Hi, I have never built a computer before. Now that my current one is a bit dated I fancied giving it a go.
I want to base it around the BitFenix case, for no reason other than I really like the design.
I want the computer to be very quiet but don't want to get into water cooling (I'm not even sure if this is silent anyway). I may look to overclock slightly in the future but for the time being would run the CPU as normal. I don't want a separate graphics card as this will add to expense and fan noise, I don't play many games just the odd classic adventure style game, nothing too taxing. I have read the GPU on the haswell chip is decent and think it will cope with my needs. I do however use photoshop and lightroom. As well as photo editing I will use the pc for media, playing my music using the optical connection to my amp and watching films (blurays) via hdmi into my telly (hence wanting the pc to be very quiet).
I have come up with the following and was hoping for any thoughts about it.
BitFenix Prodigy 'Hazard' Mini-ITX Cube Case
Asus Z87I PROFESSIONAL Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini-ITX
Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor
Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
Seasonic G series 450w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply
Samsung 128GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic
Pioneer BDC-207DBK 8x BluRay ROM / DVDRW SATA-II Optical Drive
BitFenix Spectre PRO 230mm
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)
I will also be using 2 hard drives from my old computer a 500gb and a 2tb SATA drives.
My thoughts are that i install the 230mm fan on the front and the case comes with a 140mm fan which i will use at the back. I think this should be enough 'fanage' and run at low speeds they should be quiet i hope. I don't know if the CPU fan is overkill but i imagine the one intel provide is probably noisy.
The SSD would be used for the operating system and for photoshop/lightroom.
I am an amateur photographer not a pro so i think 8gb is enough memory but i could get 16gb for £40 more, is that worth bothering? Can this system take 1 8gb module so i can expand later or must both slots be used?
Finally the power supply is 160mm deep which is the max BitFenix say can be installed in the case. Can anyone confirm if this is actually ok or should I be looking for a smaller PSU? I thought this one as it is listed on the website 'haswell compatible' but in reality is this needed?
Sorry for such a long post.
I want to base it around the BitFenix case, for no reason other than I really like the design.
I want the computer to be very quiet but don't want to get into water cooling (I'm not even sure if this is silent anyway). I may look to overclock slightly in the future but for the time being would run the CPU as normal. I don't want a separate graphics card as this will add to expense and fan noise, I don't play many games just the odd classic adventure style game, nothing too taxing. I have read the GPU on the haswell chip is decent and think it will cope with my needs. I do however use photoshop and lightroom. As well as photo editing I will use the pc for media, playing my music using the optical connection to my amp and watching films (blurays) via hdmi into my telly (hence wanting the pc to be very quiet).
I have come up with the following and was hoping for any thoughts about it.
BitFenix Prodigy 'Hazard' Mini-ITX Cube Case
Asus Z87I PROFESSIONAL Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini-ITX
Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor
Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
Seasonic G series 450w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply
Samsung 128GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic
Pioneer BDC-207DBK 8x BluRay ROM / DVDRW SATA-II Optical Drive
BitFenix Spectre PRO 230mm
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 CPU Cooler
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)
I will also be using 2 hard drives from my old computer a 500gb and a 2tb SATA drives.
My thoughts are that i install the 230mm fan on the front and the case comes with a 140mm fan which i will use at the back. I think this should be enough 'fanage' and run at low speeds they should be quiet i hope. I don't know if the CPU fan is overkill but i imagine the one intel provide is probably noisy.
The SSD would be used for the operating system and for photoshop/lightroom.
I am an amateur photographer not a pro so i think 8gb is enough memory but i could get 16gb for £40 more, is that worth bothering? Can this system take 1 8gb module so i can expand later or must both slots be used?
Finally the power supply is 160mm deep which is the max BitFenix say can be installed in the case. Can anyone confirm if this is actually ok or should I be looking for a smaller PSU? I thought this one as it is listed on the website 'haswell compatible' but in reality is this needed?
Sorry for such a long post.
