Helper's new PC

[Helper]

Yikes! That costs almost as much as the system I just bought.
I went with the Intel Core i7-4771 Haswell 3.5GHz (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116941).

Also:
RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104304

LIAN LI PC-9F Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112304

SeaSonic X Series X-850 (SS-850KM3 Active PFC F3) 850W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151102

Western Digital Red NAS Hard Drive WD20EFRX 2TB IntelliPower 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236343

Intel Core i7-4771 Haswell 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1150 84W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4600 BX80646I74771
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116941

Intel 335 Series Jay Crest SSDSC2CT180A4K5 2.5" 180GB SATA III
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167151

EVGA 02G-P4-2760-KR GeForce GTX 760 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130938

ASUS Z87-PLUS LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131980

Optical:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106390

[Grauniad]

I hope you don't mind that I split your post into a thread where we can discuss your build. I'll put it back if you prefer.

It seems an awesome build. THere are a few measures you took that certainly save costs, but I'm interested to hear your motivation for them.

1. You decided to save $20 to get the "locked" version of the i7 processor that won't overclock. At the same time you went for the i7 that is hyperthreaded to give more multi-processor performance. Usually few enthusiasts go that and they save a little more by going for the quad-core i5 that is unlocked. Then it's possible to overclock it and few games need that level of multi-tasking usually. THings like video editing, Photoshop, etc.. that's a different story and then they go for the one you have.

Note that the 4820 processor in the IVB-E line (in my post that you referenced) goes for $317. Admittedly the motherboard will be more expensive, but then you get 40 PCI-e lanes more and you get double the memory bandwidth with quad-channel memory.

2. I'm interested in why you chose the "Red" version Western Digital hard drive. I've spent hours to try abd puzzle out the specific differences between WD's Green (economy), Blue (consumer), Black (Enthusiast) and Red (NAS) lines and I can't really tell what makes them that much different - judging by how many times that question comes up when I Google, I'm not the only one.  :D

3. The graphics card is just a slice of awesome.

I would be really interested in seeing your final pricing if you'd care to share.

Edit: Fixed a couple of typos.

[miquelfire]

The red doesn't power down (perfect for a RAID set), but otherwise is the same as the black from what I know. Black is faster than blue, and green just uses as little power as possible (Might make it slower than blue as a side effect).

[Grauniad]

The red doesn't power down (perfect for a RAID set), but otherwise is the same as the black from what I know. Black is faster than blue, and green just uses as little power as possible (Might make it slower than blue as a side effect).

Good to know. I knew most of what you mentioned, but not that the Red never powers down. I also didn't know it had the same high-end performance of the Black version.

[Helper]

I hope you don't mind that I split your post into a thread where we can discuss your build. I'll put it back if you prefer.
Thank you for moving this & creating a new thread. I wasn't sure if that was appropriate (but now I know).

It seems an awesome build. THere are a few measures you took that certainly save costs, but I'm interested to hear your motivation for them.

1. You decided to save $20 to get the "locked" version of the i7 processor that won't overclock. At the same time you went for the i7 that is hyperthreaded to give more multi-processor performance. Usually few enthusiasts go that and they save a little more by going for the quad-core i5 that is unlocked. Then it's possible to overclock it and few games need that level of multi-tasking usually. THings like video editing, Photoshop, etc.. that's a different story and then they go for the one you have.

Note that the 4820 processor in the IVB-E line (in my post that you referenced) goes for $317. Admittedly the motherboard will be more expensive, but them you get 40 PCI-e lanes more and you get double the memory bandwidth with quad-core memory.

2. I'm interested in why you chose the "Red" version Western Digital hard drive. I've spent hours to try abd puzzle out the specific differences between WD's Green (economy), Blue (consumer), Black (Enthusiast) and Red (NAS) lines and I can't really tell what makes them that much different - judging by how many times that question comes up when I Google, I'm not the only one.  :D

3. The graphics card is just a slice of awesome.

I am very fortunate to have a good friend who has been an MS MVP (Hardware) for many, many years. My knowledge of hardware starts and about ends with the assembly and/or replacement of parts and overclocking is just not in the cards for me. I told him that I wanted to build a nice system for gaming that would also be good for my normal computer work - and this is the list he gave me. He did mention very specifically that he is not a gamer, but thought this would do nicely.
I would be really interested in seeing your final pricing if you'd care to share.
I told my friend that the budget was between $1,500 -2,000 and it came in at $1,352 - plus shipping & tax

BTW - this is all YOUR fault. Somehow, I got into a brief discussion of systems with you a couple of days ago and before I knew it, I was looking around up at Newegg and contacting my friend.
;)

If I forgot to thank you, I'll do it now.

[Grauniad]

If I forgot to thank you, I'll do it now.

You're welcome. Nobody deserves a 32-bit PC in this day and age. :)

You could have tested us and asked here for build suggestions. Then see how it stacked up with what your friend suggested. Good learning experience all-around.

[Helper]

You could have tested us and asked here for build suggestions. Then see how it stacked up with what your friend suggested. Good learning experience all-around.

Still learning my way around this part of the forum - plus - I got on a roll and kept going.

The old system will be re-loaded as Win7/64 Bit and turned into a bench system for my repair shop.
The data drive on that one is a Caviar/Black and used to shut down when not in use. I was storing some of my CW3 files there and would have to wait for it to spin up when saving/re-loading a game.
I figured out some way to leave it always up, but just went back into the Properties and couldn't figure it out again.

Just found out a the '10' release and need to do some catching up over there.

[teknotiss]

i have a 64 bit machine, but can only afford a 32 bit OS
sad  :(, but i'm not up for linux, and i have better things to spend money on at the moment than another £70 copy of windows (should be a loyal user discount, never ripped off a software product, freeware or paid for all the way!)

[Grauniad]

There is no price difference between the 64- and 32-bit versions. If you buy a retail copy, you get both versions in the same package.

[Helper]

There is no price difference between the 64- and 32-bit versions. If you buy a retail copy, you get both versions in the same package.

G- good catch. I read tek's comment and missed that.

tek - if you have the install media, you can save all your data and re-load to 64 Bit - using the same Win7 license as your 32 Bit.
If you bought the system pre-loaded, there are legitimate ways to get the OS install disks - if you're up for that.
H

[teknotiss]

you mean win XP???
cos the CD i have in front of me says WIN XP pro 32 bit.
i don't see a 64 bit option on it.
hmmm time to go info hunting!  ::)

[Grauniad]

you mean win XP???
cos the CD i have in front of me says WIN XP pro 32 bit.
i don't see a 64 bit option on it.
hmmm time to go info hunting!  ::)

Nooo!!

Win XP 64-bit was not a really good option.  I forgot that a good 35% of the world population is still running an operating system that is rapidly becoming obsolete and from next year will not even get security updates anymore.

[Grauniad]

Helper, where did you source your components from? I just did a quick check on Newegg and not including rebates, etc. I come to $1,250 excluding shipping.  I think there should be about $40-75 of rebates in there if one looks a bit harder.

[Helper]

@G -
Just looking at the first post and the RAM wasn't included up there.
That was another $144:
Kingston HyperX 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

I'll look through all the items again, but didn't see any rebates the first time.

There are two freebies though:
($50) Batman Arkham Origins, and
($10) Intel DIE' NAMIC (free code to try to win something).

[Grauniad]

OK, the memory will push my price higher than the price you mentioned. Still, where did you buy? Newegg?