First Build - Looking for Feedback on Part Selection

[johnson5067]

Hello everyone, this is my first build! I've been doing a lot of research over the last week or so, trying to figure out what I'm doing. I've got a preliminary list of parts that I would like some feedback on. Here's what I'm thinking:

CPU: i7-4790k
CPU Cooling: Corsair H105
Mobo: ASUS Maximus VII Gene mATX
RAM: G.Skill Trident X Series 32GB DDR3-2133
Video: ASUS GeForce GTX 770 2GB
SSD: Samsung 850 Pro 256GB (for OS)
HHD: (two) WD Black 3TB
Power: Corsair 760W 80+ Platinum
Case: Corsair Air 240
OS: Windows 8.1

The primary purpose for this computer will be for my wife's photography business. Lots of batch photo editing using Adobe Lightroom and transferring tons of GB of RAW and JPG files to hard drives. Also some moderate use of Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and inDesign. My understanding is that these programs are RAM hungry, hence the 32 GB. I'll also be using it for playing Minecraft, which I hear relies mostly on the CPU.

From my research I'm pretty set on the i7-4790k. I don't want a full-tower, which is I went for the Gene over the Hero and Formula so I could use the Air 240. (I'm open to other case suggestions though.) I also want to CAREFULLY play around with some moderate overclocking, just to push the components a little bit to get some extra performance. (Plus I'm an engineer, so tinkering around with the clock rates and voltages to get a stable OC sounds pretty fun and rewarding!)

One thing specifically I would like some advice on is the RAM selection. At first I chose DDR3-2400 thinking I of course wanted fast RAM. Then I learned about timings and how the higher CAS latency of faster RAM can negate its speed. I've read that the 2133/9 is a bit of a sweet spot for the 4790k. I also am confused about how getting 1.6 or 1.65 V RAM can hurt a CPU if the vcore and vdimm are separate variables.

Anything I've overlooked in terms of component compatibility? Did I go overboard on SSD size for just an OS or the wattage for the power supply? (PCPartPicker estimates ~500W for this system, would a 650W be more appropriate?) I don't need cutting edge/top-tier components but I do want fairly high quality and reliability.

Sorry for the wide variety of questions! I appreciate anyone taking the time to read through all of this and who will attempt to give me some feedback!

 

[Outlander_04]

The voltage in the RAM is also in the memory controller of the processor . The rest of the processor runs at much lower voltages .Voltage = heat . Heat = stress , and stress = a shorter life and no warranty
I would say use 1600 Mhz RAM , running at 1.5 volts and the lowest timings available .

It is unlikely you need 32 gig . That is an awfully large number of still photographs and webpages . 2 x8 gig is going to be enough .

Gaming graphics cards are not ideal for workstations . Buy a quaddro or firepro instead

 

[mdocod]

The applications you have listed won't appreciate any performance scaling from a workstation class GPU. They leverage mainstream APIs for the acceleration of interactive and manipulative functions. A workstation GPU's advantage here would be purely support. Whether or not it is worth the premium depends on how mission critical things are. None of those applications will appreciate much useful performance scaling beyond something like a GTX750. I would advise a K2200 or GTX750 depending on how much the build values official support in productivity/creativity applications vs cost. With the K2200 being nearly 4X the cost, (hardware wise it's equal to a GTX750Ti).

Moving along to the CPU, RAM, and Motherboard. If you're going to spend ~$200 on a motherboard and build a machine with 16-32GB of memory for use in a work environment, I wouldn't even bother with a Z97/H97 build. There's really no excuse not to be using an E3 Xeon on a C226 chipset board with ECC UDIMMs for this sort of machine. You're already in that budget class anyway here. DDR3 ECC UDIMMs come as 1600-11 speed/timings @ 1.35V or 1.5V. This may seem "slow" but I encourage you to look at what sort of performance scaling really comes from fast memory (usually less than 5%), vs how much time would be lost due to a corrupted file/s during a huge batch operation. Trust me when I say, for a non-real-time productivity workload, the performance advantages of overclocked unsupported memory speeds and voltages will never be more useful than the advantages of the reliability of ECC memory.

 

[johnson5067]

The applications you have listed won't appreciate any performance scaling from a workstation class GPU. They leverage mainstream APIs for the acceleration of interactive and manipulative functions. A workstation GPU's advantage here would be purely support. Whether or not it is worth the premium depends on how mission critical things are. None of those applications will appreciate much useful performance scaling beyond something like a GTX750. I would advise a K2200 or GTX750 depending on how much the build values official support in productivity/creativity applications vs cost. With the K2200 being nearly 4X the cost, (hardware wise it's equal to a GTX750Ti).

Moving along to the CPU, RAM, and Motherboard. If you're going to spend ~$200 on a motherboard and build a machine with 16-32GB of memory for use in a work environment, I wouldn't even bother with a Z97/H97 build. There's really no excuse not to be using an E3 Xeon on a C226 chipset board with ECC UDIMMs for this sort of machine. You're already in that budget class anyway here. DDR3 ECC UDIMMs come as 1600-11 speed/timings @ 1.35V or 1.5V. This may seem "slow" but I encourage you to look at what sort of performance scaling really comes from fast memory (usually less than 5%), vs how much time would be lost due to a corrupted file/s during a huge batch operation. Trust me when I say, for a non-real-time productivity workload, the performance advantages of overclocked unsupported memory speeds and voltages will never be more useful than the advantages of the reliability of ECC memory.

Thanks for the responses. I started with the 1150 and this type of build because my wife asked tons of other photographers what kind of computer she should get, and they all said "get a gaming pc," and the base clock speed of 4.0 GHz on the 4790k looked really good. However it looks like I need to reconsider my socket and chipset for a workstation.

Can you give me any links that can explain when using Xeon E3 processors and the C226 chipset are beneficial for a workstation build? Having trouble finding information and would like to know more. I found this short thread causing me pause before I swap over to your suggestion:

http://forums.cgarchitect.com/71126-udimm-versus-rdimm-ecc-versus-non-ecc.html

Also, I only see two compatible motherboards with the C226 chipset. On newegg I see the ASUS P9D WS (ATX) and on pcpartspicker I see the ASRock E3C226D2I (mini-ITX). I was hoping to stay in the mATX range. Only two motherboards seems low though, is there something I'm missing?

 

[Outlander_04]

I would stick with socket 1150 and the 4790

None of the work she is doing is going to need mission critical ECC RAM

 

[johnson5067]

Thanks for your thoughts too Outlander. After my own quick research on Xeons I'm leaning towards sticking with the 4790k as well. We'll see if mdocod has any other information though. I'm not super familiar with all the different sockets and chipsets so I'm open to anything.

Going back to what you said about RAM voltage though, let me see if I understand: The vdimm does not go exclusively to the RAM, it also goes to the processor's memory controllers, which for the 4790k is only rated to 1.5V. Is that correct? From many other threads I've read a lot of people seem comfortable with installing fast RAM with the 4790k and going above the 1.5V rating, even though it voids the warranty. I'll research the performance scaling on this though to decide for myself if that risk is worth it.

Would there be any performance disadvantages to using the full 32GB other than you thinking that much is unnecessary? (Better heat dissipation with only 2 sticks?)

 

[mdocod]

If you went to Apple, or Dell, or HP, or a professional custom computer assembler like myself (AllanMSystems), or a more established custom computer resource like PugetSystems, and described a machine that will be used for heavy duty professional image manipulation and batch work, they would pretty much ALL (including myself), point you to a machine with a Xeon and ECC memory. This is the standard for a workstation. The "get a gaming computer" is the easy, less sophisticated answer to the problem, and if that's the solution that makes you comfortable, then stick with what's easy and go for the i7. If you want to really know you have assembled a proper workstation with up to 10X higher reliability than a typical consumer "gaming" computer, then you should use enterprise class hardware.


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http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Advantages-of-ECC-Memory-520/

"At the cost of a little money and performance, ECC RAM is many times more reliable than non-ECC RAM. And when high-value data is involved, that increase in reliability is almost always going to be worth the small monetary and performance costs. In fact, anytime it is possible to do so, we would recommend using ECC RAM."

 

[johnson5067]

I would stick with socket 1150 and the 4790

None of the work she is doing is going to need mission critical ECC RAM

What are your thoughts on possibly getting a 5820k and going with the newer 2011-v3 socket? If this were just for gaming it would be an easy decision to stick with the 4790k/1150, but since this will be my wife's workstation it looks it might be worth it to go with the newer X99 system (that has all the new shiny performance optimizations and can utilize DDR4). 5820k has a lower base clock but almost everything I've read says you can OC it to the same levels you can OC the 4790k.

From what I can tell an X99 system will overall cost an extra $200-300 compared to Z79, but it means I will likely only have to upgrade a few components in 4-5 years rather than building an entirely new system again.

One downside is that there doesn't seem to be an amazing option yet for an X99 mATX board. There are two ASRock options (I've read they have a reputation for cutting corners) and one EVGA option (that a lot of people don't seem to like very much). Many are waiting for ASUS or Gigabyte to come out with an X99 mATX option, but it doesn't look like that's happening anytime soon. Would you still go with 4790k/ASUS mATX over 5820k/EVGA mATX?

 

[Outlander_04]

It might depend on the amount of work she is doing . If she is processing large numbers of images then a faster computer can only help . If she is working on a handful of images , or only one , then socket 1150 will be more than enough

 

[mdocod]

From my perspective, the i7-5820K/5930K/5960X and X99 chipset and associated platform is primarily targeted towards the enthusiast/overclocking/competition-bench-marking crowd and premium (overkill) gaming systems etc.

Haswell-E has a brother named Haswell-EP, which is sold as E5 1600/2600 V3 Xeons, and the C612 chipset. This is the same performance class of hardware as the "enthusiast" i7's listed above (actually, it can scale up much further, with multi-socket boards and up to 18 cores per CPU, but that's not likely to be useful in this application). However, the enterprise class of CPUs and chipsets supports ECC memory.

The cost to do the enterprise grade "version" of such a system isn't much different.

Here's the CPU/Motherboard/RAM:

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?p=E51650V3BX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128755
4X http://www.erwincomp.com/8gb-ddr4-pc4-2133-ecc-crucial-ct8g4rfs4213.html

That's ~$1300.

The motherboard even has a hardware RAID controller on it, a nice touch IMO.