PC for a developer - no gaming

[peasea]

Hi

Approximate Purchase Date: ASAP

Budget Range: $600-800

System Usage from Most to Least Important: multithreaded development, vmware instance for the wife to use windows in. Plus some media streaming to a wd TV live box. It's highly unlikely all these will be simultaneous.

Are you buying a monitor: yes

ASUS VS239H-P Black 23" 5ms IPS

Parts to keep:

450W corsair vx 4 pin - I believe I can use 4pin on this mobo!
2 500GB sata I samsun HD501LJ drives to be used in raid 1 in software

Parts to Upgrade:

Mobo: ASRock Z75 Pro3 LGA 1155 Intel Z75

Ram: CORSAIR Vengeance LP 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600

Do you need to buy OS: No - linux

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com, ncix.com, plus any other recommends for shopping from Canada

Location: Montreal

Parts Preferences: none

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920 x 1080

Additional Comments: hoping for a quiet pc that just sits there and works. It will serve some streaming video over my LAN - not even HD the last server kept up no problem.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: I have a very old server. I want a faster pc now I have an office.


---------

So - that's the template done. I'd be interested to know comments on the CPU/mobo combo, plus as it's a xeon with no integrated graphics I'd love a graphics card recommendation. I don't want to spend much on this - no gaming just things like skype and viewing reasonably high-def photos as a layperson with a digital camera.

Right now I'm thinking nVidia for the graphics card as they have linux drivers but not looked into this for some time so happy to be educated.

If I missed anything let me know. Thanks in advance.

 

[kirilmatt]

Are you sure you want to go with intel? For your budget/workload the FX-8350 would be perfect. Since you don't game I would simply recommend a radeon 5450 or a GT 610. They are low cost but can handle any non-gaming tasks. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[peasea]

Are you sure you want to go with intel? For your budget/workload the FX-8350 would be perfect. Since you don't game I would simply recommend a radeon 5450 or a GT 610. They are low cost but can handle any non-gaming tasks. Let me know if you have any questions.

Hi. Thanks for the card info. I will read up and report back.

As for intel, I preferred the lower wattage as simpler for cooling and cheaper to run. I would be keen to hear counter reasoning on this, open to new ideas.

Cheers.

 

[peasea]

Are you sure you want to go with intel? For your budget/workload the FX-8350 would be perfect. Since you don't game I would simply recommend a radeon 5450 or a GT 610. They are low cost but can handle any non-gaming tasks. Let me know if you have any questions.

Hi. Thanks for the card info. I will read up and report back.

As for intel, I preferred the lower wattage as simpler for cooling and cheaper to run. I would be keen to hear counter reasoning on this, open to new ideas.

Cheers.

 

[kirilmatt]

Are you sure you want to go with intel? For your budget/workload the FX-8350 would be perfect. Since you don't game I would simply recommend a radeon 5450 or a GT 610. They are low cost but can handle any non-gaming tasks. Let me know if you have any questions.

Hi. Thanks for the card info. I will read up and report back.

As for intel, I preferred the lower wattage as simpler for cooling and cheaper to run. I would be keen to hear counter reasoning on this, open to new ideas.

Cheers.

The cooling won't really make much difference Intel vs AMD. The money you'd save on the AMD would offset any power consumption costs for a few years at least. In addition the FX generally performs on par with an i7-3770k in non-gaming tasks. Its value is awesome. In addition the scheduler in Linux makes the FX operate much faster then in windows. This gives an even bigger performance advantage. That's why I think the FX is perfectly fitted to your needs. I know the radeon 5450 is passively cooler, not sire about the 610 though, you'd have to check.

 

[angaddev]

Try an fx-8350 and a cheap micro atx board, with a radeon 5670 and a fractal design core 1000

 

[kirilmatt]

Try an i3-2120 and a cheap micro atx board, with a radeon 5670 and a fractal design core 1000

An i3 in that budget range? Not only is that CPU bad for his workload but it is cheaper then they need.

 

[peasea]

The cooling won't really make much difference Intel vs AMD. The money you'd save on the AMD would offset any power consumption costs for a few years at least. In addition the FX generally performs on par with an i7-3770k in non-gaming tasks. Its value is awesome. In addition the scheduler in Linux makes the FX operate much faster then in windows. This gives an even bigger performance advantage. That's why I think the FX is perfectly fitted to your needs. I know the radeon 5450 is passively cooler, not sire about the 610 though, you'd have to check.

Hi. Sorry for the laggy reply. I had an opportunity for a used server, a core 2 9550 but I think that is going to be left in the dust by either $200 intel or amd options.

That's an interesting point re the linux scheduler.

If I do go the AMD fx route, will I need a non-stock cooler? I'd like something that keeps the temperature pretty low, is quiet and I'll keep off the water coolers for now, thanks!

So far I've got my eye on the COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO

I also saw the AMD fx-4100 looks pretty tasty for the price. Plus presents less of a cooling challenge.

Oh - forgot to ask - is there a no-brainer standout mobo for either of these AMD FX cpus? Given that I'm not interested in overclocking I'm thinking I can get quite a bog-standard motherboard.