Help me choose a processor and motherboard

[bass_junkie83]

Hi Guys.

My pc is on is starting to show its age so I need to think about a replacement before it fails on me.

I did look at this before, specced a nice and pricey machine, then life got in the way and funds had to go else where, so I need to get as close to what I had planned before, but on a budget.

Originally I was looking for a PC for editing and other general uses and a second machine, maybe a microserver with a load of drives for backing up/archiving and also for use as a media server.

To try and cut the budget I am looking at killing off the home server idea. Maybe go for some whacking great big drives in the PC, or use some nas drives for the archiving. I already have a 3TB WD nas drive which had been pretty good so can add more of those if needed, maybe even plash out on a nice synology nas in the future when funds allow.

So just focussing on the pc for now. I am looking at 4 hard drives and two ssd's

One SSD for the OS, lightroom, photoshop.
Second SSD as a dedicated scratch disc. (I read somewhere a while ago that this helps performance and a 30 or 40GB SSD is peanuts)
Two 1TB HD's in raid 1 for general document storage and installation of non-photo editing software not on the first SSD.
Two bigger HD's (maybe 3TB) in raid 1 just for my photography related storage.

I have two CD drives I can pull out from my existing pc.

Looking to build the basics first and upgrade in the future as and when funds allow.
So to get me started I would need the above drives, mobo, processor and ram.
For the ram I am thinking of 16gb for now, and making sure I choose a mobo with enough slots to add another 16gb in the future.
Graphics card, is that really important for image editing? My understanding is that processing power is more important. Would be nice if I could get away with the on board GPU but willing to add a graphics card later if it would improve performance.

So looking at that I need to decide on a processor and suitable mobo with at least 8 sata ports. More if I want to hook up some case mounted usb ports or card reader. Are the PCI sata expansion cards a good workaround instead of limiting my choice of mobo to those with many sata ports?

Processor wide, I was thinking of a i7-4770K
http://www.ebuyer.com/467641-intel-...b-cache-retail-boxed-processor-bx80646i74770k

As for the mobo. I have no idea what makes a good one, some recommendations would be great!

Does all that sound reasonable? Anything you would change?

 

[arad85]

Go lower on processor (i5 without a K suffix unless you plan to overclock). Drop the RAID1 arrays and put the money you've saved into a decent NAS (Synology always comes up well). Use that as a backup medium. 16G memory and if you are only driving a single monitor, onboard graphics will be fine. Invest in a decent network switch too if you haven't got one. I've had all sorts of problems with consumer grade ones (not syncing at gbit, dropping packets).

As to motherboard, just figure out what connectors you want on the board and go from there - the big names are all much of a muchness these days. More expensive motherboards tend to add features like higher numbers of x8 or x16 PCIe connectors (for multiple graphics cards) and massively heatsinked PSU components (for overclocking) that aren't needed for most people.

 

[bass_junkie83]

Thanks Andy.
Is that just because an I& is overkill?

The processors are confusing me to be honest, so many within a tight price range makes it hard to tell what the differences are.

 

[arad85]

Unless you're doing video encoding (where i7 will give 15-20% speed improvement), the i7 does not give you much.

In the processor lineup, i5's are all the same in the same generation (i.e. the fist digit after the dash e.g i5-4xxx). Figure around 10% faster clock for clock than the previous gen - i.e. i5-4xxx = 10% faster than i5-3xxx = 10% faster than i5-2xxx at the same clock speed. Personally, I'd go for the highest clock speed i5-4xxx (no K suffix - K means the chip can be overclocked). Ebuyer has this listed: http://www.ebuyer.com/629960-intel-...-1150-6mb-l3-cache-retail-boxed-bx80646i54690

If you really want to compare i5 processor details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Core_i5_microprocessors

 

[bass_junkie83]

I see, that makes things a lot clearer.
So I guess I need to really look at motherboards first and then choose an 15-4xxx processor with that socket type.

Can you guess what my next question is?

LGA1150 seems to be the most abundant and affordable. But generally has less connectivity options and is limited to DDR3 ram.
LGA1155 seems pretty similar but less available.
2011-v3 seems to have much more connectivity options, will run DDR4 ram but is more expensive.

Is that a reasonable summary?

 

[arad85]

I see, that makes things a lot clearer.
So I guess I need to really look at motherboards first and then choose an 15-4xxx processor with that socket type.

Can you guess what my next question is?

LGA1150 seems to be the most abundant and affordable. But generally has less connectivity options and is limited to DDR3 ram.
LGA1155 seems pretty similar but less available.
2011-v3 seems to have much more connectivity options, will run DDR4 ram but is more expensive.

Is that a reasonable summary?

They all fit different processors. 2011 is for the big boys (Xeons and hex cores). 1150 is for i5-4xxx, 1155 is for i5-3xxx and i5-2xxx. So... which processor you buy will dictate which mobo you want.

You want LGA1150 with the connections you need

 

[ricky1980]

Also to add the 1150 socket will support the next generation of CPU broadwell or skywell or whatever its called. Z97 is the chip set u want if you want a bit of future proof...or if you just want a cheap and dirty CPU such as the G3280 or something along those numbering single core processors and upgrade it once the newer chip has arrived later this year.

DDR3 will still be around for at least another 2-4 generations of Intel CPUs before it will start to become obsolete as DDR4 costs start to fall significantly.