Hi, I am looking for a new PC but having trouble in deciding what is best for me.

ahanmagey · Jun 8, 2015

Hi, I am looking for a new PC but having trouble in deciding what is best for me.
Here is how I would be using my PC;
In a day the PC would be idle for 70% (meaning some 18 hours), so power saving on idle is something that I am interested in.
Browsing internet; 70% of the time I would be using this pc for web browsing. It is important to note that I keep multiple windows open (maybe some PDF files, video or an audio playing, working with a word, excel sheet, CorelDraw or Photoshop). And with that I keep multiple tabs too, most of the time it’s around 20-30 tabs.
Video; 10% of the time I would be using this pc to watch videos 1080p. (I will be connecting this PC to a full HD monitor, don’t want more than that at the moment)
Work; 10% of the time I would be using this pc for working, with excel or word
CorelDraw/Photoshop; 5% of the time I will be using to make advertising banners, logos and things like that. These tasks are very important and most of the time very urgent tasks that I have to finish within a very limited time frame, so I really do not want any hiccups while I do these. But I will never use this PC for extreme photo editing.
Extra; there is a chance that I would want to play FIFA or PES in this PC, so if I can play that in this PC it would be a bonus. But having said that I am not a gamer.
The look; small form factor will be a plus. So I think an ITX is what I am looking for. But a mini PC might be able to perform these task without a hiccup. But I don’t think it would be within my budget.
Budget; around $500.

razerg · Jun 8, 2015

Here, a little bit over $500 but it's mITX, will play those games and is good for your purpose.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($176.98 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($65.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake Core V1 Mini ITX Tower Case ($37.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green 380W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($32.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $568.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-08 04:24 EDT-0400

ahanmagey · Jun 8, 2015

@razerg
thank you very much for the response. I am very new to this, so can you please explain why you took those parts? For example i really do not know why i would need 16GB ram, i was thinking 8GB would be more than enough for me

razerg · Jun 8, 2015

You said it yourself you won't be gaming that much but will be doing in photoshop which can benefit from more ram, and an intel CPU which is good for just about anything and it produces less heat which is good in a small form factor case. 8GBs is enough too but why 8GB when you can go 16

You will be doing a lot of browsing and office yes?
Intel is good for all those

The motherboard is solid H97 motherboard, you wouldn't need z97 because it's not a very good idea to overclocl in such small case with low airflow. As for the PSU, it's a bit more than enough for your current GPU.

hamzahfelix · Jun 8, 2015

I would suggest at least a quality 500w psu.

The extra wattage will give you the option to step up onto a more powerfull gpu later, especially if you decide on an i5. Though I much prefer a true quadcore to a hyperthreaded dual core for gaming, based on the titles you mentioned, an i3-4170 will be more than enough for your needs, especially if you're on a tight budget.

For the ram, I also think 8gb is enough. You can easily add another 8gb stick later down the road.

Other than that, a 120 gb ssd for the boot drive will be a nice luxury.

ahanmagey · Jun 8, 2015

@ hamzahfelix;
Thanks for your suggestion,i was thinking that i would be fine with an i3, but honestly i do not know how much performance sacrifice that is in real world if if drop an i5. with an i3 power consumption would be low too, which is a plus, right. And yes i would like to have an SSD (250 max, but 120 would be fine atm), since i already have an HDD, i think with the saved $ from dropping HHD, and by getting just 8GB ram i would be able to buy an SSD
And yeh, if an i3 would be fine, than that's another saving.

i really wish others, who knows about this PC building thing, to give me their opinions on this build, or if they could, suggest me another.

razerg · Jun 8, 2015

i5 is great to have if you can afford it. I would highly recommend an i5 right now because you would get more performance out of it. But again that's your choice.

hamzahfelix · Jun 12, 2015

ahanmagey :

For the tasks that you have mentioned, even a pentium will be able to perform these task without a hiccup. For your very light and rare light photo editing and more multitasking benefits, the i3 dualcore hyperthreading will breeze through it. Heck, if you rarely game at all and spend the bulk of your time browsing only, the hd 4400 will be able to handle your games. You can add a discrete gpu when and if you need it. The $500 now will be able to get you a quality 1080p 24 inch ips monitor easily, with a mouse and keyboard.

I agree, 8GB is more than enough for even the most demanding games today, let alone tab fiends (60tabs) like me

For an extra 15% more fps driving a high end gpu (970 or above) at cpu intensive games, and much more heavy productivity work than you've mentioned (vegas pro), the i5 will be worth the extra investment. If not, there won't be any performance sacrifice you're making now and in future.

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