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Build me a Badass Non-gaming computer

maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what?New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
I made one of these threads a few months back, but I'm finally closer to actually getting to do it.

Build me a rig between $800 and $1000, that's not gonna be used for gaming.

Go!

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Posts

  • DeadlySherpaDeadlySherpa Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    whatcha using it for instead?

    DeadlySherpa on
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  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited January 2009
    From my previous thread:
    So I work at an awards company. It's a small business, and I'm the graphics/layout guy.

    I primarily use CorelDraw X3, but I also use Photoshop and Illustrator. The computer I'm using currently is a large pile of ass. The manager is offering to buy me a new one, but I'd love to pick out some parts and build one myself.

    The problem is, the last time I built a computer the kickass card to put into my rig was a Voodoo2. So yeah, times have changed.

    Thus, let's say, from Newegg, anyone want to list me out a good configuration of components that isn't geared for gaming but more for general performance?

    Thankee.

    I was originally shooting for $500-$600, but now I've been informed that I can go as high as $1000, though $800 would be nice.

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  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited January 2009
    I'm sure Intel is pretty much the way to go these days?

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  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited January 2009
    I put something together but I ended up breaking $1,000.

    buildne9.jpg

    I'd like to stay sub-$800, but definitely sub-$1000.

    Thoughts of where I can replace items for cheaper ones? Is the processor more than I need?

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  • tsmvengytsmvengy Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Change your Processor, motherboard and RAM to LGA 775 that runs on DDR2, not DDR3 and you will save a huge chunk of change.

    Get something like:
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131299
    and
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231226
    and
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115131

    LGA 1366 is brand new so it's going to cost a lot more.

    You'll also need a graphics card (the motherboard you selected doesn't have onboard graphics either). Not sure what's appropriate for desktop publishing though.

    tsmvengy on
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  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Yeah. I haven't been keeping up with processors lately so I just went for what's "newest".

    If you think a standard Core2 will do the job I'll reconfigure my cart accordingly.

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  • corcorigancorcorigan Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    I'd go for Vista 64-bit if you need lots of ram, which you do presumably.

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  • DaedalusDaedalus Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Non-gaming? Onboard graphics? Go with an AMD build; the onboard graphics for the 790GX motherboards are the best you can get without adding in a graphics card.

    Daedalus on
  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited January 2009
    I'll probably get an inexpensive video card.

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  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited January 2009
    corcorigan wrote: »
    I'd go for Vista 64-bit if you need lots of ram, which you do presumably.

    The only problem is that I'm unsure as to if the Xenetech software we use works well with Vista, so XP is a safer bet.

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  • tsmvengytsmvengy Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Yeah. I haven't been keeping up with processors lately so I just went for what's "newest".

    If you think a standard Core2 will do the job I'll reconfigure my cart accordingly.

    That one I listed is still a quad-core. Hell you could get a big heatsink and fan and overclock to 3+ghz - might need a different motherboard though.

    Don't go AMD just for the integrated graphics - pick up a cheap graphics card and it will be better.

    tsmvengy on
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  • ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    corcorigan wrote: »
    I'd go for Vista 64-bit if you need lots of ram, which you do presumably.

    The only problem is that I'm unsure as to if the Xenetech software we use works well with Vista, so XP is a safer bet.

    If you're using Workstation v6, it supports Vista. They also have proper drivers for Vista for both the laser engraver and rotary engraver.

    Xenetech software

    I'm assuming this is what you were referring to.

    ArcSyn on
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  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited January 2009
    ArcSyn wrote: »
    corcorigan wrote: »
    I'd go for Vista 64-bit if you need lots of ram, which you do presumably.

    The only problem is that I'm unsure as to if the Xenetech software we use works well with Vista, so XP is a safer bet.

    If you're using Workstation v6, it supports Vista. They also have proper drivers for Vista for both the laser engraver and rotary engraver.

    Xenetech software

    I'm assuming this is what you were referring to.

    Still, at this point Vista scares me. There's too many potential issues of software incompatibilities and the like.

    But if you;re saying you think it's ready for primetime, I guess I can go for it.

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  • iTunesIsEviliTunesIsEvil Cornfield? Cornfield.Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    What other pieces of software do you need to run that you're concerned about mz?

    Not being snyde here, I'm genuinely curious to see if there's much you'd actually run into a problem with. I think if you give Vista a decent chance in a workstation, you'll find that even if you dont like some parts of it that it will perform better than XP. I use it at work (.NET development/db management), as do most of our newer machines.

    iTunesIsEvil on
  • Mmmm... Cocks...Mmmm... Cocks... Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Indeed, Vista doesn't deserve much of the flack it's still getting.
    Happens with every iteration of windows really. But also you're right to early is to early.
    But honestly, the waters great.

    Mmmm... Cocks... on
  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited January 2009
    What other pieces of software do you need to run that you're concerned about mz?

    Not being snyde here, I'm genuinely curious to see if there's much you'd actually run into a problem with. I think if you give Vista a decent chance in a workstation, you'll find that even if you dont like some parts of it that it will perform better than XP. I use it at work (.NET development/db management), as do most of our newer machines.

    90% of my work is done in CorelDraw, with about 7% in Illustrator and 3% in Photoshop.

    Then as I noted earlier, I'm outputting to a large laser engrave, the XLT 13X25, by a company called Xenetech.

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  • iTunesIsEviliTunesIsEvil Cornfield? Cornfield.Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Illustrator and PS run just fine for me. I wouldn't think you'd have any issues there.

    Xenetech has a vista driver (and instructions for installing it?) for their laser engraver(s), so that should be alright.

    I guess CorelDraw is the only "if". What version of that software are you using?

    iTunesIsEvil on
  • OremLKOremLK Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    30150611in5.jpg

    For graphics work I think it's definitely a good idea to go with Nehalem. It's massively fast at such applications, with the $300 part beating the top-of-the-line $1000 Core 2 Quad.

    Edit: Added the wrong case to the build, you're going to want something like this instead, which actually supports ATX motherboards.

    OremLK on
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  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited January 2009
    How do I know what wattage of power supply I need?

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  • DjeetDjeet Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    A little confused here, wouldn't he want a decent graphics card? If I were building a $1K machine for someone doing graphics manipulation, I'd probably drop at least $100 on the card.

    For example, one of my users was complaining of progressively slower computing on his machine (he's a web/graphics guy). So I upgraded his x800-based card with a 9600gt and he's much more productive now. Otherwise the system itself (an AMD X2 4200 with 2 GB RAM) remained unchanged.

    Granted his primary app is Photoshop not Corel Draw, and it was particularly problematic when doing larger images such as tradeshow graphics.

    Djeet on
  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited January 2009
    I think I'm gonna ditch the Nehalem and go for a slower processor with more ram in the end.

    maximumzero on
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  • muninnmuninn Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    One thing of note is that the new Adobe stuff (PS, Illustrator) actually use the graphics card extensively, so you might look into that if you are planning on upgrading.

    muninn on
  • iTunesIsEviliTunesIsEvil Cornfield? Cornfield.Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    muninn wrote: »
    One thing of note is that the new Adobe stuff (PS, Illustrator) actually use the graphics card extensively, so you might look into that if you are planning on upgrading.
    Isn't that stuff only in CS4 though? The GPU acceleration anyway?

    iTunesIsEvil on
  • DHS OdiumDHS Odium Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    I'm a graphic designer, and while I primarily use a shitty work laptop with XP and photoshop and illustrator, my home computer has Vista and CorelDraw X3 on it and it runs fine. Corel put out a patch for X3 that makes it play nice with Vista. I'm also using Vista 64-bit, as you'll want to do since you'll need a lot of RAM.

    As for a videocard, have you considered a separate card geared more towards a workstation, like the Quadro line from Nvidia, or the Fire line from ATI? I don't have any experience with those, but they may be what you're after.

    DHS Odium on
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  • stigweardstigweard Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    What other pieces of software do you need to run that you're concerned about mz?

    Not being snyde here, I'm genuinely curious to see if there's much you'd actually run into a problem with. I think if you give Vista a decent chance in a workstation, you'll find that even if you dont like some parts of it that it will perform better than XP. I use it at work (.NET development/db management), as do most of our newer machines.

    90% of my work is done in CorelDraw, with about 7% in Illustrator and 3% in Photoshop.

    Then as I noted earlier, I'm outputting to a large laser engrave, the XLT 13X25, by a company called Xenetech.

    If you are using a specialized printer, check with them first about Vista drivers. Not everyone has drivers for their hardware (still), and some have limited or flaky drivers.

    stigweard on
  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited January 2009
    DHS Odium wrote: »
    I'm a graphic designer, and while I primarily use a shitty work laptop with XP and photoshop and illustrator, my home computer has Vista and CorelDraw X3 on it and it runs fine. Corel put out a patch for X3 that makes it play nice with Vista. I'm also using Vista 64-bit, as you'll want to do since you'll need a lot of RAM.

    As for a videocard, have you considered a separate card geared more towards a workstation, like the Quadro line from Nvidia, or the Fire line from ATI? I don't have any experience with those, but they may be what you're after.

    We're doing nowhere the level of work a Quadro would require.

    It's more akin to Desktop Publishing, except the printing ends up on a trophy or plaque, or glass award.

    maximumzero on
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  • L*2*G*XL*2*G*X Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    My advice would be to get a primary fast hdd for booting of and two large hdd's for raid 1 storage. The fast hdd will help if you work with large files. If your workplace stores on a network drop the raid.

    You will need lots of ram, up to the limits of your motherboard. DO check your mobo compatibility at the manufacturer.

    I don't know if a quad processor will make Coreldraw faster, I'm assuming a core2duo will suffice. http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3492&p=13 shows a benchmark test with multiple PSD operations, and a e8200 is about half as fast as a i7. It's a lot less than half the price!

    A cheapass graphix card will suffice, if you work only 10 percent of your time in Adobe I doubt your boss will buy you cs4

    L*2*G*X on
  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited January 2009
    I asked one before but I don't think anyone answered.

    How do I know what wattage of a power supply I need?

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  • OremLKOremLK Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Always a tricky question. I hate that PSU manufacturers rate their units by wattage; they should rate them by "sustained wattage on the 12V rails". In short, I don't feel comfortable giving you one straight-up number, because a 600-watt PSU by one manufacturer might actually give you less power than a 500-watt PSU by someone else.

    That said, you don't need an expensive unit if you're not putting in an expensive video card. Look at power supplies from brands like Corsair, SeaSonic, Silverstone, Antec, and PC Power & Cooling in the $50-100 range. For a very rough guideline, something between 400 and 600 watts should get the job done.

    Avoid Rosewill PSUs at all costs, whatever NewEgg reviewers might say.

    OremLK on
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  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Okay, new build coming up. Look over my parts and let me know if anything's a dud, guys.

    newcomputersetupvx8.jpg

    Sorry if it's a little hard to make out.

    If you've got any suggestions on replacement parts, let me know. I'm trying to get the best bang for my buck.

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  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Also, will I need anything cables-wise, or should all the product come with appropriate cables?

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  • iTunesIsEviliTunesIsEvil Cornfield? Cornfield.Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Might need SATA cables for the optical drive and the HDD since they're OEM. I can't remember if my last OEM drive from Newegg had a cable or not... I'm thinking "not."

    Also, you can save yourself (your boss) $40 if you do Vista Business edition since its doubtful that you'll do anything requiring Ultimate. Ignore this suggestion though if there was a specific reason you went with Ultimate.

    iTunesIsEvil on
  • DHS OdiumDHS Odium Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    You could consider dropping the retail Vista, and use the new Windows 7 Beta which will be public soon. You can ride on that until the retail version comes out.

    DHS Odium on
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  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Might need SATA cables for the optical drive and the HDD since they're OEM. I can't remember if my last OEM drive from Newegg had a cable or not... I'm thinking "not."

    Also, you can save yourself (your boss) $40 if you do Vista Business edition since its doubtful that you'll do anything requiring Ultimate. Ignore this suggestion though if there was a specific reason you went with Ultimate.

    I don't remember a damn thing about Vista since CompUSA, which I used to work at, went under.

    I do remember Business being the Vista equivalent of XP Pro while Ultimate was the equivalent of WMC, so yeah, Business is something I'll definitely switch over to.

    Edit: I'm assuming SATA cables are akin to HDMI in that it doesn't really matter in brand to brand?

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  • iTunesIsEviliTunesIsEvil Cornfield? Cornfield.Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Edit: I'm assuming SATA cables are akin to HDMI in that it doesn't really matter in brand to brand?
    This is correct, a SATA cable is a SATA cable is a... :)

    iTunesIsEvil on
  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Well fuck what length do I need?

    maximumzero on
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  • OremLKOremLK Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Don't get a CoolerMaster PSU. They're simply not very good, as far as I know. "You get what you pay for" applies here, as well--you should expect to pay more than $40 for a decent power supply.

    My personal choice would probably be:
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151039

    But here are a few more that should be better than the CoolerMaster unit you listed.
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256032
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139008
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703017

    I agree with downgrading that Vista to a non-Ultimate version too, unless there's some specific reason you need it.

    OremLK on
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  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited January 2009
    OremLK wrote: »
    Don't get a CoolerMaster PSU. They're simply not very good, as far as I know. "You get what you pay for" applies here, as well--you should expect to pay more than $40 for a decent power supply.

    My personal choice would probably be:
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151039

    But here are a few more that should be better than the CoolerMaster unit you listed.
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256032
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139008
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703017

    I agree with downgrading that Vista to a non-Ultimate version too, unless there's some specific reason you need it.

    The problem I see with the SeaSonic is that it only has two SATA power connectors. I'm gonna have three devices: Two hard drives and a DVD burner.

    Am I wrong looking at this?

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  • OremLKOremLK Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    I think SATA drives can usually use "peripheral" connectors.

    Edit: For the power, I mean. All the drives I've seen, whether IDE or SATA, can be connected to power using a standard four-pin peripheral ("molex") connector, which that PSU has six of.

    OremLK on
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  • TechnicalityTechnicality Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Asus motherboards usually come with a SATA data cable or possibly two, I can't remember. If you have more devices than that I guess you'll still need to get some though.

    Technicality on
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