New PC Build - Audio editing/vmware & Citrix training/games

mada999

Hi there

I'm looking to build a PC.

Uses:

+ I'll be using reaper and Line6 POD-UX8 for audio recording.
+ Would like to set up a small vmware/XenCentre/ Citrix lab for vms
+ Would like to play the new GTA when it comes out (hopefully its on PC)

Details:

1. What is your budget? €1000-€1300

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Audio recording, home vm lab

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? NO - have windows 8 upgrade

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

5. Do you need a monitor? NO

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Mouse/Wireless/ Reader/Speakers] NO

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? NO

8. How can you pay? bank or credit card

9. When are you purchasing? within 1 month

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


I'm a Citrix admin in work and don't really have much experience with PC hardware other than installing RAM and HD's etc.

I would like a good chip either AMD or Intel i7. Would also like a SSD drive for the OS and as much RAM as possible to run the vm's. Would be happy enough with a 750 GB HD as I have some removable ones already for storage. What graphics card would i need to run some of the latest games?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

BloodBath

Something like this should do nicely. That xeon is pretty much the same as an i7 3770. It can still be overclocked if you want in future. The case comes in black or silver + black as well. Still room in your budget to add a sound card and/or more ram if you need it.

Item|Price
Intel Xeon E3-1230v2, boxed, LGA1155|€203.22
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD|€29.54
ASRock ZH77 Pro3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€69.18
Samsung SSD 840 250GB SATA 6Gb/s|€147.83
WD Caviar Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€56.82
Cooltek Antiphon White, ohne Netzteil|€68.00
be quiet! SYSTEM POWER 7 500W|€53.80
16GB-Kit G.Skill Sniper PC3-14900U CL9-10-9-28|€123.55
Club 3D Radeon HD 7950 royalKing, 3GB GDDR5, AMD Radeon HD 7950, PCI- Express|€276.09
LiteOn iHAS124-04 schwarz SATA|€16.37
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1063.39

Nolars

Why is the Xeon so cheap if its practically an i7? are they only new havent seen em before. do they work on any 1155 socket mobo?

BloodBath

They are 100mhz slower and don't have an igp which you won't need with a dedicated graphics card anyway. We kind of overlooked them here for a while. i'm not sure if pricing changed on them.

They will run on most 1155 boards. Just check the boards cpu compatibility list. They can be overclocked to 4.1ghz with a z77 board as well. There are ways of getting them even higher.

Nolars

nicee mite just get that then to replace my i3 and not bother changing my b75 pro3 mobo and not bother o/c good price.

deceit

I would replace the cpu and motherboard with and amd set up as I've found found alot of work with esxi labs that you get alot more performance out of them.
8350
http://www.hardwareversand.de/Socket+AM3/68995/AMD+FX-8350+Prozessor%2C+Boxed%2C+Sockel+AM3%2B.article
ASRock 970 Pro3
http://www.hardwareversand.de/DDR3/79812/ASRock+970+Pro3+R2.0%2C+AM3%2B%2C+ATX.article
32gb ram
http://www.hardwareversand.de/1333+Low+Voltage/56825/32GB-Kit+G.Skill+Ares+PC3-10667U+CL9-9-9-24.article
177.15
62.21
219.04

BloodBath

The turbo speed is still 3.7ghz so there won't be much of a difference without overclocking anyway.

I would replace the cpu and motherboard with and amd set up as I've found found alot of work with esxi labs that you get alot more performance out of them.

Compared to what? The 3770 consistently beats the 8350 in the majority of programs.

deceit

BloodBath wrote: »

The turbo speed is still 3.7ghz so there won't be much of a difference without overclocking anyway.



Compared to what? The 3770 consistently beats the 8350 in the majority of programs.

Compared to a 2600k, 3820 and 3570k all of which I have and an 8150 would be quicker than them with esxi.

Edit:
A 3770k would be slower also than a 8350 as the 8350 would be about as much of an increase over the 8150 as the 3770k is over the 2600k.
My intel cpu's beat the amd cpu outside vmware in most things but inside vmware and with a few vm's running the amd cpu really shines through. He will lose a bit of speed on his outside of vmware/citrix though as a 3770k would be faster outside of it but hopefully in the near future with games coming out for amd based consoles it might start to perform better then.

BloodBath

You're going to need windows 7/8 professional or higher for 32gb of ram.

deceit

BloodBath wrote: »

You're going to need windows 7/8 professional or higher for 32gb of ram.

Windows 8 pro is 60 euro in pc world still which would cover him and I taught most of the windows 8 upgrades are pro?

mada999

Thanks folks does that site do the building of the PC ?

Gumbi

mada999 wrote: »

Thanks folks does that site do the building of the PC ?

For 20 quid, yes, if you so wish. But I would recommend doing it yourself, for saving money, reducing the likelihood of damage in-transit and for the general good experience

mada999

dang, really not sure whether to go for Intel or the AMD:

Comparison below says intel is better by a point.

Although the guide below says that the amd chip is 8 core and the intel is only 4 core, would I see much difference doing day to day stuff? I guess i might see more performance on the vmware side and also on reaper as it is multicore aware. Would there be much difference for gaming if i got the amd chip, would i be able to play the latest games?

I just want the best chip performance to be honest and try and make is somewhat future proof.

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Xeon-E3-1230V2-vs-AMD-FX-8350

BloodBath

Here is a more detailed comparison across a few programs.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/551?vs=697

The 3770k in the test is the same processor running 100mhz faster. Both processors have 4 cores but can handle 8 threads. Amd's version of hyper threading fares a bit better than intel's though but the intels have the stronger per core performance so it balances out to a certain degree. I can't say how it performs in that program but overall the intel is usually ahead by a lot in single thread and a little in multithread.

mada999

Hi folks,

say i wanted to use 64GB of RAM what motherboard would I be looking for ?

mada999

cheers for your help and suggestions lads, i went for the AMD in the end to save some dosh..

mada999

cheers for everyone's help, built it today...nice job.... had a mini heart attack though, powered it up and got 5 beeps....thought it was the cpu... but it was just a graphics card issue...i through an old one in while i'm waiting on my new one and its grand

Nolars

mada999 wrote: »

cheers for everyone's help, built it today...nice job.... had a mini heart attack though, powered it up and got 5 beeps....thought it was the cpu... but it was just a graphics card issue...i through an old one in while i'm waiting on my new one and its grand

Make sure to post some pics