Okay choices for a sub $1000 home system?

BluesCruiser

Honorable
Sep 22, 2012
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10,510
Hi,

I'm building my first system and would like to get some input if I could.

This will be a home system expected to last 5 or 6 years. Interested in light photo editing (16MP camera) and will be doing a video editing project with about 50GB worth of data to manipulate (remove 60 cycle hum, clip and splice etc.) and then future light video editing. No gaming at all but way too much time web hopping and some netflix viewing.

I'm a computer programmer (eclipse/java) using a Dell Optiplex 740 at work (AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core, DDR2, 4GB) so I'm hoping this system will blow it away performance wise.

These are the parts I already have from my older system:

Monitor: Asus VH238H 23" LED Monitor with HDMI
Graphics card: EVGA 512-P3-1301-KR GeForce 8400 GS 512MB 32-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card
OS: Windows 7 Pro
HDD (Storage Device): WD Caviar Blue (SE16) 640GB WD6400AAKS-00A7B0 SATA 3 Gbps

And these are the parts I'm planning to purchase:

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570 (not 3570k) Quad-Core Processor - BX80637I53570, Amazon: 215
Mobo: Intel BOXDH77EB H77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Motherboard. Amazon: $100
Memory: Crucial Technology CT2KIT51264BA160B 8GB (4GBX2) DDR3 PC3-12800, Amazon: $42
Case: Antec Sonata Series SOLO II w Front USB3 ports, Newegg: $120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129177
Power: Rosewill CAPSTONE Series CAPSTONE-450 450W, 80 PLUS GOLD Certified, Newegg: $69
Single +12V Rail, ATX12V v2.31 EPS12V v2.92, SLI Ready, CrossFire Ready, Active - PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182066&Tpk=N82E16817182066
Boot Drive: Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive, Newegg: $110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442

The case and power supply combo are for a quiet/unobtrusive/smaller case with some room to work in. I wanted usb 3 on the front panel for future expansion since there are so many usb3 flash drives now and carrying large programs/databases home from work would be simpler with that speed available. I'm not really sure about the power supply except that it has a top fan to match the case and seems highly recommended. 450W would seem more than enough for a non-gaming system with a little future growth if needed.

The CPU and Mobo seem like a good price/performance combo and has the USB 3 headers for the case front panel. I'll never OC so the 3570k isn't needed. Per Intel the non (k) cpu also has extra support for virtual machine use if I ever want to go that way.

I think the 128GB SSD should be enough for OS and apps since my current 6 year old system only has 50GB on the main drive and I don't see adding anything significant in the near future. I have extra HDDs lying around for storage use.

Any suggestions or improvements in a similar ($650) price range would be much appreciated, particularly anything I might have gotten wrong on compatability stuff. Is it going to be cool enough with one case fan and the stock processor heat-sink and cpu fan?

Many thanks to all of the contributors here, it's really great having a place like this to get advice. I was a hardware engineer in an earlier lifetime but have always bought big-box pre-built offerings before. Finally I decided to "have it my way" and sites like this really help make that possible.
 
Solution
While the system, in it's current cooling configuration is most likely enough to handle all but the most extreme environments, I would still recommend adding a single 120mm front intake fan. To be perfectly honest, I doubt you'd hear a quality fan over the fans of your power supply and graphics card. Look to Scythe USA for quality 120mm fans.

-Wolf sends

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator
The CPU and Mobo seem like a good price/performance combo and has the USB 3 headers for the case front panel. I'll never OC so the 3570k isn't needed. Per Intel the non (k) cpu also has extra support for virtual machine use if I ever want to go that way.

Don't purchase a 3570 without getting the unlocked model. Get the 3450 and save some money there.

 

Wolfshadw

Titan
Moderator
I don't see anything wrong with your build. Looks good to me with one exception. If you're going to be working with those really large files, then you may want to consider upping your RAM to 16GB from 8GB. My system only has 8GB of RAM and I know from experience that my system started to really lag when working with an 11GB HD movie.

The stock cooling is going to be more than sufficient for cooling the CPU since you're not going to be overclocking. I would consider adding a front 120mm fan to assist in airflow through the case, however.

-Wolf sends
 

BluesCruiser

Honorable
Sep 22, 2012
6
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10,510



It seems like the Intel VT-d virtualization might offer some options down the road. As a programmer I've sometimes found use for having separate VMs to act as servers when I'm debugging client side software. Not sure if I'll be doing that on my home system, or how much that technology actually helps since I can of course run regular VMs on any processor. For a $20 difference in price I thought it might be worth getting the 3570.

Definitely appreciate the input though, thank you.
 

BluesCruiser

Honorable
Sep 22, 2012
6
0
10,510
I've also added an optical drive since my old one is ide/atapi and the new mobo won't support that.

Lite-On LightScribe 24X SATA DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive IHAS424-98 - Retail (Black)
$24.99 at Amazon:
 

BluesCruiser

Honorable
Sep 22, 2012
6
0
10,510


Thanks Wolf,

I was thinking about getting the system put together first and seeing how it feels. Then adding the extra ram and fans as needed.

I'm guessing it is going to feel like a massive speedup compared to what I'm running today so I wasn't sure if I would need the extra ram performance since I don't plan on doing "much" video work.

Also, if the system doesn't seem to be running hot I wanted to avoid any extra noise that more fans might bring.

I appreciate the input, thank you.
 

Wolfshadw

Titan
Moderator
While the system, in it's current cooling configuration is most likely enough to handle all but the most extreme environments, I would still recommend adding a single 120mm front intake fan. To be perfectly honest, I doubt you'd hear a quality fan over the fans of your power supply and graphics card. Look to Scythe USA for quality 120mm fans.

-Wolf sends
 
Solution

BluesCruiser

Honorable
Sep 22, 2012
6
0
10,510


I will look into that Wolf, thank you.

BC