New build suggestions?

coolmoose

Hi guys,

Have been reading through here the past few nights as I'm considering doing my first build, and I'm impressed at all of your abilities to put together such systems on a budget! Basically I have listed below what I require in this PC, can you recommend components to me?

It will be mainly used for general computing and office tasks, internet, torrenting, photo and graphic editing (Photoshop CS5, Lightroom, Portrait Studio etc.), web design (Dreamweaver, Flash), media storage and server to HTPC and laptop, and as an actual media PC for the bedroom....needs to be a great all-rounder really. I'm not a PC gamer (Xbox) so gaming performace isn't important to me.

I would like it to have (if possible)

4GB RAM minimum (8GB preferable)
USB 3
Space to expand to 8TB (4 x 2 TB drives), will probably build it with 4 TB initially. I'd prefer to install the OS on a smaller SATA drive, and still have space for 4 x 2TB
Dual DVI/HDMI output (will be outputting to a 32" LCD at times for media, all other times it will be to a 19" Dell LCD at the mo until I can upgrade to dual 24" or something!)
Optical audio out
Plenty of USB ports and 1 or 2 e-SATA ports
Built in card-reader that supports Compact Flash
DVD-RW drive
Built in WiFi and Bluetooth
Ability to add in PCI DVB-S and DVB-T cards in the future (not needed at the moment)


Budget is around €500, I really would like to keep it as low as possible though that will do what I need. I will need a case, and also Win 7 Home Premium. Have keyboard/mouse/monitor etc.

So any ideas for me? Thanks in advance!

* I originally posted this in the Budget Gaming PC thread, but considering it won't be used for gaming, here might be a better place? Mods feel free to delete the original post in that thread.

coolmoose

something along these lines?

Deano12345

That build youve made looks perfect to be honest, except that on the AMD chipsets, I'm not sure weather they include DVI + HDMI. Ive only ever seen them with either HDMI/VGA or mostly DVI/VGA. Just something to watch out for

Solitaire

Ninja'd by Deano!

A machine with a strong CPU, decent mobo with TOSLink, 8GB of DDR3 and two 2TB HDDs for starters as well as an OS is going to come to a lot more than €500! That build you posted didn't have the second 2TB HDD or second set of RAM!

coolmoose

Solitaire wrote: »

Ninja'd by Deano!

A machine with a strong CPU, decent mobo with TOSLink, 8GB of DDR3 and two 2TB HDDs for starters as well as an OS is going to come to a lot more than €500! That build you posted didn't have the second 2TB HDD or second set of RAM!

Thanks, I saw that Solitaire, a lot more than 500, hence why I've gone and started with one 2TB drive and 4GB RAM...I can always add more as funds become available! So keeping that in mind, how does the basket I put together look to you?

Thanks for the feedback deano. Will investigate a bit more.

coolmoose

Just checked there, that mobo actually has VGA, DVI and HDMI output. Is it possible to use 2 of these at a time? Or will I have to install a separate gfx card to run a 2nd monitor in the future?

Solitaire

Probably only one digital port at a time I'm afraid

I found another problem, and one that will push up cost even further: most mainstream mobos divert one SATA port to the eSATA connection, leaving only five SATA ports. As you intend to have an OS disk and four storage HDDs and an optical drive, you'd be short a SATA port! You would need to buy a premium mobo for 6+ internal SATA ports, and as most mobos of that grade would lack onboard video... you'd need to buy a discrete graphics card too Cheaper models of this type all use sub-par sound chips, again rendering them useless from a media perspective

coolmoose

Thanks for that Solitaire.

The storage interface section of the mobo info says the following:

ATA-133 - connector(s): 1 x 40pin IDC - 2 Device(s) ¦ Serial ATA-300 - connector(s): 5 x 7pin Serial ATA, 1 x 7pin external SATA - 5 Device(s) - RAID 0 / RAID 1 / RAID 10 / JBO

So does that mean 5 internal plus one external? It reads like that.

If so I could go down the route of just having 1 OS HDD, 3 internal 2TBs and DVD (so that's 5 internal SATA ports) and an external e-sata 2TB?

Or what about adding 1-2 extra SATA ports through PCI-E x1? Seen some of those cards - possible/recommended?

Solitaire

If you can go down to three storage drives - great. Otherwise you're spending more money again on a PCIe SATA controller that you won't even need until you've saved enough to buy your fourth storage HDD So if you do intend on 8TB wait before you get the SATA controller!

coolmoose

cool thanks for that. how does the rest of the build look to you? psu and case ok? thanks for answering all the questions!

54kroc

That motherboard has an ide socket that you could use to connect a dvd/rw to and use the spare sata port for a hard drive.

coolmoose

how come that never dawned on me! thanks for that, was so caught up with SATA that I completely overlooked the IDE!