Building/Buying a good desktop

**Kibblre** · 05-13-2014, 05:47 PM

Re: Building/Buying a good desktop

Unless you REALLY want it, I would avoid full towers since they're gigantic. For keyboards, I recommend anything mechanical; I personally like the CM STORM line. I only use 1080p for gaming, so I couldn't comment on that monitor. I highly recommend the Asus VG248QE though for its 144hz refresh rate, but really it depends on if you want 1080p or not. Do you really need that much ram? If you're only gaming, you really don't need anything more than 8gb. I would also recommend G.Skill's Ripjaws ram over Corsair's Vengeance, but once again that might be personal preference. Also, I would throw an SSD in there if you could. The faster load times on games is insane, I can't imagine ever going back. Finally, I think I would try to get a Haswell i7. I don't see a point to getting an Ivy Bridge at this point.

**Izzy** · 05-13-2014, 06:04 PM

Re: Building/Buying a good desktop

1. A sound card is generally stupid unless you have some kind of surround sound system.
2. Full towers are ridiculously huge unless you use 5+ harddrives and multiple graphics cards
3. The i7-3770k is the older model of the i7-4770k that you can get for $250 at microcenter. The 4770k is a 1550 socket and would require a newer motherboard. There is even a new version of the haswell i7 that just came out, but for some reason is less powerful than the 4770k.
4. For the cost of the computer you should be getting a solid state for your OS. The speed increase over a HDD as a boot device is hugely significant.
5. Unless you are doing surround gaming a 4gb version of the 770gtx is going to be wasted. You could save 100 dollars here and get a solid state.

Edit: Didn't read what you were using the gfx card for. Might be useful then.

As an example of why an SSD is so great if you've ever used photoshop it can take 20+ seconds to load off of a harddrive. With a solid state it is 1 second or less.

**noname219** · 05-13-2014, 06:15 PM

Re: Building/Buying a good desktop

Originally posted by Pseudo Enigma

I'm no expert, but paying $500 for a 1440p monitor seems really steep. That and Asus has never given me satisfaction lol

27 inch, 1440p seemed nice to me

. Never had any Asus product, so I don't know their reputation.

Originally posted by Kibblre

Unless you REALLY want it, I would avoid full towers since they're gigantic. For keyboards, I recommend anything mechanical; I personally like the CM STORM line. I only use 1080p for gaming, so I couldn't comment on that monitor. I highly recommend the Asus VG248QE though for its 144hz refresh rate, but really it depends on if you want 1080p or not. Do you really need that much ram? If you're only gaming, you really don't need anything more than 8gb. I would also recommend G.Skill's Ripjaws ram over Corsair's Vengeance, but once again that might be personal preference. Also, I would throw an SSD in there if you could. The faster load times on games is insane, I can't imagine ever going back. Finally, I think I would try to get a Haswell i7. I don't see a point to getting an Ivy Bridge at this point.

I usually do stuff that requires a lot of power (Photoshop, photo editing), although I'm not sure if it relies more on the CPU or the RAM, probably both. It's not a gaming build though, but I would like to handle high-end pc games.
Don't have any preference for Corsair, so I changed it.
Added a SSD of course. (Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk)
Changed the CPU to a Haswell one, had to change the motherboard to avoid any compatibility issues.
Changed my OS to Windows 8.1.

Originally posted by Izzy

1. A sound card is generally stupid unless you have some kind of surround sound system.
2. Full towers are ridiculously huge unless you use 5+ harddrives and multiple graphics cards
3. The i7-3770k is the older model of the i7-4770k that you can get for $250 at microcenter. The 4770k is a 1550 socket and would require a newer motherboard. There is even a new version of the haswell i7 that just came out, but for some reason is less powerful than the 4770k.
4. For the cost of the computer you should be getting a solid state for your OS. The speed increase over a HDD as a boot device is hugely significant.
5. Unless you are doing surround gaming a 4gb version of the 770gtx is going to be wasted. You could save 100 dollars here and get a solid state.

Edit: Didn't read what you were using the gfx card for. Might be useful then.

As an example of why an SSD is so great if you've ever used photoshop it can take 20+ seconds to load off of a harddrive. With a solid state it is 1 second or less.

1. Removed
3. Changed to the 4770k
4. Yep, I forgot the SDD
5. Seeing your edit, should I keep the video card or changed it ?

What should I get instead of a full tower ?

Btw, the price is around $ 2,000 so far : http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3JvYW

**Kibblre** · 05-13-2014, 06:17 PM

Re: Building/Buying a good desktop

Mid towers are usually the go to unless you're doing a mini build. I've got the Fractal Design Define R4 and I love the hell out of it.

**Izzy** · 05-13-2014, 06:17 PM

Re: Building/Buying a good desktop

I prefer mid towers, but in the end it just matters if it can hold everything you want it to hold and it looks the way you want. This is my computer which is a mid tower. Just big enough to work with while building and can hold most of everything. This might actually be a tiny bit smaller than the typical mid tower.

Dropbox - 404

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/58437091/Photos/ComputerMay2014-2.jpg

I'm not sure about graphics card memory for video/image editing. I am not familiar with that.

**noname219** · 05-13-2014, 06:25 PM

Re: Building/Buying a good desktop

Originally posted by Kibblre

Mid towers are usually the go to unless you're doing a mini build. I've got the Fractal Design Define R4 and I love the hell out of it.

I almost went with that one at first ^^.

Originally posted by Izzy

I prefer mid towers, but in the end it just matters if it can hold everything you want it to hold and it looks the way you want. This is my computer which is a mid tower. Just big enough to work with while building and can hold most of everything. This might actually be a tiny bit smaller than the typical mid tower.

Dropbox - 404

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/58437091/Photos/ComputerMay2014-2.jpg

I'm not sure about graphics card memory for video/image editing. I am not familiar with that.

With the amount of pieces I will get, I'm sure everything will hold nicely in a mid-tower.
As for the graphics card, I'll be looking around for what I should get. edit : GeForce GTX 770 seems like a good choice, but I'll go with the 780 series instead. For 50$ more, it does a better job (http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html).

Also, other than the operating system, what should I put on the SSD card ?

edit2 : saved a hundred bucks on the PSU. Changed it to a 650W instead.

**Izzy** · 05-13-2014, 09:07 PM

Re: Building/Buying a good desktop

All of your software goes on the ssd. If it is big enough you can put games. I guess if you don't have a huge abundance of video you could possibly fit everything within 124-256gb.

**choof** · 05-13-2014, 09:11 PM

Re: Building/Buying a good desktop

don't put files on your ssd that you access on a regular basis

**noname219** · 05-13-2014, 09:20 PM

Re: Building/Buying a good desktop

That's what I was thinking with the SSD.

Yeah, I'm starting to think that building a PC might not be the solution I'm looking for. I've looked around for pre-built PCs with similar specs and the price is more or less the same.

With Dell, I could get something for 2,200$ that meets most of my criterias (Dell XPS 8700 : Intel i7-4770 3.4 GHz, 24 GB (4 x 8) of memory, 2 TB hard drive + 256 GB SSD, 24 inch monitor, Radeon HD 8870). On the downside, the video card is a fucking joke - I'll try to change it to GeForce. The default keyboard might not suit me, and I'm stuck with MacAfee for a year…
But, I'm not sure how smoothly it would go if I decide to build one on my own.

Anybody has the Razer Blackwidow keyboard ?

**arcnmx** · 05-13-2014, 09:29 PM

Re: Building/Buying a good desktop

Are you doing anything besides photo editing and games on this machine? You seem to be spending like $1000 more than you actually need right now, but that depends on what else you'll be using it for.

Also that monitor seems like a bit much. Maybe go for an IPS panel in the ~$200 range?

**noname219** · 05-13-2014, 09:35 PM

Re: Building/Buying a good desktop

Originally posted by arcnmx

Are you doing anything besides photo editing and games on this machine? You seem to be spending like $1000 more than you actually need right now, but that depends on what else you'll be using it for.

Also that monitor seems like a bit much. Maybe go for an IPS panel in the ~$200 range?

Mainly photo editing (Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator, InDesign, etc.), sometimes I have to work with 2 GB .psd files or have to export 200 photos or more. Last time I changed the monitor for a Dell U2412M 60Hz 24.0" Monitor for 266$ which would suit my needs.
I could change the video card for a 4770, that would save me around 150$, and a 50$ keyboard instead of the Blackwidow (even if non-mechanical).

**arcnmx** · 05-13-2014, 09:51 PM

Re: Building/Buying a good desktop

Well, it seems like you're mainly budgeting for games. That graphics card is $350 more than you need for photo editing. You could shave $150 off the cpu+mobo, $80 off the liquid cooler (unnecessary unless you're overclocking), $40 off the RAM, $50 off the case, $100 off the keyboard, and $50 off the monitor.

For a total of $820 extra that you're spending on performance. Something to keep in mind.

Also why aren't you using http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/? This is going to hurt a lot if you're planning on importing all of this.

**noname219** · 05-13-2014, 10:21 PM

Re: Building/Buying a good desktop

Yes, yes, .ca.

Your Account - PCPartPicker

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/user/noname219/saved/4G4g

Your Account

Changed a couple of things and the bill has dropped down by about 700$ (not to mention the custom fees - prices are worst in Canada, that would mean 450$ less in the US).
-Slightly slower CPU by 0.1 GHz, -40$
-Big difference on the CPU cooler, I don't think I'll overclock, -80$
-50$ off the motherboard
-Kept the 16Gb of RAM, but -50$
-Video card is the GTX 770 series, -200$
-23 inch Asus monitor, -130$
-Microsoft Sidewinder keyboard (ugh, will continue to look around), -70$
-Everything is the same

**arcnmx** · 05-13-2014, 10:42 PM

Re: Building/Buying a good desktop

Heh, I didn't mean to bully the price down for you :P

I just meant to keep in mind what you actually need, because that thing is still going to be a powerhouse/excessive even after the cuts. If you have the budget for it, go splurge on cool stuff. It's just helpful to be aware that mech keyboard for your rhythm games is costing you another $70, etc.

Overall looks pretty good right now, though if you're willing you could get a fancy IPS and spend a little more on the monitor since you'll be doing graphics work. And the keyboard, well, that's up to you.

The CPU is a tough choice. Get someone to buy a $250 4770K from microcenter and ship it to you D:

Building/Buying a good desktop

Building/Buying a good desktop

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