First Micro-ATX: Assistance/Advice Please!

[The Question]

1. Budget & Location

2500 AUD / Australia (PCCG/MSY)

2. Aim

It's an all-rounder. CAD graphics, video editing, high-end gaming, heavy browsing (I usually have like 50+ tabs on at same time), etc.

3. Monitors
Currently have a 23", but would like two 27" in the future-- would like to purchase one of those 27" in this purchase.

4. Peripherals
Wireless mice might be nice.

5. Why are you upgrading?
Parts are old; upgrade is necessary.

 

[Sauron]

-

 

Welcome to the forum! Please make sure you follow your posts so you are notified when someone answers

 

coming back soon with a build for you.

[EMENCII]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/VrnQwP

 

The mouse is purely up to u, pick the one u prefere...

[The Question]

Welcome to the forum! Please make sure you follow your posts so you are notified when someone answers

 

coming back soon with a build for you.

Thank you.

I'm actually going to post a part choice I've come up with and see what people think as well.

[Sauron]

Thank you.

I'm actually going to post a part choice I've come up with and see what people think as well.

 

Here's mine, comes with a new generation cpu and crossfire r9 290s:

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/

 

-edit-

if you need it there's still some headroom for a liquid cooler in the price, same goes for the monitor (the benq is a nice option)

[The Question]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/VrnQwP

 

The mouse is purely up to u, pick the one u prefere...

Hmm. 

An 850W PSU seems excessive, don't you think?

And I'm looking for a Micro-ATX case, not a midtower.

Also, I've never had any experience with them, but is BenQ a reputable brand?

 

 

Here's mine, comes with a new generation cpu and crossfire r9 290s:

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/

 

-edit-

if you need it there's still some headroom for a liquid cooler in the price

I'm not seeing any part list.

[ThyFeared]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($385.00 @ CPL Online) 

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($149.00 @ CPL Online) 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($180.00 @ CPL Online) 

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($229.00 @ CPL Online) 

Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($137.00 @ CPL Online) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($92.00 @ Centre Com) 

Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 3GB WINDFORCE Video Card  ($549.00 @ PCCaseGear) 

Case: Fractal Design Arc Mini R2 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($119.00 @ CPL Online) 

Power Supply: Corsair CSM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($139.00 @ PCCaseGear) 

Monitor: LG 23MP55HQ-P 60Hz 23.0" Monitor  ($169.00 @ CPL Online) 

Mouse: Logitech G700s Wireless Laser Mouse  ($89.00 @ CPL Online) 

Total: $2237.00

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-06 02:57 EST+1000

or

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($385.00 @ CPL Online) 

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($149.00 @ CPL Online) 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($180.00 @ CPL Online) 

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($229.00 @ CPL Online) 

Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($137.00 @ CPL Online) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($92.00 @ Centre Com) 

Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB WINDFORCE Video Card  ($758.00 @ CPL Online) 

Case: Fractal Design Arc Mini R2 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($119.00 @ CPL Online) 

Power Supply: Corsair CSM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($139.00 @ PCCaseGear) 

Monitor: LG 23MP55HQ-P 60Hz 23.0" Monitor  ($169.00 @ CPL Online) 

Mouse: Logitech G700s Wireless Laser Mouse  ($89.00 @ CPL Online) 

Total: $2446.00

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-06 02:58 EST+1000

[Sauron]

 

Hmm. 

An 850W PSU seems excessive, don't you think?

And I'm looking for a Micro-ATX case, not a midtower.

Also, I've never had any experience with them, but is BenQ a reputable brand?

 

 

I'm not seeing any part list.

 

 

wooops sorry, here's the right link: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/cbZLpg

 

In my case the 850watts psu is more than justified with 2 gpus, but either way it's not a bad idea to overdo the wattage a bit as running at 60-70% load makes the psu more efficient.

[The Question]

Hmm. 

Firstly, thank you to everyone so far who've offered suggestions.

A few things:
 

1. I forgot to mention I don't need any additional HDDs at the moment.
2. What is the rationale for the Fractal Design Arc Mini R2 MicroATX Mini Tower Case?
3. Is there much difference between the H100i and the H105; isn't the latter newer?
4. I'll post my own potential build soon, but I'd still love more suggestions.

[The Question]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/bDFTFT

For some reason, I couldn't find my case choice listed, so find it listed here:

http://www.pccasegear.com/sc/GdFV

I haven't included a monitor, because I'm still up in the air about all that. >.<

 

[EMENCII]

 

Hmm. 

An 850W PSU seems excessive, don't you think?

And I'm looking for a Micro-ATX case, not a midtower.

Also, I've never had any experience with them, but is BenQ a reputable brand?

 

 

I'm not seeing any part list.

 

I have that monitor, and is a really good one, never disapointed from that... The PSUs have the most efficiency at 50-55% load, and if u want with that u can upgrade to a CF later... I chose the 4930k because of its 6-cores...

[brob]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/bDFTFT

For some reason, I couldn't find my case choice listed, so find it listed here:

http://www.pccasegear.com/sc/GdFV

I haven't included a monitor, because I'm still up in the air about all that. >.<

 

 

The reason that the case was not listed is because the gpu selected is too long. The Air 240 will only accept gpu up to 292 mm. You might want to look at the Fractal Design Node 804. When the middle drive tower is removed the gpu will fit.

 

The H105 is not as good as the H100i at nominal speeds. It only becomes a better cooler if the overclocking is really pushed. For most the H100i is a better choice. If you go with the Node 804 you might also consider an air cpu cooler like the Hyper 212 EVO or one of the excellent offerings from Noctua.

 

You may want to pick a better memory kit. The DDR3-1600 Fury is CAS 10 which is sub-optimal and the part selected is blue which may not look that great with the black & red - but that is personal taste.

 

At the moment R9 290 are a better value than the GTX 780, in most markets.

 

Get a better psu. The EVGA 220-G2-0750-XR is less expensive than the RM-750 and much better.

[The Question]

The reason that the case was not listed is because the gpu selected is too long. The Air 240 will only accept gpu up to 292 mm. You might want to look at the Fractal Design Node 804. When the middle drive tower is removed the gpu will fit.

 

The H105 is not as good as the H100i at nominal speeds. It only becomes a better cooler if the overclocking is really pushed. For most the H100i is a better choice. If you go with the Node 804 you might also consider an air cpu cooler like the Hyper 212 EVO or one of the excellent offerings from Noctua.

 

You may want to pick a better memory kit. The DDR3-1600 Fury is CAS 10 which is sub-optimal and the part selected is blue which may not look that great with the black & red - but that is personal taste.

 

At the moment R9 290 are a better value than the GTX 780, in most markets.

 

Get a better psu. The EVGA 220-G2-0750-XR is less expensive than the RM-750 and much better.

1. I'll get a H100i then.
2. I'll take a look at the Fractal Design Note 804 and other cases now that I know my choice won't hold my GPU choice.
3. While I understand the R90 may be a more economical choice, I've always been a NVIDIA guy and see no reason to jump ship yet.
4. What should I look for in a PSU? They all seem the same. I really just want a quiet PSU at around 750W.
5. The same for RAM; besides speeds what should I look for in deciding what is better?

[brob]

 

1. I'll get a H100i then.
2. I'll take a look at the Fractal Design Note 804 and other cases now that I know my choice won't hold my GPU choice.
3. While I understand the R90 may be a more economical choice, I've always been a NVIDIA guy and see no reason to jump ship yet.
4. What should I look for in a PSU? They all seem the same. I really just want a quiet PSU at around 750W.
5. The same for RAM; besides speeds what should I look for in deciding what is better?

 

 

Unfortunately there is not a lot of noise data available on most psu. Reviews by knowledgeable sites help - HardwareSecrets, JonnyGuru, SilentPC are some of the better ones.

 

The RM-750 is one of the quieter psu. The SeaSonic SS-750KM3 and XFX P1-750B-BEFX are as quiet and better built.

 

Speed then timings determine memory performance. Well known brands all produce quality kits. There is not much to distinguish between them since they all use chips from one of a few of sources. Higher speed memory does not usually make a noticeable difference except in memory intensive operations like renders. On average DDR3-1600 CAS 9 is currently the best performance/value kit. Starting from there find kits that meet your height and color requirements. Then see if there is anything better (i.e. faster, lower timings) within a few dollars. If you really want to get into it http://www.anandtech.com/show/7364/memory-scaling-on-haswell is a very enlightening article.

[The Question]

Unfortunately there is not a lot of noise data available on most psu. Reviews by knowledgeable sites help - HardwareSecrets, JonnyGuru, SilentPC are some of the better ones.

 

The RM-750 is one of the quieter psu. The SeaSonic SS-750KM3 and XFX P1-750B-BEFX are as quiet and better built.

 

Speed then timings determine memory performance. Well known brands all produce quality kits. There is not much to distinguish between them since they all use chips from one of a few of sources. Higher speed memory does not usually make a noticeable difference except in memory intensive operations like renders. On average DDR3-1600 CAS 9 is currently the best performance/value kit. Starting from there find kits that meet your height and color requirements. Then see if there is anything better (i.e. faster, lower timings) within a few dollars. If you really want to get into it http://www.anandtech.com/show/7364/memory-scaling-on-haswell is a very enlightening article.

Thank you.

I'll take a look into all that.