Need advice for mixed setup work/personal use

[Mathlabuser]

Hello everyone,
My Dell laptop i5 450M is not anymore powerful enough for my use. I am looking for a desktop that I would use for my personal use and my work (scientific research), I didn't find any good pre-built.
I don't want to bother with OC, but need enough power to run some software like Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, MatLab, ImageJ, Prism, and some other custom/specialized software that can be RAM/CPU intensive sometimes.

I'd also like to keep the possibility to add few PCI cards and maybe go for SLI in the future.

Budget:$1500 top with OS, I'm in the US.
After reading on this forum I came up with this configuration:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V2 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($224.98 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: NZXT HAVIK 120 75.8 CFM CPU Cooler ($45.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($124.98 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: Kingston 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($98.99 @ PCM)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra Plus 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($164.95 @ Adorama)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 660 Ti 3GB Video Card ($233.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Cooler Master HAF XB (Black) ATX Desktop Case ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ Microcenter)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($90.87 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1220.69
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

All comments are welcome. Thanks!

 

[Jaxem]

Nothing wrong with that build at all for what you're needing, though you'll probably need a bit beefier power supply to SLI in the future...actually, you will for sure, that PSU only has 2 PCIE power connecions...you'll need 4.

 

[g-unit1111]

I don't see any real need for a Xeon for that type of rig - you're probably better off going with an i7-4820K or an i7-4770K. The reason is that the Xeon does not support fast RAM speeds and usually requires slower, more system specific ECC RAM to get the most out of it.

 

[Mathlabuser]

@Jaxem you're right, I didn't think about future upgrades on PSU's side.
@g-unit I agree but I went for the Xeon for the performance/price aspect; i7 are kind of expensive for a $1500 build. For the same reason I should maybe consider and AMD 8 cores instead of Intel.

 

[g-unit1111]

@Jaxem you're right, I didn't think about future upgrades on PSU's side.
@g-unit I agree but I went for the Xeon for the performance/price aspect; i7 are kind of expensive for a $1500 build. For the same reason I should maybe consider and AMD 8 cores instead of Intel.

Not true at all, the Xeon price / performance difference is really kind of a strange anomaly if you ask me as it's offset because of the slower, more expensive ECC RAM. With the new chips it really does not make that huge of a difference. Plus you forfeit the use of onboard video which can be a helpful diagnostic tool. You can definitely build an i7 based build without sacfricing the rest of the components:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4820K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($314.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X60 98.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus P9X79 LE ATX LGA2011 Motherboard ($233.49 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($255.66 @ Newegg)
Case: Nanoxia Deep Silence 2 ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($71.30 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1433.38
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-03 14:42 EDT-0400)

 

[AxlFone]

I don't see any real need for a Xeon for that type of rig - you're probably better off going with an i7-4820K or an i7-4770K. The reason is that the Xeon does not support fast RAM speeds and usually requires slower, more system specific ECC RAM to get the most out of it.

Not true at all, the Xeon price / performance difference is really kind of a strange anomaly if you ask me as it's offset because of the slower, more expensive ECC RAM.

Now you need to understand one thing. In that build. Was there ECC memory? Here is the deal. Xeon supports ECC memory but it goes with normal regular 1.5V 1333/ 1600MHz just like any other intel cpu.

If you trow xeon to lga 1150MoBo. you really can NOT use ECC memory. Or can u? Support "ECC" do not mean it need or that it do not work with normal memory.

Look this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcB1BIyJ5j8

3820 is slower than new xeon 1230V3
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Xeon+E3-1230+v3+%40+3.30GHz&id=1942

 

[Mathlabuser]

Thanks for the feedback guys! I won't go for an i7 though it's not a bad idea to keep the onboard video as a diagnostic tool. It doesn't worse the price in my opinion, especially for the mobo requirements.
Now, I am considering an AMD...

 

[AxlFone]

You really do not need iGPU if you have video card on your system.
Xeon works just fine with any MoBo that supports that cpu.
1155 or 1150. And they work really well. Lot cooler cpu and fast as OC i5
No need to with AMD for that reason. Guys here just do not know how good xeon really is. Xeon 1230V2 is faster than gunits 3570k OC to 4.0GHz.
It is as gast as the @4.5GHz i5 and it do use less wattage.
Lot cooler so you do not need big cpu cooler with that.

 

[g-unit1111]

Now you need to understand one thing. In that build. Was there ECC memory? Here is the deal. Xeon supports ECC memory but it goes with normal regular 1.5V 1333/ 1600MHz just like any other intel cpu.

If you trow xeon to lga 1150MoBo. you really can NOT use ECC memory. Or can u? Support "ECC" do not mean it need or that it do not work with normal memory.

Look this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcB1BIyJ5j8

3820 is slower than new xeon 1230V3
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Xeon+E3-1230+v3+%40+3.30GHz&id=1942

I've heard that you can use the Xeon without ECC RAM but I still don't think I would purchase one. But I didn't recommend the 3820 - if you look I actually suggested the new 4820K.

 

[AxlFone]

Now you need to understand one thing. In that build. Was there ECC memory? Here is the deal. Xeon supports ECC memory but it goes with normal regular 1.5V 1333/ 1600MHz just like any other intel cpu.

If you trow xeon to lga 1150MoBo. you really can NOT use ECC memory. Or can u? Support "ECC" do not mean it need or that it do not work with normal memory.

Look this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcB1BIyJ5j8

3820 is slower than new xeon 1230V3
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Xeon+E3-1230+v3+%40+3.30GHz&id=1942

I've heard that you can use the Xeon without ECC RAM but I still don't think I would purchase one. But I didn't recommend the 3820 - if you look I actually suggested the new 4820K.

Yeah I did notice that 4820 Still xeon 1230V3 is faster than 3820 and that is really fast IMO

http://en.expreview.com/2012/04/16/intel-xeon-e3-1230-v2-processor-review/22470.html