£900 Build for programming - light gaming - home use

[Crunchie]

Hi everyone, I've got my budget sorted and I'm going to be ready to order all the bits for a new pc build next week. I was waiting for Haswell but after reading the reports of them running hot and offering minimal performance improvements I've decided to go with an Ivy Bridge build.

 

My budget is £900 and that needs to include pretty much everything including pc, monitor, keyboard, mouse and Windows. The pc will be used for occasional gaming, normal everyday use by the family (Chrome, Firefox, Thunderbird, iTunes, OpenOffice), and for Java web based programming stuff for me (Eclipse, Postgres, Tomcat, Photoshop, Illustrator, Notepad++). Also will probably want to run linux (Centos 6) either by VM or on a separate HD / Partition. I don't want to go all out on the gaming side of things but would like a capable card around the £80-100 mark. The main thing is I want it to be nice and fast running my programming software, the browsers and iTunes. I want a 24" monitor and Windows 7 64bit.

 

This is what I've currently got specc'ed and I would really appreciate it if you could point out any glaring errors, bottlenecks or where you think I could better spend my money. I'm not too bothered about overclocking but thought it might be worth choosing a K series processor in case I want to overclock it in a year or two to get a speed boost, is this wise?! Also I have no idea when it comes to keyboards and mice so recommend away please (wired though I think). Thanks .

 

Case: Corsair Carbide 300R Windowed

Processor: i5 3570K
Motherboard: MSI Z77 G45 Gaming
Ram: Corsair Vengeance 8gb DDR3 1600 (2 x 4gb)
Graphics Card: Sapphire AMD Radeon HD GHz Edition 7770
Power Supply: Be Quiet! Pure Power L8 430W Modular PSU
SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 128gb or Sandisk Extreme 120gb G25
Hard Drive: I've already got this in my old pc 500gb HD Western Digital
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04

Monitor: Dell U2412M
Keyboard: ?
Mouse: ?

OS: Windows 7 64bit Home Premium

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/rthomas/saved/1j3r

 

[msikora]

I don't believe the 7770 has OpenCL support, so your adobe programs will not really take full advantage of your GPU.  Personally I would recommend the i7 because the hyper threading will greatly benefit your efficiency when programing/multitasking. I went with a haswell i7 4770k over a 3570k because I knew I would need the hyper threading for web design, android development, and other things besides gaming.  

 

You could probably get a cheaper ips screen aswell, like an AOC, then put that towards either an i7, more memory (16GB), or an Nvidia card with Cuda cores.

 

I've seen people go with AMD as well, thats something you should look into though. The advantage is that they are cheaper, but take a look at this before considering AMD:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-performance-comparison,3370-13.html

[Raptus]

I would recommend a nVidia-card as well for the CUDA-cores. Although CS7 might support OpenCL acceleration, the CUDA solution as well established and will definitely help with Photoshop and other Adobe programs. 

An i7 would also be recommended, although I think a i5 would perform fine as well. More RAM would good though.

On the monitor the Dell U2412M is in Norway one of the best-value IPS monitors you can get. No complaints there if you can't find a cheaper IPS-monitor. 

On the keyboard and mouse side you really have to try out some yourself. I'm migrating to a mechanical keyboard (Filco, MX Blues) because the typing experience while coding HTML/CSS/PHP is so much better with a mechanical keyboard. Just remember to try all the switches out to find something you're comfortable with.

[Crunchie]

Thanks for the feedback both of you. To be honest the Adobe usage is going to be pretty minimal and they're old versions anyway, CS2 I think! I'll have a look at the i7's though and see if I can work one into the budget, the hyper threading would be nice.

Not sure whether to go with the Define R4 or the Carbide 300r, I guess at that price point they'll be pretty similar?

[msikora]

Thanks for the feedback both of you. To be honest the Adobe usage is going to be pretty minimal and they're old versions anyway, CS2 I think! I'll have a look at the i7's though and see if I can work one into the budget, the hyper threading would be nice.

Not sure whether to go with the Define R4 or the Carbide 300r, I guess at that price point they'll be pretty similar?

Yeah if its not heavy usage a 3570k will do fine, save your money for more ram (as Raptus said). The 300r is cheaper, and I personally prefer the look compared to the R4. Cable management is about the same. The hdd bays could restrict airflow in the R4 if you keep all of them in.

 

also for a mouse, I recommend steal series. I've had a kana for 6 months now and love the precision. 

http://shop.steelseries.com/uk/mice.html

[VVR4ITH]

Your build is going to be overkill for your purposes.  Here's something that's still overkill but it more balanced and will give you the best bang for your buck.

 

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/148e9

 

Pick whatever mouse and keyboard you want.  Add an aftermarket cooler if your budget allows for one.

[WoodenMarker]

Here's what I came up with: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/14bqO

 

It's a lot cheaper if you go with a 23" monitor btw.

[Crunchie]

I'm wondering whether to get a Corsair Obsidian 350D instead now after watching Linus's unboxing, and go Micro ATX. Thinking about this build: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/rthomas/saved/1uqV

[VVR4ITH]

I'm wondering whether to get a Corsair Obsidian 350D instead now after watching Linus's unboxing, and go Micro ATX. Thinking about this build: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/rthomas/saved/1uqV

 

Your system is still unbalanced.  You have a great CPU with a crappy GPU, worse and more expensive RAM than what I picked, and a questionable SSD. 

 

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/14fjt

[WoodenMarker]

Your system is still unbalanced.  You have a great CPU with a crappy GPU, worse and more expensive RAM than what I picked, and a questionable SSD. 

 

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/14fjt

Dat lack of storage.

[VVR4ITH]

Dat lack of storage.

 

Hard Drive: I've already got this in my old pc 500gb HD Western Digital

 

Your lack of reading skills.  :ph34r:

[WoodenMarker]

Your lack of reading skills.  :ph34r:

Oh boy. I'm like a bat.

[Crunchie]

Your system is still unbalanced.  You have a great CPU with a crappy GPU, worse and more expensive RAM than what I picked, and a questionable SSD. 

 

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/14fjt

 

Thanks for that. The problem with that ram is it's only that price at Amazon and the delivery estimate is 1-2 months! Plus I have to say I'm not a big fan of ram with big heat spreaders on.

 

I thought I'd read somewhere that the Sandisk Extreme SSD's were decent , however for the sake of £20 I've upgraded to the Samsung 840 Pro.

 

The GPU is a tough one, this isn't really a gaming pc (only light use) and I didn't want to spend more than £100 on a card. I would like to put something like a 7850 in there but just can't justify the price for the amount of use it's likely to get, especially as at the end of the year I'll be investing in a next gen console (PS4 probably).

 

I'm now happy with the Case (going with the Carbide 300R), Storage, PSU, Graphics card, Memory and monitor. I just have one decision to make: whether to go Haswell or Ivy Bridge. The Haswell 4670K processor is only £10 more than the 3570K, but the motherboards seem to be a fair bit more a the moment for an equivalent spec.

 

Ivy Bridge: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/rthomas/saved/1j3r

 

Haswell: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/rthomas/saved/1JMB

[marcbodea]

Thanks for that. The problem with that ram is it's only that price at Amazon and the delivery estimate is 1-2 months! Plus I have to say I'm not a big fan of ram with big heat spreaders on.

I thought I'd read somewhere that the Sandisk Extreme SSD's were decent , however for the sake of £20 I've upgraded to the Samsung 840 Pro.

The GPU is a tough one, this isn't really a gaming pc (only light use) and I didn't want to spend more than £100 on a card. I would like to put something like a 7850 in there but just can't justify the price for the amount of use it's likely to get, especially as at the end of the year I'll be investing in a next gen console (PS4 probably).

I'm now happy with the Case (going with the Carbide 300R), Storage, PSU, Graphics card, Memory and monitor. I just have one decision to make: whether to go Haswell or Ivy Bridge. The Haswell 4670K processor is only £10 more than the 3570K, but the motherboards seem to be a fair bit more a the moment for an equivalent spec.

Ivy Bridge: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/rthomas/saved/1j3r

Haswell: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/rthomas/saved/1JMB

Haswell has lower power consumption so you may be able to get back the extra money spent on the mobo by downgrading the psu...nice build btw

[Crunchie]

Right I've tweaked a few things, downgraded the SSD to a regular 840 as the Pro is £30 more and it doesn't sound like it's worth it. Gone for the non windowed case and saved a tenner, and I've upgraded the graphics card to a 660 that's £140 and seems to get really good reviews on NewEgg.

 

Think I'm pretty happy with that.  :) Bang on budget too.

 

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/152Jn