My first build, and im worryed....ALOT

[Jasonlant]

Hey guys, ok so where too even begin lol, perhaps if i told you what i need in a pc somone could suggest a company to build it for me, although i would like the challange of doing it on my own.

I need a pc for home studio music production and with a decent gpu to watch blu rays, no real need for gaming but from what little i know to have a good studio pc and gaming rig is one and the same bar high end gpu.

The only good shop i know in the uk is overclockers but they wont build your pc for you, i guess the whole plug this thing there cant be too hard to do but the word bios just go's right over my head, idk even what that is, nor how to overclock :S but i planed on buying this book to help me figure it out. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/280757046455?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Im also wondering whats better? 1155 or 1366, as far as i can gather 1366 cpu+mobo = triple channel ram, but then i dont know what the difference is in performace between them, lol i really am very new to this :'(

Ok so my list is as follows.

500GB western digital caviar black HD

Msi Geforce gtx 560ti Gpu

Corsair HX 850W ATX Psu

LG CH10LS20 Blu ray player/cd dvd rw

Corsair Graphite 600T (white one, just coz it looks nice)

Coolermaster V8 Cooler, i really dis-like the idea of water inside somthing electric tbh

And these two options;

1155...

Intel Core i7-2700K 3.50GHz

Asus P8Z68-V PRO Intel Z68

Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB Or Corsair Vengeance 8GB (both 1600MHz) whatevers best.

1366...

Intel Core i7 980 3.33GHz

Gigabyte X58 G1 Guerilla Intel X58

Corsair Vengeance 12GB 1600MHz Or Corsair XMS3 6GB 2000MHz whatevers best

I think thts all i need to make a pc? the 1366 is about £180 over my budget (£1300) but if its alot better than i can save a bit more.

Im not looking to build this till next July (three kids to look after means i gotta put a bit aside each month) but wanted to get everything sorted in my head now, and who knows fingers crossed the gear may come down in price by then lol.

Sorry for rambleing on and on but figured if i asked everything i need to know once stops me makeing tones of posts, Thanks for any help that comes my way xD

 

[yassarikhan786]

Go for the 1155 build so you can take advantage of IvyBridge when it comes out. In terms of real world performance the 2700k would not be too much behind the 980 and costs less than half (Last time I checked).

 

[Grizzly]

The 1155 setup is your best choice. You'd be better off going with a cheaper CPU though, correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think music editing stresses the CPU too much or makes good use of extra threads (threads essentially try to make this particular CPU act like an 8 core although it is only a 4 core).

I and most people would recommend the i5 2500k, although there is a premium price on the k series CPUs because they are overclockable, thankfully it's easy overclocking so it shouldn't be too hard for you to get the hang of.

850W is overkill for a power supply, look for the HX650W, the brand and line of power supply you've chosen are very reliable.

I don't believe that cooler is the best in the world and is fairly old now, others may be able to recommend you a suitable cooler as I don't think the Noctua NH-D14 will be necessary for you and I don't know what else to suggest.

 

[sheroo]

tbh dude things in terms of computer tech things change so quickly that July next year is a lifetime away. The 1366 socket is dead - so don't even bother. Have a look at DAW's (Digital Audio Workstations). Unless you play games, most modern onboard GPU's are capable of playing full 1080p blu rays, so you don't need to worry about a graphics card. An 850W PSU is total overkill for a system without a dedicated GPU so think more along the lines of 500W instead. One of the most important things about a DAW is silence, so take a look at the Fractal Design R3 (now with usb3), also that CM V8 is way too noisy, think more along the lines of an NH-D14. Without the GPU you could get an SSD for a boot drive as well.

As I've said though, it is just too early to plan a build now for July next year. What is your total budget? How much would you have to spend on a PC now, you may find that you'll be able to build something for cheaper than you think, as you have way over specced what you need.

 

[Jasonlant]

Hey guys, thanks for getting back to me, im so glad i came here lol gonna save a bomb, so im much happyer.

Atm i only have about £400 so i dont think thats gonna go to far.

With regards cpu i was told get the biggst i could afford, im only on a little intel duo core 2.1 atm and it cuts out my sound a hell of alot hence wanting somthing with some grunt behind it, im also glad i wont need a gpu too

Many thanks for all your help, may be able to get my pc alot faster now xD

 

[yassarikhan786]

If you want to make use of the integrated graphics make sure you choose a z68 motherboard.

 

[Grizzly]

I missed the bit about next July. What sheroo said you can't plan a PC this far in advance. You should be able to get an idea of what you need from this thread anyway but it'd be best to wait until nearer a time you plan to build it then ask us again.

 

[Jasonlant]

Will do grizzly was wanting more of an idea now too, could someone explain bios?

or point me to a thread where its been done already? cheers

Oh and if i did decide to get a dedicated gpu would the corsair 650 still be enought?

 

[Grizzly]

Will do grizzly was wanting more of an idea now too, could someone explain bios?

or point me to a thread where its been done already? cheers

Oh and if i did decide to get a dedicated gpu would the corsair 650 still be enought?

The BIOS essentially controls how everything works on your PC (before you put something like Windows on it) so if you have lots of hard drives its where you choose which hard drive to boot from (the drive that'll have windows on), different motherboards will have a different bios and the bios will depend on what that motherboard has and what it supports, so on some motherboards you'll have overclocking options, on others you might have power saving options, some won't have either of those or might have both and other things can be included/excluded. To get a PC up and running shouldn't take too much messing around with the BIOS, to fine tune it probably will require you to mess around with it a bit more.

For the power supply it depends on what dedicated GPU you get, a GPU could potentially be the most power hungry component. In all likelihood though the card you'll end up getting will run fine on 650.

 

[S_I_N]

do yourself a favor ( If I had it to do over I'd gone bigger) think ahead will I possibly put in a Dedicated GPU?? if yes get the 850 so as not to limit your choice of GPU(s) later. also if you google bios screen shots in google per mobo your looking at/for you'll get alot of links that show you bios's its really pretty neat. Awhile back when assisting Chaney with an issue on his build I had to do just that as I had no real knowledge of how his bios looked. Made it an instant success.

 

[sheroo]

With a £400 budget I would think about the following.. (assuming you have k/b, monitor, mouse, dvd/br, o/s)

Fractal Design Define R3 Black Pearl V2 Midi Tower Chassis w/ USB3.0 - £77

Asus P8Z68-V LX Intel Z68 - £87

Intel Core i3-2100 - £91

4GB Mushkin Silverline - £21

530W be quiet! Pure Power L8 Modular 80PLUS Bronze PSU - £61

Asus Xonar DX Low Profile 7.1 PCI-Express Sound Card - £63

As you probably know hard drive prices have gone bonkers recently due to the floods in Tailand, so only buy what you need now, as hopefully prices will come down in the future. I'd recommend only 7200 and above rpm drives - don't bother with the green drives they are too slow. Aim for 3 drives - Primary, Audio Files & Sample Library.

A friend of mine runs a DAW with a Q6600 with Cakewalk - this system would blow that away. If you do want to add a gpu in the future, this system could easily accomodate upto a HD 6950 as well.

See I bet that's not as bad as you thought is it?

EDIT:

Oh and a Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus - £23 - to keep that cpu nice and quiet.

 

[fcb]

Hey, that's a great list there sheroo.

 

[Jasonlant]

lol sheroo im impressed you made me a pretty decent pc for so cheap

yea i got monitor and all the rest of the umph to go with it

Thanks for explaining the bios too, feel like theres not so much to it now, gonna get the pc book from santa tho and get reading in time for the build, lol i got so much to think about

I do want a dedicated one in there coz i bought a pretty good monitor for xbox gaming (dont start any of you lol) i got the BenQ xl240t and its 3d so wanted to give 3d a try and see what the hype was all about, i read that the msi gpu i put above is the best one around for price/value so will most likely get it tbh.

 

[Jasonlant]

Go for the 1155 build so you can take advantage of IvyBridge

Just looked up the ivybridge as i didnt really know what you ment, looks like its gonna be a fair bit better than the current i5/i7 1155, so by the time i can have a good rig there'll be a better newer cpu, Happy days

 

[yassarikhan786]

Just looked up the ivybridge as i didnt really know what you ment, looks like its gonna be a fair bit better than the current i5/i7 1155, so by the time i can have a good rig there'll be a better newer cpu, Happy days

Happy days indeed my friend

.

 

[Eyeball75]

Hi. It looks like the others have sorted you out on the hardware side of things pretty well, I just wanted to say don't worry about building your new pooter yourself, it really is very straight forward. Most of the stuff will only go in one place and it is very obvious once you get going. After you have done a couple of builds you will be able to whack a pooter together in no time. Just don't tell Jonny public how easy it is, otherwise we'll all miss out on the odd £50 here and there for building rigs for mates etc!!