help me before my computer becomes "all dead" (building a new computer)

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fredygump Neo-newbie total posts: 8 since: Dec 2011	Dec 22, 11 at 8:36pm ^ help me before my computer becomes "all dead" (building a new computer)
	Log in to remove this sponsored message Hello everybody, I'm in trouble. My computer died as I began this post, and when I said it died, I mean the power supply literally blew up. I bought a new power supply, but now the usb ports are dead. The onboard sound card died a couple weeks ago. Luckily I have a usb expansion card; it's the only reason I'm able to type right now. I was going to say that I am considering buying a new computer, but now it's more necessity than a mere consideration. The big deal for me is picking the right processor and motherboard combination. Once I have those, I can work through the other details. I'm interested in a quad core (I have a core2 quad 2.4ghz), but I'm open to suggestions. I don't know anything about chip sets and motherboards, so I'll go with whatever you guys recommend. The computer's most demanding task will be photo editing, specifically raw file processing. I expect to work with some hd video, but that isn't a high priority. I don't do a ton of multi-tasking, maybe internet browsing while images are being processed. It's unlikely that I'd be doing more than two major things at the same time. If I play any games, it would be rFactor; I don't do much of that, though. Major programs I use: Windows 7 64 bit photoshop cs4 CaptureOne 6 rFactor (on rare occasions) I do not plan to over-clock the machine. I want tons of memory, because it makes photoshop happy (i.e. photoshop can use ram instead of a scratch disk, speading up operations) I want usb 3.0 (I hear 3.0 card readers are crazy fast for downloading photos) For drives, I want to run an SSD for OS and program files, probably 160gb or better. Any suggestions on brand with best performance/reliability? I'm thinking about 2 1TB 7200rpm drives in raid 1 configuration for personal files. Again, brand and buffer recommendations appreciated. I'm considering an external raid unit for some point in the future, so input on that would be appreciated as well. I don't need a special sound card, but decent quality sound is important. I don't know much about cases. I'd like something that can keep the machine cool without looking like a space ship. Stuff I already have: power supply: apower 680 watt (bought today to revive my computer) video card: nvidia quadro fx 580 Monitor: Dell u2710 keyboard mouse cd/dvd (may upgrade someday to blueray, but not necessary) I'm willing to pay what it costs to get a solid machine that is fairly future proof--I want to get around 5 years out of it if possible. And per the "posting guide", I live in the US, if that matters.
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Benedict Vēnī, vīdī, vīcī NeoXtreme total posts: 8795 neopoints: 422 GameGrep pts: 722 since: Oct 2007	Dec 22, 11 at 10:49pm ^ re: help me before my computer becomes "all dead" (building a new computer)
	How much is "willing"? $1000? $2000? We could get you a $5000 supercomputer -------------------
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Supernova1332 Wolf in Jesus Skin Resident Neo total posts: 2628 since: May 2009	Dec 22, 11 at 11:32pm ^ re: help me before my computer becomes "all dead" (building a new computer)
	For the SSD it depends on how much over 160 you're willing/wanting/needing to go. For a 180gb drive I'd suggest the Corsair Force GT For a 256gb drive I'd recommend the Samsung 830. The Corsair is one of the best for the size and price range but if you need a little more space and want one of (If not THE) best SSD's for un-compressible data then the Samsung wins hands down. I'll have the rest up in a little while as I just finished cooking dinner ------------------- You look just like a zombie, inches from dead and pretty, With purple flowers in your hair.
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duneworld high on "N" total posts: 708 since: Aug 2009	Dec 23, 11 at 12:22am ^ re: help me before my computer becomes "all dead" (building a new computer)
	Could you provide a link to where you bought your Apower 680W PSU? I found one on Amazon, if it is the same one then you should not use that either as it is quite likely to give you the same problem your old one did.
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fredygump Neo-newbie total posts: 8 since: Dec 2011	Dec 23, 11 at 12:42am ^ re: help me before my computer becomes "all dead" (building a new computer)
	quote duneworld Could you provide a link to where you bought your Apower 680W PSU? I found one on Amazon, if it is the same one then you should not use that either as it is quite likely to give you the same problem your old one did. Point taken. It was an act of desperation to buy it. I bought it at a local computer store, and the box was discolored from sunlight.... I don't think they move much product.
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fredygump Neo-newbie total posts: 8 since: Dec 2011	Dec 23, 11 at 12:58am ^ re: help me before my computer becomes "all dead" (building a new computer)
	quote Benedict How much is "willing"? $1000? $2000? We could get you a $5000 supercomputer That supercomputer would be nice, actually.. But realistically I'd be under $2,000.
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fredygump Neo-newbie total posts: 8 since: Dec 2011	Dec 23, 11 at 1:09am ^ re: help me before my computer becomes "all dead" (building a new computer)
	quote Supernova1332 For the SSD it depends on how much over 160 you're willing/wanting/needing to go. I've heard before that some SSD's are faster than others? Or was that just the older technology? If performance between brands is pretty much the same, that's the answer I was looking for. I could just buy the biggest one, but I want to ask first so I don't get burned on something that doesn't work the way I'm expecting it to. I'd rather buy one that's a bit more expensive than buy two, if I can help it.
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ashantiqua unwashed heathen (guest) IP: Logged	Dec 23, 11 at 1:50am ^ re: help me before my computer becomes "all dead" (building a new computer)
	you already have a quad core (your CPU has 4 cores and handles 4 threads). if you want a faster one, or maybe a quad core that handles 8 threads (2 threads per core), thats a route you can take. thing is, check to see if the programs youre running supports that many threads. if not, the only performance gain CPU-wise youll see is from the new architecture, not additional cores/threads (program only supports 4 threads, but your CPU supports 8... wont do anything for you; however most of the time a new CPU will handle 4 threads faster than your old 4-thread CPU, so you will see some performance gains). mobos arent as important as people make them out to be; dont get me wrong, they do an extremely important job, but the differences between the bulk of non-specialized ones arent much at all. as long as it has the features you want and isnt know to be faulty (and maybe is known to have good cunstomer service/return policy), what else can you ask for? if it helps, gigabyte used to make so-so motherboards, but theyve stepped it up quite a bit. they have this 'ultradurable' feature or whatever its called... basically more copper is used, longer-life japanese capacitors, etc; mines been through 3 CPUs and is still going strong. for a sound card, it really depends on what youre after. more games than anything? get an auzentech x-fi based card. more music and movies? something asus. music and movies, but want something a bit better than asus? ht omega is your guy. if youre not picky, just go with onboard. SSDs are great, but reliability is still iffy. top of the line 10k rpm HDDs get around ~150mb/sec, and reliability isnt an issue. theres a million combinations you can do with SSDs, HDDs, raid0, raid1, etc. up to you. at least 16mb+ buffers are recommended, 7200rpm HDDs are good, but 10k can be much better (seek time, etc), just gotta balance price the per performance ratio... anyway feel like ive written a little bit, dont want to burden you too much.
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Smok3Dogg gone postal total posts: 469 since: Aug 2009	Dec 23, 11 at 1:58am ^ re: help me before my computer becomes "all dead" (building a new computer)
	fast ssd. check out the ssd. ------------------- It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live. Marcus Aurelius .
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Smok3Dogg gone postal total posts: 469 since: Aug 2009	Dec 23, 11 at 1:59am ^ re: help me before my computer becomes "all dead" (building a new computer)
	patriot sata 3 ssd. ------------------- It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live. Marcus Aurelius .
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fredygump Neo-newbie total posts: 8 since: Dec 2011	Dec 23, 11 at 2:42am ^ re: help me before my computer becomes "all dead" (building a new computer)
	quote ashantiqua anyway feel like ive written a little bit, dont want to burden you too much. I appreciate your comments, and what you're saying helps me know where to focus my attention. Sort of helps remove the burden, actually. Both CS4 and CaptureOne are designed to utilize multiple cores, Capture one can use up to 16 cores if I remember right. I'm doing this upgrade because the performance of the new machine will be so much better than the performance of my current machine after it suffers catastrophic failure. And while I'm at it, I want to get far enough ahead in terms of technology that I can run it for several years without it becoming a liability.
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Chaosfire #Livin'LikeLarry Hooked on Neo since: Jul 2010	Dec 23, 11 at 2:49am ^ re: help me before my computer becomes "all dead" (building a new computer)
	fredygump http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145347 There's your a RAM suggestion. I understand why you want 8gb or greater, because using the RAM instead of the HDD for temporary files is so much faster http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157269 This is a mobo I suggest. It may be a bit pricy, but it has pci-e 3.0 slots, usb 3.0, and gold capacitators. There are a few other nice bits and pieces too. For your processor, I suppose an i5 2500, or an i7 2600 would be proper. ------------------- last.fm
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fredygump Neo-newbie total posts: 8 since: Dec 2011	Dec 23, 11 at 3:22am ^ re: help me before my computer becomes "all dead" (building a new computer)
	[quote=Chaosfire\|message:32444960] fredygump http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145347 There's your a RAM suggestion. I understand why you want 8gb or greater, because using the RAM instead of the HDD for temporary files is so much faster http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157269 This is a mobo I suggest. It may be a bit pricy, but it has pci-e 3.0 slots, usb 3.0, and gold capacitators. There are a few other nice bits and pieces too. For your processor, I suppose an i5 2500, or an i7 2600 would be proper. [/quote One question, why stop with 16gb ram? It's way cheap now, it used to cost that much for a single 2gb stick. (Actually, the thing about photoshop using ram instead of writing to a disk is legit. There's a setting in photoshop to select how much memory you want photoshop to have access to, and the more the better.) That board looks nice. But I don't understand how it says it needs "ivy bridge" processor for pci-e 3.0 to work; it hasn't been released yet. And then it says that with "sandy bridge" it's only 2.0. I though sandy bridge was x79, not x68... And here I thought I was starting to catch on... Anybody know anything about the x79 boards and processors? It's way more expensive than the i7-2600, and I saw anandtech's review showing minimal improvements for gaming, though video and image processing would benefit. That'd be up my alley, though I don't know the improvement would justify the cost. Logically speaking it probably doesn't, but it would be fun.
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Supernova1332 Wolf in Jesus Skin Resident Neo total posts: 2628 since: May 2009	Dec 23, 11 at 4:23pm ^ re: help me before my computer becomes "all dead" (building a new computer)
	quote fredygump quote Supernova1332 For the SSD it depends on how much over 160 you're willing/wanting/needing to go. I've heard before that some SSD's are faster than others? Or was that just the older technology? If performance between brands is pretty much the same, that's the answer I was looking for. I could just buy the biggest one, but I want to ask first so I don't get burned on something that doesn't work the way I'm expecting it to. I'd rather buy one that's a bit more expensive than buy two, if I can help it. It's not so much the brands that make the performance, it's the chips inside the SSD. Currently there are only about three or four different current generation chips and some companies use a mix of both in their lineups. Then there are the PCI-E based SSD's that run in the graphics card slot that offer really high perfomance but are even more expensive for the amount of space you get. Since you're working with un-compressible data, like the RAW files and videos, then a Sandforce based SSD is basically out of the question as their performance drops to about half with that kind of data. I would suggest a drive with either the Samsung chip that I posted before or: OCZ Octane Series Crucial M4 Series Even though you would think older drives with less performance would be cheaper that isn't the case with SSD's. The most expensive part of the SSD is the flash memory on board. In older models they're using larger amounts of space on the chips for the same amount of flash memory as the new ones. Bigger chips means more expensive to make thus there's really no way of getting a slightly slower but significantly larger drive unless you catch a really great deal. As for the rest of your build think about this setup: NZXT Hush 2 Case (2x) Seagate 1tb HDD Dual Socket C32 Asus Mobo (x2)16gb RDIMM DDR3 256GB Samsung SSD (2x) Amd 6 Core 2.6ghz (2x) Scythe Universal Mounting Kit (2x) CM HyperTX3 NZXT 650w PSU Total Price: $2009.86 +$20 MIR Alternatively, if you don't want MORE than 32gb of RAM in the near future you could go with two sets of 16gb Mushkin DDR3 1333. The motherboard supports up to 128gb RDIMM(Server RAM) or 32gb UDIMM(Desktop class RAM). So if you don't plan on more than 32GB then definitely go with the mushkin. If you do I'd suggest upgrading your WS graphics to the Firepro V4900. The total price then would be $1974.85 +$20 MIR. Edit: Included the wrong coolers at first. Edit: Dec 23, 11 8:37am ------------------- You look just like a zombie, inches from dead and pretty, With purple flowers in your hair.
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fredygump Neo-newbie total posts: 8 since: Dec 2011	Dec 23, 11 at 11:34pm ^ re: help me before my computer becomes "all dead" (building a new computer)
	quote Supernova1332 That's a serious machine. I like it. I appreciate all the recommendations, and unless someone says otherwise, I'll go with the Crucial SSD, seagate hdds, and possibly the whole system you are recommending. The one thing I don't know is what happens when all these cores are confronted with a program that isn't designed for multiple cores/processors? Would this machine only really shine when I'm using specialized programs designed for all those cores, or would I see the benefits all the time, regardless of whether the program is designed for multiple cores? (Or is one core at 2.6ghz so fast that it doesn't matter?) I wish I could find some solid reviews about these processors/motherboard to help understand what I'd be getting. You know any?
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