21 replies to this topic

[ASFfergie]

Ok so i have been gone for a few weeks due to exams and moving house to a different country but I am back and ready to buy my new rig




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Spec Me! Questionnaire
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1) What's your budget and in which Currency? here is the sad bit just got a new car so i have spent a lot of my money on upgrades and such and i have also just bought myself a mac book pro so my original budget is severely diminished I am down to about $1700 US but my plan is to just buy a base workstation with this and upgrade at xmas when i have some more money to play with probably another 1700 or so but i dont realy want to skimp on the parts i buy now so that i have to upgrade my existing parts at xmas so what i am looking for at the moment is a very good worksation set up with the bare minimum i need to get it working and i will add more parts later so for example just get an ordinary hdd now on buy and ssd later and use the hdd for storage but no skimping on the processor and motherboard


2) When are you going to buy your PC?

ASAP hoping to build in the next few weeks


3) What is your computer type?

c. Workstation hopefully a dual CPU finance permitting



4) What's the main purpose of the PC?

i have lots of pc related hobbies the programs i am mainly going to be using are, Cinema 4D, pretty much all adobe products, i also do some java progamming and CAD using solidworks and Creo
i will be running most things in virtual machines to reduce the risk of viruses using Ubuntu as the operating system
oh and i am also an avid minecraft player

.


5) When do you intend to upgrade your PC?

adding some more stuff at xmas and then more over the next summer and after that will probably make an new one in another 3 years


6) Do you want to keep any component that you already own?

no everything new apart from keyboard and mouse and monitors which i already own


7) Do you prefer any brand or manufacturer (Intel/AMD, NVidia/ATI, Asus/Gigabyte,...)?

no its completely open


8) Are you going to overclock?

probably not since it is a workstation


9) Where are you going to buy the components from? Do you have any preference over some store?

Newegg.com


10) Will you be assembling the system yourself or will it come pre-built?

yep i will be a asembling it myself


11) Do you have any configuration in mind?

none in particular hopefully a dual CPU workstation board all aircooled


12) Processor

c. Performance


13) Motherboard

dont mind


14) Graphics card

this is where i am not sure, i know for many of the things i will be doing on the workstation i should probably get a workstation card but to me i cant justify the price differences so probably just a gaming card but this is another place where i may leave the graphics cards till later because of lack of funds i do no know what a temporary cheap solution would be though


15) Storage

to start with probably be a 1 or 2 tb hdd and then later when i have more money get an sdd and use the hdd for storage


16) Optical Drives
a. DVD writer not hugely bothered about blue ray i have a TV for that



17) Power supply

deafeningly want to be future proof maybe a 1200watt but i dont kno if i will need that much


18) Computer case and cooling methods
a. Air cooling probably the fractal design Define XL Black Pearl


19) Do you need any special connectivity?
a. Wireless i am not sure if i can get an Ethernet cable to my room



20) Does the budget include any peripherals?

not really


21) Do you need an operative system?

already have an operating system windows 7 ultimate
also i will be running most things in virtual machines to reduce the risk of viruses using Ubuntu as the operating system

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End
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really hope you guys can help me out sorry for my posts before where i was far away from the build and didn't really know what i wanted hoping to build and order parts ASAP so i can build within the next 3 weeks,

one more thing is that the everything above in the questionnaire is just my thinking and i dont really know much so if you think what i have said is stupid and i am doing total the wrong thing you are probably right

Thanks
ASFfergie

[ASFfergie]

i was thinking maybe this as the motherboard? what do you think http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813131643

EDIT: after reading a few more reviews maybe not

thinking about going down the p67 route because it is much cheper than server parts but i am not sure if it will meet my needs and do what i want it to do....

Edited by ASFfergie, 26 July 2011 - 02:28 AM.

[ExtremeGrandpa]

Welcome back ASFergie
If I was you I would seriously consider the P67 build you are tossing around in your mind. The cost of the Ram, mobo and 2 CPUs I would choose for a WS build would eat up your budget. That being said I would focus on what software you will be running and what it requires to run best (CPU or GPU power) and build accordingly.


http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814130587

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817139034

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820145295

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813131714

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819115070

This is the way I would start off. All you need to add is a SSD for boot a HDD for storage and wrap a case around the whole shebang. Also a aftermarket CPU cooler for overclocking.

And your budget has been wiped out. You will notice I oversized the PSU with GPU upgrades in mind.

Edited by ExtremeGrandpa, 26 July 2011 - 11:23 AM.

[Futureperfect]

I'm pretty much on the same page as EG.


MB: ASUS P8P67 WS REVOLUTION LGA 1155 Intel P67 / NVIDIA NF200 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I72600K

CPU Cooler: COOLER MASTER Hyper N 520 RR-920-N520-GP 92mm Sleeve CPU Cooler Intel Core i7 compatible

RAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR GT 12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000) Desktop Memory with Air Fan Model CMT12GX3M3A2000C9

GPU: EVGA 015-P3-1580-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD2002FAEX 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

PSU: CORSAIR Professional Series HX1050 1050W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Power Supply

ODD: ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM

Wireless: ASUS PCE-N15 Wireless Adapter IEEE 802.11b/g/n PCI Express Up to 300Mbps Wireless Data Rates 64-bit WEP, 128-bit WEP, WPA2-PSK, WPA-PSK, WPS support




Case Idea : NZXT ZERO 2 Crafted Series CS-NT-ZERO-2 Black Steel / Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Saw this case last week & it was quite impressive.

Future SSD: OCZ Vertex 3 – MAX IOPS Edition VTX3MI-25SAT3-240G 2.5" 240GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

[ASFfergie]

hmm yea i think that the p67 build is defiantly more cost effective that the full workstation build
so this is us what i have come up with based on your suggestions its a bit over budget but i will try and find some more money


Intel Core i7-2600K


EVGA 015-P3-1580-AR GeForce GTX 580


Western Digital Caviar Black WD2002FAEX 2TB


CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX1200
went with the 1200 because its only 50 or so more and i like the fully modular style


ASUS 24X DVD Burner


ASUS PCE-N15 Wireless Adapter
this is what i have so far all i need is cpu cooler a case and memory ( the ones you guys suggested were all tripple channel and i think the p67 only supports dual channel?)

so what do you think

[toxic]

ASFfergie, on 26 July 2011 - 08:46 PM, said:

hmm yea i think that the p67 build is defiantly more cost effective that the full workstation build
so this is us what i have come up with based on your suggestions its a bit over budget but i will try and find some more money


Intel Core i7-2600K


EVGA 015-P3-1580-AR GeForce GTX 580


Western Digital Caviar Black WD2002FAEX 2TB


CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX1200
went with the 1200 because its only 50 or so more and i like the fully modular style


ASUS 24X DVD Burner


ASUS PCE-N15 Wireless Adapter
this is what i have so far all i need is cpu cooler a case and memory ( the ones you guys suggested were all tripple channel and i think the p67 only supports dual channel?)

so what do you think

why not get the 1.5tb wd black hdd, instead of the 2tb and why not the evga 3gb gtx 580 over the evga 1.5gb gtx 580?

[ExtremeGrandpa]

toxic, on 26 July 2011 - 11:46 PM, said:

why not get the 1.5tb wd black hdd, instead of the 2tb and why not the evga 3gb gtx 580 over the evga 1.5gb gtx 580?

Ya know I cant believe I didnt recommend the higher ram version. I agree 100% with this.

[ASFfergie]

ok sounds good i was thinking about te 3gb version too, what about ram?

[toxic]

i just came up with this i know its over 1700 dollar but u said that your configuration was a little over so i thought this would be ok.



to lower the price you could also downgrade the gpu to a 2.5gb gtx 570 from evga.

Edited by toxic, 27 July 2011 - 12:20 AM.

[ASFfergie]

ok so this is what i have come up with



what do you think? is everything compatable and will it all work good and is is everything i will ned to build my pc
its is a bit over budget but hopefully by the end of this week i will have some more money

Edited by ASFfergie, 27 July 2011 - 12:32 AM.

[toxic]

ASFfergie, on 27 July 2011 - 12:29 AM, said:

ok so this is what i have come up with



what do you think? is everything compatable and will it all work good and is is everything i will ned to build my pc
its is a bit over budget but hopefully by the end of this week i will have some more money

the motherboard doesnt have a PCI slot so that wifi card wont work. and unless you are set on that case, their are better cases for cooling, but if thats anything like the r3 you would be just fine with the cooling. i would recommend the silverstone raven rv02, or the cooler master haf x. and for the wifi card i would get the ASUS PCE-N13

[ASFfergie]

ok so i have chaged the wirless card but i think i want to keep the because i have as i want it to be silent

[dirtylarryuk]

ASFfergie, on 27 July 2011 - 12:47 AM, said:

ok so i have chaged the wirless card but i think i want to keep the because i have as i want it to be silent

You could save mega money on the PSU a decent 700w will runa a solo 3GB 580 abd 2600k at 5GHZ no issue.

Unless you plan on adding more 580's (and to be honest 28nm is very close now) The important bit your missing so far is one of the 90k iops SSD's for boot (and if you have budget space for games) as HDDs just lag the hell out of current tech. They are fine for storage but it should a be a crime to use them for the OS especially in a decent rig.

Also look hard at that case its ok, but stuff like the hafx or raven 2-3 would cool better. If you don't get a 3GB 580 look hard at the Gigabyte Asus MSI non stock cooled options for a 580 to help manage noise and heat vs the reference cooled options.

Edited by dirtylarryuk, 27 July 2011 - 01:33 AM.

[Lordred289]

I expect some Gnashing of teeth, but fergie asked me to post a Dual Opty build. 16c/16t

Edited by Lordred289, 27 July 2011 - 06:01 AM.

[dirtylarryuk]

Lordred289, on 27 July 2011 - 05:59 AM, said:

I expect some Gnashing of teeth, but fergie asked me to post a Dual Opty build. 16c/16t

Be a nice worktation but then unless you must ahve it now, there seems to be so many deceent 32nm cpus might be worth hanging on for WS builds unless you must have it now.

[ExtremeGrandpa]

Lordred289, on 27 July 2011 - 05:59 AM, said:

I expect some Gnashing of teeth, but fergie asked me to post a Dual Opty build. 16c/16t

Dred the only thing i see here that makes no sense to me is the CPU coolers. kinda like having a Lamborgini body with a VW motor, being that those are 2.0 opti's and no OC will be applied. Unless its being used in extreme temps passive units with good case airflow will be more than adequate.

What i am curious about is what software will be used and will it be capable of utilizing the two CPUs. As I stated previously some software utilizes the GPU over the CPU, and then some that only use the CPU dont utilize it well. Miha's sister had issues with the rig he gave her not being able to tap into that rigs power. So at the end of the day a WS should be built with the software it will be running in mind.

[Lordred289]

ExtremeGrandpa, on 27 July 2011 - 11:59 AM, said:

Dred the only thing i see here that makes no sense to me is the CPU coolers. kinda like having a Lamborgini body with a VW motor, being that those are 2.0 opti's and no OC will be applied. Unless its being used in extreme temps passive units with good case airflow will be more than adequate.

What i am curious about is what software will be used and will it be capable of utilizing the two CPUs. As I stated previously some software utilizes the GPU over the CPU, and then some that only use the CPU dont utilize it well. Miha's sister had issues with the rig he gave her not being able to tap into that rigs power. So at the end of the day a WS should be built with the software it will be running in mind.

I agree actually, I only posted it at Fergie's request.

I chose the coolers for 24/7 use even in warm/hot areas

Edited by Lordred289, 27 July 2011 - 04:06 PM.

[ASFfergie]

hmm this is very hard to decide. i have checked on some of the websites of the apps that i use and all of them support multiple processors so if i can i think that is the way i want to go (as long as i can still play minecraft good )
so after talkng to lordred last night i think i wil go with the asus dual cpu motherboard but only have a sigle cpu in it 8-16gbs of ram and a 580 3gb then later on add another cpu and another 580 but i think i have to use some driver hacks or something right
also am i right in saying that the new buldozer based chips wii fit in the same g34 socket? so maybe that is another option to upgrade when they come out.
im gonna work on getting a spec sorted out based on everyones sugestions. i donk now if i need the d-14 coolers but i live in houston where its like 100degrees everyday so i dont know.

[ExtremeGrandpa]

ASFfergie, on 27 July 2011 - 04:22 PM, said:

hmm this is very hard to decide. i have checked on some of the websites of the apps that i use and all of them support multiple processors so if i can i think that is the way i want to go (as long as i can still play minecraft good )
so after talkng to lordred last night i think i wil go with the asus dual cpu motherboard but only have a sigle cpu in it 8-16gbs of ram and a 580 3gb then later on add another cpu and another 580 but i think i have to use some driver hacks or something right
also am i right in saying that the new buldozer based chips wii fit in the same g34 socket? so maybe that is another option to upgrade when they come out.
im gonna work on getting a spec sorted out based on everyones sugestions. i donk now if i need the d-14 coolers but i live in houston where its like 100degrees everyday so i dont know.

Yep you are preaching to the choir on the 100+ F temps. If the rigs gonna be in an air conditioned space 85f or lower then passive would be fine. Get any higher than that and issues could arise possibly over an extended period of time.

[ASFfergie]

yea AC is kept at 80 in he day and 72 at night so should be fine