1000-1500 All around Audio/Video/Business PC "future proof"?

[rocky53]

Approximate Purchase Date: May/June 2011

Budget Range: 1000-1500 Actual

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Audio (ripping vinyl): video: making movies, Business applications (Office); light gaming; data security (been burned by a failed HDD, hence the raid 0?? )

Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com (open to ideas)

Country of Origin: USA

Parts Preferences: No Preference except partial to NVIDIA

Overclocking: doubtful (When I say future proof: I have a use in mind today but retirement is not that far away so I want this PC to last).

SLI or Crossfire: doubtful

Monitor Resolution: Looking into a 25" monitor since my vision up close is bad (need large font)

Additional Comments: I would like a quiet PC; not too much into looks; limit distracting led's etc.

I put the following together (exclusive from newegg at this moment)

CASE:COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119068

PSU: SeaSonic S12II 380B 380W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply (probably under powered)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127565

MB: ASRock P55 PRO/USB3 LGA 1156 Intel P55 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127565

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.644367

COOLER: COOLER MASTER Hyper N 520 RR-920-N520-GP 92mm Sleeve CPU Cooler Intel Core i7 compatible
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103057

MEMORY: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9Q-16GBXL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.644367

GPU:MSI N560GTX-TI Twin Frozr II/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR 5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video ...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127565

HDD: QUANTITY 2: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

RAID: HighPoint Rocket 620 PCI-Express 2.0 x1 Low Profile Ready SATA III (6.0Gb/s) Controller Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816115072

DVD-ROM: ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

DVD-BD RW: LITE-ON Blu-ray Burner with 3D Playback SATA iHBS212 LightScribe
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106348

Total Cost:as of 5/6/11 NewEgg: $1132.88

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

The board that you have is a socket 1156 while the processor is a socket 1155. Most likely if you are going to be using the Intel® Core™ I5 2500 you are going to be looking for a good P67 chipset based board. I would upgrade to the Intel Core I5 2500K to pick up the ability to overclock to give you more reach into the future for a small cost difference. About the only other thing that I can see in your build is the value of adding an SSD as a boot drive. Take a look at the Intel SSD 320 80GB drive for use as a boot drive.

Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team

 

[rocky53]

Thank you for id'ing the incompatability in the board vs processor; I'm afraid there's just so many things to keep straight.

regarding the SSD for the boot device, is that strictly for the OS? Would the 1 TB raid simply be for the data (Music, Video Business File) content? Do you have any recommendation on correcting the MB (with 16 GB capable)?

 

[gametstr]

The PSU is definitely underpowered.
u need juicier PSU for a good future proof build which should be able to handle SLI or CF
consider these

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371026



and also seeing as ur trying to future proof
consider this GPU instead.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150530

For a few bucks more its 2GB of GDDR5 memory.
also I believe the 2GB 6950s can be BIOS flashed to 6970s. Look into that.
adding another 6950 in the future for a CrossFire setup should be a good idea.

As for the 1155 socket motherboard get any P67chipset based Board from any manufacturer of ur choice depending on ur budget. Heres one from Asus.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131706


Like already mentioned go ahead and get the i5 2500K instead of the 2500. Its more future proof for just about 15 - 20 bucks more.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072


There are plenty of combo deals available on Newegg. If u find a combo that best fits ur needs u save a few bucks and can be spent on other parts.

SSDs are generally used for OS.
Very frequently used applications can also be installed on SSDs for improved performance of those apps (or games). Definitely get an SSD for OS if u have enough money left or it can be added at a later time.

 

[aznshinobi]

Siggy has a few builds, one being the perfect fit for you @ $1000.
Link: http://www.squidoo.com/electronicandmore

You honestly don't need 16GB of RAM, that's just overkill. 8GB is already Future-proofed as X86 makes 4GB the standard because 32-bit OS's hold us back. So just drop the 16 for just 8 and save 100$.

The PSU, that thing isn't going to run your system AT ALL. Don't cheap out on a power supply, it'll bite you in the end.

RAID 0 IS NOT a way of securing your data, but a way of speeding up read/write times. RAID 1 MAY be what you want as it puts the data on all the HDD's in the RAID 1. So say you have the OS on one F3, the OS would again write itself on the OTHER F3. So you have the data on both HDDs.

THIS however is in NO way to secure data. You should be looking at just getting 2 F3's however 1 running as your main drive and another as backup. Not running it in RAID.
So You should just drop the RAID card, the Motherboard can handle it by itself.

Highly not recommending the 560 Ti for your 25" monitor. It's a solid card, but just at high resolutions it just doesn't compare to the 6950 2GB. The 560 Ti is good for low resolutions (1680x1050) but at high resolutions the 6950 wins out (1920x1080 or larger [2560x1200]).

 

[subasteve5800]

CASE:COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119068

PSU & MOBO Combo: PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mk II PPCMK2S750 750W & ASUS P8P67-M (REV 3.0) LGA 1155
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.641292

CPU & RAM Combo:Intel Core i7-2600K & G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.644438

COOLER: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

GPU: ASUS EAH6870 DC/2DI2S/1GD5 Radeon HD 6870 1GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.620407

HDD: QUANTITY 2: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822152185

RAID: HighPoint Rocket 620 PCI-Express 2.0 x1 Low Profile Ready SATA III (6.0Gb/s) Controller Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6816115072

DVD-ROM: ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827135204

DVD-BD RW: LITE-ON Blu-ray Burner with 3D Playback SATA iHBS212 LightScribe
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827106348

SSD: OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTX80G 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227685

Total Cost:as of 5/6/11 NewEgg: $1,500.87 + Shipping. It also has $60 in mail in rebates if you believe in those.

Since your build is more towards audio and video manipulation I went with the best processor around and took a little off your GPU. I added a beefier cooler so you can overclock it more easily.

I also added an 80Gb SSD for your boot drive. It should be more than enough for your OS and most programs.

I beefed up your power supply as well. It should more than cover you in the future.

I'll admit I don't know much about raid hardware so I left your choice alone. (Although if you are going or data security its RAID 1 not RAID 0)

I figured you needed those optical drives so I left them alone as well.

Overall it should be a killer system for multimedia production

 

[aznshinobi]

Why does he need 750w for LIGHT gaming?
Why does he need 16GB of ram?
Why does he need a RAID card for 2 HDDs, the motherboard can handle that and he doesn't even need RAID.

 

[subasteve5800]

Well he doesn't need the 750w but it was only $10 more than the 650w so why not?
He wants 16gb of ram because he does audio and video editing and more ram is helpful for those tasks.
He doesn't need a raid card but if he wants one he can, its only like 30 bucks.

 

[aznshinobi]

16GB of ram makes 0 difference when you have 8GB already. Though more ram is better, even I don't make use of the full 4GB I have when I'm heavily doing PTGui Panoramas or HDR's with Photoshop/Photomatix. It's not going to benefit at all especially with ripping vinyl because that's going to come down to how fast the drive is (DVD/CD or whatever you're using to rip the vinyl. Memory will be beneficial only in the creation process and sometimes in editing. It is more CPU than memory.

Why not get a 550w? He doesn't even need a 650w w/ light gaming.

 

[subasteve5800]

Ok. You've convinced me.

New PSU: CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 (CMPSU-600CX) 600W ATX12V $69.99 w/$20 mail in rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139019

New Mobo: ASUS P8P67 LE (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131706

New CPU & RAM Combo: i7-2600k & G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.644497

New Total Price: $1,375.87 + Shipping w/ $60 in mail in rebates

@OP. If you are set on 16GB you can still go with the old combo deal, its $90 more.

 

[rocky53]

First I gotta say THANK YOU to all who provided input. I've got to digest all the feedback and will report back in a few days; but some comments:
Given the "relative low cost of memory, I see no real reason to not max out at 16GB" Any negative impacts (besides a little more $$?).

600W PSU seems reasonable; I messed up with the original 380W.

I do not understand the issue around RAID and the motherboard. Can the MB do a RAID set up for Data Security w/o an additional card? I was under the impression, perhaps mis-quided that a RAID setup would allow for one HDD to fail, replace it, and then reboot with no loss of data. I plan to do backups but I have LOST data due to a failed HDD.

Finally: I am confused over the GPU recommendation. Can someone clarify and recommend a GPU or 2. I could go with a lower cost one initially and if I do get into gaming, then upgrade?

Thank you again!

 

[gametstr]

about the GPU
well u were originally considering the 560 Ti. At the same price point u get better value if u spend a few more bucks and get the Radeon HD 6950 instead.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card-game-performance-radeon-hd-6670,2935-4.html

Hope that helps.

 

[aznshinobi]

^+1

600w is more than reasonable, you'd only need 500w really for your system. As for RAID, no the Motherboard can handle a RAID setup, it's just up to how many HDDs, I haven't messed with and read to much on RAID (I don't plan on using anything more than a 2 HDD RAID 0), but I can guarantee a motherboard can at least run a RAID 1 configuration with 3 HDDs. Yes that is correct RAID 1 can do that, but it shouldn't be the only thing you do. It is good to have backups, which is what you're doing.

 

[subasteve5800]

I'm not sure you need to be spending $250+ on your graphics card for light gaming. You can get a 6870 for about $200. That will play every game at 1900x1080 with faily high settings. You won't be able to turn on all the eye candy in every game but you'll get playable frame rates for the foreseeable future.

What you should really do, and I know I'm changing my own reccomendation, is get a motherboard with two PCIe x16 slots. That way, if you ever need more power than the 6870, you can buy another and crossfire them. That will give you good bang for your buck right now, and leave an upgrade path if you decide to get into gaming later.

New Mobo with two PCIe x16 slots: ASUS P8P67 PRO (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $179.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131703

New Total Price: $1,420.87 + Shipping w/ $60 in mail in rebates

Edit: I'm leaving for vacation tomorrow and won't have access to a computer for like 2 weeks (scary I know). Listen to AznShinobi. He know's his stuff. Good luck on your build!

 

[aznshinobi]

Another solid board is the GD65
http://www.amazon.com/MSI-P67A-GD65-B3-Intel-Motherboards/dp/B004P3X4VU%3FSubscriptionId%3D19BAZMZQFZJ6G2QYGCG2%26tag%3Dsquid1240995-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB004P3X4VU

It'll be a bit cheaper, but still be solid. The 6870 is a solid card. And defiantly is a better thing for light gaming, the 6850/460 would be sufficient.