Help me build budget pc suitable for me!

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repulsivedog
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Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2013 5:44 am

Help me build budget pc suitable for me!

Post by repulsivedog » Fri Feb 08, 2013 6:31 am

First i would like to say hello, im new to the forum and to custom pc building :)
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At the moment i have: Cooler Master 690 / Gigabyte EP35-DS3 / c2d e84000 / Ati 6570 / 6GB ddr2 / OCZ StealthXStream 500W / WD 500 + Mushkin Chronos 90GB SSD
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But, after doing some reasearch and thinking i came to conclusion this is not actually a pc im satisfied with :)

Usage:
- Programming, Web development
- Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom etc...
- Movies and surfing

Not important:
- Gaming
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What does matter:
1. cheap - as in, im looking for budget components that are good enough for my needs.
2. not too big - i figured i want microatx or miniitx - not sure yet, any advice?
3. low noise - hope this will be possible considering gaming is not important.
4. Ubuntu compatible - i really love ubuntu but my ati card just dont work well with it, so i decided to go for nvidia or those graphic cards that come with processor (like i3-3225)? are they good for ubuntu? are they quiet? im really noob for this stuff :)

So far i came with this:

Case: Cooler Master Elite 120 / BLUEBERRY BC-B21-450 450W / CHIEFTEC BT-02B-180W 180W / any other?
Mobo: i dont know :) what will be enough? i saw for hackintosh build they recommend GA-H77N-WIFI (miniITX), GIGABYTE GA-Q77M-D2H (mATX), but there are cheaper boards i think ...
CPU: dunno, so i3 3225 comes with graphic inside, but is that graphics card enough for my needs? or should i search for something else
CPU Cooler: well i have 2 aftermarket coolers but will they fit into mATX or miniITX case?
RAM: 8GB or more, that is cheap at least :D
GFX: if not with i3, then ill probably look at some nvidia ~50e in range with this ati 6570, coz this card is good for me except drivers for this card suck in ubuntu ...
PSU: dunno, some of above cases comes with it but will this be enough
Extra fans: are they needed? Because on current pc i removed fans, so i have just cpu, gpu and psu fans (and it still makes noise, mostly psu fan)

What would you do? Any suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks, repulsivedog :p

CA_Steve
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Re: Help me build budget pc suitable for me!

Post by CA_Steve » Fri Feb 08, 2013 8:27 am

Welcome to SPCR.

I don't know a damn thing about Linux distros...but I would recommend Phoronix for compatibility reviews, etc.

CPU: The i3-3225 is a decent step up from the e8400. If you spend a lot of time in Photoshop/Lightroom, consider moving up to the i5.

GPU: Probably good enough to go with the HD4000 iGP. Adobe does use the GPU to accelerate some features in Photoshop CS6. Again, if you spend a lot of time with this app, it might be worth adding a low end gfx card.

Case: I'll leave it to some of the small case enthusiasts to chime in...

PSU: Stressed load power with an i3 and no discrete gfx card is in the 100W range. Move up to an i5 and a 50W Gfx card and it's <180W.

mkk
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Re: Help me build budget pc suitable for me!

Post by mkk » Fri Feb 08, 2013 11:41 am

That CHIEFTEC BT-02B is a nice and very affordable ITX case if you could go without a separate graphics card. I've tested the HD Graphics 4000 part of my i5-3570K with Photoshop CS6 and it performed quite well with scrolling/zooming the picture around in OpenGL mode so I think it could be a usable option. That case is too cramped for anything but the very smallest of graphics cards, but if you do without an optical unit then there is room for a larger, quieter CPU cooler up to about 65mm of height. I built an ITX system with a hotter running AMD A8 Llano APU and cooling it wasn't a problem either after replacing its miserable stock cooler. An i3 could do okay with its stock cooler, and get really quiet with something just a bit better. If using the integrated graphics, get as fast RAM as you fan find at a reasonable price, like perhaps something in the PC15000/1866 range.

repulsivedog
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Re: Help me build budget pc suitable for me!

Post by repulsivedog » Sat Feb 09, 2013 1:44 am

thanks Steve and mkk, you really helped me !

@Steve i found out hd4000 will be enough for linux distros, so thats plus :)

i3-3225 should be good for me i think, because ps,illu,lr is secondary thing for me and even now i can't complain about performance in those programs

thanks for clarifications about PSU W usage

@mkk

so, for start i could go without seperate gfx card. i dont use optical unit, so aftermarket cooler could be option ( i now have lc power cosmo LC-CC-95, but i think thats too big)

about RAM, is DIMM DDR3 2x4GB 1600MHz Corsair Vengeance CL9 good solution?

now, the motherboard: i looked for miniITX mobo, came up with Gigabyte GA-B75N, is this good ? are there cheaper mobo's that will do ? any advice appriciated!

thanks

sjoukew
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Re: Help me build budget pc suitable for me!

Post by sjoukew » Sat Feb 09, 2013 5:25 am

I would go for an Intel i5. When you are developing, compiling, multitasking, a quad-core cpu really helps.
And from my experience, and SSD for OS, IDE and compiling really speeds up things, especially when you are programming on larger java projects. It is amazing how much difference an SSD makes :).
Large files like movies, can be on a harddisk as 2nd drive.

mkk
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Re: Help me build budget pc suitable for me!

Post by mkk » Sat Feb 09, 2013 12:56 pm

repulsivedog wrote:now, the motherboard: i looked for miniITX mobo, came up with Gigabyte GA-B75N, is this good ?
For the price it looks like an interesting board with dual network ports for instance. I don't favor Gigabyte's UEFI interface but I suppose one wouldn't spend much time in there anyway. Probably a fine option as long as you won't be connecting any screens with higher resolutions than 1920x1200, as for instance a 2560x1440 resolution is not supported with current Intel integrated graphics except through motherboards that sport a DisplayPort connector specifically. Such screens have remained quiet expensive so far but perhaps that could change in a year or two. Otherwise the boards dual HDMI could perhaps be a nice feature as well.

That Corsair memory is probably a good option, though since the graphics card will be using RAM for display memory it could be nice to find some 1866 -speed alternative. Doesn't have to be of any expensive brand or design, as compatibility is rarely a problem (just avoid RAM with high voltage specs) these days and cooling heasinks are practically for show.

I'd consider an i5 too depending on the budget, although at least for applications like Photoshop there are many parts in it that still aren't very well threaded. General system performance would be practically the same with that i3 model sporting HD4000 graphics, and a budget is a budget. The longer the expected life of the system the more reason to spend on an i5-3570k in general.

Max_s
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Re: Help me build budget pc suitable for me!

Post by Max_s » Mon Feb 11, 2013 12:43 am

I'm going to build a system for very similar applications. I was actually of the opinion that say an Ivy Bridge Pentium as G2120 could be more than enough for these applications, especially since Hyperthreading is almost not used in Photoshop etc. What you people think, do i3 or i5 give much improvement?

Cistron
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Re: Help me build budget pc suitable for me!

Post by Cistron » Mon Feb 11, 2013 3:44 am

My advice when you go complete budget, don't skimp on the case and anything that moves. Chances are that those things should stay with you for some while anyway.

If you go mATX, have a look at the Antec NSK2400/Fusion and NSK3400. Maybe second hand off the bay?

CA_Steve
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Re: Help me build budget pc suitable for me!

Post by CA_Steve » Mon Feb 11, 2013 7:23 am

Max_s wrote:I'm going to build a system for very similar applications. I was actually of the opinion that say an Ivy Bridge Pentium as G2120 could be more than enough for these applications, especially since Hyperthreading is almost not used in Photoshop etc. What you people think, do i3 or i5 give much improvement?
For basic use, the Pentium is fine. The low end i3 ($130) is 10-30% faster than the high end Pentium ($99) for a given application due to higher clock speed and larger cache. If your application uses 4 cores, or if you tend to have multiple tasks running (like watching videos while encoding another, listening to music at the same time as running an app that wants 100% of two cores), then spending the extra $ for an i5 can be worth it.

Mr Spocko
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Re: Help me build budget pc suitable for me!

Post by Mr Spocko » Mon Feb 11, 2013 4:11 pm

I really can't recommend the i3-3225 it's priced too high relative to it's performance, it's a low power consumption component granted but it's really worth stepping up to the i5 range performance wise.
Esp for software like lightroom which is multi threaded, the i3 range are not good buys performance wise.
Either that or look at AMD in that price range who offer more bang per buck (sorry Intel fans has to be said)

Max_s
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Re: Help me build budget pc suitable for me!

Post by Max_s » Tue Feb 12, 2013 12:50 am

For basic use, the Pentium is fine. The low end i3 ($130) is 10-30% faster than the high end Pentium ($99) for a given application due to higher clock speed and larger cache.

I think all Ivy Bridge dual-core CPUs (apart from Celerons) have the same L1-L2-L3 cache.

CA_Steve
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Re: Help me build budget pc suitable for me!

Post by CA_Steve » Tue Feb 12, 2013 7:29 am

Max_s wrote:I think all Ivy Bridge dual-core CPUs (apart from Celerons) have the same L1-L2-L3 cache.
My bad - I was thinking of SNB.

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