Building a computer for computer science

[LukePickle]

Hi, I'm thinking of building a pc for computer science and im wondering what specifications that you would recommend. I'm from the UK and have a budget that £1500 but am willing to increase that to £2000 is there is a significant performance increase. I currently have a alienware R4 from 2010 thats running a i7-3820, 16 gb of ddr3 and a gtx 560Ti, all original from the pc. the only thing i have changed is i have added a SSD. i dont know the motherboard or psu just i know the motherboard is PCI 2.0, yet i heard that this doesnt matter for graphics cards as they dont take too much of a performance hit. I play CS:GO and DayZ, with the odd bit of the call of duty franchise, and i edit on Adobe Premiere, After effects, and sony vegas and also attempt to model on Blender and Unity. 

The languages I will be coding are C# and C++, using programs like Visual studio or Code::Blocks, or any others that I get my hands on, and i play games in 1080p and may go up into 4k eventually once I get round to it. 

The reasons that i want to build are as i want the experience ( might help in the future ) and to use the money i save by building instead of buying pre built, into additional products like extra storage or programs. 

 

Would it be worth building a new computer, or adding parts to the one I have for gaming/ editing / coding ? 

 

 I am new to the forum so if  I Have posted this in the wrong subforum i'll delete 

[logan]

Hi, I'm thinking of building a pc for computer science and im wondering what specifications that you would recommend. I'm from the UK and have a budget that £1500 but am willing to increase that to £2000 is there is a significant performance increase. I currently have a alienware R4 from 2010 thats running a i7-3820, 16 gb of ddr3 and a gtx 560Ti, all original from the pc. the only thing i have changed is i have added a SSD. i dont know the motherboard or psu just i know the motherboard is PCI 2.0, yet i heard that this doesnt matter for graphics cards as they dont take too much of a performance hit. I play CS:GO and DayZ, with the odd bit of the call of duty franchise, and i edit on Adobe Premiere, After effects, and sony vegas and also attempt to model on Blender and Unity. 

The languages I will be coding are C# and C++, using programs like Visual studio or Code::Blocks, or any others that I get my hands on, and i play games in 1080p and may go up into 4k eventually once I get round to it. 

The reasons that i want to build are as i want the experience ( might help in the future ) and to use the money i save by building instead of buying pre built, into additional products like extra storage or programs. 

 

Would it be worth building a new computer, or adding parts to the one I have for gaming/ editing / coding ? 

 

 I am new to the forum so if  I Have posted this in the wrong subforum i'll delete 

will you be building it in class? or just to code for class? (i cant really help, just wondering tho)

[LukePickle]

will you be building it in class? or just to code for class? (i cant really help, just wondering tho)

 

will you be building it in class? or just to code for class? (i cant really help, just wondering tho)

I will be building it at home, and coding in class 

[Tomic]

Your better off going new

[Tomic]

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/LJq8f7 Here's a build for your budget of 1500

[Tomic]

If you want an I7 http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/6qVPP6

[MrBaker89]

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/LJq8f7 Here's a build for your budget of 1500

 

1000w is overkill... estimated power draw is about 400w.... I would change the PSU and go for a higher end motherboard.

[MrBaker89]

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/XrPdBm

[TetraSky]

Am I the only one who doesn't think he even need a new computer considering his current machine?

 

Because that ain't from 2010 like he says. That CPU came out in 2012. So it's not possible that he got it in 2010. Heck, I got MY CPU in 2010 and it's still doing just fine.

Quite frankly, I would maybe change the graphic card, add more another 16GB of RAM, for a total of 32GB(since you mention the Adobe suite and other editing softwares) and possible change the PSU as well considering they tend to put the bare minimum in these type of machines, so you wouldn't be able to get a more powerful GPU.

 

The CPU itself is perfectly fine still today. You won't gain that much real world performances by going with the "latest" CPUs. Also, you can overclock it. Just because it's not a K series, it doesn't mean that you can't.

 

And no, PCI-e 3.0 or 2.0 doesn't matter for graphic cards. They still haven't reached to top speed of x16 PCI-e 2.0. (let alone x8 pci-e 2.0)

[LukePickle]

Am I the only one who doesn't think he even need a new computer considering his current machine?

 

Because that ain't from 2010 like he says. That CPU came out in 2012. So it's not possible that he got it in 2010. Heck, I got MY CPU in 2010 and it's still doing just fine.

Quite frankly, I would maybe change the graphic card, add more another 16GB of RAM, for a total of 32GB(since you mention the Adobe suite and other editing softwares) and possible change the PSU as well considering they tend to put the bare minimum in these type of machines, so you wouldn't be able to get a more powerful GPU.

 

The CPU itself is perfectly fine still today. You won't gain that much real world performances by going with the "latest" CPUs. Also, you can overclock it. Just because it's not a K series, it doesn't mean that you can't.

 

And no, PCI-e 3.0 or 2.0 doesn't matter for graphic cards. They still haven't reached to top speed of x16 PCI-e 2.0. (let alone x8 pci-e 2.0)

Hi , I think that it was 2012 actually sorry about that, must've been my other pc i got in 2010. I don't want to try to overclock as i am not too confident at that kind of thing. A new graphics card might be a good call, yet i have read about some issues about upgrading the RAM past 16gb on alienware boards , not sure about that. 

 

Many thanks,

Luke 

[MrBaker89]

Hi , I think that it was 2012 actually sorry about that, must've been my other pc i got in 2010. I don't want to try to overclock as i am not too confident at that kind of thing. A new graphics card might be a good call, yet i have read about some issues about upgrading the RAM past 16gb on alienware boards , not sure about that. 

 

Many thanks,

Luke 

 

Luke, 

 

Download Speccy that will tell you what Motherboard you have, then post back in here

[LukePickle]

Luke, 

 

Download Speccy that will tell you what Motherboard you have, then post back in here

 The entire specs from speccy are here ( http://imgur.com/RHGmbvG ) 

[MrBaker89]

 The entire specs from speccy are here ( http://imgur.com/RHGmbvG ) 

 

The motherboard specs don't look horrendous x79 chipset

 

It supports 32GB Ram and supports Quad channel 

[GoodBytes]

As a person who graduated from Computer Science, I can assure you, FOR programming (not everything else you listed) that you won't need anything fancy at all. A 400$ laptop will run everything you through at it, above and beyond for your classes, with the exception of OpenGL (if you do that), you may want to get a Core i5 in this case, for the better Intel integrated graphics. My personal project where more demanding than anything I did at University, because University teaches you concepts, not asking you to build a large scale project. The most demanding thing you'll do, is a complex database layout with a Java/C++/PHP program running it that uses it.

Basically what I am saying, is focus on a computer that fits your other needs, that are more demanding.

[Coaxialgamer]

Hi, I'm thinking of building a pc for computer science and im wondering what specifications that you would recommend. I'm from the UK and have a budget that £1500 but am willing to increase that to £2000 is there is a significant performance increase. I currently have a alienware R4 from 2010 thats running a i7-3820, 16 gb of ddr3 and a gtx 560Ti, all original from the pc. the only thing i have changed is i have added a SSD. i dont know the motherboard or psu just i know the motherboard is PCI 2.0, yet i heard that this doesnt matter for graphics cards as they dont take too much of a performance hit. I play CS:GO and DayZ, with the odd bit of the call of duty franchise, and i edit on Adobe Premiere, After effects, and sony vegas and also attempt to model on Blender and Unity.

The languages I will be coding are C# and C++, using programs like Visual studio or Code::Blocks, or any others that I get my hands on, and i play games in 1080p and may go up into 4k eventually once I get round to it.

The reasons that i want to build are as i want the experience ( might help in the future ) and to use the money i save by building instead of buying pre built, into additional products like extra storage or programs.

Would it be worth building a new computer, or adding parts to the one I have for gaming/ editing / coding ?

I am new to the forum so if I Have posted this in the wrong subforum i'll delete

There, this will handle ANYTHING you throw at it and can even do some 4k editing and gaming.

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/vJDVjX

Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/vJDVjX/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor (£299.99 @ Aria PC)

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i GTX 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£90.99 @ Ebuyer)

Motherboard: MSI X99A SLI PLUS ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard (£170.02 @ Amazon UK)

Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£156.02 @ More Computers)

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£55.71 @ Amazon UK)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£53.94 @ Aria PC)

Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB AMP! Extreme Video Card (£583.13 @ More Computers)

Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£58.60 @ Aria PC)

Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£109.99 @ Novatech)

Total: £1578.39

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-02 22:56 GMT+0000

[Samsonsuperco]

There, this will handle ANYTHING you throw at it and can even do some 4k editing and gaming.

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/vJDVjX

Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/vJDVjX/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor (£299.99 @ Aria PC)

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i GTX 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£90.99 @ Ebuyer)

Motherboard: MSI X99A SLI PLUS ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard (£170.02 @ Amazon UK)

Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£156.02 @ More Computers)

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£55.71 @ Amazon UK)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£53.94 @ Aria PC)

Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB AMP! Extreme Video Card (£583.13 @ More Computers)

Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£58.60 @ Aria PC)

Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£109.99 @ Novatech)

Total: £1578.39

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-02 22:56 GMT+0000

Out of all the pcpartpicker links on this post this is the one i would go with.

[brob]

I would be tempted to simply improve the gpu in the existing system and go with a 1440 monitor. Maybe go all ssd storage.

 

But if you really want try your hand at building a system.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£300.00 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  (£24.98 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: ASRock H170M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard  (£94.33 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  (£69.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial BX200 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£99.95 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Superclocked+ ACX 2.0+ Video Card  (£511.14 @ Aria PC)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo EVOLV ITX Mini ITX Tower Case  (£45.98 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£66.96 @ Aria PC)
Monitor: Asus MX27AQ 60Hz 27.0" Monitor  (£390.23 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1603.56
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-03 07:29 GMT+0000