1st Build for under $1100

[clashofspears]

Approximate Purchase Date: This week for most parts

Budget Range: under $1100

System Usage from Most to Least Important: work, more work, internet, occasional streaming media (my PC gaming days have passed)

Are you buying a monitor: No use a LG W2353 at 1920x1080

Do you need to buy OS: Yes but do not need to include in price

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg but any US based would work

Location: Orange County California

Parts Preferences: Intel chip, no other real preferences

Overclocking: Eventually, probably 1-2 years away

SLI or Crossfire: No

Additional Comments: Work from home – dusty year round and warm in the summer
While price to performance is top priority, I would like a fairly quiet machine. I have never built my own PC so would prefer an easy to work with case (dust filters are a plus)

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading
Old XP machine is no longer suitable as my work computer. I use Office daily, Acrobat X Pro weekly, Adobe CS5.5 occasionally and update a website a few times a month. Also heavy file sharing and use numerous web based programs to collaborate/share. Nothing particularly intensive but lots of multitasking focused on grant and project management.

These are my thoughts so far. Please make any recommendations you see fit. Thanks.

Processor: Intel Core i5-3570 K

Case: NZXT Phantom 410 on sale for $80 at the moment
(maybe Antec 1100 for the dust filters)

SSD: Samsung 830 or Crucial m4 128 GB SSD drive

Video Card: Is it worth it to spend $125 on something like a HD 7770 or should
I wait a year and if I need more video power add something like a 560Ti?

Motherboard: Biostar TZ77XE3 $130 vs Gigabyte GA-Z77X $130 w/$15 rebate vs AsRock 4 Extreme at $115

Memory: 2x4 DDR1600 G Skills Ripjaw/Sniper vs Corsair Vegenaance/Vengenance LP

Power: Corsair TX 650 V2, Antec EA-750, Rosewill Capstone 650
or NZXT HALE 82 650

Hard Drive: ?
Optical: ?
Keyboard: ?
Mouse: ?

 

[allanitomwesh]

Seagate Barracuda 1tb is a good deal. Reliable too,or Samsung spinpoint f3.
Lite On 24x DVD writer. Cheap, fast,reliable.
Logitech Keyboard mouse combos. Stylish,high quality, good value.
I believe the cooler master 690 2 Advanced case would meet the criteria. On sale at newegg.
Go with the Samsung 830
Go with the 7770 now.
Asrock extreme 4. Very reliable, most features for price.
G skill sniper or ares. 2×8gb cause of cs5 suite.
The Antec. Though any will do,they're all capable.

 

[jk47_99]

I'd consider dropping the graphics card and getting a i7 3770k, which will handle all your office tasks and multitasking, then use the on board graphics of the CPU for watching any streaming media and other low level graphical tasks.

If you do get the gaming bug back, which can happen, then at least you can buy the latest thing out there at that time, even the i7 will be able to handle games at around medium settings.

The NZXT Phantom 410 is a nice case, and I'd recomend the Rosewill PSU.

 

[allanitomwesh]

^That's a good way to do it. The i7 would work well.

 

[Kamen_BG]

Hi i made a build that you're going to like very much.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3820 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($289.98 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Zalman ZM-CNPS14X CPU Cooler ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock X79 Extreme6 ATX LGA2011 Motherboard ($224.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: A-Data Premier Pro SP900 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: A-Data Premier Pro SP900 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec P280 ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: OCZ 600W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($39.25 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Sony AD-7280S-0B DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1097.16
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-09-04 04:46 EDT-0400)

It's a very fast PC.Which will also work very very silently.It's also upgradable to the upcoming Ivy Bridge-E CPU's.It's very overclockable and has enough room and power for any graphicsa card out there.It just amazing.Just what you need.

And about th keyboard and mouse.You should choose them on your own.

 

[allanitomwesh]

what's wrong with one 512gb ssd?
A 3770K is just as good,and WAY cheaper to build its chipset.

 

[azeem40]

You have a microcenter right in Orange County.

 

[clashofspears]

You have a microcenter right in Orange County.

Yes. And the i5 3570K is $190 and the i7 3770K is $290 right now.

 

[clashofspears]

Thanks for your input. I went ahead and order a few things last night to take advantage of 20% off at newegg. So at the moment I have the following on order
Case: NZXT Phantom 410
PSU: NZXT HALE 82 650 W modular
RAM: G Skills Ripjaws X DDR3 1600 2x4 GB
So $222 is committed but $778-$888 remains in play.

i5 vs i7 I had not really considered the i5 3570K has the Intel HD Graphics 4000 and I had always purchased the mid point chip in the past. (Perhaps influenced by all those best value gaming builds that are always i5s) I like the
suggestions of going with the 3770K now and worrying about at GPU down the line. (I assume the i7 is worth $100 more for my situation)

Motherboards: I was just going off the TH review from July. With an i7 should
I consider a mid range board or stick with the AS Rock Extreme 4 for $115. (The two recs from TH for Mid Range: the Extreme 6 is $190 but comes with a free OCZ 3 Agility 60GB SSD and the MSI z77a-gd65 is $162 after $15 rebate)

RAM: allanitomwesh should I return the Ripjaws X and order the Sniper instead?
Why is Sniper/Ares better when working in CS? Thanks.

jk47_99 thanks for the recs My gaming days are definitely over though I rocked the 9800 Pro playing the original CoD/MoH/Max Payne. I sometimes fiddle around in Fifa or NHL on the Xbox but Skyrim (Xbox) was the first new game I purchased in years.

Kamen_bg That is certainly a quality rig but I dont think I need two SSDs and would rather stick with Samsung. I thought about the using the LGA Socket for "future proofing" but decided against it.


SSDs: I have only used 50GB in ten years on my old Dell (little music, no movies or games/some photos) so I thought 128 would be plenty for OS, applications and storage. Should I add a mechanical drive for backing everything up? I am using an old My Book external for such purposes at the moment.

Optical: LiteOn/Samsung/Sony 24x depending on total cost


My apologies for the rather terse and sloppily organized initial post. I've been reading the reviews/forums for the past month and trying to put together my notes. Yesterday, I was on my way out the door for a family event and just threw something up to get some advice since the newegg discounts ended at midnight.
Thank you for taking the time to look at my post and offer advice.

 

[jk47_99]

With all the multitasking and programming that you are going to do, that $100 will be well spent, rather than putting it towards an average GPU which you might not use and won't be that much better than the on board graphics.

Never say never when it comes to games, I remember my dad playing the original Wing Commander and after a long break he's back into games in a big way! It just takes one game to do it, and I have to say Max Payne 3 is one hell of a game...

 

[allanitomwesh]

Well,
For Adobe Aftereffects more ram is always better,it utilizes alot of it. Also,Ares is low profile ram,a neater fit(with a more roomy CPU cooler especially) The ripjaws will work fine don't worry.
I agree with going with the i7 3770(k) . A card can always come later.
The extreme 4 will work fine, though you could get the Extreme 6,put windows on your 60gb and store on the Samsung for a quiet rig. I'm only suggesting this because you'll need the speed and quiet more than capacity.
I prefer Asus over Sony for drives. The others are also good.