amount of research on this, and it still doesn't feel just right but now it's becoming more of a waste of time obsessing than it's worth, so I'm trying to wrap it up ASAP. The one thing I considered changing was going to an i5 because I'm not a pro editor, but I don't know how much that would impact my video rendering. Thanks for that, I'll take a look at the 770 and see if it's a good one. I might switch to a 280 though, so I gotta weigh my options.
 


"Save the cost" Based on that I recommended you USB WiFi adapter.
 

bignastyid

Titan
Moderator
The WD black HD is overkill and expensive for just a storage drive and raid 0 is also not a great idea for long term storage. Also swapped to a good 550w PSU. I also bumped the video card up to a 770.
PCPartPicker part list: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/WsWfnQ
Price breakdown by merchant: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/WsWfnQ/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V3 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($283.08 @ DirectCanada)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($31.86 @ DirectCanada)
Motherboard: Asus H97-PLUS ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($111.50 @ DirectCanada)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($164.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $181.26)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($99.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Dual Superclocked ACX Video Card ($359.98 @ Amazon Canada)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.99 @ Memory Express)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($66.99 @ NCIX)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($16.79 @ DirectCanada)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (32/64-bit) ($107.18 @ DirectCanada)
Monitor: Dell U2414H 60Hz 23.8" Monitor (Purchased For $307.63)
Monitor: Dell U2414H 60Hz 23.8" Monitor (Purchased For $307.63)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WDN4800 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($34.99 @ Canada Computers)
Total: $2183.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
 
G

Guest

Guest


That's looking even better, thanks! One thing I noticed though is Toms best GPU for the money lists the 760/280 but not the 770 because the 280/290 beats it. I know this changes by country and prices change a lot, but would a 280 be better than a 770 in that range? My prices include tax so that 770 would run me about $400 where as the 760 is near $300.
 

bignastyid

Titan
Moderator


Photoshop(cs6) can make use of Cuda so a Nvidia card can give it a performance boost. If you aren't concerned about that than the 280x is also a good option for gaming as it and the 770 perform similarly.
 
Solution
G

Guest

Guest
I'm going to go for a 650W PSU and try to squeeze in a 770. I'm doing some price matching through NCIX so the money saved should allow me to afford a good 770 as well. I also decided to drop the 3TB WD for now down to a 2 or maybe 2 1's in a RAID 1. I don't like Seagate because of their somewhat mediocre quality and bad warranty compared to WD. Thanks for all the help everyone. :)