New i7 PC

[MatthewL]

After a Core i7 PC, need a processor, Gigabyte motherboard, 16Gb RAM and water cooling. I have a 850W modular PSU I am going to use along with DVD drive and a I've got a case too. Am I missing anything except a graphics card which I need to run a monitor on HMDI and DVI, will need to run more monitors at some point.

 

Not used for gaming but I like an over specified PC for browsing the web.

 

Also do I go down the SSD route, if so what drive do you recommend?

 

Cheers

[Arthur]

After a Core i7 PC, need a processor, Gigabyte motherboard, 16GB RAM and water cooling.

How much do you want to spend?

 

Also do I go down the SSD route, if so what drive do you recommend?

An SSD makes a huge difference, so yes.

 

I would choose one of these depending upon your budget:

 

• Samsung 840 EVO
  
• Crucial MX100
  
• Toshiba Q Series
  
• Seagate 600
  
• Samsung 840 Pro
  
• SanDisk Extreme II
  
• Intel SSD 730
  

Any of the first three SSDs will be fine for a web-browsing PC. The last four are probably overkill though.

 

Btw, avoid Crucial V4, Kingston V300, SanDisk Pulse and OCZ SSDs. They are all rubbish!

Edited June 10, 2014 by Arthur

[newpersn]

 

Btw, avoid Crucial V4, Kingston V300, SanDisk Pulse and OCZ SSDs. They are all rubbish!

 

Nothing wrong with Kingston V300. I got one in my work computer and its not let me down.

[MatthewL]

Looking at the £500 mark or less if I can.

[3s-gtech]

Nothing wrong with Kingston V300. I got one in my work computer and its not let me down.

 

Depends which model you have. My home PC has an early model which is great. I have a large number of the later updated versions at work, they're not as quick (doesn't bother me too much as they're going into SATA II PCs, but that's not the point).

[newpersn]

Looking at the £500 mark or less if I can.

 

To save a little money would it not be worth using an I5? i7 would be overkill just for a web pc?

 

16gb of ram going to cost you around £100

 

Unlocked 4th gen i5 is around £160

Edited June 10, 2014 by newpersn

[mcrabb]

To save a little money would it not be worth using an I5? i7 would be overkill just for a web pc?

 

16gb of ram going to cost you around £100

 

Unlocked 4th gen i5 is around £160

 

+1

 

The only time you'll pass 8GB is video or graphics editing. If you're only browsing the web plus a bit of multimedia the on board CPU graphics should be fine, and the only time you'll see a noteable performance increase from i7 over i5 is with programs that make heavy use of multithreading.

[MatthewL]

I use several monitors so hence the graphics card, nothing fancy just mainly for the ports.

 

I'm over spec'ing as it will have to last me for a while, got an i3 at the moment and I did have an i7 and I notice the difference. I do large excel/access work with multiple sheets open at times so just want that extra bit of power. May have to drop the RAM to 8 as the system currently has that so can handle that to save a bit of cost.

[gshaw]

i7 is a waste of money if you're not a) gaming b) video editing c) serious number cruching

 

Go for an i5, Samsung 840 Evo SSD and it'll fly

[Domino]

The difference between the high end i7 and the high end i5 is hyperthreading. Which you'll not be using.

[plexer]

Why the water cooling just for a general purpose pc?

 

Ben

[mcrabb]

The majority of Haswell boards I've seen can support multiple displays without the need for a dedicated GPU, I've never given it a go though so not sure how the onboard graphics will handle them. Maybe someone else on here has?

[MatthewL]

Ok maybe I5 is the way I need to go to save money, what do you think to this system?

 

I forgot I have a graphics card sat next to me doing nothing.

[hawc]

Just looking at a Nano Sketch from @VeryPC https://shop.very-pc.co.uk/nanopc/nano-sketch-76

 

With the right customisation that would be good one for you.

[glennda]

Is 120gb ssd enough?

[MatthewL]

I use 43 of my 111 currently Glennda. My 2Tb of data is on a different drive.

[newpersn]

Is 120gb ssd enough?

 

personaly i would run a 120gb SSD for OS and Programs and get a 1TB drive for data.

[abillybob]

I have had two Kingston SSD's before now 1 V200 and the new V300 both work like a dream and are very fast. I also currently have a Seagate SSD in my Alienware which is very fast, has 500GB Storage and hasn't let me down so far.

When the new model of Alienware's come out I'll probably sell my current one and go for a desktop PC and make sure it's rocking a PCIE SSD for that much more SPEEEED....