Non Gamer Build. Please review before I order.

dm76

New Member
After posting my first specs, I have read a little more on the forums and came up with a few tweaks I would like you guys to look over. I left off the motherboard because I am undecided so maybe you can help me pick one out. Again if you haven't read my other posts, I am not a gamer. The most demanding things I will use this for is photoshop and some video editing (nothing big time, just stuff from my camcorder).



CPU i5-2500k $225
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

G Skill Memory 8GB $85
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231311

Antec 500w Power Supply $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371035


EVGA GeForce GT 430 $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130580


Asus DVD Burner $17
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204


Samsung Spinpoint F3 (already have one)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185



Motherboard - I was going to go with this one but they are out of stock. I don't mind waiting a few days, but if you guys recommend another one, or if you think this is more than I need, feel free.


Case - I will probably pick one of these. Might go with that Sonata because it looks the nicest, but then again this is under my desk so who is gonna see it anyways?! In needs to be under 20 inches tall though so it fits in the tower compartment. We'll see...


Cooler Master Elite 335 $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119161


Rosewill Blackbone $45
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147023

Antec Sonata Elite $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129057



Again, feel free to make any suggestions. Some of these things I was unsure of so went by price and reviews and a little research. So if there is something that is a bit better for not too much more, or if there is something that is an overkill, please say so. Thank you!
 

Resurrection

New Member
Good build, the SBs are real fast at photoshop.

You could consider geting KVR instead of the Gskill RAM, will save quite a bit. 4GB might be enough as well depending on what you're working with.

Throw in a SSD as the main partition you'll be working your video editing from and you'll be blazing.
 

Benny Boy

Active Member
Nice choices.
I personally like the 8gb ram. Allows for tweaking pagefile.sys(if one so chooses) if adding an ssd. Another use would be loading projects to a ram disc, like compiling photos, music, etc, you can load programs to it also. From RAM it's maximum bandwidth.
I like the SSD idea too. But I wouldn't edit to and from it.
 
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NVX_185

Member
From those cases you have listed, I would avoid the Antec. It only has one rear exhaust fan, with no cool air coming in. From purely those choices, I'd go with the Rosewill because it at least has a 120mm intake (for cool air to get into the system) + the exhaust to keep ventilation in your case. For the $90 price range, the CM Scout has good cooling, but is only just under 20".

500W seems like a slight overkill for something like a GT430, but I'd keep the extra power incase of an upgrade in the future (which I'm sure you most likely will, as the GT430 is absolute entry-level). Antec is a great brand PSU, so you haven't gone wrong; the EarthWatts units are efficient (I own the 750W version, it's great).

For your motherboard, I can't recommend a specific brand/model, but as you are searching, make sure it has good features (USB3, SATA3)... While a motherboard may seem cheap & tempting to buy, it may lack these features (which you may) want to use in the future.
 

Benny Boy

Active Member
The Antec Neo Eco 520w is a bargain right now too. Only $41. An option might be to put the saved $ towards a little more GPU if you wanted. Or just have it for less.
 
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Drenlin

Active Member
The Antec Neo Eco 520w is a bargain right now too. Only $41. An option might be to put the saved $ towards a little more GPU if you wanted. Or just have it for less.

It's $56 shipped...the $41 is after the MIR, which could take several weeks. I'd say the extra $6 is worth it, though. It's a better unit than the Earthwatts.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371030



As for the case, you can do a lot better than those for the price and still stay under 20".
 
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daisymtc

Active Member
GT 240 is faster than GT 430 at similar price

If you go for Antec Sonata Elite, Just get Sonata III, that one with EA500
 

Drenlin

Active Member
^ Agreed

The 240 may be more powerful, nut the 430 is still more power than any non-gamer will need and supports a lot more features that might actually be useful to him. HDMI 1.4a comes to mind.
 

dm76

New Member
I really liked that Coolermaster 690 you suggested before, but it is slightly too big. I'm sorry I am having such a hard time picking a case, but which ones can I do a lot better with under 20"? I guess the main thing is I just want it to look nice and be quiet. I mean it can have some lights or a window, I just don't want it all extreme looking or weird shaped or anything like that. It is under a desk now anyways, but someday I might change desks and it might be seen more. And for the power supply, I don't really know the details like you do so I'll take your word for it since you know what you are talking about! Thanks.


It's $56 shipped...the $41 is after the MIR, which could take several weeks. I'd say the extra $6 is worth it, though. It's a better unit than the Earthwatts.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371030



As for the case, you can do a lot better than those for the price and still stay under 20".
 

dm76

New Member
Yeah I just kind of picked that because I have seen that mentioned and the price is great. But like I said, if there something worth a little extra, feel free to mention it. Even a different brand of that type, or whatever. I really don't know much about video cards.

^ Agreed

The 240 may be more powerful, nut the 430 is still more power than any non-gamer will need and supports a lot more features that might actually be useful to him. HDMI 1.4a comes to mind.
 
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Drenlin

Active Member
Nope, that's a pretty good card. As far as I know, the 430 is the cheapest cards that has 1.4a, and EVGA is about the best brand you can buy from. Their customer service and warranties are both amazing.
 

dm76

New Member
Thanks! So just out of curiousity and so I learn this for the future, why is the video card not important for videos and such? Is it needed for games because of the intense graphics and the constant movement in games? I forgot to mention I use Google Earth a lot as well for my job but I would assume that card is fine for that too, right?
 

Drenlin

Active Member
It is important for videos, since the work that the processor would normally do can be offloaded onto it, but even the weakest modern graphics cards can handle that. The one you picked is easily powerful enough for decoding blu-ray disks in 1080p.

Gaming requires a different set of "skills" from the GPU, and newer games require a lot of them. Rendering millions of polygons every second is no small feat, and is absolutely massive compared to playing a video. So yeah, you pretty much had that right. :good:

edit: By the way, that card is powerful enough to play most newer games on low settings, should you ever be inclined to try.
 

dm76

New Member
Awesome, thanks a lot. You do realize since you have been so helpful that I am going to expect you to help me if I get stuck along the way here right? Haha j/k.

Anyways, for the motherboard, should I just stick with that one I mentioned that is out of stock? I guess I don't really know all the features, but that sounds like a good board, whether I will use them or not. The bluetooth might be cool too if you can sync to a phone or something.

And if I could bug you one last time to throw out a couple of cases under 20" that you say would be better that don't look too crazy. Then I think I will be set to order. I think I will hold off on and SSD for now at least, and probably stick with the 8GB RAM since it is not too expensive.
 

Drenlin

Active Member
Awesome, thanks a lot. You do realize since you have been so helpful that I am going to expect you to help me if I get stuck along the way here right? Haha j/k.
For sure man, I'm happy to help. :)

Anyways, for the motherboard, should I just stick with that one I mentioned that is out of stock? I guess I don't really know all the features, but that sounds like a good board, whether I will use them or not. The bluetooth might be cool too if you can sync to a phone or something.

I don't see a link to a motherboard...? I'm assuming an Asus of some sort though, going by the bluetooth?

And if I could bug you one last time to throw out a couple of cases under 20" that you say would be better that don't look too crazy. Then I think I will be set to order.
Sure, I'll post some up in a little bit. (have to go right now)

Though I admit, the prices have shifted a bit and the Blackbone is actually a pretty good buy for its price. The cable management isn't so great and there aren't any top fans on it, but neither of those should matter much in your build.
 
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dm76

New Member
Great! Here is the link to the motherboard, I didn't realize I left if off: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...2&cm_re=asus_p8p67_pro-_-13-131-682-_-Product

So if there is something comparable, or something just as good and cheaper, let me know, otherwise I can wait until tomorrow when that is supposed to be in stock. The bluetooth is not a big deal. I hope I can order this tonight or tomorrow morning so I can have it this weekend as I have nothing to do this weekend, but I am not going to sacrifice a part just for that. I look forward to see the cases later, now that you see which ones I don't mind the looks of from what I posted. I'm not actually as picky as it seems, there are just too many to choose from!!
 
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Drenlin

Active Member
That mobo is probably overkill for what you're using it for, honestly. Do you plan on overclocking your processor, or adding a second graphics card?

As far as the cases go, all of these are good buys, and fairly inexpensive. The Gamma and HAF may be a bit too crazy, I dunno.

NZXT Gamma
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146061

Diablotek EVO CPA-6170
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811822001

Rosewill Challenger
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147153

Cooler Master HAF 912
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233

Oddly enough, even though they're different companies, all of them but the HAF have the same chassis underneath. :/

I'd say the Diablotek is probably the best buy of the four, since it comes with four fans, but the HAF is functionally the best.
 
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dm76

New Member
I will look over those cases a bit and decide and post my final list later. Thank you again for your time.

As far as the motherboard, I do not plan on adding a second video card and do not plan on overclocking. I am getting the K processor though for $15 more just in case I want to in the future, but I am sure this machine will be pretty fast and won't be overclocking anytime soon. Would it be something to think about though if somewhere down the line it starts to seem slow to me?
 

Drenlin

Active Member
No problem man :)

This motherboard isn't quite as good, but it's cheaper and I'm not really sure you'd use the extra features on the other one. The 8x/8x PCIe x16 slots are a lot of what adds the extra cost to the other one, and that's only useful for multiple graphics cards.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131681

Overclocking is definitely something to think about. Sandy Bridge chips have a ridiculous amount of untapped potential. With a good air cooler, it's fairly common to see them running north of 4.5GHz. Most people with water cooling setups can top 5GHz.
 
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