Looking to build a fast system for programming

Gullanian

Gullanian

Gullanian

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Joined
25 Feb 2011
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267
Hello!

I'm looking to build a fast system for office use. I'll be programming on visual studio as well as having a lot of memory intensive apps running (like Ms-SQL).

It needs to have a very good processor to build projects quickly
At least 6GB ram
SSD drive

My budget is ~£1000 for this system, perhiperals and software don't need to be included, just a bare bones. Willing to spend more if it offers significant performance increases.

What do people recommend? I'm thinking:

£230: Intel Core i7-3820 3.60GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-391-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=1672

£168 Asrock X79 Extreme 4 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard [X79 EXTREME4]
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-057-AK&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=2174

£140 Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 800W Power Supply [RS-800-80GA-D3]
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-217-CM&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=

£47 Corsair Vengeance 8GB (1x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Single Channel Module (CMZ8GX3M1A1600C10) [CMZ8GX3M1A1600C10]
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-314-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=

£200 OCZ Agility 3 Raid Pack 2x 120GB (240GB) 2.5" SATA-3 SSDs
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-112-OC&groupid=1657&catid=2101&subcat=

£100 OcUK HD 6850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card [OcUK_6850]
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-174-OK&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=

Will this all fit together? And what's a good case to get? I'm looking at AMD Bulldozers and it all seems quite a lot cheaper but I've heard sandybridge are the best.
 
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Change the memory first of all. You will be running Intel's latest platform which uses quad channel memory, not single. I would opt for this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-113-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=813

800W PSU is too much for this rig, I would go for a Corsair Builder Series CX500

AMD Bulldozer is a load of bull (HA! get the reference!!!)

They are ****. if you want to save money I would go for a i5/i7 SB. The I7-2600K is great and will be on terms with the 3820 you have chosen. Add this with a Z68 mobo and 8gb memory your sorted.

Keep the 6850 and SSD's and try these instead:


Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £249.95
(£208.29) £249.95
(£208.29)
Asus P8Z68-M PRO Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £119.99
(£99.99) £119.99
(£99.99)
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £29.99
(£24.99) £29.99
(£24.99)
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
(£21.66) £25.99
(£21.66)
Sub Total : £354.93
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £72.89
Total : £437.32

Awesome CPU, nice mobo, good 8gb memory and cooler to go along with it. You can hit 4.5ghz with this SB cpu really easily.

Enjoy!
 
Looking good, really. All looks compatible.

I would bump the memory to 16, or even 32GB. And get a decent CPU cooler. I assume you are planning to RAID those SSDs. Wondering if it's worth the bother.

SB / SB-E is better than any AMD. Note that Ivy will be out soon. I would wait to see how good they are before commiting to SB-E.

As for the case, depends on budget. You don't need anything special, so a Carbide 300R, Bitfenix Shinobi, Corsair Obsidian 550D.

EDIT : oups yeah. Pick up quad-channel of going 2011.
 
Here's my list then:

£250 Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-358-IN

£26 Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) [GEL-TRANQUILLO ]
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-001-GD

£120 Asus P8Z68-M PRO Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard [90-MIBGX0-G0EAY0KZ]
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-481-AS

£45 Corsair Builder Series CX 500W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-500CXUKV2)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-034-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1084

£48 Kingston HyperX Genesis 8GB (4x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-113-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=813

£198 OCZ Agility 3 Raid Pack 2x 120GB (240GB) 2.5" SATA-3 SSDs
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-112-OC&groupid=1657&catid=2101&subcat=

£100 OcUK HD 6850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card [OcUK_6850]
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-174-OK&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=

£60 Corsair Carbide 300R Mid Tower Case
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-063-CS

Total: £850

Just final check, this is all good?
 
I would think the choice of SSD was really important here doing lots of small I/O. Is the Agility 3 the best performer for random 4K reads/writes?
 
ATX form factor Z77 such as this one from Gigabyte.

Single larger SSD such as the M4, although I really don't see why backups need to be stored on an SSD? Personally if its important data I'd want it stored on an external hdd.

I'd get a better psu. Although the Corsair CX builder series is ok, nothing great.

OCZ ZS 550W.
 
Ok amended list:

Here's my list then:

£250 Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-358-IN

£26 Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) [GEL-TRANQUILLO ]
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-001-GD

£102 Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-390-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=2261

£47 OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply [OCZ-ZS550W-UK]
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-055-OC&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1098

£30 Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-094-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

£198 OCZ Agility 3 Raid Pack 2x 120GB (240GB) 2.5" SATA-3 SSDs
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-112-OC&groupid=1657&catid=2101&subcat=

£85 Asus HD 6850 DirectCU V2 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card [90-C1CPX5-L0UAY0BZ][OcUK_6850]
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-269-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1866

£60 Corsair Carbide 300R Mid Tower Case
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-063-CS

Total: £798

Should I be going for quad channel ram though as someone mentioned previously? Also this is sort of under budget, is it worth going for a slightly better model cpu?

Edit: Seems to be a big price hike from 4 cores to 6, probably best to leave it.
 
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As a software developer who use my own rigs for development, few key things.

Invest in a high grade PSU, this is key for a professional rig. I'm using a Seasonic X650, it's fan is silent on my rig, important if your working next to machine all day. High grade PSU like this makes your system more stable. I would not touch that OCZ item you listed, I use to own a OCZ PSU it ran hot and was noisy!

Install at least 16GB. I often have all sorts of development tools open and ample memory is vital. I would choose 32GB if building now. I would go quad channel if you can. The Kingston memory you have chosen is very good.

SSD's are useful for reducing built times on projects. HDD's are still fine for applications once everything is loaded.

Final thing. The biggest productivity you can have for development is multi-monitors. I run 3 monitors and the productivity gain is more than any typical hardware upgrade.
 
Oh yes I've already got 2 monitors for it :) Multi is the best for working.

I really don't think I need >8gb, I very rarely go over 4 and if it's a problem I'll just buy more at the time.

Agree with you on PSU, I have a BeQuiet at home and it's very nice, might get that instead.
 
Gullanian, memory is worth more than the SSD's as Windows 7 will cache files. Problem with going more memory later is it's never matched to original.

This is typical memory usage on my rig after a day. I'm a Microsoft developer, so Visual Studio / SQL Management Studio's open.

standby.jpg


Back to PSU. I use to run a OCZ 600w, when I went to the Seasonic Gold I found I could undervolt more, so less heat in system. I also have the theory that because the Seasonic is more stable than the OCZ, hardware should be more reliable on the Seasonic as it's protected better from power spikes.
 
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JasonM said:
This is typical memory usage on my rig after a day.
Click to expand...
Precisely. Your disk cache is full. When you do any new IO, something has to be written back to the disk unless it's been done already on a write through mechanism.

In honesty, my system looks like that too (16G with 8G cached) as I do a lot of photography editing. I still get pauses as the disk gets read from/written to though.
 
As a slightly flip viewpoint, Bulldozer may actually make sense in this case.
Remember that the OP is programming (Hence compiling), and depending on the precise nature of what he's building more cores may well be of an advantage over the Intel equivalant.
If programming at all seriously, there's no real way I'd be considering any sort of major OCs either. All it takes is one undetected instability because something was pushed too far, and then you'll get all kinds of havoc when you're compiling- Remember that running a long compile is roughly equivilant to a constant Prime/ Orthos run, but with errors which can bite you :)

As a rule, if you're compiling a single monlithic application (No libraries, multiple binaries etc), then you need raw speed, but if you're compiling something with more threads (Large application with libraries, Linux systems etc), then more cores are actually often better.

I'd also agree that you *need* to add as much memory as you can possibly afford, this will pay off many, many times in the long run :)

-Leezer-
 
I'll be using it to compile a website (ASP.net) which on my Phenon x6 1090t currently takes around 30 seconds. Also small changes to the code can cause up to 10 seconds delay before previewing which is a bit annoying, would like to reduce these numbers if possible.

VS + Reshaper are currently a little sluggish/laggy which is my main concern. Would like this to run perfectly.

Ok I'll get 16GB ram, it's not that much more expensive so might as well!
 
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Hmm, not sure :)
The last graph on this page seems to suggest an Intel option in terms of VS builds and appears to place Bulldozer around on a par with what you've got:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fx-8150-zambezi-bulldozer-990fx,3043-16.html

When I'm compiling, I want all the cores I can get my hands on TBQH.
You might consider spending a large chunk of your budget on something like an 3930k (Best part of £500), and sticking to a single SSD. SSDs in RAID is nice, yes, but a single one and a faster processor would appeal much more to me :)

Also consider whether you can claim the VAT back if your company is paying & VAT registered- May give you more to play with :)

-Leezer-
 
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