Spec Post: Newbie - possible new PC

[Bohemian Simian]

Er, hi!

Potential new customer - chewing over a few possible builds with PCS.
Just posting my current probable choice to the forum as, well, the offer was there, and you never know what feedback could be gained!?...

I need a PC primarily for Adobe CS5 suite production work (Photoshop/Web Design - with Brochure design and Video Editing later) and other 'creative' office work.

-- So I want it to be pretty nifty, but no real need for cutting edge regards 3D work or gaming.

-- I'll upgrade the graphics card and RAM at a later date, but hoping that the basic spec will last a few years!?!?!?

Only other notes:
- I want it to be fairly quiet, as in small office for now (current PC makes me feel I'm sat on a plane!)
- Will be getting peripherals such as Intuos tablet, and hoping there is room on the motherboard for any extra cards/connections (if required).

Case
COOLERMASTER COSMOS 1000 SILVER SILENT CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-950 (3.06GHz) 4.8GTs/8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P6X58D-E: DDR3, USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, 3-Way SLI
Memory (RAM)
6GB KINGSTON HYPER-X TRI-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (3 x 2GB KIT)
Graphics Card
1GB ATI RADEON™ HD 5770 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
80GB Intel® X25-M 2.5" SSD (34nm / upto 250MB/sR | 70MB/sW)***SPECIAL***
2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
3rd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD10EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
4x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ROM (£35)
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply & Case Cooling
CORSAIR 850W PSU (TX850) 80+ ULTRA QUIET (£99)
Processor Cooling
COOLIT ECO C240 A.L.C (ADVANCED LIQUID COOLER) (£102)
Sound Card
Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Xtreme Audio (£30)
Network Facilities
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI EXPRESS CARD (£19)
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Firewire & Video Editing
1 x IEEE 1394a FIREWIRE PORT ONBOARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£109)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables
1 x 2 METRE GOLD PLATED V1.4 HDMI CABLE (£8)
Keyboard & Mouse
Logitech® Wireless Desktop® MK250 Keyboard and Mouse Combo (£19)
Surge Protection
Belkin 8-Socket 2M SurgeMaster with £175,000 Protection Warranty! (£18)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,563.00 including VAT and delivery.

Cheers for reading.
DM

 

[Rakk]

-- I'll upgrade the graphics card and RAM at a later date, but hoping that the basic spec will last a few years!?!?!?

....

Memory (RAM)
6GB KINGSTON HYPER-X TRI-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (3 x 2GB KIT)

Since you're planning on replacing the RAM later anyway and you're not overclocking, I wouldn't bother with the 1600MHz RAM - it's not really worth it, just go for the 1333MHz stuff

 

[Sleinous]

OK, one thing I have to point out instantly, is, you really should be getting an Nvidia card for Photoshop CS5, video editing etc, simply because: CUDA technology. Will make your experience much better!

PCIexpress card - same speed as the PCI, better use up the older PCI slots first and leave the newer PCIe slots for other upgrades.

Water-cooling, ott unless you intend to overclock teh CPU.

Professional x64, do you need teh features? Consider Home-Prem

Kingston 1600mhz - The Samsung 1333mhz is nearly as fast, and better suited to this spec.

My spec below has a Quadro card, these are designed for your photoshop use etc.

Audio card? Onboard is usually ample, you could keep this if you really wanted.

Lastly, the SSD, id seriously wait till Q1 2011 when the 3rd Gen of Intel SSDs release, 160GB will cost about the same as that 80GB.

Here is my suggestion:

Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-950 (3.06GHz) 4.8GTs/8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P6T WS PROFESSIONAL: NEW ERA CORE i7 WORKSTATION
Memory (RAM)
6GB SAMSUNG DDR3 TRI-DDR3 1333MHz (3 X 2GB)
Graphics Card
PNY QUADRO FX580 512MB GDDR3, CUDA ENABLED - 2 x DP, 1 x DVI-I
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
80GB Intel® X25-M 2.5" SSD (34nm / upto 250MB/sR | 70MB/sW)***SPECIAL***
2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
3rd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD10EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply & Case Cooling
600W Quiet 80 PLUS Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£59)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£109)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables
1 x 2 METRE GOLD PLATED V1.4 HDMI CABLE (£8)
Keyboard & Mouse
Logitech® Wireless Desktop® MK250 Keyboard and Mouse Combo (£19)
Surge Protection
Belkin 8-Socket 2M SurgeMaster with £175,000 Protection Warranty! (£18)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,359.00 including VAT and delivery.

 

[Bohemian Simian]

Cheers folks! I must admit I didn't expect any comments - so thanks for taking the time!

Certainly a lot of food for thought there.

1333MHz (3x2GB) = will save me £40. So I'll definitely consider that.
- I presume I'd need to be overclocking the processor to require 1600MHz memory then?!? (Newb light Flashing - Sad to say I've never dabbled inside a case much, despite living on a PC!)
- I'd pay the extra £40 if it's possible to get that extra bit of juice out of the RAM (is this an option - would PCS's configure that?): as although I intend to upgrade, I mean more as in getting extra 6GB/12GB to fill remaining slots - so if medium-term 1600Mhz will see better performance (and I get to use full potential) then I'd probably still go for it

- Definitely looking into the different motherboard and graphics cards now.
I'm on a machine with a Quadro fx 1700 right now (at workplace) using CS4, but stuck in XP 32bit with 4GB ram, and at times it gets so slooooooow (admittedly large files) it had put me off. But I'll re-think and check out stats and prices online now.

Watercooling and SSD - Yeah, I know this is a bit OTT for a workstation. Spending more than I need definitely.
- But was thinking more about having a really quiet PC. It'll live in a small home office, where the current beast is so loud, it's intrusive - hence my dreaming of a quiet work-related future!
As with the RAM, if these can knock off a fair few decibels compared to fans/standard drives (and they make the system a tad perkier) then I'm interested.
If this is a misconception, and I'd get the same noise and performance from a lower spec - then I would go for less now, and get a better spec system 2 years from now, when SSD's and watercooling are more mainstream/better/cheaper.

OS - I'll check the differences with the Pro and Home Pro users again.
- This thought was more about future proofing, and wanting every damn feature I could get, as I'll be networking with others from my home office (starting own business) and want to be sure I've got every hardware/software option covered. But perhaps it's another case of thinking "Ooooh, another cool upgrade option" without checking out exactly what it is! haha
So re-thinking that too.

Back to the grind, but will be back on here, and on PCS build app, later.
Cheers again!
DM

 

[Sleinous]

You can also go for a GTX 470 instead, yes the RAM is configured in bios as X.M.P but if it randomly resets, pop in and I can show u how to reenable it and get those clocks back up to 1600mhz

 

[Bohemian Simian]

Current Fave set up is the following (Not sure "supercomputer" motherboard is worth the extra)

Case
COOLERMASTER SILEO 500 QUIET MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-950 (3.06GHz) 4.8GTs/8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P6X58D-E: DDR3, USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, 3-Way SLI
Memory (RAM)
12GB SAMSUNG DDR3 TRI-DDR3 1333MHz (3 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
1280MB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX470 GDDR5 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11 + MAFIA II
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
80GB Intel® X25-M 2.5" SSD (34nm / upto 250MB/sR | 70MB/sW)***SPECIAL***
2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
3rd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD10EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
4x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ROM (£35)
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply & Case Cooling
CORSAIR 650W PSU (TX650) 80+ ULTRA QUIET (£76)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
Sound Blaster® Audigy™ SE (£19)
Network Facilities
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI EXPRESS CARD (£19)
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Firewire & Video Editing
1 x IEEE 1394a FIREWIRE PORT ONBOARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£109)
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Keyboard & Mouse
Logitech® Wireless Desktop® MK250 Keyboard and Mouse Combo (£19)
Surge Protection
Belkin 8-Socket 2M SurgeMaster with £175,000 Protection Warranty! (£18)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 12 working days
Miscellaneous
FREE MAFIA II Game (RRP: £34.99) with a qualifying GTX 4xx Series GPU!
Quantity
1

 

[Sleinous]

Yep this is a good option, you could even ditch the ssd and buy an intel gen 3 160gb for the price of the 80gb gen 2 in q1 2011

 

[Bohemian Simian]

Yeah, I'd definitely look at getting a better SSD later next year - in which case I'd probably keep the 80GB SSD in there and set it up as a fast scratch disk!

 

[Bohemian Simian]

I'm not far off ordering now, just researching all the various components again to be sure.

P6X58D-E is preferred choice over Supercomputer motherboard.
- While I will be doing CS5 work it is not predominantly intensive, my budget has to be kept tight and the WS - although cool, like faster processors and cards - is overkill.
If things work out in the business I'm starting I'd be investing in new hardware within a couple of years anyway, then I may take another step up.

Same with some other spec's that aren't fully top notch, such as Graphics (just not doing enough hard-graphics to justify a top-notch Quadro card) - I want this PC to be good enough to happily run CS5 and also function as a general media computer for a couple of years.
I think a system very close to the above spec will be more than fine.

Now, what's the best mid-pro (reasonably priced) 26" monitor out there....? ;-)

 

[Sleinous]

Gtx 470 is an excellent card for cuda work anyways

 

[PeterO]

Just a note about the win 7 versions. I've just bought win 7 pro to run some old proggies. With pro you get a Win XP virtual machine that you can install old proggies on to.
Future proofing the os purchase - all win 7 disks have all the software for all the win 7 versions on them. You can upgrade at anytime. However I don't know if it is cost effective to buy home premium now and hop up to pro later.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows7/products/features/windows-anytime-upgrade

 

[Bohemian Simian]

Running XP progs is a consideration for me (I don't want to go buying programs AGAIN) so I'm definitely going for pro from the get-go.

That said, it does look remarkably easy to now upgrade - simply downloading one!
Good to see Microsoft loosening the reigns a little in places (even if it is just to open the door to an up-sell!)