1200€ MATX Performance Desktop Advice

[paulcito]

1200€ MATX Performance Desktop Advice

I am replacing a 7+year old home office desktop and basically want something powerful that doesnt take up the space or make the noise of that old monster.
I am replacing a 7+year old home office desktop and basically want something powerful that doesnt take up the space or make the noise of that old monster. A small, quiet, cool PC that can handle HD video editing, watching 1080p movies, some application development and testing (Visual basic Studio and some virtual machines) and much use of Photoshop and Acrobat Pro. Very little gaming.

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: next month
BUDGET RANGE: 900-1200 euros
SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Video encoding,photo editing,playing media,app development,Internet
PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor (for now), DVD combo drive,speakers
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: appinformatica.com, pixmania.com, pccomponentes.com
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Spain
PARTS PREFERENCES: AMD AM3; Gigabyte mobo & AMD Phenom II X4 955BE cpu and Micro ATX case
OVERCLOCKING: Maybe
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No
MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080, 24" monitor, or 2x22"
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Some upgradeability would be nice (hence the USB3/SATAIII MOBO) but I thought to start out with onboard graphics and audio (5.1 or better). Since this will not be used much for gaming -until Mafia II comes out, if ever (-: I hadn't planned on overclocking or worrying about Crossfire.

Thanks in advance -- All advice is greatly appreciated! I have upgraded many a PC but never built one from the board up!

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CPU: AMD Phenom II 955 X4 Quad Core 3.2Ghz Black Ed. 125W AM3 Box
http://www.pccomponentes.com/AMD_PHENOM_II_955_X4_QUAD_CORE_3_2GHZ_BLACK_ED__125W_AM3_BOX.html
158€

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-880GMA-UD2H AM3 AMD 880G HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX
http://www.appinformatica.com/placas-base-amd-gigabyte-880gma-ud2h-am3-matx.php
102€

Do I really need a SATAIII / USB3 motherboard? To future proof, will it increase ssd throughput much? It seems there are few matx boards to choose from.
Otherwise I was thinking about:
Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H Micro ATX Socket AM3
http://www.pccomponentes.com/GIGABYTE_GA_MA785GMT_UD2H_MICRO_ATX_SOCKET_AM3.html
73€

CASE: ANTEC mini P180
http://www.pccomponentes.com/ANTEC_MINI_P180.html
70€

OR:
Silverstone TJ-08
66€

PSU:Corsair HX620 620W Modular
http://www.pccomponentes.com/corsair_hx620_620w_modular.html
108€

RAM: 8GB: Kingston ValueRAM 2GB DDR3 1333 PC3-10600 (4x2GB)
http://www.pccomponentes.com/kingston_valueram_2gb_ddr3_1333_pc3_10600.html
192€

GPU: Plan to use the onboard Radeon HD 4250/4200.

BUT I found a low profile upgrade which I think would go well with this case:
Radeon HD 5570 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI CrossFireX Support Low Profile Ready Video Card
http://www.pccomponentes.com/ASUS_RADEON_HD_5570_1GB_GDDR3_LOW_PROFILE.html
87€

Do I need this card? Or even a Radeon HD 5670 or 5750?

SSD (BOOT): Corsair Force F120 SSD 120GB
http://www.pccomponentes.com/corsair_force_f120_ssd_120gb.html
323€

OR: (budget option)
KINGSTON SSDNOW 128GB V-SERIES G 2 BUNDLE DT
http://www.appinformatica.com/discos-duros-ssd-kingston-ssdnow-128gb-v-series-g-2-bundle-dt.php
259€

HDD (Storage): 2x Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB SATA2 MAESTRO HD103SJ
http://www.pccomponentes.com/SAMSUNG_SPINPOINT_F3_1TB_SATA2_MAESTRO.html
134€ (2x1TB)

OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64bits OEM
http://www.pccomponentes.com/MICROSOFT_WINDOWS_7_PROFESSIONAL_64BITS_OEM.html
139 €

TOTAL COST: 1226€

EDITS:
- Upped RAM to 8GB (for dual channel)
- Corsair PSU

 

[blackhade]

Eh its great but i dont like the solid state your already getting to 1TB its not gonna make your noise lower just get sound proofing in it cheap and effective!

 

[paulcito]

Granted if I drop the SSD the price is much lower.

The SSD is for loading speed for bootup and applications more than noise reduction; the mechanical drives are for data, media, etc. And the second Samsung would be either Raided or just straight backup of the other one, so i'd still want the SSD as the system drive. One reason i listed the GA 880 mobo is so as prices drop on SSDs and SATA III becomes standard I could keep upgrading...

 

[mosox]

Yep, with the saved money you can get the Phenom II 1055T and a small and quiet CPU cooler like the Scythe Shuriken Rev.B.

 

[geofelt]

If you can find one, look at the lian li V351 or V352 cases They are beautiful with standard psu's and good ventilation.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112222
I see your site does have lian li, but not this model.

For psu, you can't go wrong with Corsair. Top quality and reasonably priced.

6gb is a good size, but not for your motherboard. It is three sticks which will leave you in single channel mode. Go ahead and get 8gb which will be helpful for video editing.
Windows-7 keeps your most used data in any spare ram in anticipation of reuse.

Is there any feature of W7 professional that you need? Home premium is usually adequate.

I like the SSD for boot and frequently used apps. Your system will feel much more responsive.
That said, it might pay to wait until this fall when the Gen3 SSD drives arrive. They will be faster and cheaper.

 

[blackhade]

The samsung 1 TB HDD are nice but barracuda makes great one at a little less price

 

[batuchka]

Not in pounds but perhaps could be useful in your quest

Edit: Whoops this was for some HC Lanparty gaming dude so just stick to IGP or tone down GPU/PSU @@

 

[paulcito]

If you can find one, look at the lian li V351 or V352 cases They are beautiful with standard psu's and good ventilation.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112222
I see your site does have lian li, but not this model.

Actually, I took a looong, hard look at the V352:
http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php?pr_index=516&cl_index=1&sc_index=25&ss_index=63

And the Silverstone Sugo SG-02F also:
http://www.ibertronica.es/Silverstone/products-sg02f.htm

I do like these cube-style cases. But I want more than two internal bays, and most SFF cases are limited in that respect. The V352 has three but I still thought I'd be less cramped with a tower form factor (and the V352 is hard to find).

6gb is a good size, but not for your motherboard. It is three sticks which will leave you in single channel mode. Go ahead and get 8gb which will be helpful for video editing.
Windows-7 keeps your most used data in any spare ram in anticipation of reuse.

This is very helpful! thanks, I did NOT know that about dual channel boards, but you are exactly right. From what I read, running the RAM in dual channel makes a noticeable performance difference. I will up the RAM to 8GB.

Is there any feature of W7 professional that you need? Home premium is usually adequate.

Actually, yes, I always get Windows Pro because of the additional Admin tools, specifically you can do more networking, domain setup, adding in the IIS web services etc. Ultimate only gives you Bitlocker on top of that, so Pro is what I need.

 

[paulcito]

Yep, with the saved money you can get the Phenom II 1055T and a small and quiet CPU cooler like the Scythe Shuriken Rev.B.

Hmmm...If I dont overclock much, do you think I need the cooler? I read that the stock cooler for the 955 is quite good, and both the Antec and Silverstone cases have two fans, I could add another 120mm fan also..

 

[paulcito]

And would these MATX cases need the low profile cooler?

Scythe Big Shuriken Low Profile http://www.pccomponentes.com/scythe_big_shuriken_low_profile.html
28€