Computer Build : how does this look?

**Cochese** · 02-11-2013, 04:05 PM

Nothing deal breaking I see, all components from quality manufacturers. Not familiar with SeaSonic, but there's no huge difference between manufacturers these days. I will say once you do a build with a modular PSU, you'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner.

I was looking for an internal card reader a couple months ago, and most of what I found was of suspect quality. Went with a Kingston USB 3 external and haven't been happier.

**radhak** · 02-11-2013, 04:44 PM

I did not know this before, but Seasonic seems to be the cat's whiskers amongst PSU manuf. Stellar reviews on newegg.

Not sure if a separate sound card would help - I'm told the inbuilt audio is good enough nowadays.

**greenacres2** · 02-11-2013, 07:45 PM

My component knowledge is over a year old now--ancient in tech standards. So...i'll only offer one question for you: is the cost spread from Core i5 to Core i7 very large still? That's probably where i'd waffle if it was "only another $xxx". For what you're doing/planning to do you may not ever see a difference.

earl

**LCHIEN** · 02-12-2013, 12:02 AM

looks reasonably well matched. No super bargains but all fair prices.

**LinuxRandal** · 02-12-2013, 01:03 AM

The motherboard doesn't seem to be linked. Does it have raid capabilities and if so, why not have your data drives raided?

**Knottscott** · 02-12-2013, 06:13 AM

Any reason not to add blue ray to the DVD option? Does AMD offer more bang for the buck than Intel?

**Cochese** · 02-12-2013, 08:20 AM

Originally posted by LinuxRandal

The motherboard doesn't seem to be linked. Does it have raid capabilities and if so, why not have your data drives raided?

Not sure of the need for RAID with a small SSD system drive and a single data drive.

**Cochese** · 02-12-2013, 08:32 AM

Originally posted by Knottscott

Any reason not to add blue ray to the DVD option? Does AMD offer more bang for the buck than Intel?

AMD has been generally much cheaper in terms of value over the years, but it depends on what level of performance one is looking for. If you have the need to overclock, you'll do better long-term by going with a K-series Sandy or Ivy Bridge Intel. AMD handles processing a little bit different.

The FX-8320 outscores the 3570K in CPU Benchmarks for about $50 less. However going Intel does open up other possibilities including Hackintosh.

**Cochese** · 02-12-2013, 09:21 AM

Originally posted by radhak

If you're not bored of looking at computer builds, hows this?

COOLER MASTER Storm Scout SGC-2000-KKN1-GP Black Computer Case With Side Panel Window $69.99

Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" SATA 6.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $79.99

Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1250 Hybrid TV Tuner w/ Video Recorder PCI-E x 1 $64.99

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 100358L Video Card $114.99

Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Profile Desktop Memory $83.99

SeaSonic M12II 620 Bronze 620W Power Supply $79.99

ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS $19.99

ASRock Z77 Pro3 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 Quad-Core Desktop Processor $306.98
Grand Total:$820.91

Am still looking for an internal card-reader, and maybe a discrete sound card.

Any comments or suggestions?

Oh - I'm not a gamer, but look to use the above for Adobe Photoshop CS5 and Lightroom, maybe Premier in the future. I'm also planning to move the SSD from my current desktop to the new, with the installed Win7 Pro.

Save $10 on your 1TB and $2 on your DVD today:
http://promotions.newegg.com/NEemail...-E0-_-alldeals

**radhak** · 02-12-2013, 09:55 AM

Originally posted by LinuxRandal

The motherboard doesn't seem to be linked. Does it have raid capabilities and if so, why not have your data drives raided?

Thanks - I actually had given the wrong mobo/cpu link, a combo that I'd considered before. This CPU is the 3570 (without the 'k', because I don't want to overclock), while the mobo has more ports and connectors than the one in the combo offered by Newegg (albeit costlier).

As for RAID, I don't think I'll need it, with at most two data drives of 1TB each. I'd rather backup the old-fashioned way.

Originally posted by Knottscott

Any reason not to add blue ray to the DVD option? Does AMD offer more bang for the buck than Intel?

Blue ray adds a lot of cost, and I'm not sure I'd need it in the near future. Is anybody using blue ray for data?

Originally posted by CocheseUGA

AMD has been generally much cheaper in terms of value over the years, but it depends on what level of performance one is looking for. If you have the need to overclock, you'll do better long-term by going with a K-series Sandy or Ivy Bridge Intel. AMD handles processing a little bit different.

The FX-8320 outscores the 3570K in CPU Benchmarks for about $50 less. However going Intel does open up other possibilities including Hackintosh.

Can't argue AMD is cheaper, but not by that much; and the CPU benchmarks could be debated either way : http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/698?vs=701. But leaving myself the elbow room to do stuff in the future was my primary factor.

Loring is right - not availing of any deep discounts; but when I visited Microcenter in MD at Thanksgiving, I was not in a position to buy all this, and they don't ship the real bargains. And I really want to scratch my ancient machine (circa 2003!)...

**woodturner** · 02-12-2013, 12:52 PM

Originally posted by Knottscott

Does AMD offer more bang for the buck than Intel?

It depends on which applications you are running and which specific processors you compare, but yes, generally AMD processors are "higher performance" than Intel. That's why Intel intentionally biases the benchmarks to make their processors look better. For example, a "quad core" Bulldozer performs 5 to 10 times better than a Core I7 in fair benchmarks, due to architecture differences and differences in the way they count cores.

For those interested in the technical details, http://www.agner.org/optimize/

**Cochese** · 02-12-2013, 02:59 PM

Originally posted by woodturner

It depends on which applications you are running and which specific processors you compare, but yes, generally AMD processors are "higher performance" than Intel. That's why Intel intentionally biases the benchmarks to make their processors look better. For example, a "quad core" Bulldozer performs 5 to 10 times better than a Core I7 in fair benchmarks, due to architecture differences and differences in the way they count cores.

For those interested in the technical details, http://www.agner.org/optimize/

I've never seen anything remotely like that in any comparisons. Better value, yes, but never straight up demolishing like that.

This is coming from someone who built AMD for several years.

**jussi** · 02-12-2013, 03:33 PM

Microcenter gives a discount if you bundle the cpu and mobo. You may want to check with them first to see if they'll give you a better price. Seasonic is a great brand and I almost went that way but it wasn't on sale after thanksgiving and the corsair HX850 was. It uses an active PFC so if you're going to use a ups they recommend one that generates a pure sine wave.

Not really part of the computer itself, but for video (and even picture) editing I've found a 2nd monitor helps alot.

**woodturner** · 02-12-2013, 03:53 PM

Originally posted by CocheseUGA

I've never seen anything remotely like that in any comparisons. Better value, yes, but never straight up demolishing like that.

You would likely find Fog's analysis an interesting read. The short version is:
1. Intel biases compilers to favor their processors - that's why nearly all the popular benchmark results are misleading. (Non-technical sites like Tom's and Anantech don't correct for this error, academic benchmark sites usually do).
2. AMD counts cores differently - what AMD calls one core includes two integer units and one floating point unit, but Intel counts that as three cores.
3. Intel cores share cache, which significantly degrades performance, while AMD provides a cache for each core.

As a result, Intel can perform almost as well for short programs that can run from cache, but when the cache misses become significant, the separate cache on AMD provides an essentially linear speedup for each core. In addition, certain instructions take up to 100 times longer on Intel - so if an application uses trig functions heavily, for example, Intel takes a huge speed hit.

Computer Build : how does this look?

Computer Build : how does this look?

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