Spec Check Please: Fast - Reliable - Quiet - No Fixed Budget

Marse

Marse

Marse

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Joined
6 Jul 2007
Posts
464
Location
Northumberland
Recommendations for a fast, reliable and quiet new build appreciated. I'm not interested in colour schemes or flashing lights.
Reliability is a major consideration. I'm inclined to a new build every four years. The 'old' PC then becomes my spare until the next build.

I tend to over spec in the hope that the build will last. No fixed budget.
I try to avoid the hassle of upgrading or replacing parts which may fail or which may not be adequate for what I subsequently may need.

Mouse, keyboard and OS not needed - will be using W7 64 bit.

Main uses are browsing, office applications, Photoshop, some modest CAD, video streaming and Terrestrial/Satellite TV - including HD.
I used to do some gaming and may do so again but not high end. A modest, comfortable overclock is likely.

Initial thoughts:
Ram: 8 GB minimum - 16 GB better - not sure which units ?.
HDD: I always end up short of HDD space so inclined towards 2 x 4 TB
SSD: ? - I will transfer the Crucial SSD out of existing PC. Either use on its own or alongside a new SSD for OS etc.
........Not sure how my 4 year old Crucial compares with newer units.
Monitor: Maximum size 24 inch. I've been happy with my existing Dell apart from a yellow cast, which is annoying.
PSU: Prefer hybrid or modular with high efficiency. Not too sure about the one I've selected.
GPU: I may try the onboard graphics initially and see if they are adequate, at least in the short term.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4790K 4.00GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £269.99
1 x Dell UltraSharp U2412M 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Midnight Grey £229.99
2 x Western Digital Caviar Black 4TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD4003FZEX) HDD £174.98 (£349.96)
1 x Lian Li PC- A61B Midi- Tower - Black £143.99
1 x Gigabyte G1.Sniper Z97 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £119.99
1 x Corsair CS650M 650W Semi-Modular 80+ GOLD Certified Power Supply (CP-9020077-UK) £65.99
1 x Noctua NH-U12S Ultra-Quiet Slim CPU Cooler with NF-F12 Fan £52.99
Total : £1,250.60 (includes shipping : £14.75).




Any advice appreciated.
 
Last edited:
What configuration are you going to be using the 4TB drives in? I presume you've got a decent backup plan for all this storage?
 
Many thanks for the replies.

Checking up on the Ram and PSU's.

To keep it simple the second HDD will be a straight backup of the first
 
Marse said:
Many thanks for the replies.

Checking up on the Ram and PSU's.

To keep it simple the second HDD will be a straight backup of the first
Click to expand...

You might want to setup a RAID 1 pack (mirrored drives) then. That way it gives you some redundancy without having to worry about backing up any data. I'd always advise to have some sort of off site backup as well though.
 
dacads said:
Maybe consider the NH-D14 cooler

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-011-NC

For your intended use I would probably pick up a cheap GPU as well, which CAD software will you be using?
Click to expand...

The cooler on my first build was the NH-12 or 14.
I was tempted to the NH-D14 which I suspect is better value for money and no doubt performs better. May well go that way.

You must be psychic - I was tempted to a modest GPU.
There are even some passive units although I would guess there could be better alternatives.

I guess I'm more than curious to see if the onboard graphics are useable or not.
Any thoughts on a modest GPU ?

CAD is Turbocad and Sketchup. Fairly basic really and nothing too sophisticated with complex rendering.
 
Well both those programs will no doubt benefit from a moderate GPU. You have the option of going with a professional card such as the AMD FirePro V3900/V4900 or NVIDIA Quadro NVS 310/Quadro 410. Or the other option is a low-end consumer gaming card such as AMD R7 260/R9 270 or NVIDIA GT 740/GTX 750.

I would opt for the professional route as the cards I mentioned will be optimised for professional use such as CAD and suit your light rendering needs perfectly. However this is assuming you will not be gaming, if gaming is a priority then maybe I would stick with onboard GPU for now then later on grab a decent gaming card.
 
Would you say the FirePro V3900 performs as well as a similarly priced card, not 'optimised' for CAD etc, when handling HD Video, at say 1920 x 1200, or is there a trade off due to its performance with CAD work.

Gaming at best will tend to be 2D and may not happen.

Thank you
 
I guessed HD video would playback OK. I wasn't sure if there would be any noticeable loss in quality relative to a 'conventional' GPU.
Obviously not :). It would only be meaningful if I wanted to play high end games, which I don't, so I can enjoy the best of 'both' worlds for relatively modest cost.

Thank you.

coupe69: I've used some backup software for many years which gives a simple straightforward backup which achieves much of what I need.
It can also create 'Archives - Incremental' backups which I use extensively for some data.

I may end up with a new SSD for the OS and use my current four year old Crucial 256 GB for general data.

The first HDD will be a simple backup of the 256 GB drive, Acronis Images of the C drive, Videos and other substantial files.
It will also include 'Archived - Incremental' backups of critical data on the 256 GB drive.

The second HDD is then essentially simply a copy of the first.
The critical data is also backed up to external HDD's.

It's a long time since I looked at RAID so I'll check it out again but I suspect my 'simple' approach is less likely to give problems.
Issues with RAID may not be common but I suspect they are much harder to resolve than a simple automated system such as I use.

Many thanks for replying - appreciated.
 
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