New build time

[beanboy89]

Since I suspect that my current desktop has bitten the dust, and I think I'm long overdue for a new build, now's the time for it. I haven't built a PC since 2006 when I built my current one. I haven't really kept up with with trends in PC hardware that closely, but I think I have a grasp in what I want. Anyway, I want something that will last me at least another six years. I don't necessarily have a budget, but I want to keep the price reasonable. I already have a case and optical drive to use, but I'll need a new motherboard, processor, RAM, video card, and hard drive. I've put together a tentative parts list. Not sure if what I have is overkill or insufficient.

Processor: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819116506

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813121508

Video Card: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814127515

Power Supply: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817256065

RAM: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820231308

Hard Drive: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820226236

Any input? Thanks.

[+PeterUK MVC]

It would seem you don't need it to do gaming?

PSU can be 400-450W if your not going to put a powerful video card in unless you want modular?

Go with faster RAM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231544

Go with a GIGABYTE or ASUS for Motherboard.

[capr]

Once again, you have to tell us what you are using the PC for.

Faster/more ram wouldn't hurt regardless of what you are using the box for.

I like OCZ agility 3 drives. don't know much about your selected SSD. I have heard good things about intel/corsair/ocz.

[nabz0r Veteran]

I agree with Peter here, go with faster RAM if you can afford it keep your stuff and buy faster RAM.

It would seem you don't need it to do gaming?

PSU can be 400-450W if your not going to put a powerful video card in unless you want modular?

Go with faster RAM

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820231544

Go with a GIGABYTE or ASUS for Motherboard.

[beanboy89]

I plan on using the computer as more of a workstation than anything else. The most intensive things I do are running a lot of virtual machines and doing some video and photo editing on the side. I'm beginning to wonder if I need a dedicated video card; is the Intel HD Graphics 2500 chipset on the processor sufficient?

As far as the power supply, I'd prefer to have a modular one, just to keep the clutter inside the case to a minimum, but I don't have to have one. I've looked into faster RAM, and am going to go for it; the price difference is negligible.

[Guest]

Unless there were in depth stellar reviews of an unbranded SSD, I would not invest in it.

[nabz0r Veteran]

Get 8GB then.

I plan on using the computer as more of a workstation than anything else. The most intensive things I do are running a lot of virtual machines and doing some video and photo editing on the side. I'm beginning to wonder if I need a dedicated video card; is the Intel HD Graphics 2500 chipset on the processor sufficient?

As far as the power supply, I'd prefer to have a modular one, just to keep the clutter inside the case to a minimum, but I don't have to have one. I've looked into faster RAM, and am going to go for it; the price difference is negligible.

[f0rk_b0mb]

I currently have an OCZ SSD and haven't had any issues with it. I would recomend you get this instead.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820227726

[beanboy89]

I currently have an OCZ SSD and haven't had any issues with it. I would recomend you get this instead.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820227726

That's one of the SSDs that I've looked into today. Seems to have gotten decent reviews. I do notice that this SSD, like most others I've come across are 2.5" drives. Will I need any special adapters to fit this into my case? And along those lines, my old hard drive is an IDE drive which I'd like to use for data storage. Next to no new motherboards that I've seen have IDE connectors, so I'll have to get an IDE to SATA adapter, right?

[f0rk_b0mb]

You are correct about getting an adapter.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232004

My OCZ came with an adapter that fits in a standard 3.5 bay. (I personally put it into my floppy bay so as to hide the wires better and stop cluttering the bottom of my case, as show below. The black part is the actual adapter that comes with it, the silver my personal bay (not included). I had to put it upside down so the screw holes would line up. When you get it it will be on the back of the portfolio in plastic wrap along with screws and instructions.

[beanboy89]

Thanks. I'll look into getting the right adapters (2.5" to 3.5" adapter and SATA to IDE). Any advice on the video card? Would the integrated Intel HD 2500 graphics on the Ivy Bridge i5 be sufficient?

[capr]

see where your motherboard says H67. Find one that says Z instead of H. Z is the midway between H and P. Dont ask how that makes sense. Those boards will allow for future upgrades of the video card and allow you to use onboard video effectively. They also allow for Overclocking if you ever want to do that in the future.

You do need a little hard drive adapter thing Here is a link

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100017773&IsNodeId=1&Description=2.5%20to%203.5&name=HDD%20Accessories&Order=BESTMATCH

Honestly, anything is fine for your hard drive bay.

How many VMs do you tend to run? I personally have a DC, and Exchange running at all times so that's about 8GB of ram. Then I like to experiment with another server so another 4 and I often like to run a couple of clients so another 6GB there. All that can run in the background while I play a game so another 2GB and windows needs about 3 and 1 more for applications.

That's over 24GB of RAM. Now you might not run so many things are once but you should calculate it and get yourself a good amount of RAM. You only have 4 slots and need to leave room for upgrades in the future. I recommend starting out with 16 and adding another 16 if you need to.

If you look up IDE to SATA on newegg, you will see a bunch of results. Get one that has good reviews and you should be set there.

[Hazardous Pain]

Ok so you cant a pc that would last for another 6 years, technologies are overlapping and frankly, we hardly keep up every 3 years.

I understand you do not want to use your machine for gaming, but a future-proof machine is on who can handle most of the current games

Here is what I suggest: (those are some of the best quality/price ratio in my opinion)

motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130646

GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102969

PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341018 (it's modular and you have more headroom)

The other parts are good!

[beanboy89]

I don't think I'll need any more than 8 GB RAM right now. With my previous system, I had 6 GB, and I had next to no problems with multitasking, and I can only remember a few times where I came close to maxing out on RAM usage. I'd like to keep my budget close to $500. How does this motherboard compare to the Intel one in my original post?

As for the power supply, I've used various online PSU calculators, and they've averaged out around 300W each run. I think something in the 500W range should keep me running sufficiently. I'd like to have a modular PSU just to keep wiring inside the case looking as clean possible, but it's not a requirement.

As far as how many VMs I run, I mostly only open one or two at a time just for software testing. I don't normally keep them running for long periods of time. For example, I'll just open VirtualBox for a few hours just to test something out in Ubuntu or Windows 8. As for photo editing, I do a lot in GIMP and Photoshop, and do basic video editing in Premiere and Windows Movie Maker. I don't think any of this is too high-end.

[beanboy89]

Here's an updated build list. I've changed the motherboard, PSU, RAM, and SSD.

Processor: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819116506

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813128555

Video Card: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814127515

Power Supply: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817371016

RAM: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820231544

Solid State Drive: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820227726

Opinions?

[BigDavy]

Solid State Drive: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820227726

I seriously considered getting a 120Gb OCZ Agility 3, but opted for a 128Gb Samsung 830 unit instead, as it's rated as one of the most reliable models available (also, since it's not based on a Sandforce controller, it's faster than the Agility 3 at writing incompressible data). I have a 128Gb model running in my HP laptop, and the boot time went down from over 40 seconds to just 12 seconds! It is more expensive, but I believe it's worth the price: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147134 (you also get a copy of Norton Ghost - handy for cloning your HDD onto the SSD)

[beanboy89]

Thanks for the input. I've been thinking a lot about storage today and I was thinking that if I only install Windows and software on the SSD and use other means of storage (regular hard drives and USB flash storage) for the storage of files, I could save some money. I have an existing SATA HDD ready to go for some file storage and any additional file storage can go on my USB hard drive or USB flash drives (I can get a 32 GB flash drive at Walmart for <$20). Is a 120/128 GB SSD needed or can I get something in the range of 60 GB and get by?