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config for a home office user (non-gamer)

Post Date: 2010-11-24

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Hoff View Drop Down
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  Quote Hoff Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Topic: config for a home office user (non-gamer)
    Posted: 24 Nov 2010 at 5:21pm
I saw a thread last week from another non-gamer and I'm in a slightly different situation. I'm very impressed by the DS site and the advice on these forums. So here's my shot at it before taking the plunge:

Budget:
No limit, but I don't want to buy capacity I'll never take advantage of. Thinking I'll end up somewhere in the 2K range but that's not a hard max. Already have monitor, external hard drive, and peripherals outside of this budget.

Expectations:
A solid build that can run general office stuff from my house 24/7. Skilled enough to upgrade components myself down the road as needed but have the budget to include them now if it makes sense.

Usage:
Manage cloud servers remotely but through relatively lightweight tools like VNC. Host GoToMeetings and compose Camtasia screen capture flash videos for customers. Install Oracle and PostgreSQL locally and generally have a bunch of windows open at 1920 x 1200 resolution. Not a gamer (sorry guys), just a computer slave...

Specific questions:
1. I chose a lower-end video card thinking I will be ok since I don't do any high-end video work, 3-D rendering, or gaming. Am I missing the boat or is that a reasonable expectation? My current computer is four years old and any lag seems unrelated to my video card. So I'm thinking anything in today's builds will be way better and escalating to top gaming hardware would be overkill.

2. I chose the Noctua cooler because !ender loves it and everyone says it works great. I'm not planning to seriously stress the system but I figure more cooling never hurts. Reasonable or overkill?

3. I chose the HAF 932 Black Edition because I like the big window and the clean look. I understand the Assassin would be a little quieter, although it is a little bigger too. Is the noise significantly different? Since I'm not working the video card much I think it can't be too disruptive. But I would like to hear what the experts say.

4. I stayed with 6GB memory because its an easy upgrade to do later. I have no reason to believe I need more than that now but if there are other users with similar needs who feel differently please let me know.

I appreciate any recommendations or comments. Time to pull the trigger and get a real machine!

Ticket Number: 461158
Total Price with Instant Savings: $1,782.00

Direct Load URL: http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadsaved.asp?id=461158

Key Specs:
Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Cooler Master HAF 932 (Black Edition: Internal Black Paint Job)
Processor: Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz (Quad Core)
Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth X58 (Intel X58 Chipset) (Features USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s)
System Memory: 6GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 750W Corsair TX (Dual SLI Compatible)
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (80GB Solid State (By: Intel) (Model: X25-M MLC Edition) (Extreme Performance)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (1TB Hitachi/Seagate (7200 RPM) (32MB Cache)
Optical Drive 1: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x)
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: 1x NVIDIA GeForce GT 220 1GB (Includes PhysX Technology)
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 1: Noctua NH-U12P SE Dual 120mm Fans High Performance Cooler
Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Lighting System (Blue)
Enhancements: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: - No Thanks
Boost Processor: FREE: Stage 1: Overclock the processor between 3.3GHz to 3.9GHz (Cooling Upgrade Recommended)
Boost Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Boost Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
Boost OS: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition)
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!ender_ View Drop Down
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  Quote !ender_ Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 24 Nov 2010 at 6:50pm
tough to advise when you mention overkill in your post, i mean... the cheapest of the cheap builds on this site are super overkill for anything you have listed as a requirement
 
that aside, the build you have there looks good enough if you plan on never gaming but i find it difficult to allow anyone to buy 3 year old video power on principle, just food for thought
 
cooler isnt overkill, its a good idea to have no matter what, cold hardware is happy hardware
 
the thing i like about your build is that it will be easy to upgrade in pretty much any way, but ram is probably near the bottom of that list lol, 1gb would be plenty for everything except maybe goto conferences
 
as far as all your questions - your choices are fine, no worries on any of the 4
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  Quote maxyme Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 24 Nov 2010 at 7:09pm
Your build is very solid.
The i7 will be able to do everything you want.

if i were you i would get a gtx 465 because it will be decent for a while. even though you aren't gaming programs still use the gpu. you can use it for premire if you happen to be rendering some videos and you also can use it in firefox to speed up things ect. for your budget a gtx 465 seems practical since its part of the new generation gtx cards but very low end.
2. yes the noctua cooler is a great choice because it keeps your system cool making the cpu last longer and it will get you a 3.8-3.9 overclock which will improve your performance greatly from stock speeds.
3. i don't know about the assasin fans but the haf case fans are extremely quiet.
4. i agree with staying with 6gb. for me 8gb would be ideal but its really easy to upgrade based on need.
So i think you have a good build. You can either keep it how it is with the gpu and see how it is and upgrade it yourself if you want/need to afterward or upgrade it now. I don't really know how much of a differance it will make. Since you have a intel i7 you probably don't need a good one so keeping it as it is probably would be fine but thats just a small thought.
Most likely you are perfect with what you have now.
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  Quote Dragoonseal Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 24 Nov 2010 at 7:44pm
Originally posted by maxyme

if i were you i would get a gtx 465

I hope this was a typo? The 465 was absolutely terrible for its price, do not get. You want either a 460 or a 470.
Lilim
Intel Core i7 920 @4.2GHz
HAF 932 - Dual SLI Nvidia GTX 480s
3x Intel X25-M G2 (80GB) SSD RAID0
R.I.P. Sinbad the cat (November 16, 1996 - April 18, 2011)
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  Quote maxyme Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 24 Nov 2010 at 7:46pm
oh lol i just looked at the lowest price gtx card nice catch tho. yea i heard about the 465. probably 460 then.
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  Quote !ender_ Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 24 Nov 2010 at 10:20pm

yea, the 465 is an atrocity, avoid that

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  Quote Hoff Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 25 Nov 2010 at 1:05pm
Thanks for all of the comments. I know I'm going way above what is necessary but I just get so tired of the interminable wait to boot up and flakiness that starts happening when you go 4 yrs between upgrades. I spend at least 12 hours a day on my computer so it feels like moderately overspending on hardware is a decision that I won't regret...   

Since I plan to keep it for going for a while I agree with not buying the older video card. I changed the config to a 460 (there are three listed, just picked the plain 1GB version). New config is 461281.

Seems like Friday is the day to pull the trigger. Any last recommendations or do I get an "!ender Approved" on this build?   

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  Quote maxyme Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 25 Nov 2010 at 1:26pm
you can get maxyme approved lol i have too much free time

had to do it.
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  Quote Dragoonseal Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 25 Nov 2010 at 1:37pm
That is so much more amusing with the little note on the bottom of it.
Lilim
Intel Core i7 920 @4.2GHz
HAF 932 - Dual SLI Nvidia GTX 480s
3x Intel X25-M G2 (80GB) SSD RAID0
R.I.P. Sinbad the cat (November 16, 1996 - April 18, 2011)
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  Quote maxyme Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 25 Nov 2010 at 2:18pm
I know right? haha
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  Quote ablahblah Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 25 Nov 2010 at 2:41pm
You could still throw in the free game anyways lol. Give it to one of your friends or something LOL
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  Quote Hoff Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 25 Nov 2010 at 6:44pm
Maxyme's approval and an early Black Friday sale are too much for me to wait any longer... now I get to look forward to a couple of weeks of Stage 8. Thanks guys!
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  Quote maxyme Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 25 Nov 2010 at 7:50pm
haha some people say pulling the triggers the hardest part. once I get the money it will definately be the easiest part. like I wont even wait a second lol. but maybe its bc I've been planning it for so long
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  Quote !ender_ Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 25 Nov 2010 at 9:11pm
looks good!
 

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