my design process so far... C&C welcome

FoxT

Hi everyone,
I am thinking of building a PC, I am an electronic engineer so understand the principles & (some of) the lingo but not all the specifics. This is my plan/design assumptions so far.
I'd welcome any comments or critique you have!

Thanks in advance..

1. What is your budget? ……………..€600-800
2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [ Photo editing. & general use, maybe Call of Duty at some point]
2b. Anything else?
YES – I want this PC to last 8-10 years. It must be easy to build (My 1st build) low maintenance, and also upgradeable – ie 4 DIMMS, not 2,
and a good selection of expansion ports etc. ATX is preferred because bigger size = easier assembly & expandability.

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [YES. 64-bit Win 7 Home Premium]

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [Corsair VX-450FW, 450W PSU]

5. Do you need a monitor? [NO, but I may want to add say a 22” or 24” second monitor later]

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [I dunno, lets say it is 1920x1080]

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [YES…USB 3.0 flash card reader, 802.11 b/g/n, may add a sound card later.
May add a vidcap card later, will add a GPU card later]

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [NO. Reliability, Longevity, low maintenance, & upgradeability are more important to me than raw performance]

8. How can you pay? Any option.

9. When are you purchasing? In the next 6-8 weeks
10. If you need help building it, where are you based? [Cork]

My thoughts so far…

I want to do this in stages.
Stage 1 - Photo editing only, No GPU so mobo must have onboard video
Stage 2 - Add a GPU so that I can run a second monitor, and/or play COD.
sTAGE 3 - Who knows... So I will want to have a reasonable qty of PCIe slots, also I have decided that 4 DIMMs is a must.

QUESTION: IF I ADD A GPU WILL I BE ABLE TO DRIVE 2 MONITORS? IE 1 WITH THE GPU & THE 2ND WITH ONBOARD VIDEO?


other thoughts.

Processor – i5-2500 you pay eu15 more than for the 2400, but you go a lil bit faster, too. I dont think the i7 is worth the extra eu100. Opinions welcome here!

Chipset – H67. Has 4 DIMM slots. Has onboard video, so I don’t
need to buy a GPU right now. Can’t overclock, but I don’t want to.

QUESTION: Should I wait for H77 Panther Point (native USB 3.0???) _ I am thinking not a huge benefit here?


MOBO
MUST HAVE
onboard sound & graphics
USB3.0 that I can hook up to top/front panel of case.
4 x DIMM
1 x eSATA, preferably 600 Is pSATA of value? I dont think so, If I use an external HD then having to power it separately is no issue for me.
3 x SATA 600
1 PCIE x 16
1 PCIE x 4
2 PCIe x1
1 x PCI ( this is desirable b/c there is a wider range of eg wireless cards for PCI today, than for PCIe)
ATX or just maybe miniATX, no smaller.

NOT SURE ABOUT
DisplayPort QUESTION: Any opinions on DisplayPort?
HDMI

I also think TPM is a dont care.... could TPM have any possible benefit?

CASE
- Must have air filters, (Longevity & ease of maintenance)
- Must be quiet, but does not have to be silent
- easy access USB 3.0 ports on top, if possible
- space inside for up to 5 hard drives,
-front panel - CD drive, and a card reader, so 2 slots/bays.
- Styling - Yes please. Would like a sleek , nice-to-look-at, case, not into lighting at all though.
- Must be reasonably solid, easy to open/close etc.

Would really appreciate recommendations here....all cases look the same on the internet - I am completely clueless here.


STORAGE
DECISION - I dont need an SSD. (And if I'm worng, I'll get one later. )
Soo..
1 – system drive. SATA 600, 1TB. For OS,applications, photos, data
2 – backup drive SATA 600, 1TB. For backing up photos & data

STORAGE STAGE II
In the future I'd like the option to add up to 3 more drives.
( ie have the option say for 4 x 2TB in a RAID 10 or similar config that essentially means I wont have to do backups)Reasonable assumption? Performance hit? I assume if mobo wont do RAID 10 I can get a PCIe card to do it at some stage if I want...

OPTICAL
- 1 basic DVD/RW

- I will never want a bluray. (That is a whole other post!)


COOLING
Keep it simple. No fluids!

POWER BUDGET/POWER SUPPLY
I have a 450W PSu & that should get the stage 1 lit up. If i add a GPU I'll upgrade the PSU later.


Well, that's as far as I've got.

What I am hoping for here is - advice on specifics, and also of my approach in general - does it make sense?

Thanks!

-FoxT

Pdfile

imo: 2500k can be overclocked so would be my choice, also 450 should hold a decent efficant card... but for Cod you dont need the best gpu money can buy but you'd like to think that 50-60 fps at good settings can be attained.

FoxT

Thanks, but as I said in my OP I will not overclock. I want expandability & reliability rather than max performance.

I know my first post was really long - thanks to everybody who took the trouble to read it!

I am in Mobo selection mode now, and these questions come to mind:

summary: I want to do photo editing, & later on, add a graphics card for COD.

Is firewire important? ( I have a sense that it is dying, especially as I am not into video)

What about USB3.0 vs SATA for external (ie backup) drives?

Is DisplayPort of value?



Thanks again

-FoxT

TheZestyLemon

Not many computers will last 10 years.

FoxT

the one I have today did! (Dell, Intel P4, 2G RAM)...though to be fair, its only usable for web browsing now...