building a non gaming computer.

my dad asked me to build a computer for his work. presumably because i all the spare time in the world . He is an engineer so they barely if it all use grpahcis for actual work. 5 years ago i was pretty well versed in the art of computer parts however times have changed so im curious if you guys have any input or parts you recommend.

budget: around 2000 at upper end less would be good to (basically its in hpytheical stages my job was to start them off so to speak.

requreiments: 32 gigs of ram (be amusing if i could get more)

guidelines: the idea is to make this as fast, quiet and has good airflow (yea i know that probably doesn't exist ) as possible for the price (as close to 1000 dollars as possible doesn't matter if its intel amd or whatever job go fast do more work for the money.

i have a test build on newegg post that soon.

edit: things. added quiet and cool requirment, as well as added more detail to various things.

edit: my first draft is up we shall see how it fares! (pretty sure its the best computer for the circumstances i can make. click here

Shouldn't be a problem. Just get the latest I7, 34 gigs of ram, a decently sized tower, good power supply, decent motherboard which can support teh above specs, 120 Gig SSD, 1 TB HD if he needs space, and an intel chipset series graphics card and you're all set! Should be about your budget level. If you're not sure what to pick out this should help you(just pick out what I said above at a decent price range and wa-la!) :
http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/

What the actual fuck does he need 32 gigs of RAM but not a GPU for?

Well, I guess depending on the kind of engineer he is. They do run some pretty insane simulations.

On a serious note:

Don't get anything less than an i7. If he needs it to be super fast and doesn't need a GPU you MIGHT be able to grab a 6 core i7. But the software he's using would need to be able to use that many cores, or else you'd be wasting your money. I hope whatever he's using, at this point, could support 4 cores... but depending on how it's programmed... yeah.

If it's a work computer don't worry about an SSD in my opinion. Unless everything he does is saved on a network location. But since you guys are paying out of pocket for the computer - or so it seems - you'll want the storage space that an HDD provides. Plus SSDs are still expensive unless you get a tiny one - at which point it's not really worth it.

If he will be using some fileserver to store everything, throw in a 256 GB SSD and call it a day.

Liquid cooling all the way in my opinion. Perfectly quiet, extremely stable temperatures in my experience. But if the budget gets tight, it's easy to cut. Can be important if you're going to OC the CPU though. Not usually necessary for gaming, but it might be for whatever software he'll be running.

I think that's about all the advice I can give without knowing more about what specifically he'll be using it for. I only assume that he's doing some hardcore simulations if 32 GB of RAM is a requirement... you sure he doesn't need a good GPU?

his boss is buying it actually. but he asked me to make presumably because saves them time or he wants me to do somthing idk . they need it for whatever new project they are owrking on. he is a software engineer hes done pretty much everything at one point or another. i just know what they need. aka he told me via text message technically it might not have to be fast but if i i can make it fast all the better time is money. he knows what he is doing that much i know. when he gets off work he can explain what he specifically needs. i just wanted some help getting in the right direction so thank you! the less time i have to spend catching up on whats new in the market the better.

thanks for advice von/ciez . and i was toying with intel stuff before looks like fasts proccsor so ill probably lean that way.

Oooooh a software engineer.

I was thinking like electrical engineer or civil engineer or anything like that.

Yeah a software engineer won't need a GPU.

I doubt he'd need 32 GB of RAM, but if that's what he wants /shrug.

You can probably put in a 256 GB SSD and have him save everything on a work network location, as he should be doing anyways.

Just grab a quad core i7. I don't think he'd have any reason for a 6-8 core CPU.

http://www.topachat.com/pages/configomatic.php?c=o%2Bwq6Nf5X72O3xiTAqzTE%2B9sEPki1MIyw01NWmx6xIs%3D

Maybe it's fine

Liquid cooling all the way in my opinion. Perfectly quiet, extremely stable temperatures in my experience. But if the budget gets tight, it's easy to cut. Can be important if you're going to OC the CPU though. Not usually necessary for gaming, but it might be for whatever software he'll be running.

water cooling is a waste of money for anything less than a Multi-GPU-setup. in fact the pumps are often louder than a good cpu-cooler (which costs MUCH less).

water cooling is a waste of money for anything less than a Multi-GPU-setup. in fact the pumps are often louder than a good cpu-cooler (which costs MUCH less).

Mmm yeah, and with his dad being a software engineer he probably won't even have a real GPU.

I guess the 32GB of RAM could come into play if he's using a lot of VMs.

I guess the 32GB of RAM could come into play if he's using a lot of VMs.

that is definitely the plan as for budget its more flexible than i knew but he doesn't want to use ddr4 for this build as its nto up to snff yet so i can't go into next line of processors as they require ddr4 memory to my knowledge. adding a few new requreiments wants it to be quiet ill explain down low.

so far i have

Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor

a Z97 mobo im not sure which brand still sifting through them trying to figure out who is reliable, has best set of futures for job at hand. one of them being run absurd amounts virtual machines.

and 230 something bucks worth of ddr3 2400 ghz ram. (need to go find the brand.) though if that is unrialbe could go higher. (theres plenty of room in the hypothetical budget. probably max somehwere around 2k)

as for water cooling which has been mentioned i don't think he wants to do that you have to maintained and setup isn't easy to leave it unattended overnight at the office. but i think he also wnats it quiet as it goes under his desk so im preping to also do research on cooling sytstem somthing ive never really looked into.

does you father overclock his pc?

if not, you can get get a 4790 and a non z-motherboard (h97),
they should be cheaper.

good cpu-coolers are the hr02 macho and the brocken 2(~40€), if you plan on spending more you can get a noctua ?ndh15? or a dark rock pro.

then get two silent wings 140mm for the case and you should have a very quiet pc, if you get a good power supply (like 500 Watt be quiet! Straight Power 10-CM Modular 80+ Gold)

thanks for all the help this is my first draft of it all. if somthing seems off let me know if you feel so inclined. i figure since i made this thread i should keep you informed of progress anyways regardless of its its requtired. (that an more imput the better!)

build info

as for cooling systems thank you for the info i haven't gotten to adding it yet but thanks for direction shoudl help. and i decided to go with a asus z97 workstation (don't have an h version if there its a card to stay away from or there is a much better card for the purprose be nice to know.) which has a inbuilt graphics card which should do it and lots of fun features for them to toy around with. though ram unfortunately seems to be a limiting factor as it doesn't like anything (aka manufacture warning) over 1.5 volts. which means 1600 ram unless you want to alter the volts, and as far as i know not a good idea. so even if he overclocks it his understnding is that doens't affect teh voltage. (if there is memory of higher mhz with 1.5 voltage let me know )

as for overclocking doens't plan to but its not out of the question necessarily.

... if somthing seems off let me know if you feel so inclined. ...

I would probably change every component, maybe besides the chassis :/

Does he use this much disk space for plain dumping, or is it actually for data in use?
Does he require lots of CPU power?
Is memory correction needed?
Does he maybe need more than 32 GB Ram in the future?

well, i wouldnt change the cpu, the chassis and the hard drives

first of all the power supply is probably a "chinaböller" (=chinese firecracker), at least thats how we call bad powersupplys here in germany. dont save money there, because if this component breaks, it might kill the whole computer! get the be quiet i recommended

second of all, get faster ram and a motherboard, which supports it

third of all, the motherboard you chose does NOT have a graphic card :
Onboard Video
Depends on CPU
no motherboard that i know off has a graphic card

amd kamk has a good point with getting more ram in the future, you might have to think about getting 2*16GB instead of 4*8

Well, the CPU is great for gaming and general heavy-duty consumer use, especially if you OC, but otherwise not so much, especially not with the stock cooler

The HDDs depend on the usage. If it's just a dump then it's overkill. I certainly like the WD Reds as well. Still wondering why a software engineer needs 4x3 TB.

For a few bucks more, one can easily get a Gold or Platin PSU. The current one is also overkill in terms of wattage.

GPU is just passthrough from CPU (if integrated).

Z97 is limited to 32 GB anyways, the board is also overpriced for it's features.

Anyways, depends a lot on the usage of the PC now and in the future. In case of really heavy duty use and long term scaling, a DDR4 setup, or Dual Xeon, might make way more sense, otherwise i would go for the basic 4790, as suggested by scratchedpaintjob, maybe even some lower voltage model, or some Xeon v3 build.


Just my 2 cents.

The HDDs depend on the usage. If it's just a dump then it's overkill. I certainly like the WD Reds as well. Still wondering why a software engineer needs 4x3 TB.

the reason i have gone with this is because "the boss" wants to run raid 5, virtual machines also like to take up alot of space. he also isn't gonna be the only one using this 5 or so guys will be. my dad could probably really use a 10,000 dollar computer to its maximum (he has before) but who the fuck has that kind of money. the budget is right where im sitting about 1,800 so we are stuck on that but unless i move up to ddr4 and price point i can't max out the computer performance. and he doesn't want ddr4 yet because its not as fast as ddr3 yet (in a year or so it will be) but he doesn't plan on upgrading this thing but rather just build another one when the time comes. if i had 3000 id probably get a dual cpu socketboard and do all those things however its not in the budget never was.

i have a build but i had to build it on new egg because parts picker doesn't have the parts i need in there catalog. (and new egg won't let me find the public page of my build cause it sucks ass.) its pretty much the same but i replace the ssd with an m.2 boot-drive ssd (basically a faster ssd without the case), added a 2 case fans, and changed the memory to pc1866 that way he doesn't have to up the volts on the mobo (which he doesn't want to do) to use all the memory and can just oc a bit.

third of all, the motherboard you chose does NOT have a graphic card :
Onboard Video
Depends on CPU
no motherboard that i know off has a graphic card

yea i know i used the wrong term its on board graphcis which bsically all he needs enough to light up 2 monitor which it should be easy.

so now the last thing im looking at is a cpu cooler at this point im pretty sure im gonna need one ill post the brands im looking at in a sec. though maybe i don't but from what i keep hearing and reading im thinking one will be benefical.


Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO

for the budget this seems to make the most sense tbh. though my only concern is i heard that it can bend the mobo.

Any specific reason why they use a HDD Raid5, instead of a larger SSD + backup?
How many VMs are we even talking about?

What you could certainly do for this build: go for a more reasonably priced mobo, and throw the money on some better PSU.
Cooler wise: have you considered the recommendation from scratchedpaintjob? hr02, broken, or noctua D14 / 15, L12, etc.

Kinda wondering why they just buy a new setup shortly after, if they could get a decent setup now with future upgrade possibilities. Xeon 2620v3 comes to mind. Adding a second one now or later, or even more Ram if required at any point, will certainly be better if they need a real workhorse.

very good advice

+1

i personally would go with ddr3, because its just so much cheaper and if you want 32 gigs, it costs a LOT

okay so ive made just about final build (im not gonna say final anymore cause at this rate its not .) but i figure a quick update as well as explaining my decisions so you can understand where im coming from a bit. so here it is.

newegg build

ive writen a massive essay 3 times now and frankly im kinda pissed off at this forum right now. damn you forum for not saving my stuff. so im gonna keep it short.

mobo

i did some research on mobo decided to go with a cheaper one because it looks like unless im going to use it for an actual workstation no reason to splurge. if i wanted to splurge get server mobo which i don't think is necessary unless im getting x99 chip. so basically ive narrowed down the mobo to as asrock exterme6 (though i could do 4 or 9 just as easily.) also the asus z97 a is an option as well.

processors

ive looked at xeon and for this build im not gonna do it. i see the future potential it has but by the time they do that they could have 2 of these computers easy. (they have there own servers anyways. if i had 3000 dollars id do it no questions asked even if it started as only partial build and left one open also if i was using ddr 4 which im not so theres even less no reason to future proof it. in 5 years thell need another one anyways.

PSU

as for power supplies ive done tons of them as yes i do understand you don't want to throw a random one in. in my research not only is seasonic come up time and time agian as a very reliable brand as well as they manufacture psu's for themselves as well as for corsair and i believe antec. (who knows who else.) also that the 80+ rating only really means anything in terms of efficiency it doesn't not make the power supply better made or more reliable. while fully modular is ideal i also want this thing quiet so maybe I'll look for a quiet fan feature or fully fan-less. so unless there is technical aspect on the psu or a reason not to trust the particular brand i don't think ill change it has all the safety features i want and is fully modular the fact that its not gold doesn't bother me.

graphics card

since in losing on board graphics im going with something real simple but since the boss wants to hook up 2 large dell monitors that use display ports i got one with dual display ports. its a worksation board but i can't find display ports readily available for normal graphics cards. so i found decent board with 2 display ports. though last search i found one that was 50 bucks but it pc parts picker said they werne't sure if it fits in pc. this card should be more than enough as the most they probably will ever do with it is watch youtube and have potentially tons of cmd windows on it. (with dual 1080p monitors.)

Memory

hes engineer so reliably is important ssd is flash memory and there for not as reliable, especially when uses as a main drives. If I just put the files there once and never touch them or minimally like an operating system then they are much faster which makes them better. however for memory that is constantly getting tweaked or changed ssds tend to fail when altered and messed with alot. i did get an m.2 card for boot drive basically. (its an ssd without all the cases and fancy logos also its faster.) i am going to get an extra tb or save 40 bucks per drive cant' decide yet with hgst since they are more reliable according to a 2015 test thats out there on the internet supporting this. its either that or wd anyways as long as its not seagate.

Summary

okay so im done for now any thoughts im still looking at cpu coolers and i did look at all the ones suggested some of them don't seem to be around anymore but regardless look nice ill probably pick one of them. anyways agian thanks for the input i wasn't ignoring it even if i don't do what you suggest it helps me find a direction to start research in which ive done more than what this computer is worth probably by now.

the mobo is a better choice

processor is a good choice aswell

psu: well, i wont tell you again that there are better choices..(more quiet,...)

graphics card: your processor has a graphics card inbuilt, which is probably better than the one you have here. your mainboard has one displayport, so you would probably need one hdmi to displayportadapter.

memory: your mainboard supports up to ddr 3000(oc), so get ddr 2400

edit:
about coolers: they are all available, get the brocken 2, the macho may block the ram