New homestation build for wife

entropy4money · Apr 11, 2017

Hi Guys,

I haven't built a home PC for the past 5 years, so I am a little rusty on parts and such. My wife is looking for a home PC to work from home. She is a data scientist so processor must be at least an i5, and 16gB RAM. The "cool" factor matters to her, so a cool looking case would do the job. Fancy video card is not necessary, as she is not a gamer. Her budget is $400-500 max.

So I was thinking, due to low budget, would it make sense to go with LGA1150 processor rather than LGA1151?. Also what do you guys suggest for a cool looking, but cheap case?. I forgot to mention I am looking for a Micro-ATX size. If you can propose a build, I would be grateful.

Thanks

Chugalug_ · Apr 11, 2017

No way, you'll be fine on Kaby Lake, also price generally stays around the same unless buying used.

taseas · Apr 11, 2017

Just get a Ryzen 5 1600. Better in everything than an i5 kaby lake (except in some games, but that's not the case here) and you can find good AM4 motherboards for cheap. For the case, just get a Fractal Design Define Nano S Window, it is and looks badass.

Chugalug_ · Apr 11, 2017

Here ya go.

It can also be repurposed as a gaming machine easily by slotting in a decent graphics card by the way.
All the other components are ready to handle it.
@taseas, unless @OP's wife is doing any heavy rendering processes an i5 is the better choice, although as you mentioned Ryzen is good for raw compute performance. Cost isn't quite there for a define series case though.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-7500 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($188.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B250M-DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($69.99 @ B&H)
Memory: ADATA XPG Z1 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($86.48 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.66 @ OutletPC)
Case: Corsair SPEC-01 RED ATX Mid Tower Case ($46.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($48.89 @ Newegg)
Total: $490.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-11 10:55 EDT-0400

taseas · Apr 11, 2017

There is no reason to get an i5 except from gaming. Even a stock Ryzen 5 1400 (4cores/8threads) is better for what OP wants here.

King Dranzer · Apr 11, 2017

Replace that i5-7500 with i5-7600 in Chugalug_ build to get bit extra power.

taseas · Apr 11, 2017

His wife is a Data Scientist. Of course she will do heavy work (searching multiple databases, inserting matrices etc.). i5 is superior in single threaded performance and inferior elsewhere.

And also, an SSD nowadays is a must.
edit: Or a hybrid SSHD at least.

Chugalug_ · Apr 11, 2017

Higher IPC, higher clock speed and more consistent performance would be three factors if I had to point them out, but I suppose you're correct in that the Ryzen will be a better performing alternative in terms of pure compute performance.
In this case IPC and clock speed will be more prominent, but if REALLY heavy multi tasking is going to take place a Ryzen CPU would be a better fit.
A concern is cost since decent B350 boards start at $89, but here's my Ryzen list.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1400 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus PRIME B350M-A Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($89.99 @ B&H)
Memory: ADATA XPG Z1 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($86.48 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.66 @ OutletPC)
Case: Corsair SPEC-01 RED ATX Mid Tower Case ($46.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($48.89 @ Newegg)
Total: $490.01
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-11 11:02 EDT-0400

entropy4money · Apr 11, 2017

Chugalug_ :

This looks pretty nice. yeah she'll be doing plenty of parallel computing, and no gaming at all. We already have a gaming beast rig in the house, and only I use it, a lot

.

Thanks for all the good info relating processors.

Also, what do you guys think about this case?

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133274

Chugalug_ · Apr 11, 2017

Haha, looks like the Ryzen rig is for you.
The build quality of that case is pretty poor, and airflow is lacking in my experience with it.
I've worked with it only twice, I run a small store, so that helps with getting hands on with hardware.

Some other options to look at are the Fractal Core 1100 if you want a cleaner look, or the NZXT S340 in Black or Black/Red which I was going to add, but it was a bit expensive at $64.99.

taseas · Apr 11, 2017

I would still instist on getting at least an SSHD though @Chugalug_ But of course OP will have to weigh the pros and cons of getting an SSHD (or even better, an SSD).

Also, don't forget that Ryzen needs a graphics card (the graphics outputs are for Ryzen APU that are not out yet). But he can get one for 25-30 $

edit: Nvidia GT 710 is a good option if you go with Ryzen

Chugalug_ · Apr 11, 2017

Nah, SSHDs are a bit of a 'meh' purchase, you're better off having a dedicated SSD and HDD separate, much better value.

entropy4money · Apr 11, 2017

Chugalug_ :

Yeah I'll stick with HDD for starter; she can buy an SSD with her money in the future if she needs it, and I can clone the OS on the SSD.

Chugalug_ · Apr 11, 2017

taseas :

Ah yeah, crap, that's why I went with an i5, forgot.

You'll want something decent though, a GT 710 isn't going to cut it, you'd need something a bit faster than a GT 730 which tacks on $60-70 or something stupid.
I'd just go with the Intel rig, much simpler than all this. T.T
In regards to the SSD, as mentioned, buy it later down the line, there are several migration tools available though to make the process much easier.

entropy4money · Apr 11, 2017

I forgot to mention hyperthreading will be disabled in this machine. I am not sure if that matters regarding the choice of processor

taseas · Apr 11, 2017

GT 710 is a bit back in performance vs the integrated graphics of i5. But still, I don't think he will need any power from the GPU except from the basics.

edit:
Hyperthreading disabled ? Well, i5 has no hyperthreading at all but what you are saying doesn't make sense. Why to disable HT if you get an i7 or a Ryzen ? You can, but it doesn't make any sense to me. Especially for parallel workload.

Chugalug_ · Apr 11, 2017

entropy4money :

It does, significantly.

That's the main advantage the Ryzen build offers over the i5, fantastic raw compute performance for the money with SMT.(AMD's Hyperthreading)
If you want to disable HT (idk why though) go for the i5 rig then, it's a better fit for this budget range.
If you want to go Ryzen, you'll need to up your budget to $575 which simply isn't worth it at all imo.
Getting decent graphics above the GT 730 level of performance actually means you'd have to get an RX 460 all the way up at $89 since 750tis aren't readily available at decent prices anymore. :/
Go for the i5 rig, Ryzen's out at this point unfortunately.

entropy4money · Apr 11, 2017

taseas :

There is this machine learning library she uses that requires hyperthreading to be turned off. Virtual cores reduce the performance of parallel computing rather than improving it. For parallel processing, multi-core performance is what matters.

Chugalug_ · Apr 11, 2017

Ah okay, in that case go for the i5, probably the best performance you're going to get in that situation.

entropy4money · Apr 11, 2017

Yeah. I mean, I bet she could force her code to only use physical cores. And then she can use hyperthreading to multi-task, in which case multithreading would be beneficial? idk... I have to talk to her about it this afternoon, she understands this whole virtual core vs. physical core performance issues better than me.

Chugalug_ · Apr 11, 2017

AMD's architecture is very reliant on hyperthreading, disabling them would cripple it severely.

Get the i5, she'll be fine, Ryzen costs too much anyway.

New homestation build for wife

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