Advice on Newbuild

[DavePenn]

Hi All

I have done a bit of research and just wanted to get an expert opinion on my newbuild. It's only my second build (my first got damaged!!!) so I am still a bit green.

It will be used for office, browsing, photoshop and some gaming. Am using a single 1080p monitor

Buying parts in Australia

CPU: Intel Xeon - E3-1241V3
MB: ASRock B85M-PRO4 ($85) or Asrock H97M PRO4 ($109) undecided if it is worth the extra?
RAM: 16G Kit 1600 (8Gx2) G-Skill Ripjaws-X
GPU: 2G R9-270X Sapphire-OC(11217-01-41G) (I can get an ASUS or Gigabyte for $15 more, is it worth it?)
SSD: Samsung 850 EVO 120G (operating system only, I already have 3 x 1TB for storage)

The following appear to have survived my first build
PSU: APEVIA Warlock 750W
Heat Sink: Thermalright Cogage TRUE Spirit
Case: DeepCool USB3.0 mid Tower Tesseract SW

Would appreciate any comments/suggestions. I am at around $1000, which is my budget (well $100 over but it's ok)

Cheers
Dave

 

[davidarad02]

you dont need 16GB of ram, 8 is enough. also, why getting that kind of a Xeon with that GPU? get a cheaper i5 and a better GPU like the GTX 960 or r9 280x.
get a better PSU . that one is not that good, and I'm not sure for how long it is going to last.

 

[sadams04]

Consider replacing that APEVIA power supply as soon as possible as it has poor capacitors (and is a Tier 4 unit). Try to stick with XFX or Seasonic, then turn to Antec or EVGA G2 units if needed.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($349.00 @ CPL Online)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($109.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($84.00 @ CPL Online)
Storage: Crucial M550 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($99.00 @ CPL Online)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 280 3GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($249.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Case: Deepcool TESSERACT SW ATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased For $0.00)
Power Supply: Apevia 750W ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $0.00)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($19.00 @ CPL Online)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($125.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Total: $1034.00

 

[IntelTurtleFan]

If you are only doing Photoshop and gaming then go with a i5 CPU. Such as the i5-4670k and get a ASRock Extreme 6 mobo. For your PSU you could use a XFX TS Series or Corsair VS something better than your current one.

 

[DavePenn]

Thanks for the advoce guys.

I picked the Xeon as it's only about $30 more than the I5 and is "apparently" better out of the box. I also means I can save on the motherboard, $80-$100 instead of $150+

Plus i'm not looking to overclock. Will definately look at a new PSU, would 650w be enough?

 

[DavePenn]

How about the following for around the same price

CPU: Intel i5-4690K
MB: AsRock H97 Performance
RAM: 16G Kit 1600 (8Gx2) G-Skill Ripjaws-X
GPU: 2G R9-270X Sapphire-OC(11217-01-41G) (I can get an ASUS or Gigabyte for $15 more, is it worth it?)
SSD: Samsung 850 EVO 120G (operating system only, I already have 3 x 1TB for storage)

The following appear to have survived my first build
PSU: APEVIA Warlock 750W (will look at upgrading but not right away)
Heat Sink: Thermalright Cogage TRUE Spirit
Case: DeepCool USB3.0 mid Tower Tesseract SW

 

[DavePenn]

Ok, so I went with the below

PSU: Corsair VS650
HeatSink: CoolerMaster Hyper 212X
Case: DeepCool USB3.0 mid Tower Tesseract SW
CPU: Intel i5-4690K
MB: AsRock Z97M Pro-4
RAM: 16G Kit 1600 (8Gx2) G-Skill Sniper
GPU: ASUS 2G R9-270X
SSD: Samsung 850 EVO 120G (plus 3 x 1TB for storage)

Came in at $200 over budget, but it seems to be worth it

 

[IntelTurtleFan]

You do not need a 16GB kit you can use 8gb.