First build in years, advice please?

preacher

preacher

preacher

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23 Jan 2005
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Hi folks, I used to build all my own PCs, but a few years back I sold out and bought a Dell. That experience was about as good as you can imagine, so I'd like to get back in the saddle and self-build again. However I'm very out of touch, and though I'm reading and reading, there's a lot to catch up on, and I would really appreciate some advice on the build. Sorry for the long post - hope it's not "TL;DR" time and some of you can take the time to read it! :cool:


Requirements

Mostly I just use the PC for surfing and email, sometimes ripping CDs or transcoding videos. My gaming has all been on the console recently, due to having a crappy Dell, but it would be good to have something that can handle MMOs or RPGs - I don't play FPS or other twitch-fest games.

The PC needs to be quiet, as I sleep and watch TV in the same room, and without bright LEDs lighting up the room.

In the past I used to incrementally upgrade as much as I could, so while I know there's no such thing as "future-proof", I want something that will last a few years with a few upgrades, so while it doesn't need extreme performance, I guess I want the latest chipsets etc. I have Win7 x64 if that matters, and may go to Win8 when it's out.


Components

CPU - I'm sure an Ivybridge i5 would be fine, but which one? :confused: In the past I've OC'ed a little, but I don't think it's a major requirement with current CPUs. Stability is more important to me than performance, and I think IO will be more important than raw CPU power.

RAM - Dual channel? Tri? Quad? Also not sure how much there is to choose between brands these days, if I'm not after extreme performance? Should 8GB be enough for now?

Mobo - Hopelessly out of touch here, I think an Ivybridge Z77 might be one way to go as it offers SRT (more on that later), but really need more advice.

Cooling - The quieter the better.

SSD/HDD - I have a new work laptop with an SSD, and love it, so SSD is a must. :D But should I go for OS/Apps on an SSD and data on an HDD? Or a hybrid solution? Or an SSD/HDD combo with caching (and which is better, SRT or Dataplex)? I have a fairly new WD Caviar Black 640GB WD6402AAEX that I could re-use, but I'd be happy to buy a new HDD. My main archive storage is on a WHS, but it's old and a bit sluggish, so I need a decent amount of space on the PC for current files (including media).

Case - Needs to be quiet and no bright lights. Other than that, something that's easy to work inside.

PSU - Again, the quieter the better.

Graphics - I can't see myself needing SLI or Crossfire, just something with decent gaming potential that can handle an MMO or RPG. Could even go for something basic and add a gaming card later if needed to keep the initial cost down.

Audio - I'm assuming integrated sound is likely to be okay for occasional gaming?

Optical Drive - Don't need Blu-Ray, but it does need to be good at ripping CDs. Any thoughts?


Budget

I don't want to spend more than I have to, but I'm hoping I can get something decent for between £400-£600.


So...

What have I missed?
What would you recommend?
And thanks for reading this far! :D
 
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I'm sure there are others as good. It's just the devil I know. ;)
I raised mine on caster so it has 55-60mm clearance for bottom fans. Added Silverstone magnetic filter on bottom as stock filter requires turning case on its side to clean. Phanteks cooler silent below 850rpm and Gigabyte HD 5770 Silent Cell is passive.
 
Thanks to both of you. :)

TBH the budget is so I don't go mad and overspend, which I always used to do on PC builds - talk myself into buying a slightly better everything, and end up 25% over budget. But it's not a hard limit as long as I don't go mad. I thought £400 would be stretching things a bit, was expecting around £550-£600, but I'm so out of touch with self-build it was hard to tell what was realistic.

Doyll, when you say forgo the SSD, is that just because of cost? I'd gladly spend an extra £30 on a quieter case. (Edit: Just read some reviews on the Fractal case and it looks very good indeed.)

Any recommendations on a PSU that's quiet under low load? Or a good site to look at stats?

Because the main noise issue, as you've deduced, is all about noise at low load. (The MSI GFX card looks moderately noisy under load, but again very quiet at idle.)

I saw a comment about the MX version of the Gigabyte mobo not having very good fan controls, but I can't see that in any reviews of the Z77-D3H model. Any idea about that?

Only other main question so far is on the DVD drive, which is really the least important part of the system, but getting one that's good at ripping slightly iffy CDs can be a pain. Any idea who manufactures those OCUK-badged drives, or does it vary?
 
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SSDs are nice but really only speed up loading time... and their prices are still dropping... so not a problem to buy and install later to stay within budget.

Was frustrated after getting my TX650 and haven't researched what is quiet and what isn't. There are some out there that fan doesn't run at idle.

Not current on GPU. As I don't game my HD 5770 is overkill for my needs.

My Gigabyte does everything I need for fan control.. and it's old.. and was low end model when new. I got my case used with no fans so installed all PWM fans. I use the front fan on my cooler as master rpm. Use Akasa and Geild PWM splitters. These use master fan for rpm to motherboard CPU fan socket and motherboard sends the PWM signal to all fans. The fan power comes from molex connector to PSU so motherboard only supplies the PWM signal.

R3 power switch has a light ring on it and 1" line on top front. I blacked out the line. Now have just enough light to see when it's on but not so bright as to distract in dark.

I rarely use optical drive so not much help there. Obviously you will need one that is SATA.
 
Hmm, will think about the SSD. At work I'm loading up a lot of files and the IOPS on an SSD make a normal drive look pretty lame. But at home? Might not make such a difference, and the WD drive is Sata 6... Food for thought, thanks.

Looking at the Be Quiet PSUs at the moment, the name drew me in obviously. :D Will have a hunt around web. Researching one component is a lot easier than researching the whole build, I was just so far out of date on all this! Appreciate the help, any more ideas always welcome. May pop an email off to OCUK to find out who makes their drives. Plextor and LG have good rep for ripping CDs, I think...
 
Seen a few good reviews of the BeQuiet PSU, so it seems a reasonable choice. Only possibly concern is the cable length.

What's the Fractal case like for cable management? I've never been particularly adept at this, so hoping for something that makes it easier. I also saw a comment in the customer reviews about it needing a long 12V cable, which gives me a concern about the BeQuiet.

Swapped out the OCUK DVD drive for a LiteOn, as there's a good review of that model's ripping capabilities.

The TeamGroup RAM is on offer and so seems a bargain, but it has higher latencies than similarly priced modules, for whatever difference that makes. Any particular reason why it's a good choice? It's a new brand to me.

Might ditch the SSD for now to get the price under £600, but we'll see. I put in a lot of on-call hours recently so have some extra money coming. ;)

Here's my current basket:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £173.99
1 x MSI HD 6850 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £89.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Desktop Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC128D/EU) £85.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Fractal Design Define R3 Midi Tower Case - Titanium Grey £69.98
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L8 530W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - With 120mm Silent Wing Fan Built in £66.98
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38192M1600HC11DC) £35.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £24.12
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-19 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM (Version C - with new Firmware) £19.99
Total : £662.03 (includes shipping : £12.50).




Any thoughts on this build?

Thanks!
 
R3 is good cable management. You can put almost everything behind the motherboard in area behind right side cover. You can mount HDDs so wiring is all behind them.
Front of mine.
Side23612charcoal.jpg


Back before cable management
blackcables2.jpg


I don't know how silent the R3 stock fans are as mine came empty. I have 3x Akasa FN053 120mm PWM (2x frt intake & 1x rear exhaust) and 1x TY-140 PWM in bottom intake. and use SilverArrow 140mm magnetic filter on bottom so can pull it off and clean without tipping case on it's side.

I raised my case to it has 55-60mm clearance for bottom fans. This quieted it down too.

I have top vents open as my HSF vents out top for best flow.
You can see the caster base I have under mine in first pic.
 
Excellent, thanks. That really helps - appreciate you taking the time. Did you buy that caster base or make it? It's a great idea but I suck at any non-computer DIY. :)

The more reviews of this case I read, the more I love it.

Still worried about the cable length on the BeQuiet PSU, I wonder if OCUK will let me swap it if there's a problem?

Edit: Just saw your comment about the EPS, will dig around the reviews to see if I can confirm. Just noticed the R3 has a front USB 3.0 port as well, which is good. The included fans seem to get good reports, will probably try those, but will copy your trick with the magnetic bottom filter.

Edit: Hmm, looks like 450mm if I'm reading this right? We're talking about the main 24-pin to mobo lead? http://www.bequiet.com/en/powersupply/249
 
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Looked around and can't find the BeQuiet EPS cable lenght. You can get extensions for these if needed.

Also you don't need a modular PSU as all extra cables will hide nicely in right side of case. Modular PSU is usually more money. ;)
 
Okay, so this is the latest basket. Still undecided over SSD, so have left it out.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £173.99
1 x MSI HD 6850 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £89.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Fractal Design Define R3 Midi Tower Case - Titanium Grey £69.98
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W '80 Plus' Power Supply £50.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38192M1600HC11DC) £35.99
1 x Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £24.12
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-19 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM (Version C - with new Firmware) £19.99
1 x BitFenix Alchemy 24pin ATX extension 30cm - Grey/Silver £8.99
Total : £569.03 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Would you recommend extra fans, or should I wait and see once it's built and running?

And if you're serious about the caster base, that would be amazing. :) I use a wheelchair so it's hard to pick the PC up and move it.
 
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You won't need the 24pin ATX extension. The only possible cable problem most encounter is the 4/8pin EPS cable. The small square plug one at top back of motherboard. And BeQuiet cable may well be long enough to do it.
 
doyll said:
Looked around and can't find the BeQuiet EPS cable lenght. You can get extensions for these if needed.
Click to expand...

Bequiet L8 review

I own the 630W version its a good quiet PSU. I got mine for £60ish from here many months ago. I would suggest you look at this aswell. I've used them before and they are nice and quiet and come supplied with rubber dampening strips, both PSUs are modular obviously.

I'd suggest something like this perhaps

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £173.99
1 x Plextor M2S 256GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive (PX-256M2S) £124.99
1 x MSI HD 6850 "Dual Fan Edition" 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £83.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £65.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Blue Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9B) £44.99
1 x BitFenix Outlaw Gaming Case - Black £36.98
1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler (Socket LGA2011/1366/1155/1156/775/ AMD AM3/AM3+/AM2/AM2+/FM1) £26.99
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-19 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM (Version C - with new Firmware) £19.99
Total : £671.40 (includes shipping : £11.25).



Case is cheap enough that you can add sound proofing and more fans etc as needed over time (review)

The optical drive is going to be your main culprit for generating noise. It would make sense to rip your DVD collection and watch your movies back from the HDD. Intel quick sync can help you do this faster if your software supports it.

THe 6850 I've picked is cheaper and has a dual fan cooler, so it should be a little quieter than a single fan solution. I own the gelid cooler you spec'd it is nice and quiet but this matterhorn heatsink will cool the CPU better with it's extra heatpipes.

I've included a much larger SSD as an alternative. I own this lite-on DVD drive you spec'd, it can have it's firmware flashed to make it a 524 ;)

Hope this helps
 
Thanks for the additional ideas. I'm a bit concerned by this thread about the noise levels on the dual-fan 6850, though:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18411362
Not quite sure what to make of that! Maybe the first guy had a dodgy one, as later in the thread someone says the fans are controllable and it's nice and quiet. Then others are even suggesting ripping the 2 fans off and adding just a single aftermarket fan. Hmm...

I looked at the Coolermaster Silent Pro, but it's noise levels on low draw were higher than the BeQuiet. It's hard to relate that to real world experience though, and I might not notice the difference.

Will look through the other suggestions, thanks. And yes, I rip stuff to hdd so not worried about noise on the DVD, just accuracy, particularly on some old CDs - and was planning to cross-flash it up. :)
 
Will price up materials for base. Casters will cost the most at about 8 quid. Might have some scrap wood. If not will ask some mates in other shops. Might have you get the casters I recommend so only posting the flat bit.

I use 10mm Cable Tie Velcro Strap Genuine Velcro Product from timebusters on that auction site to bundle up all sorts, both inside and outside of case. £4.95 for 5 metres. Great for sorting out USB cables, power cords, speaker cables, garden hose, etc.
 
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