Haswell Build Suggestions?

[Bogdan Barbu]

Hi,

I'm getting ready to build a new system. If anyone has any suggestions on how I could improve its performance without spending (too much) extra money, I'd like to hear them.

Case: Antec P280 Window
Mobo: ASRock Z87 Extreme6/ac
PSU: Cooler Master Silent Pro Platinum (550W)
CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K
Cooler: Thermaltake Water 2.0 Extreme
RAM: G.SKILL TridentX F3-1600C7Q-32GTX (32 GiB DDR3 @ 1.6 GHz)
SDD: OCZ Vertex 450 (128 GiB)
Optical: LG BH16NS40

Budget: ~$1,350

As you may have noticed, I am not yet buying a dedicated video card. I want to save up some more money for something decent. In the meantime, I will use the Intel HD Graphics 4600 that comes with the Haswell CPU. As far as storage is concerned, that SDD would be used for the OS and some big programs I need to use. For everything else, I already have plenty of HDD's lying around.

Last but not least, is that PSU sufficient for such a system, including the video card that I haven't yet decided on? If it seems unlikely, I am willing to risk overshooting but that money will likely come out of said video card.

Cheers,
Bogdan

 

[g-unit1111]

That looks pretty decent. What you have to keep in mind is that the Intel HD 4000 isn't really meant to be a substitute for a dedicated GPU. If you have one lying around you can definitely reuse it, but I wouldn't rely on the Intel HD for the long run. What is your overall budget?

 

[Bogdan Barbu]

That looks pretty decent. What you have to keep in mind is that the Intel HD 4000 isn't really meant to be a substitute for a dedicated GPU. If you have one lying around you can definitely reuse it, but I wouldn't rely on the Intel HD for the long run. What is your overall budget?

Thanks for the reply. I have updated the original post to include my estimated budget for this particular build (not sure how I could forget such a thing) and corrected Haswell's GPU name.

 

[g-unit1111]

That looks pretty decent. What you have to keep in mind is that the Intel HD 4000 isn't really meant to be a substitute for a dedicated GPU. If you have one lying around you can definitely reuse it, but I wouldn't rely on the Intel HD for the long run. What is your overall budget?

Thanks for the reply. I have updated the original post to include my estimated budget for this particular build (not sure how I could forget such a thing) and corrected Haswell's GPU name.

What's the build going to be used for? If it's gaming you're going for a lot of the components you picked out are massive overkill, and you do not, nor ever will need 32GB of RAM for that purpose. If you cut back on a lot of stuff, you can get a GTX 770 for your budget easily.

 

[Bogdan Barbu]

The system would mostly be used for development purposes. However, I expect I won't resist trying some of the newer games at some point---I'm really behind with my gaming.

I need a pretty large amount of memory for certain large-scale simulations, amongst other things. On the other hand, I am not set on G.SKILL's Trident X series even if I am happy with the specs.

As for video, Nvidia is, unfortunately, out of the question. The reason is that they do not release programming documentation for their GPU's. Or, when they do, it's far from complete.

PS: I wouldn't say that games will never require as much as 32 GiB of memory, even if it won't happen in the next few years.

 

[g-unit1111]

The system would mostly be used for development purposes. However, I expect I won't resist trying some of the newer games at some point---I'm really behind with my gaming.

I need a pretty large amount of memory for certain large-scale simulations, amongst other things. On the other hand, I am not set on G.SKILL's Trident X series even if I am happy with the specs.

As for video, Nvidia is, unfortunately, out of the question. The reason is that they do not release programming documentation for their GPU's. Or, when they do, it's far from complete.

PS: I wouldn't say that games will never require as much as 32 GiB of memory, even if it won't happen in the next few years.

Interesting, I've never setup a programming rig before. I've set up plenty of rendering rigs and the requirements for the two are generally about the same. If your budget allowed for it I would say go X79 but it most likely won't.

 

[Bogdan Barbu]

Well, it depends on what it is you need to develop. I've never required as much RAM for any of my personal projects before. Regarding rendering, CrossFireX is one of the reasons I've picked that motherboard.

 

[g-unit1111]

Well, it depends on what it is you need to develop. I've never required as much RAM for any of my personal projects before. Regarding rendering, CrossFireX is one of the reasons I've picked that motherboard.

If you get 32GB of RAM or more, on any modern motherboard you get the luxury of setting up a RAM disk, which basically acts as a glorified SSD cache, and that will speed things up significantly.

 

[Bogdan Barbu]

You can't get more than 32 GiB on a Haswell-based system, unfortunately. I would have liked an OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2, which is an amazingly fast PCIe-based SSD (esp. the 960 GiB version). Not only is it faster than a RAM disk (when used as a cache for NV storage, as you say), but also safer in the case of unexpected power outages. Alas, many of the pricey things I like I don't really need... I decided to build the system I need, not the one that makes me feel the fuzziest on the inside.