New Build - Video Editing - €600 budget

DeepBlue

1. What is your budget? €600 ( Preferably €550 but I'm willing to go over €600 if absolutely needed. )

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Video editing would be the most intensive task. Otherwise office apps, web browsing. I haven't gamed since Half-Life so that's not a requirement. :P

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? No

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? No

5. Do you need a monitor? No

5a. If yes, what size do you need. I'll be upgrading to 22" or 24" at a later date but not at the moment.

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? Wireless card, Card reader

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Possibly, if it doesnt' risk damage.

8. How can you pay? Visa/Bank

9. When are you purchasing? Within the next month.

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? Kerry

Other Requirements: The main priority is that it be quiet. The last thing I want is a good PC with an audible hum.
Ideally the PC would be upgradable as much as possible. Linux will be run on the PC at some point so components would ideally be linux-compatible.

Any suggestions or pointers for research would be appreciated.

Eboggles

Item|Price
AMD FX-8120 Prozessor, Boxed, Sockel AM3+|€146.15
ASRock 970DE3/U3S3, AM3+, ATX|€58.25
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€35.94
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W|€40.91
LiteOn iHAS124-19 schwarz SATA|€18.89
Samsung SSD 830 64GB SATA 6GB's Paper Box|€68.01
Seagate Barracuda 7200 500GB SATA 6GB's|€60.26
LogiLink Wireless LAN 300 Mbps PCI Karte 802.11n 2T2R|€14.36
FRACTAL DESIGN Gehäuse Define Mini|€81.59
Arctic Alpine 64 Plus Sockel 754/939/AM2/AM2+/AM3/AM3+|€8.99
LogiLink USB 2.0 all-in-one Card Reader, für 3,5" Einbauchschacht|€4.14
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€556.48

Recommending an AMD build here due to the fact that it's a great CPU for things like video editing, and the fact that it's €70 cheaper than the 3570k making it a no-brainer. I threw in a fairly snazzy case that should make your build silent, but I threw in an aftermarket CPU cooler just incase.

What's also good about using a bulldozer CPU here is that I've heard it does best on Linux, and seeming as you're going to be using Linux in the future it makes sense.

Finally, I threw in a strong PSU (great 450 watt) so if you ever feel like gaming you can throw in a great graphics card. You could get an Antec VP-350 if you want to save a bit of money.

DeepBlue

Thanks for that Eboggles. I wasn't really expecting to be able to do it sub €600 and without at least an i5 processor. Also I didn't think an SSD drive would be within my budget.
Could you recommend a graphics card? Mainly something that will happily decode HD TV. I should have put it in my list of requirements.

Eboggles

DeepBlue wrote: »

Thanks for that Eboggles. I wasn't really expecting to be able to do it sub €600 and without at least an i5 processor. Also I didn't think an SSD drive would be within my budget.
Could you recommend a graphics card? Mainly something that will happily decode HD TV. I should have put it in my list of requirements.

I couldn't imagine it taking much effort, a HD6450 maybe? It's about €20-€30.

DeepBlue

Just have a query in relation to the motherboard.
The spec mentions 6 USB ports, two of which are superspeed and the other four are highspeed.

I'm assuming superspeed = USB 3.0 and highspeed = USB 2.0
Is that right? I just haven't heard those terms in relation to USB before.

Skylinehead

DeepBlue wrote: »

Just have a query in relation to the motherboard.
The spec mentions 6 USB ports, two of which are superspeed and the other four are highspeed.

I'm assuming superspeed = USB 3.0 and highspeed = USB 2.0
Is that right? I just haven't heard those terms in relation to USB before.

Yep, that's exactly it.

DeepBlue

Item|Price
AMD FX-8120 Prozessor, Boxed, Sockel AM3+|€149.56
ASRock 970DE3/U3S3, AM3+, ATX|€59.52
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€36.97
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W|€42.20
LiteOn iHAS124-19 schwarz SATA|€19.23
Samsung SSD 830 64GB SATA 6GB's Paper Box|€67.19
Seagate Barracuda 7200 1000GB, SATA 6Gb/s|€78.76
LogiLink Wireless LAN 300 Mbps PCI Karte 802.11n 2T2R|€14.64
FRACTAL DESIGN Gehäuse Define Mini|€83.12
Arctic Alpine 64 Plus Sockel 754/939/AM2/AM2+/AM3/AM3+|€8.49
LogiLink USB 2.0 all-in-one Card Reader, für 3,5" Einbauchschacht|€4.42
Sapphire HD6450 1G DDR3 PCI-E HDMI / DVI-D / VGA|€37.79
Total|€601.89

I just bumped up the size of the HDD and added a graphics card.
I'm almost ready to order now. Just waiting for the case and the processor to come back into stock in a few days.
Hopefully this won't be too difficult to assemble. The part I'm most nervous about is installing the CPU.

hardwareversand accept payment by paypal. Is this straightforward?

DeepBlue

I think I have a problem.

My motherboard seems to be too big for the case.

It would seem that the case supports microATX and Mini-ITX (not sure what they are, presumably types of motherboard) and the motherboard is ATX (presumably normal sized ATX).

What can I do here? Is it best to return the case or the motherboard? And how do hardwareversand deal with returns?

Eboggles

DeepBlue wrote: »

I think I have a problem.

My motherboard seems to be too big for the case.

It would seem that the case supports microATX and Mini-ITX (not sure what they are, presumably types of motherboard) and the motherboard is ATX (presumably normal sized ATX).

What can I do here? Is it best to return the case or the motherboard? And how do hardwareversand deal with returns?

Ouch, your case is too small as it's only mATX which is a smaller form factor.

You might be able to return it under a cooling off thing.

EDIT: That was me!? WOW, I am so sorry! God I feel awful

I'd just return the motherboard, wow (again) I'm so sorry =[.

Or get this case?

DeepBlue

Don't feel too bad about it. Sh1t happens and it's not like I was paying for advice.

In terms of upgrading at a later stage is getting the bigger case the more sensible thing to do or does it matter with different form factors for motherboards?
I guess what I'm asking is does a bigger motherboard convey any advantage over a smaller form factor motherboard?

If they're all equal I think I'd prefer to keep the smaller case.

Eboggles

DeepBlue wrote: »

Don't feel too bad about it. Sh1t happens and it's not like I was paying for advice.

In terms of upgrading at a later stage is getting the bigger case the more sensible thing to do or does it matter with different form factors for motherboards?
I guess what I'm asking is does a bigger motherboard convey any advantage over a smaller form factor motherboard?

If they're all equal I think I'd prefer to keep the smaller case.

The only difference is the fact that there can be more expansion slots on ATX cases.

They're a few boards that are good around that price range...

DeepBlue

According to the returns form from this thread I can return any item within 2 weeks without penalty.

I think I'll just replace the motherboard. Could you suggest one that will work with the processor and case?

Eboggles

This one looks ok, doesn't have a nice black PCB though.

http://www2.hardwareversand.de/DDR3/59301/ASRock+960GM+U3S3+FX,+Sockel+AM3+,+mATX.article

That should be fine.

DeepBlue

The replacement motherboard arrived yesterday evening so today I'm looking to build the PC.

I wish the Fractal Design Mini came with a manual.

This is a cable coming from the case and I'm not sure what it's for and I can't see anywhere on the motherboard where it can be connected.





Would anyone recognise it? I'm thinking it might be for the front panel USB ports and I'm hoping that it's not as otherwise it would seem that I can't connect them.

Also the case comes with a manual fan speed controller that fits in a PCI expansion slot, complete with a molex power cable and a three-way 3-pin fan splitter.



However there's also two cables coming from the two fans on the case and, as far as I can see, only two points on the motherboard for connecting fan cables so I'm not sure what I can do with the manual fan speed controller.

DeepBlue

^^ Never mind.
Apparently the top pic is the internal USB 3.0 cable and my motherboard doesn't have a connector for that.
The manual speed fan controller is option afaics so I'll worry about that at some other point.

I'm at the boot up point i.e. the PC boots. Now I have to figure out what to do next. Install windows I guess.

DeepBlue

Have to say that unless I'm doing something wrong (quite possible) I'm very disappointed with the fan noise from the Fractal Design Mini case.

It's quite audible and much noisier than I expected.
While it's not very loud you'd definitely know that the PC was on and, for example, wouldn't be able to sleep in the same room with it on.

Eboggles

DeepBlue wrote: »

Have to say that unless I'm doing something wrong (quite possible) I'm very disappointed with the fan noise from the Fractal Design Mini case.

It's quite audible and much noisier than I expected.
While it's not very loud you'd definitely know that the PC was on and, for example, wouldn't be able to sleep in the same room with it on.

It's supposed to be a silent case...

Is it a buzzing, rattling, humming or whooshing sound? Could be something caught in the fan, or a power connector vibrating off the chassis itself.

DeepBlue

It's just fan noise. No buzzing, rattling or humming.
Maybe if I could figure out how to install the manual fan speed controller I might be able to slow them down or something but I'm stumped on that.

It's far from silent unfortunately.

Sarz91

DeepBlue wrote: »

It's just fan noise. No buzzing, rattling or humming.
Maybe if I could figure out how to install the manual fan speed controller I might be able to slow them down or something but I'm stumped on that.

It's far from silent unfortunately.

Did you plug your fans straight into the PSU or did you plug them into the board somewhere? If you plugged them into the board just goo into your BIOS and manually set the fan speed.

DeepBlue

I had a "Doh!" moment and figured out how to install the manual fan speed controller. The PC is now quieter than previously - not as quiet as I would like but it's an improvement.
The CPU temp had been about 10 C without the manual fan controller and is now at about 35 C with the same load. I guess they'd previously been spinning at full speed. (Edit: Actually I'm not sure about this as they've dropped down to 10 C across the board now)

The manual fan controller comes with a molex connector for the PSU so won't be controllable in the BIOS. The previous connections were plugged into the motherboard.

Also it may be that I haven't optimally connected the CPU heatsink. I'll get some thermal paste and cleaning material today and give that another go.

Monotype

Check out the BIOS settings for the CPU fan. Asrock are reasonably good in this area and you might be able to set a target temperature for the CPU in which case the fan would run very low at idle or low work if you pick a good number. 50C is usually safe enough and keeps the noise down.

DeepBlue

Yep, there is a BIOS option. The default was full-on.
The target fan speed has options 1-9 so I picked 5 as a midway point and it's much quieter now.

Do I risk any damage if I pick an even lower fan speed? Core temp at this setting is about 15 - 30 C

Monotype

Hmm... I think your one is slightly different to mine. I think mine keeps it around 50 and if it gets hotter, it ramps up the fan to full. I don't recall max temperatures like that on the RHS.
I have my target fan speed at 1 (it's only a bottom end CPU for a HTPC though).

Target fan speed is generally the minimum it will go down to. You'd have to test it out yourself - but there'd be no point, for example, if you switched it to 1 and it kept throttling up to 2 or 3 because 1 was too low.

You wouldn't really want it to go above 65C, but if you're idle most of the time, I think you'd be fine.