new build

[northernpcgeek]

building a new pc around a "Gigabyte SKT-1155 Z77X-UP5 Thunderbolt Motherboard" and looking for parts to go with it. so far ive purchased:
-Corsair CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9 16GB 1600MHz CL9 DDR3 Vengeance Memory FOUR MODULE Kit - may sell 2x4GB modules as 16GB is probably overkill.
-Arctic Cooling Freezer 13 CPU Cooler (UCACO-FZ130-BL) - may not use this and just stick with stock cooler for now then upgrade to perhaps a water cooler later. i think the cooler i have looks way to big! though i do have a mid size pc case.
-2 x Samsung SSD 830 256GB - i plan to RAID these.
-2 x OCZ Solid State Drive 3.5" 2.5" Adaptor Bracket SSD Mounting Storage Bay Adapter - for the SSDs obviously!

still to buy:
3770k
PSU - would like the new "Corsair AX760 Pro 80 PLUS Platinum PSU" but most retailers don't have stock at the moment..
video - will use the mobo on-board video
monitor - have already with VGA and a digital input (DVI?)
case - already have
keyboard & mouse - have a keyboard but no spare mouse. would like another MS wheel mouse optical USB.
wireless - mobo comes with wireless card
OS - have windows 7 that i purchased at the windows 7 pre-launch, at special price. dont think i want to upgrade to windows 8...

so at the moment im holding off getting the proc until i have the psu. dont want to leave things for too long though as the mobo needs to be tested as after about a month if its faulty i guess i would have to go through warranty and wait for a replacement.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

What is the main use of the PC?

[northernpcgeek]

mostly browsing the internet and using microsoft office. the most processor intensive task i do is compressing audio files. dont run any games. later on i want to transfer some video recordings from VCR tape onto my computer. then maybe transfer onto DVD - video encoding which is where the 3770k will help alot i think.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Are you overclocking?? Do you think you will use Quick Sync or HandBrake,ie, are you more worried about speed or quality?? What software are you going to use??

What audio software are you using??

What CPU do you have now??

Edit!!

You are interested in FLAC it seems:

http://forums.hexus.net/music/267905...od-choice.html

OK,dBpoweramp is multi-threaded but the biggest bottleneck is actually the speed at which the disc is read IMHO.

Loads of reviews either rip the disc to an SSD or a RAM disc,so the tests are actually artificial.

Also,the video encoding you are doing is not necessarily very intensive as the bitrate is not high,ie, it is not ripping a Blu-ray disc.

TBH,any thing over a lower end Core i5 is probably more than enough IMHO.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Have you bought the motherboard already??

[northernpcgeek]

i got the mobo from amazon when it was on offer at just under £150 which seemed a bargain. it includes an all-in-one wireless & bluetooth card plus USB 3 ports bracket for the front of the case. if i had not bought this then i would have probably gone for an asus pro on the same intel chipset. gigabyte customer support is good from what ive read online.
i use EAC. not tried dBpoweramp.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Are you overclocking though??

[northernpcgeek]

im more concerned about reliability and system stability to begin with than overclocking. i dont want to move over from my current pc until i know the hardware is working. so will probably spend some time soak testing the new build. at the moment i have a small internal hard drive (IDE) and large external drives connected over USB2. so im expecting a big speed improvement with regards to data access. my main external drive does support USB3.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

TBH,the cheapest Core i5 with an IGP probably would be more than enough to do the job IMHO:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel...e-32x-ratio-77

I really do think you spent too much on the motherboard. For what you are doing even a £50 B75 or the cheapest H77 or Z77 based motherboards would be fine.

I have a Core i5 and a H67 motherboard myself and for audio encoding it is more than enough and like I said you do hit drive and disc limitations. Before I had a Core i3 which was fine for those purposes.

If you really want to go OTT I would get this CPU:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel...tio-69w-retail

It is basically a Core i7 3770 without an IGP and is not overclockable. I would then get an HD7750 as it should help with things like HandBrake in the near future:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-s...ink-dvi-i-hdmi

Even,then a standard Core i5 with an IGP would probably be fine.

I would also get this PSU:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/450w-...odular-atx-psu

It is more than enough for the system you are considering. In fact a decent 300W to 400W PSU would run it for years with no issues.

Anything more would mean greater power consumption for your system.