$900- $1200 Software Dev build

[hiccuphell]

Approximate Purchase Date: Oct 15 2011

Budget Range: $900-1200

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Developing Software w/ Eclipse, Xcode, Oracle, MySQL, JBoss, Websphere, apache, multiple instance of JVMs, Running VMWare or VirtualBox with two or three instances, etc.

Requirements: I would like a build that is fast for 80% of what i have listed above. Run at least Two 24" monitors (1920x1080) and maybe a third in command line mode for monitoring log files and initiating build and deploy. I'm not so much into gaming unless angrybirds.chrome.com is considered gaming.

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

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com, ncix.com

Country of Origin: USA/Canada

Parts Preferences: Open to Suggestion

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Say what?

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Nice To Have: quiet, easy-ish to build, low power(ie heat) or am i going to get a lot of laughs from this one?

Additional Notes: (which im lacking knowledge in)
- I would consider SSD(s) if they are that much better. Or would 6gbs be fast enough? I would use a ssd for boot/OS/Dev Folder/Working Folder and other large SATA drives for backup, storage, non essential file server and
- Is i7 2600k the way to go?
- do i need separate graphics card or can i use a three graphics output board that can handle two or threex1920x1200? Years ago on board graphics chips were crap. Is that the same today?
- I've heard power supplies are important to gaming mostly. Yet cheap products can burn out hardware.

 

[battlemarz]

I'll add some quick comments to get you thinking, I'm sure others will post more detailed stuff soon.

First question: Why do you want a Biostar motherboard? They are far from top tier and you will only save a small amount.

Next, AMD Bulldozer are being officially announced in a week or so, if you can wait for them you should. You would want an AM3+ motherboard to go with it. If your preference is AMD, this will give you the best performance.

For 3 Monitors you will likely need a discrete graphics card, there are some low-medium range ones which are low power and are inexpensive.

Power supplies are always very very important. You lost a supply and it can take down everything in your system if you don't have a quality one. Now, you can still get a good brand with a lower wattage for a good price. Corsair has a 430W or a 500W that should be good and worry free.

I can come back with some parts if I find time later today.

 

[hiccuphell]

I'll add some quick comments to get you thinking, I'm sure others will post more detailed stuff soon.

First question: Why do you want a Biostar motherboard? They are far from top tier and you will only save a small amount.

Next, AMD Bulldozer are being officially announced in a week or so, if you can wait for them you should. You would want an AM3+ motherboard to go with it. If your preference is AMD, this will give you the best performance.

For 3 Monitors you will likely need a discrete graphics card, there are some low-medium range ones which are low power and are inexpensive.

Power supplies are always very very important. You lost a supply and it can take down everything in your system if you don't have a quality one. Now, you can still get a good brand with a lower wattage for a good price. Corsair has a 430W or a 500W that should be good and worry free.

I can come back with some parts if I find time later today.

Thanks for the reply.
And (e.g.: I would like to use an AMD CPU & Biostar mobo with a 24" LCD and full tower case) was a mistake. I mistakenly left the default template example in my opening post.
Yes I can wait a couple of weeks for new releases.
And Yes please if you can find some time. I'd like some suggestions.

HH

 

[michxymi]

This is a workstation machine, so 3 things are a must

1)Intel - Nvidia is the clear winner at this category

2)Reliability is a must (you won't overclock anything and you have to choose reliable parts)

3)Low noise and power consumption

I'll post a build soon

 

[battlemarz]

I would start off with the following:

Motherboards to consider:
GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3 LGA 1155
GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 LGA 1155
They have slightly different feature sets around the same price. Z68 is what I would recommend. (Video out from the motherboard as well as from a discrete card for the multiple displays you said you may use. The two above are the best ones i found at a low price with ample SATA 6GBp/s, but you could find other Z68s.

Pair it with
i5-2500k (4 Core no multithreading)
i7-2600k (4 Core multithreaded to 8)
The i5 should perform nearly as well at a good savings.

As I mentioned before I'd go with any of the corsair builder series PSUs. 430 watt, 500watt, or 600 watt.

Because this is a development machine, a lot of ram will be one of your best friends. 16GB ought to do it.
CORSAIR XMS3 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
Just first set I found that I liked, again you could choose whatever fits your budget and needs.

If you can afford it a nice SSD for OS and applications would be nice.
OCZ Vertex 3 VTX3-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC SSD

Should give you a good start, of course there are alternatives to everything above. It may be a good idea to wait on benchmarks for bulldozer to decide if you would rather go AMD over i5/i7.

 

[hiccuphell]

ok so here is my attempt. And thank you for all help. Its been years since i've built a custom. I may end up buying just one or outfitting the project team so maybe upwards of 10 builds.

GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz

Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 V2 600W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

CORSAIR XMS3 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

OCZ Vertex 3 VTX3-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Do i need this bracket?
SilverStone SDP08 3.5" to 2 x 2.5" Bay Converter


Some Questions

The above main board has three video outputs, will it drive three monitors?

What happens when two monitors are better then the third? i.e. two are 1820x1200 and the third is less then that. I will be using this 2nd to monitor log files and remote connections to database and app servers so I don't need a high resolution.

What about a CPU cooling fan? Or is that included with the CPU package?

What about case fan, do i need another?

When is AMD bulldozer being released?

Am i missing anything here?

 

[aznshinobi]

Hiccup you should wait for Bulldozer to come out in 5 days. It'll be cheaper than the 2600K but should perform quite well. Also 8GB is good enough, 16GB is crazy. Especially for coding, at school we ran Eclispe and heavy coding during AP Comp Sci with only 4GB of ram and a C2D.

So with that said, I suggest waiting for the 8-core FX-8xxx since VMwares are highly reliant on the amount of cores and the FX8xxx has 8 cores. Also it should be beast at multi-threading.

 

[hiccuphell]

Hiccup you should wait for Bulldozer to come out in 5 days. It'll be cheaper than the 2600K but should perform quite well. Also 8GB is good enough, 16GB is crazy. Especially for coding, at school we ran Eclispe and heavy coding during AP Comp Sci with only 4GB of ram and a C2D.

So with that said, I suggest waiting for the 8-core FX-8xxx since VMwares are highly reliant on the amount of cores and the FX8xxx has 8 cores. Also it should be beast at multi-threading.

Thanks for the advice. I'll wait for bulldozer and see.

For a stand alone coding box i agree 4-6 gigs is fine but running several instances of oracle on VM's is mem costly. And memory is cheap. I used to sell 16 Megs of ram when i was in university for $600. Times have changed.

 

[battlemarz]

Hiccup you should wait for Bulldozer to come out in 5 days. It'll be cheaper than the 2600K but should perform quite well. Also 8GB is good enough, 16GB is crazy. Especially for coding, at school we ran Eclispe and heavy coding during AP Comp Sci with only 4GB of ram and a C2D.

So with that said, I suggest waiting for the 8-core FX-8xxx since VMwares are highly reliant on the amount of cores and the FX8xxx has 8 cores. Also it should be beast at multi-threading.

He listed his purchase date as 10/15 which may not allow time to wait until Bulldozer. If he can wait, then yes it would be a good idea to wait for the benchmarks and compare builds between i7 and FX.

As far as the ram goes. I'm sure you did fine in class on 4GB of RAM. He mentioned multiple virtual machines at once with many programming environments running.

$100 for 16GB of RAM is well worth the price if you can then allocate 2GB to each VM and still have 8GB to run everything else on your machine seamlessly.

Some Questions

The above main board has three video outputs, will it drive three monitors?

What happens when two monitors are better then the third? i.e. two are 1820x1200 and the third is less then that. I will be using this 2nd to monitor log files and remote connections to database and app servers so I don't need a high resolution.

What about a CPU cooling fan? Or is that included with the CPU package?

What about case fan, do i need another?

When is AMD bulldozer being released?

Am i missing anything here?

I highly doubt the motherboard will support more than 1 display. It may do 2. Disclaimer: I have never actually tried to use motherboard video output along with discrete video, but in reading some other forums it was suggested as a way to get more displays. I would get more definite information and for sure don't just order 10 machines like you said you may do without trying out the setup.

Will will probably want to pickup (if NVIDIA) a GT fermi based card to give you the 2 displays, then hopefully the third can work off of the 2600k and mobo.

Keep in mind, if you go with AMD Bulldozer (FX), you will not have the option of motherboard video for another display.

Differing resolutions should give you no problems as long as you set them up properly in windows and your video drivers.

CPUs come with coolers, if you want to lower your temperature and sound you could look into an aftermarket. Easy choice is Cooler Master Hyper 212+ for a good inexpensive option. There are of course many more to look at.

As for case fans, the Antec 300 is pretty good with what it comes with, and they are easy to add later if you feel like you need them.

 

[hiccuphell]

I highly doubt the motherboard will support more than 1 display. It may do 2. Disclaimer: I have never actually tried to use motherboard video output along with discrete video, but in reading some other forums it was suggested as a way to get more displays. I would get more definite information and for sure don't just order 10 machines like you said you may do without trying out the setup.

Will will probably want to pickup (if NVIDIA) a GT fermi based card to give you the 2 displays, then hopefully the third can work off of the 2600k and mobo.

Hey thanks for your help.

So what NVIDIA card is good value? And which is best for this setup mobo? (i.e. does the mobo have a specific graphics slot and do i need to pair it with the appropriate card?)

 

[battlemarz]

Hey thanks for your help.

So what NVIDIA card is good value? And which is best for this setup mobo? (i.e. does the mobo have a specific graphics slot and do i need to pair it with the appropriate card?)

So you will want a PCI-express video card to go into the slot on the motherboard. I'll list some examples of both NVIDIA and AMD/ATI

SAPPHIRE 100322L Radeon HD 6450 1GB DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
$50. Passively cooled, make sure you have good airflow through case. The only active cooled HD 6450s I saw were only 512MB, but they should be enough too if all you are doing is driving monitors for coding purposes.

GIGABYTE GV-N520OC-1GI GeForce GT 520 (Fermi) 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready
$60. Has a small fan.

I don't know the performance benchmarks of each of those off the top of my head, but I'd assume they would be comparable. They are also recent models and technologies, so you aren't looking at older hardware that has been marked down.

Both will drive 2 monitors. (One from HDMI or DVI and the other from VGA I believe. I don't know if you can do HDMI and DVI at the same time on these cards, someone else would have to verify).

Then you could run a 3rd from the intel motherboard, or if AMD processor has better performance, we can look into cards that will for sure drive 3 monitors at a decent price. (Again, needs to be checked as I have not personally done it.)

Either the Radeon HD 6450 or GeForce GT520 I think would work very well, but have not owned either of them myself. You should consider any of the following brands to find cheapest option. (Sapphire, Asus, Gigabyte, EVGA, MSI. Probably in that order of quality although it is debatable)

You could probably get a lesser card from either brand to do the job, but 50-60 dollars seems pretty decent.

 

[aznshinobi]

OP Doesn't need a dedicated card. Much of the builds that are like HTPC's are using motherboard display and they work fine. AMD has done a nice job with integrating the onboard graphics (AMD 42xx).

Also OP Wait for Bulldozer, it releases on 10-12 so it'll be good to go in 5 days. This is a hard launch set in stone. Microcenter and many other retailers+sites have confirmed it.

 

[battlemarz]

OP Doesn't need a dedicated card. Much of the builds that are like HTPC's are using motherboard display and they work fine. AMD has done a nice job with integrating the onboard graphics (AMD 42xx).

Also OP Wait for Bulldozer, it releases on 10-12 so it'll be good to go in 5 days. This is a hard launch set in stone. Microcenter and many other retailers+sites have confirmed it.

Can it drive 3 displays from the motherboard? I've never tried doing that.

 

[cutebeans]

Can it drive 3 displays from the motherboard? I've never tried doing that.

What you're looking for are eye infinity GPU.

A 5770 or 6770 would be able to give you that.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161387

 

[aznshinobi]

Oh, yeah no onboard video will not display on 3 monitors. But OP may not need 3 monitors.

 

[hiccuphell]

Here is my latest attempt. Does this build make sense?
Am I missing anything obvious or some components not aligned?
Ive put two links per each item for .com and .ca


case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042

power
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028

mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128498
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128498

cpu
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070

mem
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145347
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145347

video
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161387
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161387

ssd
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227706
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227706

 

[aznshinobi]

I'd suggest this SSD.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442
Practically same speed, cheaper but also rather more reliable than the SF-2200 controllers until fixes of course.

Would suggest this PSU but sold out.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371044&Tpk=Antec%20650

For the motherboard, to save money go with this.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128502&Tpk=Z68%20D3h
It's not bad, actually performs well also overclocks very well.

 

[hiccuphell]

I'd suggest this SSD.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442
Practically same speed, cheaper but also rather more reliable than the SF-2200 controllers until fixes of course.

Would suggest this PSU but sold out.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371044&Tpk=Antec%20650

For the motherboard, to save money go with this.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128502&Tpk=Z68%20D3h
It's not bad, actually performs well also overclocks very well.

Thanks. I'll make these changes.

Some dumb questions. Does this mobo come with onboard wireless nic? I cant find it in the specs. I've just seen several new desktops pass by the office lately with wireless built in. But these were mostly HP and Dell

 

[aznshinobi]

No, you'll have to buy a seperate adapter. Cheap USB ones usually do fine.