Planning a new PC

I have always been wary of building my own PC probably because I,ve not been confident of my own ability to troubleshoot any consequent problems with the tweaking, i.e. sourcing the correct drivers for stuff etc. Putting the stuff together is the easy part- getting it all to work together afterwards is the daunting bit. I think now though that I may be ready. -I`d like to have a rig that`s built to suite Video editing and being an artist I would like to like to try my hand at ray tracing which I understand needs quite hefty specs. Any suggestions?

Edit :- this will be a slow project, -I`m quite happy with my setup at present, having 3 PC`s in front of me - 2 desktop`s and a laptop.
The Laptop is Vista Home Premium & the desktop`s have near identical specs but run windows 7 Premium and windows 8 Pro.

My screen setup is a little weird, - I have (or will have when the touchscreen monitor arrives) a Dell S2340T and a Samsung LS22A-100 as screen 1& 2 on the windows 8 machine and the Laptop between them.When I want to use the windows 7 machine ,I use "Logmein" in a web browser to remote access it.(the idea is that I can do this on the W8 screen 2 when needed). This way I get the benefits of two screens on my main PC and can still see each machine on its own screen when needed.


I plan to start with a case & PSU and slowly build the PC as and when I can afford the bits. I want this to be a machine that will last me for a couple of years at least, I`ve bought OEM machines until now and they seem designed to fail juuuust after the warranty runs out.

I like what I have. See system specs. Next time different mobo/processor. Tech marches on. it's not a matter of what I need; it's a matter of what's new.

If you're looking for something budget conscious/minded but with a good amount of oomph, I'd look at AMD's offerings. Overall, they're less expensive than Intel, but provides a good kick. Granted, Intel's higher i7 processors can do a beating on AMD's, but this will depend on usage scenarios.

I'd recommend either an AMD A10 APU (this has a Radeon 6670 and a real impressive quad core chip in one) for a good midrange start. An ASUS motherboard with an FM2 socket for the APU. DDR3 RAM is dirt cheap so you can easily do 8 gigs, at least. Maybe, you could do a closed looped watercooler, and that will let you overclock the APU so you can run it at faster speeds. You can probably do this system, minus a hard drive or PSU, for probably 380-450 dollars US.

For a higher end build, AMD FX-8350 for the CPU. An ASUS motherboard with an AM3+ socket. If you don't demand real impressive graphics, meaning you won't be gaming on this, just run on the integrated graphics. But if you need a video card, this will depend on what you need it for. This could be around, without a watercooler, video card, PSU, or hard drive, about roughly the same price as above.

Actually , although AMD`s processors are cool I would like to get a fast Intel, ideally an i7 3rd gen chip,- I probably will leave the processor and motherboard choice and purchase to last, hopefully the price will drop a wee bit before I`m ready.to actually assemble it. - As long as I plan what I`m getting first it won`t matter in which order I purchase stuff in. I could start by getting the case and PSU, then the RAM as its cheap at the moment (one typhoon or flood could change that though). a Big hard disk then an SSD. I probably won`t need anything TOO impressive as a graphics card as I`m not a gamer , but would like it to be able to handle Video well and a really good Sound card - I like my sounds.
Then the motherboard and processor just before assembly.
Edit:- -Not keen on the idea of overclocking. and probably Air cooled too.

Interesting choice for the i7, usually that's paired with a good graphics card. What is your expected usage scenario for this PC build going to be?

It's always better to buy all the equipment at once, rather than buying it piece by piece over time. You should just sock away your money, rather than buying it, then buy everything at once.

The reason is several-fold. 1) the technology may change in the middle of your buying cycle. You could end up with a motherboard that doesn't work with the processor you want to buy, and you're stuck buying an outdated one. Or the memory technology may change. Or the SSD prices may radically change. Prices will likely come down on almost everything.

But, having said that, if you find a fantastic deal.. it may be worth taking the risk.

Mystere said:

It's always better to buy all the equipment at once, rather than buying it piece by piece over time. You should just sock away your money, rather than buying it, then buy everything at once.

The reason is several-fold. 1) the technology may change in the middle of your buying cycle. You could end up with a motherboard that doesn't work with the processor you want to buy, and you're stuck buying an outdated one. Or the memory technology may change. Or the SSD prices may radically change. Prices will likely come down on almost everything.

But, having said that, if you find a fantastic deal.. it may be worth taking the risk.

Click to expand...

Oh, this VERY true! DDR4 RAM is expected to be coming out sometime potentially this year or early next. Not a big deal, but could be if you wait too long. The main benefit is lower voltages, faster speeds, like usual with new RAM types.

I agree, it's best to set aside some money every month, and research what best fits your needs and go from there.

I want to be able to edit AVCHD or GDLR HD video quickly. I made the choice of i7 based on recomendations from a web article - apparently at least 4 physical cores are required for effective working.Their suggestion for a graphics card was NVidia Quadro cards , although I have not researched their specs or price yet.


"Prices will likely come down on almost everything."

(yes but they could go up as well, RAM is cheap now..)

Nick Wright said:

I want to be able to edit AVCHD or GDLR HD video quickly. I made the choice of i7 based on recomendations from a web article - apparently at least 4 physical cores are required for effective working.Their suggestion for a graphics card was NVidia Quadro cards , although I have not researched their specs or price yet.

Click to expand...

Ahh, I see. The NVIDIA Quadro is the workstation level of graphics cards, basically, SERIOUS power depending on the higher end scale of things. Generally, they're rather pricy. I'd say if you're looking for serious graphical media editing on the fly, the AMD Radeon 7990 would be rather great for that. That is a dual core card, meaning you have basically two processing dies on one card, VERY powerful.

I do understand the strategy of waiting though , like I`ve mentioned prices are an unknown quantity , but on the other hand technology advances so fast these days that we`ll probably be able to do this kind of stuff on our flipping phones next year!

It's unlikely that prices will go up on major components, unless there is some major event.. like the typhoons that hit asia last year that caused hard drive prices to rise (but they're going back down again, and it had the side-benefit of spurring the reduction of cost in SSD's).

Thank you for your suggestions , I will take them on board -no concrete decisions made yet!
& with that I`m off to bed - its 2.00am here and I`m beat...

FWIW, did you know you can take some of the work out of matching components by either buying a "matched" DIY system or using the available systems to get an idea of what might work well together. I don't mean to imply that you couldn't do an effective job on your own. To get an idea of what I am talking about, check out what's currently available through Newegg. I am not pushing anything; just making sure you know that such opportunities exist. I certainly am not saying that you could not match appropriate components less expensively. But, worth a thought.

Also, check out Maximum PC online. The mag "staff" puts together some dandy systems ranging from inexpensive, but impressive, to expensive and killer.

znod said:

FWIW, did you know you can take some of the work out of matching components by either buying a "matched" DIY system or using the available systems to get an idea of what might work well together. I don't mean to imply that you couldn't do an effective job on your own. To get an idea of what I am talking about, check out what's currently available through Newegg. I am not pushing anything; just making sure you know that such opportunities exist. I certainly am not saying that you could not match appropriate components less expensively. But, worth a thought.

Also, check out Maximum PC online. The mag "staff" puts together some dandy systems ranging from inexpensive, but impressive, to expensive and killer.

Click to expand...

I agree, you can get some unbelievable deals on some online stores when they pick out a range of components for you, and you can still build it yourself.

I received a pamphlet in the mail about 3 years ago from this local computer shop on upgrade systems. Well I built this system for just a bit more than the regular price of the CPU, I was stoked.

Yep, it's definitely a viable way to go many times.