Building a PC for my Dad

[neelydan]

Hi:

I need to build my dad a new PC, and want one that will be stable and solid for a few years.

He likes to listen to music, so I'm looking for a good sound card (assuming onboard doesn't cut it - I currently run RCA to a receiver but wondering if it's possible to improve on this), he messes around with DVD editing/movie making, really nothing overly intense.

He has storage - in the form of external drives, although I would like to move him to a solid state drive for the new one to improve performance.

His display is fine. Doesn't need an OS.

Everything else needs to be included - thanks guys, much appreciated. I'm in technology by profession, but admittedly have been out of this game for a few years now.

Thanks!

 

[Onus]

Does he play games? If so, what type?
Onboard sound is most likely sufficient, unless your father is an audiophile and has some really high-end audio equipment.

 

[plywrlw]

Hi, what's your budget? Is he gaming or just browsing the internet? Please give us as much info as you can about what he'll be using the PC for and how much you want to spend.

 

[neelydan]

Shoot, sorry guys - I'm in Canada, for one - and around 1500.00 would be ideal.

He will not be gaming at all.

It's really just music, photo and high level video editing. I just want the best bang for his buck, mostly, and will build it myself.

 

[Onus]

That's a lofty budget for a system that does not require a powerful gaming graphics card. What video editing software does he use? Some of this software can also take advantage of GPGPU processing.

 

[plywrlw]

This is the most I'd spend on a build like that really. The only area I'd spend more maybe is the sound card but it really depends on whether any extra features are needed, this is a solid but basic card.

The Xeon is basically an i7. The hyperthreading will really help with sound and video editing. The GPU I included for the extra processing power not for gaming (though it will do light gaming at 1080p).

The SSD is plenty of space for the OS and a fair few files but there's also the 1Tb drive to store onto. A bigger 500 or even 1Tb SSD could be swapped in.

The PSU is again basic but it's well made and provides plenty of juice for this system, it should really be Bronze rated but isn't due to a technicality with PFC.

I figured a relatively small, non-flashy case would be better for a parent but if your dad likes flashy lights, windows and bling then any case will suit this build!

I put a lot of RAM in as again, this should help with editing.

It does all come down to the exact software he uses so this is a good all-rounder. As Onus mentioned, not all software will benefit from a separate GPU

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V3 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($284.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($104.95 @ Vuugo)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($159.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($129.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($58.75 @ Vuugo)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 750 1GB Video Card ($132.98 @ DirectCanada)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($47.95 @ Vuugo)
Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ NCIX)
Sound Card: Asus Xonar DG 24-bit 96 KHz Sound Card ($29.99 @ Memory Express)
Total: $989.56
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-07 18:10 EST-0500

 

[neelydan]

That was the ceiling - if we can come in under that and still get a great system (so that I don't have to do this again for a while ) then all the better.

 

[Onus]

plywrlw's build looks very fit for purpose. It may even be a little overkill, but that just means it should last a long time.