Now that Haswell is out planning a new build mainly for DAW and light gaming

[DiverDave]

I've been waiting for Haswell to come out to decide on what to do to upgrade my 6+ year old system. It is an E6400 O/C to 2.7G and has been running well that way for a long time. I am not in any particular hurray to build a system but the current one is getting pretty slow. One of the most CPU intensive things I do is record music with ProTools DAW. It has a lot of plug ins and based on my most recent research it looks like Haswell does help enough for these kinds of applications to make it worth the price. I don't do a lot of gaming but do some and I also would like the next computer to last as long as this one so I do want to have good solid components that will be good for the foreseeable future. I will also likely O/C slightly but not too aggressively, just to take advantage of some boost in performance..

I have this right now

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/18KKy

I'm thinking of trying to slowly pick up parts as deals are available so am looking for any recommendations/concerns about the build. FYI the 16G is to make the computer easily handle the plugins for the DAW which can use up a lot of RAM. If I build this way it could take a few months to gather all the parts. I'd like to keep the budget under $1500

Thanks in advance for your expert commentary

 

[g-unit1111]

Get the Plextor M5S - it's the same price as the Crucial M4 and performs quite a bit better. Alternately consider the ADATA SXG9000. You could also get a slightly higher wattage PSU - maybe 750W if you plan to add a second card later on. But otherwise that build looks good. I say go for it.

 

[DiverDave]

Well I guess my plan is better than I though since I was away for the weekend and had to search to find this answer. Thanks G-unit I don't have any plans for a second card (I'm guessing a second card is for a second monitor?). I don't have room in that case

I'm wondering if the cooler is overkill if I'm not doing any aggressive O/Cing? I picked it because it seems quiet and while recording electric a bit of noise doesn't matter much it might for acoustic. I don't have a problem with my current system though so I'm not really sure how something like the Noctua compares to the Coolmaster EVO which is cheaper and seems to have a lot of good reviews/recommendations

 

[g-unit1111]

Well I guess my plan is better than I though since I was away for the weekend and had to search to find this answer. Thanks G-unit I don't have any plans for a second card (I'm guessing a second card is for a second monitor?). I don't have room in that case

I'm wondering if the cooler is overkill if I'm not doing any aggressive O/Cing? I picked it because it seems quiet and while recording electric a bit of noise doesn't matter much it might for acoustic. I don't have a problem with my current system though so I'm not really sure how something like the Noctua compares to the Coolmaster EVO which is cheaper and seems to have a lot of good reviews/recommendations

You really can't go wrong with a 212 Evo if you plan to do some mild overclocking. The D14 is for serious overclockers and it pretty much beats all but the priciest liquid coolers.

 

[DiverDave]

Thanks Gunit. I don't plan to go crazy with the OCing since it will likely generate more noise if I do anyway even with a better fan...they all have to move air