Genius Computer Gnomes, UNITE!

[RMassoudi]

Hello folks,

I'm in the market to throw together a new machine for my office. I'm a shitty structural engineer and an even worse architect, but I'll need to impress my poor clients with fancy renderings - so design me a rig worthy of gaming. Budget, including a monitor (19" or larger), but not mouse and keyboard is around $1300. My budget is flexible, but I want the best bang for my buck in this range. Care to help me?

Thanks,
Rod

 

[guerrero]

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/353572-31-build-upgrade-advice

 

[RMassoudi]

Thanks. Didn't realize things have changed...

Approximate Purchase Date: Next week (to allow some time to shop around for products)
Budget Range: $1300 +/-. Rebates and avoiding paying sales tax are nice though.
System Usage from Most to Least Important: CAD programs, Renderings, gaming. Is there a difference in build between these three options?
Are you buying a monitor: Yes
Parts to Upgrade: Everything. Brand new tower, new mouse, new keyboard, new monitor.
Do you need to buy OS: Yes
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Any website that you'd buy from.
Location: City, State/Region, Country - San Francisco, CA, USA
Parts Preferences: Up to you.
Overclocking: Yes
SLI or Crossfire: Maybe, if it's worth it.
Your Monitor Resolution: Not entirely sure about monitors. All I know is that I want a relatively large monitor. 19"+, so that I can have more screen real-estate when doing my designs.
Additional Comments: Any tips, tricks, OC ranges, anything you can share, let me know.
And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: I need it for work. "I'm a shitty structural engineer and an even worse architect, but I'll need to impress my poor clients with fancy renderings - so design me a rig worthy of gaming. Budget, including a monitor (19" or larger), but not mouse and keyboard is around $1300. My budget is flexible, but I want the best bang for my buck in this range. Care to help me?"

 

[manofchalk]

So are you actually going to be using this machine for any real work or is just going to be a display piece?

EDIT:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($127.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($80.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 1GB Video Card ($169.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 300R Windowed ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Dell U2312HM 23.0" Monitor ($245.41 @ Mac Connection)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($87.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1218.28
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-04 22:59 EST-0500)

That is a fairly good, overclocking workstation with moderate gaming capabilities (and if your programs can leverage OpenCL, you got some GPU grunt to help with rendering and such). Has an IPS panel, so the monitor is a lot more vibrant than your typical TN panel, which will help when working and showing off. The case has a window to again show off the rig and is professional looking.
However, couldnt get a mouse keyboard in the budget, as well as I don't know what you would like. Peripherals are quite personal, what I like you might hate. So you'l have to find them on your own.

 

[guerrero]

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/vXcl
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/vXcl/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/vXcl/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($127.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7870 2GB Video Card ($204.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.98 @ Outlet PC)
Monitor: Asus VH236H 23.0" Monitor ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1157.86
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-04 23:50 EST-0500)

Pretty similar to the one above

Hopefully im not missing anything

 

[RMassoudi]

So are you actually going to be using this machine for any real work or is just going to be a display piece?

...

That is a fairly good, overclocking workstation with moderate gaming capabilities (and if your programs can leverage OpenCL, you got some GPU grunt to help with rendering and such). Has an IPS panel, so the monitor is a lot more vibrant than your typical TN panel, which will help when working and showing off. The case has a window to again show off the rig and is professional looking.
However, couldnt get a mouse keyboard in the budget, as well as I don't know what you would like. Peripherals are quite personal, what I like you might hate. So you'l have to find them on your own.

Thank you. Also the answer to your question is yes - I will primarily be doing design on this computer. Again, thank you very much - brilliant.

 

[RMassoudi]

Out of curiosity, what would you change in this rig if the primary function was gaming?

 

[manofchalk]

Drop half the RAM and the CPU to a 3570k, then invest the saved cash into a 660Ti/HD7950 (I prefer the 7950, but both are fairly close).

If Crossfire/SLI was a concern (for Eyefinity/Surround gaming) then also upgrade the PSU to 750W to accommodate that.

 

[k1114]

I'd suggest adding a ssd in any build at this budget.

 

[RMassoudi]

I'd suggest adding a ssd in any build at this budget.

What would you recommend? I bought an OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD (still love the brand, though) a couple years ago and it let me taste the heavens and died a cruel and unexpected death. I mourned for days. Do you know if SSD manufacturers have gotten over this problem of premature deaths?

 

[manofchalk]

Modern drives are a lot more reliable than older ones, now the drive should be long obsolete before it wears out.

If you want to stick with OCZ, theres the Vertex 4 and the Vector to have a look at. The other big contenders are the Samsung 830 and 840 Pro.

 

[RMassoudi]

Modern drives are a lot more reliable than older ones, now the drive should be long obsolete before it wears out.

If you want to stick with OCZ, theres the Vertex 4 and the Vector to have a look at. The other big contenders are the Samsung 830 and 840 Pro.

You're clearly far better versed than myself. What would you use? I noticed you're using the Vertex 4.

 

[manofchalk]

If I had unlimited cash and was building my system right now, a Samsung 840 Pro.
More realistically, a Samsung 830.

Just that when I built my system the Vertex 4 was the best at the time. The 830 and 840 wernt released by then.
Though if you are after great write speeds (so your using it to record FRAPS footage too, a render output drive, scratch disk while video editing) then the Vertex 4 is still a good option since it has great write speeds. While the Samsung 830 (its main competitor) has better read speeds, making it more suited to being an OS drive which isn't really written too a lot.

 

[RMassoudi]

Please critique this build when you get a chance. I built it off of manofchalk and guerrero's efforts.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/w26E

Q's:
Does the core clock speed mean anything on these video cards, now that you can easily OCL them?

Recommend any fans to put in this machine?

Beyond being a novice in general when it comes to building computers, I have ABSOLUTELY no idea about monitors. What should I be looking for?

Also, since I'm looking to use a SSD, anyone recommend any external HDD's to keep my sleeping soundly at night?

 

[manofchalk]

Builds fairly good, though wheres a HDD? 256GB wont last long if thats the only storage the machine's got. I would downgrade to 128GB and throw in a 1TB HDD.

1. Depends if you are actually going to overclock. If you are, then it doesn't matter if your dont get a factory overclocked card.

2. The 300R comes with an intake 140mm fan (with ability for two) and an exhaust 120mm. Also has two 120/140mm mounts on the side and top. I would move the front intake to the side, then get two blue LED 120/140mm fans to mount at the front.

3. A decent resolution is the basic thing to look for, which that Hanspree does offer (1920x1080). Beyond that your looking for physical size (if that concerns you) and then what kind of panel it is.
Your standard monitor is a TN panel, they are cheap and fast.
Then there's 120hz TN panels, which are even faster and can display an FPS up to 120. Gaming and generally using the machine will feel a lot more responsive. Very expensive though.
At the opposite end there are IPS panels, which are slower than TN but have much better colour reproduction and wider viewing angles than TN panels, while also offering larger resolutions. So the image is much more vivid and of higher quality, however IPS panels are more expensive than TN.
At the extreme opposite end is PLS panels, which is basically IPS on steroids. Considering that the cheapest PLS I know of is $700, I think its a bit unrealistic for this build.

4. Why would you want an external drive for this? Better off with internal HDD's, perform much better and are cheaper per gigabyte.

 

[k1114]

You'd still want to look at the monitor's review. I'm talking about professional reviews, not comments you'd see on newegg.

 

[RMassoudi]

Best answer selected by RMassoudi.