High end build - £700 target budget - suggestions please

[Taylor2254]

Hi guys, I am looking to build the best system I can for a target budget of around £700. The primary goal is to get a system that is quick to boot, super quick to load programs and does not get hung up. I currently have an Alienware M17x that I bought with semi-High end components about 4 years ago and im now starting to find that its increasingly annoying in the sense that it has started to hang when I open programs and start multi-tasking.

USE
I will use the system primarily for photo editing using Paint Shop Pro, some video editing. I will also be programming and compiling using Visual Basic 2012 (which currently seems to be quite a strain on my alienware). Then just some general web programming, Microsoft Office work, and some gaming - world of warcraft and Elderscorlls online mainly. I would like to be able to do all of these tasks effortlessly, and preferably be able to max out the settings on some games like elderscrolls. I will also want to use this as a home media center for music and movies and have it connected to my TV.

WHAT I HAVE SO FAR
PCPartPicker part list: uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/cksJpg : Not allowed to post url, as first post

CPU: AMD FX-9590 4.7GHz 8-Core Processor (£209.94 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2400 Memory (£128.59 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Corsair Force LS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£114.60 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Seagate Constellation ES.3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£70.79 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Thermaltake Chaser A21 ATX Mid Tower Case (£33.83 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £557.75

WHAT IM MISSING - and need suggestions for;
Motherboard
CPU Cooler
Graphics card
Power Supply

[SOLVED] PROBLEM SOLVING 1
I want to have the rig permanently wired (HDMI) to two identical monitors and a TV. I will use the monitors during the day for my work, and at night id like to be able to kick back on the sofa with a wireless mouse and keyboard and surf away, watch movies and youtube until my heart is content! lol ...Do you guys have any idea how I could, first of all have at least 3 HDMI ports, and secondly be able to switch easily from the two-display set up with one set of speakers - to the TV with a different set of speakers. (I suppose HDMI carries audio, so I could connect the speakers to the TV and have the audio come out the TV via the HDMI from the computer.....) BUT how do I easily switch between the displays and the TV without constantly needing to change resolution etc...?
SOLUTION: Two monitors are connect via DVI.....TV via HDMI....Then using AMD Catalyst Control Suite presets to jump between the configurations! Should also include an audio preset.

PROBLEM SOLVING 2
I have noticed that when I try to watch a store bought DVD movie on my laptop it doesnt let me - it only shows the files that are on the disk, and provides no option the play the movie. Is this a configuration option, or do I need a read-only CD/DVD/Bluray ROM as well as a read/write/re-write one? (might be a silly question, but I cant seem to get my head around it)

BUDGET
I have a target budget of around £700. Now, what I dont mind doing, is buying cheap nasty lower end components (and a few top-notch ones) to get the rig up and running with the intention of spending an extra couple hundred pounds a month on it on pay-day. So if there is a sweet component that you guys recomend that would take me over budget, I dont mind buying a dirt cheap one, and then swap them out the next month or the month after when I have more money hehe.

Let me know all of your thoughts! Any would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advanced,

Taylor - (imaginative username....huh? )

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Do you have a copy of Windows?? Would you overclock a CPU??

[cptwhite_uk]

No need for 16Gb RAM IMHO when memory prices are that high at the moment. Unless you're heavily into Photoshop or coding, you'd see no difference - save yourself £60-£70

[Taylor2254]

Do you have a copy of Windows?? Would you overclock a CPU??

Yes and Yes I have genuine Windows Professional 8.1, and I would love to be able to overclock.....Nothing too serious of dodgy.....but would love to have the CPU running at over 5Ghz all the time

No need for 16Gb RAM IMHO when memory prices are that high at the moment. Unless you're heavily into Photoshop or coding, you'd see no difference - save yourself £60-£70

Ill consider this, at the moment I have 8GB on my laptop and when ive got everything unning that I need, I think its normally at about 80 - 90% at spikes. I was just looking for a little bit extra legroom. I do use Photoshop regularly. One thing I might consider, is to build it with 1x 8GB stick and then I can buy a second one down the line if I still want more. Thanks for the advice

Also, about RAM.... Are the new 2400 ones considerably better than the 1600 ones? What are the benefits/drawbacks?

[DanceswithUnix]

Not sure I would want to watch movies and YouTube using a PC with an enterprise spec hard drive and a 220W CPU. Have you investigated media players? Maybe a smart Blue-ray player, they can do network streaming, USB playback, NetFlix etc and are dead quiet.

Motherboards that support the top FX cpus are a tad expensive, that will be most of the rest of your budget gone.

[Taylor2254]

Not sure I would want to watch movies and YouTube using a PC with an enterprise spec hard drive and a 220W CPU. Have you investigated media players? Maybe a smart Blue-ray player, they can do network streaming, USB playback, NetFlix etc and are dead quiet.

Motherboards that support the top FX cpus are a tad expensive, that will be most of the rest of your budget gone.

You don't mind if I ask why not? It it just for the noise? - the whole idea behind it is that anything I have access to on my computer, I will also have access to sitting on the sofa..... My friend has this setup and it just seems so handy.... I have huge collections of photos, movies and music...and I wanna just be able to play whatever sitting on the sofa.

As for the motherboard, ive seen this one Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 for £89......didn't seem too bad for me....but maybe there is a reason its so cheap?

I understand this might seem a little OTT just to use as a media hub, but it is for gaming and coding and photosop too

[DanceswithUnix]

Partly noise. You could swap the hard drive from the enterprise grade one you have specified to a 2.5in (yes laptop) WD Black drive to get that noise source reduced and a water cooling setup would make the CPU quieter.

But then, you would still need to switch the PC over to the TV. Modern graphics cards can have plenty of HDMI outputs, or at worst you might need a cheap DisplayPort+ to HDMI adapter and use a DP/mini DP port. So you can connect it, maybe you can mirror the main display to the TV if they are both 1080p, and playing WoW on a 46" screen is worth a giggle, but not sure I would want to do it too often. I used to plug my laptop into the TV regularly, but these days everything has ethernet/WiFi and can stream, I have to ask if a £30 ChromeCast might work better? I just bought a NowTV box from Tesco, £12.50 gets a WiFi streaming box complete with remote control and HDMI cable and a 3 months subscription to streaming Sky Movies over the Internet. Looks like a 10min hack can get a Plex client installed on it. If you don't mind 720p and like watching movies it is almost free hardware, silent, designed for the job.

Edit to add: That motherboard seems a good price, last time I looked the cheapest I could find was about £120, and even my tendancy towards AMD would crumble at that point and I think I would get a cheap Xeon instead. In fact WoW does love an Intel CPU, that may be the best route for you.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If you are not overclocking the Intel Xeon E3 CPUs are essentially locked Core i7s for under £200 and not bad value.

If you are looking for some overclocking fun I would either get an FX8320 for around £100 or a Core i5 4670K.

Looking at VB 2012,ES:O and WoW benchmarks they tend to favour the Intel CPUs,although the AMD chips should still have decent enough performance,going from the experience of mates.

[Taylor2254]

Partly noise. You could swap the hard drive from the enterprise grade one you have specified to a 2.5in (yes laptop) WD Black drive to get that noise source reduced and a water cooling setup would make the CPU quieter.

But then, you would still need to switch the PC over to the TV. Modern graphics cards can have plenty of HDMI outputs, or at worst you might need a cheap DisplayPort+ to HDMI adapter and use a DP/mini DP port. So you can connect it, maybe you can mirror the main display to the TV if they are both 1080p, and playing WoW on a 46" screen is worth a giggle, but not sure I would want to do it too often. I used to plug my laptop into the TV regularly, but these days everything has ethernet/WiFi and can stream, I have to ask if a £30 ChromeCast might work better? I just bought a NowTV box from Tesco, £12.50 gets a WiFi streaming box complete with remote control and HDMI cable and a 3 months subscription to streaming Sky Movies over the Internet. Looks like a 10min hack can get a Plex client installed on it. If you don't mind 720p and like watching movies it is almost free hardware, silent, designed for the job.

Edit to add: That motherboard seems a good price, last time I looked the cheapest I could find was about £120, and even my tendancy towards AMD would crumble at that point and I think I would get a cheap Xeon instead. In fact WoW does love an Intel CPU, that may be the best route for you.

A quieter Hard Drive and CPU cooler are now on the agenda. As for AMD......Everything I have at the moment is intel....and im just not that impressed by them.....they seem overpriced and under-performing. Ive read soooo many reviews that say AMD are better for gaming and photoshop, and combined with a radeon r9 GPU, there getting over 100FPS on most games. Now i completley understand that that will blow my budget, but as I said.....im probably gonna end up swaping a few components out in months to come..........

I was given an AMD system for my first proper desktop about 10 years ago, and the thing still runs now....the gaming performance was quite good at the time, and I never really fell out with it. I seem to be falling out with my intel system every other day....... I kinda want to give AMD a try unless you guys have any obvious reasons not to?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If I were going AMD,I would get a £100 FX8320 and a sub £100 motherboard and aim for around 4.4GHZ to 4.6GHZ TBH.

[Taylor2254]

If I were going AMD,I would get a £100 FX8320 and a sub £100 motherboard and aim for around 4.4GHZ to 4.6GHZ TBH.

OK, Whats the reasoning behind this? Is it purely price? or are there defects with the FX9590?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

OK, Whats the reasoning behind this? Is it purely price? or are there defects with the FX9590?

Nothing wrong with the FX9590,but more the case you are venturing close to Core i7 4770 territory,and the latter needs less expensive motherboards to run in and consumes much less power and when overclocked should be ahead. Cooling requirements should be similar since Haswell does run hotter,although Intel does do the pre-overclocked Core i7 4790K which is probably the fastest sub £300 CPU ATM.

TBH,I would rather put the money saved into a larger SSD or better graphics card,if going the AMD route. The FX8320 is far better value.

[Taylor2254]

I think I have a partial answer to PROBLEM SOLVING 1:

The two monitors will be connected using DVI - my understanding is that DVI virtually provides the same quality as HDMI - correct me if im wrong. Ill connect my sound system for my monitors directly to the aux out.
I will then connect the TV via HDMI. That way I dont need any special graphics cards or splitters.....

Now all I need is a way to easily switch from the 2monitor setup....to having TV only and sound out of TV. Any ideas for this?

[Taylor2254]

Nothing wrong with the FX9590,but more the case you are venturing close to Core i7 4770 territory,and the latter needs less expensive motherboards to run in and consumes much less power and when overclocked should be ahead.

Okay, so FX8320 is cheaper and would allow for cheaper motherboard.....would it over clock and be stable at around 5GHz? If so, then I like this idea?
Any idea roughly how much this will save?

[Taylor2254]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor (£119.03 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-2400 Memory (£65.99 @ Google Shopping)
Storage: Corsair Force LS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£114.60 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Constellation ES.3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£70.79 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Thermaltake Chaser A21 ATX Mid Tower Case (£36.65 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £407.06

Ok, So ive swapped the processor out for the FX-8350 4.0GHz ..... how much could I expect to over clock this one to? Is 5Ghz unrealistic?
Ive also changed to only 1 stick of ram....i can buy the other one later.

Still need suggestions for the Motherboard, cooling system and the best Radeon graphics card for my money

[DanceswithUnix]

Overclocking is always a risk, if your heart is set on that sort of pace then stick to plan A and get the 9590.

You can tell from my profile, I went the 8350 route, so far I haven't bothered overclocking though I do run an aftermarket heatsink to make things quieter.

Note there are strong rumours of an FX 8370 125W cpu coming out in September. No hints on what clock speed it will do though.