New Build Project - Comments Please

[Deveng]

Hi Guys 'n' Gals,

First off let me just say what a wonderful bunch of people you lot are and the depth of your knowledge is truly staggering, and the fact that you freely give of your time and knowledge to help your fellow man makes me proud to be a member of the species,,, well done everyone.

I’ve been coming to the boards for a few years now, but I’ve never posted before, except to say hello, as I’ve always been able to search for an answer to any problem I may have had and found that someone has already answered the problem, or at least given me enough of a hint/nudge to head me in the right direction to find the answers I was looking for, and I’ve never thought that I was knowledgeable enough to answer other people’s problems given the depth of knowledge of all things computers around here, and anytime I could have answered someone’s problem, someone else had already done so,,, so again, well done everyone.

Now onto my current issue, I’m going to be putting together a computer that I want to act as the nerve center for a new house that I’m building. I want this computer to be the main household computer but I want all my existing equipment to be able to connect to it, either hard wired or wirelessly as required, a TV, a surround sound system, a couple of laptops, one work, one personal, an ASUS Transformer etc. etc. so in effect if I transfer all my existing portable hard drives of movies, music, TV shows etc. onto this tower, I would be able to access them through any other connected device throughout the house and in this respect it is acting like a server for the house. Now for the computer requirements.

I’m teaching myself trading, so multi monitors are a must have, two as an absolute minimum, but three is my preference. I don’t do a lot of gaming but there are a couple of games that I do occasionally play and I’d like to have a decent experience with this, doesn’t have to be the latest, greatest, coolest, wizz bangiest thingimmeebobee, just decent. I’ve also taken up flying lessons, so I’ve bought myself a proper flying simulator program, complete with pedals, throttle, yoke etc. that I’ll be hooking up to it. As this will be going into a dedicated home office room I’ve decided to go with a full tower as I easily have the space and that will also allow me to add additional hard drive bays as and when required.

One last thought, the Blu-Ray writer may just be a nostalgic touch as I suspect discs are going the way of the floppy, seeing as how the flash drive revolution is taking the universe by storm, so would be happy to get rid of it (just that I have a blu-ray player build into my surround sound system) and put the money to better use.
Here is what I have so far, as always, any comments or thoughts are greatly appreciated. I plan on running windows 7.

Item Part Choice

1 Processor Ivy Bridge Core i7-3770K
2 Motherboard Intel DZ77GA-70K
3 Case Thermaltake Chaser MK-1
4 RAM Corsair 16GB (4x4GB) Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz CL9
5 Graphics Card Nvidia GeForce GTX 670
6 Hard drive 1 Samsung SSD 830 256GB
7 Hard drive 2 Seagate Barracuda 2TB
8 Optical Drive 1 LG Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Burner (BH12LS38)
9 Optical Drive 2 LG DVD Burner - GH24NS90
10 PSU Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold M800 800W
11 TV card Leadtek Winfast DTV1000S PCI - HDTV FM
12 Keyboard Logitech K340
13 Mouse Logitech M90 Black

[glc]

1: Save money with an i5-3570K. Only difference is no hyperthreading, which I don't think will make a difference with what you are doing with this computer.
2: I'd look at an Asus Z77 board.
4: Highly recommend the low profile version.
5: You would be best served with an AMD Eyefinity video card if you want 3 monitors.
6: Intel 330 or 520 SSD for reliability.
7: Western Digital Black for reliability and speed.
10: Prefer Corsair TX, HX, or AX, or any Seasonic. 800 watts is a bit more than you should need.

If you get a Blu-Ray burner, you don't need a DVD burner.

[renowilliams]

Hi

As GLC has mentioned, your better off with an ATI card to run three monitors. Look for a flex edition ATI as they will run three monitors out of the box without the need of a display port adaptor. Also listen to his power supply recommendations,as they are spot on. I had one of those coolermaster silent pros and it died within a month.I also agree on his suggestion for the ASUS Z77 board.

[glc]

I don't see any flex editions at mwave.com.au, they may be hard to find. However, an active DisplayPort or MiniDisplayPort adapter shouldn't be that hard to find. NOTE that it has to be an "active" adapter.

Of course, you can get a monitor that has a DisplayPort.

[birddog_61]

The 600 series nvidia cards support 4 monitors natively, up to 3 for gaming and the forth can be used for other things.

[glc]

Finally? It's about time.

[Deveng]

hi Folks,

Thanks for the info so far. I will do more research today on the parts recommended by GLC, thank for those.

two other questions:

1. Given Birddogs comment above and my research for multi monitor displays AND the fact I'm in Oz (makes sourcing parts slightly more dificult), does that mean the origonal nvidia card I looked at suitable or should I still be trying to find a flex edition ATI.

and the second question is a little bit embarrassing as I've read all the rules and advice about posting and it seams I've commited a faux paux by not mentioning in my origonal post that I was looking for advice on what type of monitors or at least what I need to look out for when running multi monitors as I've never done this before.

Thanks again for any advice/help/constructive criticism etc.

[glc]

You absolutely haven't done anything wrong.

Perhaps you could give us a link to the exact card you are looking at?

[Deveng]

Hi GLC

This is an article i read on the card during my research

Nvidia GeForce GTX 670 Review & Rating | PCMag.com

[jdeb]

Originally Posted by Deveng Hi GLC This is an article i read on the card during my research Nvidia GeForce GTX 670 Review & Rating | PCMag.com

That card is a beast. It will drive 4 monitors. I recommend EVGA. Asus would be my second choice.

[Deveng]

Hi jdeb,

Multi monitors are one of my requirements.

What flavour of EVGA?

[glc]

Perhaps you could give us a link to the vendor you are using to purchase your components?

Without that, I default to mwave.com.au, who does not list any EVGA GTX 670's at this time, the 2 Asus cards they have are quite expensive, and neither are in stock.

They all appear to have 2 DVI, 1 HDMI and 1 DisplayPort.

[jdeb]

Originally Posted by Deveng Hi jdeb, Multi monitors are one of my requirements. What flavour of EVGA?

EVGA GTX670 silly EVGA 02G-P4-2678-KR

[Deveng]

Hi glc,

vendor is Centre Com

FREE SHIPPING - Gigabyte nVidia GTX670 2GB OC N670OC-2GD 2GB DDR5, DVI, HDMI, Display Port - Centre Com

Thanks jdeb,

I'll have a look

[Deveng]

Ok folks, this is what I have so far.

1. CPU intel core i7 3770K Intel CPU Core i7 3770K - LGA 1155 BX80637I73770K 3.40GHz / 8MB CACHE / LGA1155 - Centre Com (Sorry glc, I did look at your recommend but decided to go with this one as it has intels AVX technology or, more importantly to me, the new FMA instructions which will tie in with another small project I’m trying to work on, if it works I’ll be very happy and if it doesn’t then I’ve wasted 150 of my hard earned bucks).
2. Motherboard ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe Asus P8Z77-V DELUXE Intel Mainboard - LGA 1155 P8Z77-V-DELUXE 4x DDR3, 8x Sata, USB3.0, PCIE3.0, LGA 1155 - Centre Com (thanks glc)
3. Case Thermaltake Black Chaser Thermaltake Black Chaser VN300M1W2N MK-I Full Tower Chassis (USB3) - Centre Com
4. RAM Corsair 4x4Gb Low Profile Corsair 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz CL9 Low Proflile Vengeance (CML16GX3M4A1600C9) CML16GX3M4A1600C9 Low Profile - Centre Com (thanks again glc).
5. Graphicis Card Gigabyte nVidia GTX670 FREE SHIPPING - Gigabyte nVidia GTX670 2GB OC N670OC-2GD 2GB DDR5, DVI, HDMI, Display Port - Centre Com (sorry jdeb but centre com only do 3 evga cards and none of them are suitable)
6. SSD Intel 520 240Gb Intel 520 240GB SSD - OEM SSDSC2CW240A310 - Centre Com (thanks again glc)
7. HDD Western Digital Black 2TB Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB WD2002FAEX 7200RPM 64MB SATA3/2 - Centre Com (thanks again glc)
8. Optical Drive 1 Dropped to salve my conscience for 1
9. Optical Drive 2 LG DVD Burner LG DVD Burner GH24NS90 - Centre Com
10. PSU Need some help here folks. Glc, more than happy to go with your recommend on Corsair as your advice is generally spot on and I respect your knowledge, which makes me think I’ve missed something somewhere. Why do you think 800 watts is too much power? I know how important this part is so I don’t want to get this bit wrong and potentially take out several other parts if I set off a new year’s eve party in my tower, but I also don’t want to be drawing and wasting power I’m not needing either. So any help re size and manufacturer is appreciated.
11. TV Card Leadtek Winfast DTV1000S PCI - HDTV FM DTV1000S - Centre Com
12. Keyboard Logitech K340 920-001879 Wireless Keyboard USB with Space Saving Design - Centre Com
13. Mouse Logitech M510 Unified 910-001822 Wireless Mouse - Centre Com
14. Display Again, need advice here folks. Never run 3 monitors before but will be doing so with this system. As I’ve said, I’m building a house and that will be ready in August so will want the 3 monitors by then. I’m in a rental property just now, with a relatively small computer desk so will probably just start with just one monitor, but I will want to be able to hang 2 other monitors off it in about 6 to 8 weeks time. Any tips on what I should be looking for or what type of questions I should be asking?

[glc]

You can save some money with a lesser motherboard - do you need all the extra features on the Deluxe? There are a bunch of different Asus Z77 boards.

Non-modular: Corsair TX-650 650W V2 CMPSU-650TXV2 - Centre Com

Modular: Corsair HX-650 CMPSU-650HX ATX Modular Power Supply - Centre Com

A system with a single GTX 670 only needs 500 watts.

I really like the Asus monitors with LED backlight.

[Deveng]

Thanks Glc,

I'll have a look