New build for 4k photo & video editing

Bungle11 · Aug 26, 2015

What do you chaps think of this build?

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/

The case i'm after isn't on partpicker, but heres a link to it.
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silverstone-ft03b-mini-usb-30-fortress-tower-mini-itx-dtx-black-w-o-psu-(sfx-psu)

BTW i'm recycling my 120gb ssd and 750 2.5" hdd.

Budget is for under £600.

I just need to to power a dell 4k monitor for photo and basic video editing, so a r7 370 seeam to be overkill.

Plus i need the case to sit under my desk and it must have top mounted usb and power bottons. Plus i hate windowed cases. But thoughts welcome

sadams04 · Aug 26, 2015

We can not see your build as that link is the main page for the PCPartPicker web site. Keeping an ITX form factor, how does your build compare to the one below?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£93.59 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (£80.64 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston Savage 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£61.86 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For £0.00)
Storage: Western Digital WD Green 750GB 2.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For £0.00)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card (£254.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower Case (£35.55 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX TS 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply (£37.99 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer (£47.95 @ Aria PC)
Total: £612.57

jmsellars1 · Aug 26, 2015

I really like that case too, very expensive though. The Raijintek Metis is another cool small, aluminium MITX case that's half the price. It has your top mounted USB and audio ports too. This Metis has no window, there's another version that does have one.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£196.14 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: MSI H97I AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (£77.96 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Kingston Savage 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£61.86 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 950 2GB Superclocked Video Card (£125.99 @ Aria PC)
Case: RAIJINTEK Metis (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case (£36.58 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: Silverstone 300W 80+ Bronze Certified SFX Power Supply (£41.16 @ Scan.co.uk)
Other: 120GB SSD (Purchased)
Other: 750GB 2.5'' Hard Drive (Purchased)
Total: £539.69
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-26 18:44 BST+0100

The Xeon is effectively a 3.4Ghz i7 without integrated graphics so you have to use a graphics card, much cheaper than an i7 though so that would be a good choice. 16GB of RAM would be helpful for multitasking too.

The GTX 950 is only very slightly behind a GTX 960 so should give more than enough performance for this stuff, only consumes 90W too so will stay cool and quiet.

That motherboard includes wi-fi and I think bluetooth too so that's always nice.

That PSU has enough power as realistically you're never going to exceed 200W, it also has a semi-passive fan which is amazing at that price. (That means the fan only spins if it needs to.)

I love that case for the price, if you don't then all these parts would go perfectly in an FT03 mini too. (Ignore the incompatibility notes on PCpartpicker, that case supports GPU's up to 250-260mm if you use a SFX PSU.)

Bungle11 · Aug 26, 2015

sadams04 :

The i5 4160 price on the list is a mistake and the supplier have withdrawn it. It should be £140. so your build will be more like £670.

I think the graphics card is over kill. A r7 3804gb would be ideal for my needs. Your Ram choice is good. Not a fan of the case but i'm going to try to get a case that can handle a atx supply.

JaxAxRho · Aug 26, 2015

I would have to agree with jmsellars1. The Xeon will serve you better than an i5. It may be a little more expensive, but with twice the threads you're editing and rendering will run a lot faster and smoother than a straight 4 core, 4 thread. The i5 can handle it, but the extra threads are really worth it. I have a Xeon that I edit videos with. It flies. That board also supports 1600 frequency RAM, so make sure your RAM runs that fast (the suggested RAM is indeed 1600). If you want to spend a little more and find a board that'll run 1866 or faster RAM, you might appreciate the speed boost. I run 2400MHz overclocked RAM on my board right now. Like I said, it flies.

Can't comment too much on the rest of the build. I have an R9-270X and that's enough for me, but I don't do high res photos and I only run at 1080p right now. This article might help though: AMD 300 series Workstation and Professional Applications

Bungle11 · Aug 26, 2015

jmsellars1 :

Thanks i never thought of xeon. The model you show appears to be roughly the same as a i7 4790 see http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Xeon-E3-1231-v3-vs-Intel-Core-i7-4790 but is £40 cheaper. I like this.

Although should i get a i5 4690 instead. its £26 cheaper than the xeon?
http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Xeon-E3-1231-v3-vs-Intel-Core-i5-4690

A saw the case you suggest but i feel it has limited airflow

They are bringing out a bigger brother soon.
http://www.raijintek.com/en/products_detail.php?ProductID=26

Thinking i will get a Corsair Obsidian 250D Mini ITX Case. It has feet so clean flow at the bottom., and the power button is close to the top.I'll also get a more powerful psu for the future.

New build is

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/sk9GTW
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/sk9GTW/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£196.14 @ Scan.co.uk)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! SHADOW ROCK LP 51.4 CFM CPU Cooler (£29.60 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: MSI H97I AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (£77.96 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Blue 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£61.86 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 950 2GB Superclocked Video Card (£125.99 @ Aria PC)
Case: Corsair 250D Mini ITX Tower Case (£72.10 @ More Computers)
Power Supply: be quiet! 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£49.98 @ Novatech)
Total: £613.63
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-26 22:01 BST+0100

The weird thing is a priced this build (with a 550w psu) all from scan, and it came out at 57p cheaper. If i don't get the ram from scan the build drops to around £602

jmsellars1 · Aug 26, 2015

Yeah the airflow in the Metis doesn't look great on paper but I've heard of people running an overclocked i5 with a stock GTX 970 in there without issues. A stock Xeon and 90W GTX 950 shouldn't be a problem for it. The trick is to reverse the case fan so it is an intake, reduces the temps dramatically.

The i5-4690 has the slight edge by like 3% or something in single threaded applications but will drop behind when it comes to multi threaded stuff.

JaxAxRho · Aug 27, 2015

That's a really solid build and I like the way that case is laid out. Good work.
I think you'll be very pleased with the Xeon.

Bungle11 · Aug 27, 2015

JaxAxRho :

Managed to get the build cheaper. Went for the Phantex case, non-modular psu, adding case fan and might get a decent cooler paste. build now just under £600.

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/4CRTcf
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/4CRTcf/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£196.14 @ Scan.co.uk)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! PURE ROCK 51.4 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£22.74 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI H97I AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (£77.96 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Blue 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£61.86 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 950 2GB Superclocked Video Card (£125.99 @ Aria PC)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo EVOLV ITX Mini ITX Tower Case (£41.99 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£46.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case Fan: Cooler Master SickleFlow 69.7 CFM 120mm Fan (£5.22 @ Aria PC)
Total: £578.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-27 14:22 BST+0100

Thanks for the tips

Bungle11 · Aug 27, 2015

jmsellars1 :

Managed to get the build cheaper. Went for the Phantex case, non-modular psu, adding case fan and might get a decent cooler paste. build now just under £600.

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/4CRTcf
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/4CRTcf/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£196.14 @ Scan.co.uk)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! PURE ROCK 51.4 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£22.74 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI H97I AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (£77.96 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Blue 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£61.86 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 950 2GB Superclocked Video Card (£125.99 @ Aria PC)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo EVOLV ITX Mini ITX Tower Case (£41.99 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£46.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case Fan: Cooler Master SickleFlow 69.7 CFM 120mm Fan (£5.22 @ Aria PC)
Total: £578.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-27 14:22 BST+0100

Thanks for the tips

Apart from the memory i'm going to get everything from one supplier, so i don't get the hassle of multiple delivery times. This only works out about a tenner more the the suggested price

JaxAxRho · Aug 27, 2015

I'm not so sure about that PSU. I know it's bringing down your cost, but there's a reason for that. Check this tier list for PSUs. Find something in the top two. If you can't find something for low enough then go to tier 3, but do not get anything in tier 4.

Link here: Power Supply Tier List V2

If you look the PSU you have is in tier 4: Corsair CX/CXM series...

Bungle11 · Aug 27, 2015

JaxAxRho :

This appears to be on the tier 2 list. Seasonic S1211
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/520w-seasonic-s12ii-520-bronze-series-80-plus-bronze-dual-rail-20a-1x120mm-silent-fan-fully-wired-at

JaxAxRho · Aug 27, 2015

Much better choice.

I've actually been looking into the CX series, because they are a great entry level price, but they are on tier 4. The discussion is occurring on the PSU tier list thread, if you were at all interested.

Otherwise, I think that's a better choice in the long run and you will be happy with that for years to come. A good PSU will last you through several builds.

jmsellars1 · Aug 27, 2015

People go a bit overboard in slating the quality of the CX PSU's, I've used 2 of them now, one in a build for my mum and one for my friend's gaming PC and neither of them has skipped a beat in 5 years. Don't get me wrong, there's a reason they're cheap and you should get a better one at your budget but they are good for the price. Very quiet too.

JaxAxRho · Aug 27, 2015

Yea, like I said, I was very curious as to why the CX series was on the list as tier 4 when it was given a solid review from hardware secrets and I also found quite a few other positive reviews. NewEgg rates it at 4/5 eggs. There's either a conspiracy or I'm missing something is what I thought.

It comes down to how many people you talk to and what reviews you read. The CX series is an entry level PSU, meant for a computer that's going to run the internet and maybe some flash games and watch a little Netflix on (Netflix and chill anyone?

). It is NOT meant for gaming, even entry level, or anything that could potentially draw a lot of power, such as an editing rig or workstation.

You may have had a couple good units, but on the overall front, it appears that the majority of them tend to wear out quickly, sometimes not support even light, entry level use, and sometimes they go out in style. That strikes me as an issue that for the same price or a few dollars more (clint eastwood anyone?) I would not be willing to risk it. I personally went with the EVGA B2 750W. It's a bit above my power needs currently, but I will use it to overclock in my next build and quite possibly also xF or SLi, so it makes sense to me to buy a quality PSU now, that will last me in the long run. It was also a great deal with the $30 mail in rebate. I just have to go through the hassle of actually turning in the rebate.

For this build, the Seasonic he went with will be plenty of power and of great quality and looks to be in the right price range.

I get where you're coming from and I didn't want to bash the CX for no reason with no backing to it. So I looked into it.

Bungle11 · Aug 27, 2015

JaxAxRho :

Yea, like I said, I was very curious as to why the CX series was on the list as tier 4 when it was given a solid review from hardware secrets and I also found quite a few other positive reviews. NewEgg rates it at 4/5 eggs. There's either a conspiracy or I'm missing something is what I thought.

It comes down to how many people you talk to and what reviews you read. The CX series is an entry level PSU, meant for a computer that's going to run the internet and maybe some flash games and watch a little Netflix on (Netflix and chill anyone?

). It is NOT meant for gaming, even entry level, or anything that could potentially draw a lot of power, such as an editing rig or workstation.

You may have had a couple good units, but on the overall front, it appears that the majority of them tend to wear out quickly, sometimes not support even light, entry level use, and sometimes they go out in style. That strikes me as an issue that for the same price or a few dollars more (clint eastwood anyone?) I would not be willing to risk it. I personally went with the EVGA B2 750W. It's a bit above my power needs currently, but I will use it to overclock in my next build and quite possibly also xF or SLi, so it makes sense to me to buy a quality PSU now, that will last me in the long run. It was also a great deal with the $30 mail in rebate. I just have to go through the hassle of actually turning in the rebate.

For this build, the Seasonic he went with will be plenty of power and of great quality and looks to be in the right price range.

I get where you're coming from and I didn't want to bash the CX for no reason with no backing to it. So I looked into it.

Changed my mind.

http://www.ebuyer.com/715869-xfx-ts-series-550w-power-supply-unit-80-plus-bronze-certified-oem-p1-550s-gren

ON tier 2 as XFX TS 430w / 550w-SEW Seasonic. Right i'm all sorted.

Bungle11 · Aug 29, 2015

Just ordered the parts for the build. Went with:

CPU: CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor - £196.14
CPU Fan: be quiet! Shadow Rock SLIM Compact CPU Cooler 135mm Silent Fan 23.7dBA @ 100% 160W TDP Intel & AMD - £32.52
Case Fan: 140mm be quiet! Shadow Wings quiet fan, PWM max speed 1000rpm, noise @ 100% 18.4 dB(A) - £12.17
MB: MSI Z97I AC S1150 Intel Z97 DDR3 mITX - £86.37
RAM: Crucial Sport 16GB (8GB x 2 Kit) DDR3 1600MHz Memory (CL9-24 timing) - £60
GPU: 2GB EVGA GTX 950 SC, PCIe 3.0 (x16), 6610MHz GDDR5, GPU 1152MHz, Boost 1342MHz - £129.54
Case: Phanteks Enthoo EVOLV ITX Black Mini ITX - £41.99
PSU: EVGA 650W G2 Fully Modular 80+ PSU - £71.67

Postage for the lot was around £11

Total build cost - £642.89

Decided to get a Z97 version of my original board just in case i decide to tweak things a little. Biggest bargin was the Ram which has CL9-24 timing, which apparently is really good.

Got the EVGA psu as its in tier one and is basically a re-branded cheaper Super Flower Leadex Gold. Decided on this after reading and watching the following:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/psus/2014/06/20/550w-650w-psu-roundup/10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRtnZbhXhCE
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=429

All in all if i went for an i5 the build would have been £600ish which was my original budget.

I should have the system built by next weekend.

jmsellars1 · Aug 30, 2015

CAS 9-9-9-24 is basically standard for RAM at 1333 or 1600Mhz, you still got a good price though.

All sounds good though, that Xeon is going to freeze in there with that cooler

JaxAxRho · Aug 31, 2015

That's awesome! The G2 is definitely just off the top of the line. You will get a very long time of service out of that. I myself went with a Z97 because of the very same thing. I wanted to be able to change stuff up. Although I am also planning to get an unlocked CPU in the future.

New build for 4k photo & video editing

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