Building my own PC for the first time
Hi
I need help on buildng a workstation for the first time. It will be used for Modelling , Sculpting and Rendering but i might play game. I've never done this before so feel free to correct me or give any advice if theres any mistakes. I don't really have a budget but saving money is always good when possible
I've been doing some research and heres the parts that i have picked:
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2A6ZX
again any advice would be really helpful and if you do have time could you give me a little explaination on your changes if theres any since this is something i know nothing about but something I want to learn
Thanks
I need help on buildng a workstation for the first time. It will be used for Modelling , Sculpting and Rendering but i might play game. I've never done this before so feel free to correct me or give any advice if theres any mistakes. I don't really have a budget but saving money is always good when possible
I've been doing some research and heres the parts that i have picked:
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2A6ZX
again any advice would be really helpful and if you do have time could you give me a little explaination on your changes if theres any since this is something i know nothing about but something I want to learn
Thanks
Replies
I'd also switch Windows 7 out for 8.1, if I were you- but that's just my personal preference speaking.
I remember booting up 3DS Max at school and on my home computer (that has a SSD) and the load times are night and day.
It might cost more but it's worth every cent.
edit, also get a RM550 PSU, no need for exessive power
Recommended power supply for a GTX 780 is 600 watts.
you should change your RAM, it will probably not fit under your CPU cooler. Look at this picture which uses normal sized RAM which is a lot smaller than the one you picked: http://pics.computerbase.de/4/0/9/7/5/19.jpg
EDIT: it will definitely not fit. The actual clearance for memory is approximately 4.5cm, and according to Corsair's FAQ the Vengeance takes up 5.25 cm -> http://www.corsair.com/us/support/faq/#answer2 (see "How Tall is My Corsair Memory Module?")
Also, I can second Lukas comment about the oversized PSU. Plus, I wouldn't use a Single Rail PSU like the one you selected. [1] I would use a Multi Rail PSU, they are safer because the safety switches (or whatever this is called in english) can switch faster.
That's it for the important parts (MichaelElphick already said that you need to switch Home Premium for a higher Version).
Now on to a few suggestions: your setup suggests that you want to overclock your 4770k. Is that right? If so, please ignore this an jump right to the next paragraph. If you don't want to overclock, and you don't need the integrated GPU (for QuickSync or MultiMonitor purposes) I would suggest getting a Xeon 1230v3 instead of the 4770k and a h87 motherboard instead of a z87 one. This way you get the same power but can safe around £80.
Instead of the Corsair RAM you picked you could pick the low profile version of the same RAM, which will fit without problems under your cpu cooler. You don't need the enormous heatspreader if you don't intend to massively overclock your RAM - which can cause system instability especially since all RAM slots are used. The normal sized heatspreader on the low profile version is more than enough.
Did you choose the 5400rpm HDD because of the noise? If not you can get a faster 7200rpm for the same money. I would also switch the SSD and get a Samsung 840 Evo instead of the Kingston. The 840 Evo is faster, both have 3 years warranty, but I suspect the 840 Evo will last longer (even though it uses TLC) because it doesn't use a Sandforce controller like the Kingston. The web seems to be full of complaints about broken SSDs that use a Sandforce controller. My colleagues and I have a Samsung 830 in our PC's at work, and never had a problem since they were installed in 2011.
Do you like quiet PC's? If that's the case I would change the case (pun not intended), and use something like the Fractal Design R4 which has noise dampening materials inside.
All of this applied would look like this: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2AhXs
They need to be on the safe side. ;o) Many users buy crap PSUs which claim to have 500 watt for example but can't perform like that. Especially the 12v line which is essential for the GPU is crap in those PSUs and often times can't deliver enough power. If you buy a good 500 watt gold PSU (to stay with the example) you have enough power overall and on the 12v line.
The 780 for example needs at max 253 watt, but that is under unreal (not the game *g* ) load which you don't reach under normal circumstances. [2] With a demanding game like Metro Last Light the card consumes around 208 watt. [3]
Add to that a 4770k which needs 100 watt under full load [4] and we are at 353 watt. The other components like HDD, SSD, optical drive, ram etc. don't need more than 50 watt (ok, depends on the amount of components's *g*) which brings us to around 400 watt. On a 500 watt PSU this would be the in the optimal 50-80% load range (80% to be exact in this case) for PSU's.
Sorry for the wall of text. ^^
[1] http://www.overclock.net/t/944707/why-single-rail-is-not-better-than-multi-rail
[2] http://media.bestofmicro.com/B/N/385331/original/07-Power-Consumption-Torture-Max-Values.png
[3] http://media.bestofmicro.com/B/K/385328/original/04-Power-Consumption-Gaming.png
[4] http://media.bestofmicro.com/Z/G/387484/original/average-power.png
@Skamander
don't worry about the wall of text it's very informative because i didn't even know I had to check ram clearance when I was picking a fan.
As for the processor and motherboard I don't intend on overclocking not even sure how i would go about doing it i simply put the i7 in because i thought it was better (like I said I no nothing)
As for the case i picked it because I like the look of. I would like a quiet PC but im not too fused after all my last PC started sounding like a chainsaw.
So I've made some changes and here's what I've got so far
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2Atzo
Again thanks for taking the time to look at this i really appreciate the advice and also if there is anything else you think i can add like some monitors and even a optical drive feel free to to let me know.
Thanks
Personally I would go with the i7, just get the processor you want but with the 'K' on the end. The 'K' is what indicates that it is meant or can be used for overclocking.
If it helps, I have an i7 3770 with a coolermaster heatsink.
http://www.coolermaster.com/cooling/cpu-air-cooler/hyper-212-plus-with-fan-bracket/
For the money (this one is really cheap) it cools better than anything else (according to Tom's Hardware if that is a source you can trust).
I monitored my computer temp for a couple weeks after I built it and it really does run very cool. Beyond that, my 32GB ram fits underneath.
I also have a 1TB HDD + 128GB SSD setup, and I love it. Next time I will get a 260GB for the extra space on the boot drive, but it's also not super necessary. Remember that windows saves the number of GB of ram you have on the boot drive for some services, so you will have to subtract the GB of your ram from the GB of the SSD to predict that. I believe it is in case the computer has to drop into hibernation mode, it reserves that space to dump your RAM information into. This can be disabled I believe, not sure.
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I also have the exact power supply that you had in your first post, and I absolutely love it. Whatever you get just make sure it's from a good manufacturer (stick to name brands here) and that it's modular. The modular part is pretty important.
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Good luck!
But I'd just go with the i7 unless you really want to read a lot about production applications, benchmarks, and research.
No problem, I'm a tech geek and read tech sites and benchmarks on a daily basis, so I'm happy if that's not only usefull for me but others as well.
If you don't have a optical drive (DVD) lying around you should include a cheap one, since you need to install Windows from disc. It's possible to install it from a USB-Stick, but I don't know if you want to do that (it's not hard, but the preperations would take some time). [1]
What monitor are you using at the moment? If you are happy with the one you have right now I would probably stick with it. On the other hand a good calibrated monitor would probably be really good for everything that has to do with colours like textures. Maybe some artist can chime in on this, since I'm a software architect by day, and are only in the beginning to become a hobby artist by night. ;o)
The partpicker link you posted looks good. Like ysalex said you could switch your cooler to the Evo 212 and save ~20, since you don't overclock you don't need that much cooling (if you are not a silent freak like me). Or you could just use the boxed cooler for the moment like ZacD said in another thead [2] and if you don't like the noise/cpu heat levels switch later to a better cooler.
EDIT: I noticed that you picked the "Power Zone" line from BeQuiet. That's also a Single Rail PSU like the Corsair you selected first and is not as effecient as the Corsair. So I would change it back to the Corsair if you don't mind the disadvantages of Single Rail PSU's:
http://www.antec.com/PSU/Myth3.php
http://www.overclock.net/t/944707/why-single-rail-is-not-better-than-multi-rail
Sorry, but that's just not true. You can play games equally good with Xeons since 2008 [3] and ealier, if you don't buy one with low clock speed that is. Xeons are the same processors as the mainstream ones. [4] The only difference is that they don't have a open multiplier for overclocking (for stability and longevity reasons) and not all Xeons have a iGPU (only the ones with a 5 at the end like the Xeon 1245 for example). Plus they have extra features that the i7's don't have (and a normal users usually don't need) like support for ECC-RAM. ;o)
Game Benchmarks:
Crysis 3
Battelfield 4
Anno 2070 (CPU bound instead of GPU bound, so it's a good benchmark for CPU's)
btw: I hope my way of writing is not rude. Since I'm not a native speaker I sometimes write in a style that might come across as rude.
[1] http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows7/a/install-windows-7-usb.htm
[2] http://www.polycount.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1975287&postcount=35
[3] The Xeon W3520 from 2008 for example is the same processor as a Intel i7 920
[4] because of that they sadly don't have a performance advantage over i7's in Vray etc. They have the same performance if you don't buy a monster like the Intel Xeon E5-2687W with 8 cores (16 threads) and 3,4 ghz for around 1700-2000 bucks. ;D
When I finally assembled my machine, I found Carey Holzman's videos REALLY helpful...
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He takes his time, goes all the way from unboxing the parts to installing the BIOS, he explains what every step is and why he's doing it a certain way (like how to position things so you can work easier), and makes it a point to get great camera angles so you can see exactly what he's doing and you'll know what to look for with your parts, even if they're a little different.
First of all i just want to thanks all of you for the advice it has been very helpful.
so after looking at the information that you have left I have decided on this build:
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2AZgJ
it has a mixture of everything i have seen here. If theres any more advice you can give i would like to hear i'm planning on getting the parts for the weekend
Thanks again
P.S again thanks for all the advice