Advice for a quiet high-performer on a budget

[pulpfiction110]

Looking to build a PC with these criteria:

-Performance (gaming, adobe lightroom for RAW photo editing, web browsing, etc.)
-Quite (as quite as possible)
-Will make it easier for me to build (if that's even possible since I've never done it by myself before)
-future proof (for instance, do I need the K versions of the intel CPU's?)
-budget: <= $1200

Would this work? (not sure if I need a CPU cooler):
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/zCT3#combo_deal_list

I'm still not sure if I need to buy an additional non-ssd HD with a high capacity since:
a) I could take out whatever I have from my 6 year old
b) I have a bunch of external HD's

Also, not sure about the keyboard, but I would like something sturdy and quite. Already have a nice mouse.

Hoping to get some good advice from those who know what they're talking about.

 

[djangoringo]

Do you plan to overclock the cpu ?
If you do get the i7-3770K, that board is expensive, a board like the asrock extreme 4 offers all you'll need, including crossfire/sli support, 4 sata iii ports, etc.
Get a 7950 with the savings of the motherboard, a 7950 gigabyte is a good choice.
If you want a silent case, then the fractal design R4 is your best choice : http://pcpartpicker.com/part/fractal-design-case-fdcadefr4tiw

And this for a psu : http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-m12ii620bronze

 

[pulpfiction110]

Do you plan to overclock the cpu ?
If you do get the i7-3770K, that board is expensive, a board like the asrock extreme 4 offers all you'll need, including crossfire/sli support, 4 sata iii ports, etc.
Get a 7950 with the savings of the motherboard, a 7950 gigabyte is a good choice.
If you want a silent case, then the fractal design R4 is your best choice : http://pcpartpicker.com/part/fractal-design-case-fdcadefr4tiw

And this for a psu : http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-m12ii620bronze

Thanks for the reply, djangoringo. I guess we're both fans of Tarantino.

Couple questions:

Would an i7-3770k be a bigger deal for me over an i5-3570k since I'm using it for not only gaming, but intense photo processing? And do I really need the overclockability?

Would this arock extreme 4 make my life easier when building the PC over the Asus P8Z77-V PRO ATX LGA1155 I had in my link? It's even cheaper...

The Fractal Design Define R4 has a window. Wouldn't it be even more quieter if it didn't?

Any reason why you think the SeaSonic M12II 620 PSU would be quieter and overall better than the CM Silent Pro PSU I had in my link?

And finally, do I really need the 7950 over the 7870? I do want to be future proof, but will this be overkill for me? I'm a gamer at heart, but I no longer have the time to put into gaming the way I used to when I was younger.

I'm really skeptical of AMD Radeon cards TBH. It's been years since I looked into it, but I always remember ATI not being too good with their support. Currently have an Nvidia 8800 GTS 640mb - Old school, but it never gave me any problems and it always had great support.

Also, should I just bite the bullet and get 16gb of ram over 8gb?


If anybody else can chime in it would be greatly appreciated!

 

[djangoringo]

If the usage of the pc includes editing, then it's worth getting the i7-3770k, since you're going the a z77 motherboard, get the unlocked i7, the overclock might be useful in the future.
The extreme 4 from asrock is a good choice.
The seasonic is a high quality psu and it's modular too, and it's cheaper.
You can buy the one without windows, i just put the cheapest available, the others are more ~10$-15$, there's no impact in terms of acoustics.
If you're a hardcore gamer the 7950 suits you best, if you're a casual one, a 7870 is more than enough, if you prefer nvidia, there's the 660 and 660 ti.
If it's for editing, 16GB of ram might be useful.

 

[pulpfiction110]

So for future proofing it won't really make a difference if I get a 7870 or a 7950? Games I'd play would be Diablo 3, COH2, and maybe get back into a FPS.

And if I'm going the 7950 route I may as well get the Boost like this HIS right?: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161420&Tpk=N82E16814161420

But then again I'm just not sure if it'll be overkill for me...

If I get the i7-3770k, would I need a CPU cooler? If so, which one has the best bang for the buck AND won't increase the noise level of the pc?

 

[djangoringo]

For a cooler get the hyper 212 evo it's cheap and efficient.
As for the card, it's up to you to decide if it's worth the extra, a 7950 overclocks really well, delivers great performance for any game or for future games.
Any good brand has the boost clock, the sapphire has, the his has, the gigabyte has.
They're all valid.

 

[pulpfiction110]

Which 7950 would you recommend with the Boost clock and that will also stay cool and quiet? I don't see a Gigabyte with the Boost clock available at newegg?

Also, the more research I do about the extreme 4 from asrock the more it gets me thinking that it's too good to be true.

A lot of negative reviews and comments: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13-157-265&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Page=2#scrollFullInfo

 

[djangoringo]

I was talking about the z77 extreme 4, that mobo is old and from a old chipset, it's this one : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157293

The sapphire is a good one, and it has a rebate of 20$ : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202006

 

[pulpfiction110]

Thanks to your advice right now my plan will be to purchase these parts within the next coming months (hopefully some of the prices will drop and/or sales):

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/zLNk


There's a warning however:
Potential Issues/Incompatibilities

Some Intel P67 chipset motherboards may need a BIOS update prior to using Ivy Bridge CPUs.

Should I be concerned?

Also, there are a lot of guides to building a system. Any one or two in particular I should follow to make my life easier when assembling everything?

 

[djangoringo]

Yes, you need a bios update in order to use the cpu, get the z77 board from the same brand.
Here's the fix : http://pcpartpicker.com/p/zLQC

For a guide see this : http://techreport.com/review/13671/how-to-build-a-pc

 

[pulpfiction110]

You are the man. Seriously.

I forgot to add 16gb memory. How's this?: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/zLX9

Also, 1x 2TB or 2x 1TB for HD?

 

[djangoringo]

A single 2TB like the one you listed.
There's cheaper ram, with cas 9, lower timings are better : http://pcpartpicker.com/p/zM14

And that's it.

 

[pulpfiction110]

This is my current monitor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824014124

Will I be severely bottlenecking myself when pairing with a monster gpu like the 7950? Or even worse, will it even be compatible?

 

[djangoringo]

No, no bottlenecking at all, it's compatible and it's a monitor with a higher resolution than the standard 1080p.
You're fine.

 

[pulpfiction110]

Best answer selected by pulpfiction110.

 

[pulpfiction110]

Hopefully django, or anybody else for that matter, will stop by this thread even though it's stated to be [Solved]...

If by a magical (and smart?) decision from Nvidia to lower the 670 to about the 7950 price point within the next coming 2-3 months, I may decide to go with Nvidia then.

If so, will my current configuration still be ok (MB and all)?

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/zMH4

 

[djangoringo]

Yes, all parts are good ones, and compatible.
I can't say for sure, if the 670 gtx will be at a lower price point, there's some rumors that amd will launch the new series this year and in the summer.
It's a question of checking the prices by then.