Computer Build Guidance

[Phil3]

I am building a replacement for my 8 year old hone built PC, but need some guidance this time around. This PC is just for e-mail, Internet surfing, Microsoft Office use, and also 4k video editing (Adobe Premier Elements), photo editing (Adobe Photoshop Elements), and Alibre 3d CAD. I intend on using the Intel i7-9700k processor. All my apps appear to make most use of high clock speed, not multiple cores.

My bigger question is on a proper motherboard. I do no gaming or simulations, which is what most recommendations are based on. What about sheer speed in NON-gaming situations...what motherboard is recommended for business use?

Phil

[Angryoldwhiteman]

Hi Phil,

I haven't built a system from scratch for awhile. In the past, Tom's Hardware has had really good information on topics that you raise.

https://www.tomshardware.com/

Hope this helps.

[MrFancyPants]

My bigger question is on a proper motherboard. I do no gaming or simulations, which is what most recommendations are based on. What about sheer speed in NON-gaming situations...what motherboard is recommended for business use?



Phil

Gigabyte, ASUS, MSI all make quality motherboards. I've used them all and have had no major issues with any particular brand. Simply as far as features go, this should be more than enough for what you need:

GIGABYTE Z390 UD LGA 1151 (300 Series) Intel Z390 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 ATX Intel Motherboard https://m.newegg.com/product/N82E16813145095?m_ver=1

It's pretty inexpensive comparatively, and if I were doing a build same as yours I wouldn't hesitate to get one. Has a PCI-E x4 m.2 slot for a super fast OS SSD, all the standard ports you're likely to use, and a 3 year warranty in case you get a dud board for some reason.

I don't know if that answers your question and I don't know what your budget is. You can spend more if you really want, but for your needs it should suffice. Of course your choice will also depend on the form factor of case you're planning to use. If you're thinking more compact, you're looking at a mini ITX or micro ATX board, in which case you'll be spending more.

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[FresnoRob]

Gigabyte, ASUS, MSI all make quality motherboards.

I have supported thousands of PCs with Asus and Gigabyte motherboards.
When I have seen a problem Asus support was better to deal with. I always hate dealing with a Gigabyte support.

[Dragunov]

There are MANY, good You Tube video's on this matter. Watch several, ask questions.

[bigbearbear]

I have not built a PC for a long time, but that's because the last one I built lasted really long. I've lost count of the actual no. of years this current PC I'm using has lasted, must've been over 10 years.

The motherboard is a Gigabyte Ultra Durable type, one of those with the "UD" designator on it. Highly recommended.

This is my work and gaming PC at home too, used every day for very long hours.

One other recommendation I have for you: Get the best Power Supply Unit you can afford. The power supply is like clean drinking water for the computer, without it, it doesn't matter what else you put into the PC, they will crap out. The one I have is a Seasonic, not sure what's the current state of the market at the moment but check the reviews on Newegg.com for some idea what are some really good power supply units.

[the86d]

I am running a 10 year old MSI right now...
with a Phenom IIx6 1090T @3.2GHz.

MSI are all I ever built, as they never had some goofy 3rd party NEW SATA controller built in that doesn't work right.

I don't play a lot of games, but it works for everything I want to do+ TF2.

An SSD, Proc, and good video card are musts, but I am new to the FPS gaming on PCs, again.

[67Cuda]

If you're going to use the computer for CAD, video editing and photos, you might as well as build the computer to gaming specs.

Buy quality parts and it will go a long time, computers are stuck with little innovation right now. Been this way for a while. I'm sure you know this already.

I like ASUS motherboards, currently have a Z77 Sabertooth, rock solid and use a NVIDIA GTX 780 SC graphics card.
This machine has rarely been powered down over the last 8 years.
And as mentioned, buy the best, and highest wattage, power supply you can.

[MrBlazito]

The only differences between a gaming MB and non-gaming MB are amount of USB ports, fancy heatsinks, and overclocking support. You might as well build on a gaming MB.

[the86d]

I say do the math, but FIFY:
And as mentioned, buy the best, and highest wattage, power supply you can...
"afford to power" in the most rape-iest overage state.

[MrFancyPants]

And as mentioned, buy the best, and highest wattage, power supply you can.

Yes on the best power supply you can afford, no on the highest wattage. Far too many people spend way too much money on a power supply which is way too high wattage for what their system actually draws. You get absolutely no benefit from a 1300 watt power supply if your system only draws 600 watts. The most important thing when choosing a power supply is buying a high quality unit with a high efficiency rating, at least silver (80%+) if not gold (90%+).

If you want to be precise, look up the electrical specs for the devices you plan to connect to your PC, and make an educated guess on how many watts your system will actually draw, calculate a little room for expansion, and factor in the output power loss based on the efficiency rating.

Example, I have an overclocked Intel core i7 4790k with 24 GB RAM, 2 GTX 970s in SLI, a high performance sound card, PCI-E WiFi adapter, 3 SSDs and 2 spindle hard drives, a Blu ray writer and Blu ray/HD-DVD reader, and it's all powered by a gold rated 850-watt Corsair PSU, with room to grow.

You'd be surprised how little power your PC actually draws.

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[Phil3]

I am the OP and thanks for the many replies. At present, my existing computer has the following. Was built in 2011.

Corsair 650D mid tower case.
Corsair TX650 power supply (650 watt, Bronze rating).
8GB G Skill Sniper memory.
Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3-B3 motherboard.
Intel i5-2500k Sandy Bridge CPU (not overclocked).
XIGMATEK Gaia SD1283 120mm air cooler.
Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD.
Western Digital 1.5 terababyte 7200 rpm hard disk.
MSI MSI Radeon HD 5770 DirectX 11 R5770 Hawk Graphics card.
ASUS DVD burner.

Given changing needs and suggestions here, I have been considering the following. If not mentioned, I am not decided.

* Phanteks Enthoo Pro case. Big but roomy and do not need lots of visual flash.
* ASUS motherboard. I like ASUS products, even if my ASUS AC-87U router ran way too hot and destroyed itself in a stench of burnt electronics after power came back on following a power outage.
* 16 or 32GB of some brand of memory.
* Noctua NH-D15 air cooler.
* M.2 Nvme drive, either on motherboard or in a PCI slot and dedicated card.

Unsure on RAM, mass storage device (old WD works fine and is 7200 rpm). Graphics card is another mystery, since my 3D CAD (Alibre Design Pro) is not that demanding for what I do, and my video editing software (Adobe Premier Elements), does not appear to make use of multiple threads either. I do not play any games, so thinking high performance CPU, ample RAM, and quick drive should be priorities.

Was strongly considering the Intel i7-9700k CPU, but after Computex show, AMD looks awfully enticing, especially since Intel performance is being hurt by Spectre, Meltdown, and now Zombieland flaws and exploits. I need strong single thread performance and Intel does well here, but AMD has closed the gap it seems, though actual test results no out yet.

Ideally, the computer "box" (no monitor, etc.), would come in at $1500 tops, but if more $$$ will substantially extend life and/or performance, I would consider it.

Opinions welcome!

Phil

[ibanezfoo]

What is your budget? Part of my duties here is speccing out and ordering machines for our CAD detailing and engineering department. We typically buy machines from Boxx (factory overclocked w/warranty) or Dell Precision 5000 series. The Boxx machines ship with ASUS or AS Rock motherboards. Haven't had any issues with them other than the occasional smoked CPU or video card (we use Quadro cards) which their warranty replaces quickly. We have 100's of those. The Autodesk programs rely mostly on single threaded performance as opposed to multi, so more cores doesn't do a whole lot for us. The overclocked machines help but the Dells have an optimizer program that they work with the software companies and figure out what hardware tweaks are necessary for max performance. I thought it was a gimmick at first but I went to Dell and spoke with the guys who run that project. Our own internal benchmarking shows it does indeed work with stuff like Revit.

For my personal machines I was a die hard Asus user but then got some bad ones and switched to Gigabyte. Its kind of a Ford/Chevy thing... everyone has their favorite brands. Just helped a guy here build an i9 system, OC'd, 2080, all that stuff... went with a Gigabyte board.

Edit: didn't notice your budget in the later thread. Your budget should be fine for what you are looking at but you didn't mention a video card...

[ibanezfoo]

Don't cheap out on your NVMe drive either... Some of the cheaper ones are just SATA drives in an M.2 package... Speed difference of around 550 for the SATA and 3200 for the Samsung NVMe

[MrFancyPants]

Don't cheap out on your NVMe drive either... Some of the cheaper ones are just SATA drives in an M.2 package... Speed difference of around 550 for the SATA and 3200 for the Samsung NVMe

Most PCI-E x4 NVMe SSDs should be in that speed range, but yeah the Samsungs are some of the highest quality and best performing. Just stay away from the QLC NAND SSDs, such as the Intel 660p. They are cheaper for a reason.

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