Critique my 1st build, gaming+graphic design+video edit

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bigbyj

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PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/vzzY8d
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1241 V3 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($263.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME6 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($159.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston Beast 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($159.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Kingston Fury 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($74.45 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 280 3GB DirectCU II Video Card ($214.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($68.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer ($17.65 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($93.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1193.98

I had it all figured out and some xmas sales made me rethink a couple things. I am not currently in the states (so disregard those price points) and my options are a bit limited. The only thing I am having trouble finding here is a good wifi PCI card.
The PC will be used for gaming, learning graphic design, learning programming languages, and video editing. No plans to overclock.

My biggest question is the motherboard. I chose the ASRock Extreme6 before the sales but was always a little concerned it may not be worth the extra money over the ASUS Z97-A, plus the ASUS. With a motherboard, I want to be able to add future upgrades like more RAM if needed, more HDD, and eventually crossfire another GPU. If the ASUS Z97-A can accomplish this plus have room for the wifi card then I'd rather save the money.

Due to sales I was able to save some money overall and now I've come to 3 options with the motherboard...
1) just stick with the ASRock Extreme6
2) go for the ASUS Z97-A which is even on sale at the moment here making it even more of a steal and pocket the money or put it towards a peripheral (I have nothing) or whatever
3) use the savings and upgrade to the ASUS Z97 Maximus VII Hero which is also on sale now, basically what I saved on other components will cover the price difference from the Extreme6 to the Hero
http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/compare/asrock-motherboard-z97extreme6%2Casus-motherboard-maximusviihero%2Casus-motherboard-z97a/

I have posted before and gotten awesome feedback but decided to post again due to seeing these sales and them having a time constraint and I'm sure some things may run out of stock. I'd like to order in the next day or two. Thanks to everyone who has helped me so far.
 
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synphul
If it were me, I'd probably lean toward the asus z97-a. Rather than spend that money on a maximus vii hero I might try to go with a more solid ssd option and in a 240-256gb range. Unless the maximus has some sort of combination of features you actually need specifically.

A 128gb ssd will fill up pretty quickly and you don't want it pushed to the max limit of its' storage capacity. For instance, windows 7 with minimal programs - ie, no chat software, no file sharing no audio players no games.. just photoshop, illustrator, bridge and a few browsers (for checking webpage rendering behavior) and a few photos is hogging up almost 100gb alone. The 240/256gb models are also a bit better performing than the same drive at 128gb. Maybe check...
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williamcummins

williamcummins

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I think AsRock Extreme 6 is a bit overkill. If you can grab an Asus Z97-A for less or even AsRock Extreme 4, go for that. Asus Z97-A can xfire (or sli) and support up to 32gb which should be plenty for video editing.

Your RAM may not be the best choice as for price/performance. Check out G.Skills they have 1866 and 2133mhz modules for about the same price.
 
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synphul

synphul

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If it were me, I'd probably lean toward the asus z97-a. Rather than spend that money on a maximus vii hero I might try to go with a more solid ssd option and in a 240-256gb range. Unless the maximus has some sort of combination of features you actually need specifically.

A 128gb ssd will fill up pretty quickly and you don't want it pushed to the max limit of its' storage capacity. For instance, windows 7 with minimal programs - ie, no chat software, no file sharing no audio players no games.. just photoshop, illustrator, bridge and a few browsers (for checking webpage rendering behavior) and a few photos is hogging up almost 100gb alone. The 240/256gb models are also a bit better performing than the same drive at 128gb. Maybe check into a samsung 840/850 evo or crucial mx100.

I'm not positive about the fury model so maybe someone with more info than I have can speak up but I know there were quite a few issues with kingston ssd's for awhile. That may not be one of the problematic models.

All in all looks like a solid build and I wouldn't really hesitate to put those parts together for my personal build.
 
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SproutSchon

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Great build overall!
Great strategy going Xeon for video editing build, almost same performance as i7 for much cheaper (no iGPU and no OC).

I made few changes for better total budget and better performance:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1241 V3 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($263.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI H97M-G43 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($87.99 @ Directron)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra II 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($104.95 @ Adorama)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($51.85 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($234.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($68.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer ($17.65 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN881ND 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($18.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1144.31
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-19 11:48 EST-0500

As you can't OC don't go Z97, H97 is perfect.
You can go cheap on the mobo as long as it is reliable and has you desired specs.
This component has absolutely 0 effect on performance.

I put a R9 290, which is a so much better GPU.
At this price it is a steal, I am so jealous of US people right now.

Bigger SSD (you will thank me later) and cheaper HDD (you don't need black, it has faster access time which is good for OS drive).
Actually you could go 2TB HDD, video editing might eat up your storage room pretty fast.

Better and cheaper RAM.

Wireless PCI card.

Great pick on the R4, this is also a steal price wise (you can thank the R5).
I have this case and I absolutely love it, I won't be able to use a non-silent case anymore.

Do you really need an optical drive? Maybe to backup your work.
The OS could be easily installed through an USB drive.
 
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Vlad Rose

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I had noticed one thing he had asked about was trying to get wireless networking. I would assume getting a motherboard that has that feature already instead of going the PCI card route. This is the quick list from pcpartpicker.com that lists LGA1150 motherboards that are crossfire compatible and have built in wireless networking:
http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/motherboard/#l=1000&s=24&e=31,15,30,14,8
based on that list, I'd suggest either the MSI Z87 MPower Max AC or the Asus Z87-Pro based on price. Stay away from ECS brand; the others in the list are fine though.
 
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SproutSchon

SproutSchon

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Damn I really did a poor job reading his first post...

I edited once again my previous build.
WiFi mobo aren't really worth the price you pay, a sub 20$ wireless PCI card can do a perfect job.
I never ran into any static or other kind of interference using one.
 
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Vlad Rose

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I've personally never had a problem with Wifi interference in the machine's I've built.
I also build strictly mini-itx systems, so space is always a premium. The only other route it leaves me for wifi is through USB (which is quite pricey for a decent adapter in comparison to onboard).
 
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kipliq

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I was in the same boat. Wanted a gaming/editing (lightroom\photoshop) I came from a Phenom II x4 20 3.4 ghz. Build cost me about $750. I couldn't believe how fast my batch jobs in Photoshop turned out from my 7 years old system.
i7 4790k got it got 289.00 Sale
Corsair veng pro 1866 CL 9 - 149 sale
ASUS GTX 760 CUII - 170.00 with rebate. Will upgrade next year.
ASUS z97-A - 112 sale, this is a great motherboard.
Seasonic x660 $99 sale
Used old WD 750 gb black - upgrade next year to Samsung 850 pro ssd 512 gb.
Used old WD 1TB Blue.
Used old Case Lian Li A05
Used old DVD drive ASUS
 
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bigbyj

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I only selected those Kingston RAM because they were on sale. I had originally selected the Corsair Vengeance 1600. Will 1866 or 2133 really make that big of a difference? I'll have to price shop the sales and I'll post what I find.
 
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bigbyj

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Synphul you're back to help me again! You have no idea how much I've appreciated all your input. I think you guys are right about just going for the ASUS Z97-A, especially if I do need to up the size of the SSD.

I didn't realize SSD space would go that quickly. I know I looked at the 240 or 256 EVOs before and they were pretty expensive here. I'll see what sales there are. I had checked out the Crucial originally too but it was only available here on one of the websites and at the time I had not planned to order from that one at all. I'll have to double check where it was. I'll repost once I search the sites tomorrow. Sorry everyone for the delayed responses but its at least a 7 hour ahead time difference here from the states.
 
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bigbyj

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@ SproutSchon, wish I could claim the Xeon was all my idea but it was recommended in my first post when I originally decided to do a build.

Agreed about the wifi mobo. They didn't seem worth the price when I was looking at them a week or two ago.

The Blue WD HDDs are on sale now too. I was wondering about this today. Honestly didn't even realize they had colors until I saw it. I went with the Black simply because it seemed to be common in a lot of peoples builds.
 
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synphul

synphul

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The wd colors are typically green (slower, power saving - good for slower access but cheap large storage), blue is the consumer drive with similar performance to black/red but with 2yr warranty, black is closer to an enterprise drive - may perform a little better, but is designed for heavy use (24/7/365 operation) and has a 5yr warranty (higher mtbf rating) with deep error recovery cycles. Not designed for raid because of this. The re4 is enterprise, similar to black with a different error recovery cycle (much shorter, designed so it will work with raid without dropping from the array) and also has a 5yr warranty. The red's are usually used for nas (network attached storage) and are raid friendly but only come with a 3yr warranty so a more cost friendly option to the enterprise re4's.

The bottom line, unless you need bulk storage at a low price and power efficiency, avoid the green. Unless you're using your pc as a heavy use (6-8hrs a day or more) workstation, the blue should work just fine and are less expensive than the black. Ignore the red/re4 unless you're intending to use them in a raid environment.
 
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kipliq

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What is the cost of your budget? It took me almost 1 month to finally get all the parts at low prices. It was worth it. Look at the Samsung 840 pro very good price for ssd.
 
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bigbyj

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I'd prefer to not bump my budget up much more than what it already is. I don't really have a set number. I have been looking for a few weeks already. The problem is I'm living in another country at the moment and all the prices are higher than the US and I have 2 websites to choose from plus it's not worth it to order international because of tax and if I had to RMA. I plan to order components this weekend as these are the best sales I've seen here.

For SSDs, from most expensive to least...
Samsung 840 EVO Basic 250GB (on sale, + $35 from the Optima)
PNY SSD 240GB XLR8 (+ $9 from the Optima)
PNY Optima SSD 240GB

Those are 3 within my price range.
 
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bigbyj

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Great explanation. I will be taking some online classes full time plus editing, gaming, designing... I expect to be on the PC around 8-10 hours a day. The black is about $30 more than the blue.

They have an enterprise model, the WD SE, SATA 3, 7200rpm, 64MB, 2TB on sale right now.
http://www.emag.bg/hard-disk-wd-se-2tb-7200-ob-min-64mb-sata-3-wd2000f9yz/pd/DCN8FBBBM/
It's $18 less than a 2TB Black and $50 more than a 1TB Black.
I'm sure at some point in the learning curve my storage needs will increase greatly. Maybe it's best to get the 2TB while they are on sale?

I read what you said about the Red's... could this be an option for me though? I am thinking of the price point. They are actually pretty cheap here compared to the others and they are even on sale. Just to put it in perspective the 4TB Red at normal prices is $80 more than a 2TB SE on sale and about $60 more than a 2TB Black. Not that I think I need 4TB right away.
 
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bigbyj

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I was initially against it but its so cheap I figured why not. I can deal with $19 for one.
 
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bigbyj

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I'll do a bit more research today but at the moment here is where I stand...

Changing mobo to the ASUS Z97-A.

Rethinking/price shopping the RAM, HDD, SSD.
Will still keep it at 16GB RAM but check for better price/performance.
HDD, need to decide on color which will dictate the size because of the cost of different colors.
I will go with the 240/250GB SSD, just need to compare the PNY to the EVO I listed.

Still need to look into the wifi issue. I'll look for something similar to the item that was linked.

Edit: here is what I found so far for wifi USB
http://nikem-bg.net/magazin.php?search=LAN&p=usb
I originally looked at doing wifi through a PCI card but the only ones I can find here are ASUS and I saw a ton of complaints about them in reviews.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320113
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320074
Are these justified complaints?

This seems to be the one with the best reviews so far...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320089
 
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synphul

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If the 2tb se is on sale and available, it looks like a good drive. It's 7200rpm, enterprise and 5yr warranty so I'm sure it would be up to the multiple hrs of daily use. Also I hate to push your budget but I think you'd be much happier with the samsung evo ssd. You didn't list or mention the crucial mx100 so I don't know if it's available in your area. Often times it's less than the evo and still a pretty good performing drive and pretty popular.

I don't know how overkill 4tb of storage would be for you with video editing. As far as graphic design 2tb should last you quite awhile. A family member of mine still has around 40% free on their 1tb after over a year of graphic design where images are around 25-35mb each. That includes tons of fonts, multiple saves of the same artwork in various stages etc. Even if you end up needing more space down the road, I'm sure you'll have an easy 6mo or more even with video editing before you'll need more space and that's more of a worst case scenario. That should give you time to set aside money for a larger drive if you're trying to keep your budget manageable right now.
 
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bigbyj

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Yeah I checked the PNY SSD reviews, not so great. I'll get the EVO but honestly only because they are on sale here now, otherwise they are just too much. I knew from my earlier research the EVOs were much better but never wanted to take the price hit. I only found one Crucial MX100 but it was a 120GB.
I'm also going to go with the 2TB SE HDD due to the sale or else I think I would have stuck with the 1TB Black. Might as well take advantage of the discounts.

Don't worry about pushing the budget, I already pushed it more than I originally planned anyway so what's a little more haha. Besides I cut a good bit from changing mobos and actually changed processors from the E3-1246 to the E3-1241 so things are balancing out anyway.

Now I just need to work on finding a better price/performance RAM.
 
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bigbyj

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CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1241 V3 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor
Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Storage: Western Digital WD SE 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 280 3GB DirectCU II Video Card
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit)
Wireless Network Adapter: Asus USB-N53 802.11a/b/g/n USB 2.0 Wi-Fi Adapter

Here is where I stand as of now. All is final except maybe the wifi.
Thoughts?
 
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