Spec for Developer Machine £1500 ex VAT

Socrates470BC

Socrates470BC

Socrates470BC

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22 May 2011
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399
Location
Perthshire, Scotland
I need a new development machine. Budget is £1500 ex VAT. Monitor and Keyboard not required.

After many years of buying from Dell, I am considering building one myself.

I will be using Visual Studio, SQLServer, Photoshop.
Some video editing Sony Vegas.
VMWare Virtual Machines.
Various Browsers with numerous open tabs.
MS Office Word, Excel and Outlook.
Snagit and Camtasia Studio.
FIFA Football Manager.
2 1600x1200 monitors with later upgrade to 2560xwhatever.

Want fast loads, fast switching between programs.



This is what I am currently thinking:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £309.98
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 570 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £254.99
1 x Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £239.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate - Retail (GLC-00181) £179.99
1 x Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £169.98
1 x Corsair Professional Series AX850 High Performance 850W Modular '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply (CMPSU-850AXUK) £164.98
1 x Cooler Master HAF X Gaming Tower Case - Black (RC-942) £145.99
1 x Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/LGA1156/LGA1155/LGA775/AM2/AM2) £72.98
1 x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD1002FAEX) £72.98
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £71.99
1 x IC Diamond 24-Carat Thermal Compound (4.8g) £12.98
1 x NZXT 8-Pin (EPS12V) Black Sleeved 25cm Extension Cable (CB-8P) £7.99
Total : £1,722.53 (includes shipping : £14.75).

 
thats looking quite good but a little expensive.
i'm not sure what kind of graphics power your going to need for a machine like that, so i'll leave the card you chose in there (which is the GTX 570 i would have chosen myself)

do you really need the ultimate edition of wndows? it sounds like you'll be quite happy with win7pro, but heres a comparison of the versions:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows7/products/compare

also, do you need a DVD drive?

*edit*
also, you could probably get away with using the OEM version of windows. technically it is not supposed to change motherboard, but you can change any number of components and get it reactivated. i'm not sure of the exact details but im sure someone around here will know
 
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Thanks - Completely forgot about DVD drive. Need one that will READ and WRITE DVDs and CDs and allow me to Read Bluray Discs and watch Bluray Movies.

Bluray write would be a nice to have.

There is only a small price difference between the Winpro and ultimate editions and being a developer I don't want to miss anything by accident.

The choice of gfx card should allow me to run two monitors at fairly high res.

Hopefully the psu has enough in reserve if I want to add a second gfx and a 3rd monitor.
 
Our dell dev machines are pretty much this spec except for the graphics and they have more ram. I think we paid about £650 or something. I'd stick 16gb of ram in that rig, as your aware SQL eats ram. I'd also stick another disc in it for SQL databases to run off to maximise your Io.
 
ok, fair enough. in that case i'll recommend this to you:


YOUR BASKET
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £309.98
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 570 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £254.99
1 x Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £239.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate - Retail (GLC-00181) £179.99
1 x MSI Z68A-GD65-G3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £159.98
1 x Silverstone Raven 2 RV02B Full Tower Case - Black £129.98
1 x OCZ Z-Series 850W '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply £99.98
1 x LG BH10LS30 10x BluRay-RW / 16 x DVD±RW Drive - Black (Retail) £78.98
1 x Thermalright Silver Arrow CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA775/AM2/AM3) £50.99
2 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £47.99 (£95.98)
1 x Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £39.98
Total : £1,658.53 (includes shipping : £14.75).

these are the changes i've made and why i made them:
- motherboard has all the same features (crossfire/SLI, ivybridge ready, Gen3 PCIe, USB3 and SATA 6GB/s) but is £10 less. MSI is a good make too
- case is a bit cheaper, and is arguably the best for airflow there is, but if you prefer the looks of the HAF X then go with that, it wont make a major difference
- PSU is a good make, has good reviews, is also 850W, modular and 80+ gold rated but is a good deal cheaper
- retail blu ray writer included
- silver arrow cooler performs exactly the same as the NH-D14, but is far cheaper
- RAM is cheaper and will perform exactly the same as the vengance low profile youve chosen (RAM timings make almost no difference for sandybridge processors)
i put 16GB in the basket because its so cheap
- mechanical hard drive performs pretty much equally to the WD black, but is far cheaper.
- the thermal paste that comes with the silver arrow is good enough, so didnt bother getting any more
- not sure why you wanted the extension lead (i guess the one on the PSU you chose was too short or something), but you shouldnt need one in this case

*edit*
while i remember, the Nvidia card is fine to run two screens off of. if you want a third screen you need a second graphics card in SLI
 
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2500K with 16Gb DDR3, 2 x 1Tb HDD (1 included in bundle with windows) HD6950, 256 SSD

Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £309.98

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6950 "Dual Fan Edition" 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE DIRT3 Game £199.99

OEM Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £155.99

Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £149.99

Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Ultimate 64 Bit Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Ultimate 64 Bit £132.00

Options applied to the above product:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £41.99

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £41.99


OCZ Z-Series 850W '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply OCZ Z-Series 850W '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply £99.98

Cooler Master CM-690 II Advanced Dominator Case - Black £84.98

Antec Kúhler H2O 920 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM2+/AM2+/AM3+) £79.99

LG BH10LS30 10x BluRay-RW / 16 x DVD±RW Drive - Black (Retail) £78.98

Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT51264BA160A)
Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT51264BA160A) £43.19
£86.38


Sub Total : £1,218.54
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £14.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £246.66
Total : £1,479.95
 
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ooh, didnt realise the windows 7 ultimate bundle still had the 1TB hard drive option. thats a nice way to save a bit on my build if your happy with the OEM version of win7.

however, the change in cooler, case, processor, graphics and motherboard is not such a nice money saver.

cooler is more expensive and performs worse
case is alright, but if its an £85 case you want then the lancool K62 is far better
you really want the i7 2600k for this type of build
motherboard is mATX size rather than ATX (makes crossfire/SLI a pain in the bum) and doesnt have Gen3 PCIe lanes
graphics isnt too bad, but Nvidia cards will come in handy if the OP is doing any video encoding, CAD/CAM work, or anything else that can take advantage of cuda cores (and believe me, the boost in performance is huge)
 
mikeh501 said:
Our dell dev machines are pretty much this spec except for the graphics and they have more ram. I think we paid about £650 or something. I'd stick 16gb of ram in that rig, as your aware SQL eats ram. I'd also stick another disc in it for SQL databases to run off to maximise your Io.
Click to expand...

I agree with the RAM and it will be easy enough to add another 8GB further down the line.

I did think about using 2 x 500GB disks, but the SQL databases are used only for development so I am quite happy too keep them on the data disk. Remember that Windows and all programs will be on the 256GB SSD.

A couple of people have said that the 8pin power cable on the AX850 is a little short in the HAF X case and this will save me from getting all the bits and then having to wait for a later delivery of the extension cable.

At the moment Asrock appears to be producing pretty good boards and again for the sake of £10 or £20 I am not too bothered. It is an expensive build and my goals are fast, quiet, cool and reliable. Run for many years trouble free. Occasionaly 24 x 7.

I also chose retail version of CPU, WD Black and Corsair PSU for their extended warranties.
 
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BTW, I have been following OCUK forum member build recomendations for a few months now so hopefully, I have learned somethings and got it pretty close already.

Reaper and Stulid have been a great help with their posts as have many others.

Also some great questions.
 
Now added optical drive and extra memory.


YOUR BASKET
1 x Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £309.98
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 570 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £254.99
1 x Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £239.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate - Retail (GLC-00181) £179.99
1 x Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £169.98
1 x Corsair Professional Series AX850 High Performance 850W Modular '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply (CMPSU-850AXUK) £164.98
1 x Cooler Master HAF X Gaming Tower Case - Black (RC-942) £145.99
1 x LG BH10LS30 10x BluRay-RW / 16 x DVD±RW Drive - Black (OEM) £74.99
1 x Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/LGA1156/LGA1155/LGA775/AM2/AM2) £72.98
1 x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD1002FAEX) £72.98
2 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £71.99 (£143.98)
1 x IC Diamond 24-Carat Thermal Compound (4.8g) £12.98
1 x NZXT 8-Pin (EPS12V) Black Sleeved 25cm Extension Cable (CB-8P) £7.99
Total : £1,869.50 (includes shipping : £14.75).

 
if you really want the HAFX case, get the one with the PSU. i know the PSU isnt great, but your getting it almost for free, so you could sell it on and make a profit.

not sure why you havent changed the RAM and cooler to my recommendations though. they're the same quality and perform the same. i know the noctua cooler has a 6 year warranty, but theres not exactly a lot that can go wrong with a cooler, and with the difference in price you could afford to replace both the fans on the silver arrow when they eventually die and still be in profit
 
I really did not fancy the PSU that comes with the case and I am not really into selling stuff on. But it is probably a good idea to get the bundle and keep the psu as a spare.

Price was not an issue in choosing between the Noctua and the SA. My impression was that the Noctua may be easier to fit, but I could be wrong there :)

I originally fancied one of the Corsair Hxx series, but a couple of things put me off. Possible change required after a couple of years, possible leaks, and although the fans on a cooler can be adjusted according to requirements the water cooled Hxx requires the pump to be running a full speed the whole time.

On the cases I deliberated between the HAF X, Obsidean 800D and Obsidean 650D. Want room for adding more disk drives and hot swap. HAF X got the nod for better cooling but again, I could be wrong.
 
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Socrates470BC said:
Does the same apply to the 650D?
Click to expand...

Urm i dont know tbh. But unless they have changed the QC. I would avoid corsair cases.

My Antec 300 feels better made.

I sold my 800D in perfect condition. But my friend had one, and he showed me how easily they chip, side panels warp and how things break :(

For over a £100 I would want more QC
 
Get a cheaper PSU. That is a nice PSU but soo flipping expensive for what its worth.

Edit: Nah the 650D is beautiful look at a few vids.
 
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