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Hello fellow TLers
My friend wants me to help him build a new rig. He plans on using this computer primarily for screen capturing games and making HD* youtube videos. He also plays Starcraft 2.
*If he upgrades his monitor
He currently does not have a 1080p monitor but may be getting one within the next 3 years. All I know about his current monitor setup is 2x SD monitors and they're widescreen.
His budget is $1000 but we'd like to spend as little as possible.
His upgrade cycle is a projected 5 years.
Chassis: CM Elite RC-310 - $65 after shipping but includes CM 460W PSU
Processor: 2500 (3.3GHz@$210)
Motherboard: Still trying to decide.....
RAM: 4GB G.SKILL 1333 RAM $41
PSU: Included with case. (460W)
HDD: 1TB WD Caviar Black $90
Optical: Lite On DVD Burner $25
Video Card: Radeon HD 5770 $120 (with $MIR)
Windows 7 Home Premium OEM - $100
This comes to $651 before a mobo.
I chose the 2500 because he's going to be doing a lot of video encoding/editing, as well as playing all the new, cutting edge games. I figure if he gets the i5 2500, he won't need to upgrade in a long time. He also is scared of overclocking so that's the ONLY reason we're not going with the 2500k.
Now, unless he's doing stuff heavy duty like Photoshop, he won't need more than 4 GB of ram right? Video editing shouldn't take that up... (plz correct if I'm wrong)
Now, here is where I need the majority of my help, the mobo.
My friend is not going to overclock his processor and he is going to be using a discrete GPU. He also does not plan on running SLI or Crossfire so I can't decided between the H67/H61 chipset and the P67 chipset.
We don't think he'll really benefit too much from upgrading to 1600 ram (which the H67/H61 does not support) from 1333 but he is leaning towards wanting USB 3.0 support. (which is only on the P67 chipset) I'm not sure this is even a big deal as USB 3.0 probably won't even be mainstream for another few years. I mean seriously what even supports that specification yet? Also, the
So, here's the money question:
So, is it worth the extra $50 or so to get a P67 mobo over a H67/H61? Please let me know, with suggestions as to models you'd suggest. Also, all (kind) suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks guys, you rock!
Edit: Also, is the 5770 enough, or should we spend another $50-$100? I'm not even sure he's gonna get an HD monitor for a while...
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You are misinformed, USB3 is supported on both the H67 and P67 chipset. It is not worth it to spend extra on a P67 board if he will not be overclocking. An Asrock H67M is a good option for someone who is not going to want to be overclocking or doing SLI / CrossfireX and just want SATA 3 / USB 3: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157233
You'll probably want 8GB of RAM for editing. Good Shell Shocker Deal: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145345
A Radeon 5770 would be a good choice if he isn't going to be playing at 1080p.
There's very little difference between the core i5 2400 and 2500, see here: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i5-2500-2400-2300_7.html You could save $20 by stepping down to a core i5 2400.
The Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB @ $65 offers similar performance to a Western Digital Caviar Black. The only downside to it is it comes with a three year warranty as opposed to five.
You'll probably want a more dependable power supply if he plans to keep this for five years.
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Oh, not all of the H67/H61 have 3.0 but a lot of them do. I stand corrected. (derp)
The thing is, I'm not sure how much video editing he'll really be doing. It may just be cutting a bit here and there. Nothing serious. Probably just in Windows Movie Maker too. What would the threshold be where we'd want to bump it up to 8GB?
What if he is getting a 1080p monitor? Would the 5770 suffice on lowered GPU settings?
I did see there is very little difference between the 2400 and the 2500 but we figured the extra 200 base MHZ and the 100MHz extra turbo boost (comparatively) would probably justify $20. Or is it really not worth it?
I hadn't considered a Samsung drive. In the past I've just tended to stay away from Samsung and Hitachi drives. Does my prejudice have any basis or am I just being silly?
Also, thanks for the quick response. ^_^
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Honestly if I were you I'd pay a little extra and upgrade the graphics for that build if he doesn't want to upgrade for 5 more years. A GTX 560 would be a nice price/performance compromise and will last longer than a 5770.
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That ram you linked is 1600 and the mobo is only compatible with DDR3 1333/1066.
Is that a problem? ^_^
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Yes, the 5770 would be capable of 1080p, you'll just experience some slowdown in the later stages of the game on high-ultra but it'll be smooth like butter on low-medium. A GTX 560 as AyameStarcraft suggested would not be necessary for the sole purpose of SC2 but it would help in the newer released games.
You're being silly since Samsung is very reliable and Hitachi is now owned by Western Digital. =p
No the RAM won't be an issue, the motherboard will just downclock it to 1333MHz. Shell Shocker Deal makes it the least expensive 2x4gb kit. 4GB of RAM will suffice if he just does casual editing and there isn't going to be a difference between RAM with heatspreaders and without when you aren't going to be overclocking so you could just get a 2x2gb kit for $40.
I also just noticed that the RAM you listed in the OP is a single stick, you'll want a dual channel kit preferably: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231253
edit: also whether it is worth it or not is subjective but I'd put the $20 towards a more reliable power supply such as the Antec Earthwatts 380W: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371033
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It'll just underclock the ram to 1333.
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The reason I listed the ram as a single stick in the OP would be because I'd probably be getting a H67/H61 chipset where most of them only have 2 ram slots. That would leave him room for expansion in the future as he would most likely want 8gb someday.
That said, I might as well just get that shellshocker. It's a very good deal.
As for the downclocking, I don't know why I had to ask about that. I've dealt with that before /facepalm
Is Antec that much more reliable than Coolermaster as far as PSUs are concerned? Would it really be worth it to spend that extra money?
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5 years is a long time for an upgrade cycle, even if you have the best of the best components. Just saying, your friend probably will need to upgrade heavily to keep up with current game development. Especially with heavy video encoding, a decently up-to-date processor and good ram is key. If he continues with the video encoding and such expect to upgrade in 2-3 years.
Very solid build though, nice of you to help a friend out 
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If he wants to expand to 8gb in the future, you may as well grab it now since the budget does allow for it.
The warranty of the power supplies should give you a hint at reliability. The Coolermaster one comes with a one year warranty and the Antec comes with three years. Ones that come with a longer warranty generally are of higher quality. The Antec Earthwatts 380D is a Delta unit and has gotten good reviews such as http://www.anandtech.com/show/3902/antec-earthwatts-ea-380d-green-380w The Coolermaster is a FSP unit which has gotten relatively few or no reviews.
And just in-case you ask, the Antec 380w is enough for the listed configuration. It provides 28a on the 12v rail(s) as opposed to 27a from the Coolermaster.
I'm sure myrmidon will educate you more on power supplies when he sees this thread.
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Yeah I'm surprised he wasn't in here sooner. PSUs are one area I really mean to learn more about. I still have a lot to learn in that category.
So if I were to go the route of the 380 I'd just grab a different case...
Also, I should run this by you guys. There is a combo deal for the ram mentioned earlier and a ASUS P8P67 mobo. This would allow for the ram to be run at the full 1600 speed and I imagine it is a better board being ASUS than ASRock. Would the extra $35 be worth it?
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Asrock is owned by ASUS. The $35 premium is not worth it unless you are going to be grabbing a core i5 2500k for overclocking.
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On April 19 2011 09:04 orcslayermac wrote:
That ram you linked is 1600 and the mobo is only compatible with DDR3 1333/1066.
Is that a problem? ^_^
As long as ram is DD3, it'll be backwards compatible.
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There's a hardwaresecrets review of the Cooler Master Elite 460W:
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Cooler-Master-Elite-Power-460-W-Power-Supply-Review/1005
The Earthwatts 380D is a step up in quality for sure, though it's not like the Elite 460W is a turd (it can't do the labeled 460W though, which doesn't inspire confidence). I'd strongly recommend getting something at least on the level of the Antec unit, since it's manufactured better, has a more modern design, has more protections, has somewhat higher-quality components, performs better, and has higher efficiency. It's just a decent budget unit and a good value at $40, but of course there are many more expensive units that are much better than that. The Elite 460W is just that old, mediocre, and cost-cut.
The power supply is where the AC power taken from the wall gets filtered, rectified, transformed, and filtered and rectified some more into the DC power fed to the computer components. So it handles more power than all the other components combined. To do all that, it contains the most traditional analog electronics components out of anything in the computer. Most of the digital logic elements in a computer tend to be more robust--it's spinning stuff like fans, hard drives, and then things like capacitors and maybe power transistors that fail sooner. Poorer components or a poorer design may tend to fail more often (but what's acceptably often?), and that's that.
As for a motherboard, since overclocking is out of the picture, pretty much any decent cheap H61 motherboard will do. Here are a couple that look okay and have USB3:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128483
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157246
On a side note, it looks like Samsung's HDD branch is getting sold off soon, maybe to Seagate? Those SpinPoints are pretty popular though, just maybe not in the OEM market where most of the sales are?
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Myrmidon, are you saying I should rethink a Samsung HDD purchase or are you just proving to us how much you're in the know? ^_^
Also, thanks for showing up to the party!
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5930 Posts
On a side note, it looks like Samsung's HDD branch is getting sold off soon, maybe to Seagate? Those SpinPoints are pretty popular though, just maybe not in the OEM market where most of the sales are?
The DIY market is less than 3% of the total number of desktop sales. Samsung drives are commonly used in the OEM market but they're also competing against Seagate and Western Digital, which sell a hell lot more portable storage drives and actually have a foothold in the high end server market. Also the only Samsung drive people buy are the 7200RPM 1TB Spinpoints, which kind of says everything.
Samsung seems to be attempting to move away from their reputation of budget electric goods. The build quality of Samsung laptops have increased enormously and they seem to be increasing NAND production to supply all of their mobile devices.
If you're going to ask the source of the DIY market percentage, its from Corsair trying to explain why its not economically possible for anyone to create a Mac G5-like case (the 10mm thick aluminum, fully compartmentalized monster).
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EPT
