Advice on 2 systems, please?

smoker1963

smoker1963

smoker1963

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12 May 2015
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Hi All,
I'm considering two new builds, of course I want to-have-my-cake-and-eat-it. I need one as a gaming PC (flight sims, so CPU heavy) and one as a household PC, so here are the desired characteristics:
both should be smallish form factor:
gaming PC: maybe micro/miniATX rather than full size, depth is the critical dimension (it's currently installed sideways in a cupboard)
household PC: much smaller
CPU power:
gaming PC: overclocked i7, could use pre-built water cool, e.g. H75, would strongly prefer OCers to build the CPU/MB for me, the rest I can do
household PC: don't care really, to run Linux reasonably fast, memory probably 16GB (0.5GB per Chrome tab!)
Graphics:
gaming PC: 970, I have reasons to go AMD this time
household PC: don't care really, but needs a bit of grunt to run Darktable (Linux equivalent of Lightable), which uses some OpenCL (question, does AMD built in graphics allow this under Linux?)
Storage:
gaming PC: small, ~100GB game SSD, ~100GB Windows SSD, very small SSD for swap, cheap HD for backup
household PC:~128GB for Linux, very small SSD for swap, 1TB HD for /home
Other factors: I hate wind-tunnel PCs with a passion! Quietness is particularly important for the household PC.

Budget: flexible, but would like the whole lot to come in well under £1,500.

Thoughts anyone?

smoker1963
 
Hi stulid, Gaming PC with Windows 7 OEM, Household with nothing.

And I forgot, I'd probably get a basic sound card, but NOT Creative - driver hell, lack of software maintenance!

Thanks,
smoker1963
 
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No need for a soundcard, onboard sound chips are good. Only worthwhile if you get an external DAC/soundcard which can be pricey.
Evidence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1rXcJuEsy0

Quick spec on a micro-ATX build. 250GB SSD can be partitioned into 2 drives. 100GB for OS and the rest for games. I've made a quick choice of a GTX970 for graphics, but it's better to wait till next week before buying any graphics cards. Comes in around £1k, but the home PC should easily come under £500. I have chosen an i5 motherboard bundle, it would cost approx £100 more for an i7. I haven't spent much time on this, but I may take a better look later.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97MX Gaming 5 - Devil's Canyon i5 4690K CPU & Micro ATX Motherboard Bundle **£10 Saving** £303.98
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £299.99
1 x Samsung 250GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E250B/EU) £89.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED316G2400HC11CDC01) £89.99
1 x Bitfenix Aegis Core Micro-ATX Chassis - Black £69.95
1 x Corsair CS550M 550W Semi-Modular 80+ GOLD Certified Power Supply (CP-9020076-UK) £68.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H60 V2 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060007-WW) £64.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £44.99
Total : £1,047.86 (includes shipping : £12.50 Ex.VAT).



Let me know what you think.
 
Thanks for the thoughts, but why...
mahius said:
...but it's better to wait till next week before buying any graphics cards.
Click to expand...
?

Like you I suspect, I read the BitFenix Aegis review in Custom PC. My only worry is that it's a tad long at 480mm, I had to take one of the feet off my current Fractal Design R5 to fit it into place.

I'd probably go i7 and disable hyperthreading to maximise cache availability. Flightsims (Cliffs of Dover, BoS, DCS) are notorious for sharp drops in framerate. That's why I'd probably buy a sound card because I'm jealous of every CPU clock cycle, rather than entirely rational:D

smoker1963
 
mahius said:
No need for a soundcard, onboard sound chips are good. Only worthwhile if you get an external DAC/soundcard which can be pricey.
Evidence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1rXcJuEsy0

Quick spec on a micro-ATX build. 250GB SSD can be partitioned into 2 drives. 100GB for OS and the rest for games. I've made a quick choice of a GTX970 for graphics, but it's better to wait till next week before buying any graphics cards. Comes in around £1k, but the home PC should easily come under £500. I have chosen an i5 motherboard bundle, it would cost approx £100 more for an i7. I haven't spent much time on this, but I may take a better look later.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97MX Gaming 5 - Devil's Canyon i5 4690K CPU & Micro ATX Motherboard Bundle **£10 Saving** £303.98
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £299.99
1 x Samsung 250GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E250B/EU) £89.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED316G2400HC11CDC01) £89.99
1 x Bitfenix Aegis Core Micro-ATX Chassis - Black £69.95
1 x Corsair CS550M 550W Semi-Modular 80+ GOLD Certified Power Supply (CP-9020076-UK) £68.99
1 x Corsair Hydro H60 V2 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060007-WW) £64.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £44.99
Total : £1,047.86 (includes shipping : £12.50 Ex.VAT).



Let me know what you think.
Click to expand...

The EVGA GS 550W for £71 is a much better psu.

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA Supernova GS 550W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £71.95
Total : £81.55 (includes shipping : £8.00 Ex.VAT).



I would also drop the 120mm AIO and go with a cheapish air cooler such as the Raijintek Themis.
 
lude1962 said:
will the gaming pc be staying in the cupboard, if so how big is said cupboard and what is the ventilation like?
Click to expand...

Hi lude, it's a wardrobe coverted into a cockpit! But the doors are open when the PC is on, though it could probably do with some extra holes as well.

lee32uk said:
I would also drop the 120mm AIO and go with a cheapish air cooler such as the Raijintek Themis.
Click to expand...
Yes on price lee, but would it be as quiet?

smoker1963
 
I said it's best to wait till next week for graphics cards since new cards are released/announced. This could bring better options for graphics, or it could even cause a drop in prices of current cards. If not, the best 970s are currently on sale at OCUK for £289.99.

I suggested an AIO cooler since I had concerns about space for a good air HSF. IMO, if you go air, go big or go home. I'd recommend the Noctua NH-D15 (I recently got one for an upcoming build myself), but that would probably be too big for micro-ATX. The thing with cheap air coolers is the airflow and fans. If the PC will be in a cupboard, that would mean less air. Most air heatsinks can have the fans changed to something more efficient and quieter. The Noctua PWM fans are among the best, folks like LTT always use them for benching both AIO and air heatsink coolers. If going for a cheap HSF, then the CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO is among the most popular. If you find it too loud, then just upgrade the fan.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler £24.97




On the PSU front, I agree with lee, I just forgot the £70+ price point was there XD. But if spending £70-80 on the PSU then I'd recommend the 650W version of the same PSU for just a few quid more. Helps to have a bit more headroom in wattage. Also the one I bought myself, by coincidence.

YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA Supernova GS 650W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £76.99



The big question here is, exactly what are the dimensions of the cupboard the PC will fit in? I'd ask for you to measure it with measuring tape or a ruler so we can get the exact size. And how would cables be routed? Would you need to cut out the back of the cupboard for cabling? The Fractal Design is a full ATX case, so the Bitfenix would be a tad smaller.

I'd also mention that you missed out on a great deal on the 4790k about a week ago where OCUK were selling them a little over £250 (so I bought mine). But I feel like I'm being mean for mentioning this :s If you still want an i7, then I'd recommend a motherboard bundle, except there aren't any for micro-ATX. Thus I'd recommend the following 2 motherboards instead. The cheaper one is a bit more barebones, the main difference is the Gaming 5 has capacity for SLI and slightly better built in sound. I'd also mention the sound is built-in to the motherboard and not the CPU, so you don't have to worry about reduced CPU performance using on-board sound. The CPU has built in graphics, but you wouldn't be using that anyway since you'd have a dedicated graphics card.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Z97MX-Gaming 5 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £113.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97M-DS3H Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £77.99



Let me us what you think mate. And then we can move on to the 2nd system.
 
Hi mahius, for your amusement I'll link a photo of the cupboard. When I converted it every dimension was wrong! Not deep enough to hold the PC in the normal orientation, shelves in all the wrong positions... but it meets the requirements for Domestic Harmony!

cockpit.gif



So, though I operate it with the doors open, there is currently no specific ventilation. I could fairly easily cut a hole in the back for exhaust.

I note your comments on lack of i7 micro-atx motherboards with dismay. This was exactly this sort of issue I was hoping to resolve here. Are there no i7 boards that will fit in, say, A BitFenix Aegis? It is a case I'm warming to.

The current case (R3? maybe earlier model, I can't remember) only just fits and the cd tray is inaccessible. The space I have to fit in is 54x30x51 cm and only works now because the cable clearance has space behind to monitor.

smoker1963
 
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smoker1963 said:
Hi lude, it's a wardrobe coverted into a cockpit! But the doors are open when the PC is on, though it could probably do with some extra holes as well.


Yes on price lee, but would it be as quiet?

smoker1963
Click to expand...

It should be quieter as you don't have added noise from the pump like you do with a water cooler.
 
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