New mainboard/processor/memory time.

[Silk_the_Absent1]

That Xeon is looking like it will be my choice. I'm not going to OC, but if there are any motherboards with a better onboard audio, I'd like to take a looksie. Basically, while I like the Daniel_k drivers a LOT better than the stock ones, they could be better. My speakers are Boston Acoustics BA-7900's, if that changes things. I love their power and clarity.

-Adam

EDIT: Since I'm not going to OC, should I go with a lower speed memory? From what I can see, I *think* that Xeon maxes out at 1600.

-Adam

[walterm]

RAM prices are variable with sales, newegg TEAM RAM on sale seems a good deal, if you want to save a few dollars.
Higher speed on sale seems competitive though.
There was a shell shocker for GSkill 2400 at $60 shipped 2x4GB $60 about a week ago.
Today:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231627

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820313347

Lowest value RAM is $109 for $1600 2x8 GB, 1333 same, I have seen 1600/1300 under $100, not often

[mdk777]

EDIT: Since I'm not going to OC, should I go with a lower speed memory? From what I can see, I *think* that Xeon maxes out at 1600.

good catch. I hadn't noticed that.
However, that is the beauty of buying quality memory, it is easy to down-clock in the BIOS.

Why they don't list the entire (XMP Profile) at memory sites is beyond me.

I'd guess that it will do 1600 at CAS 8.
Most likely the same stick as this right? all enthusiast memory is just bin.
But since not on sale the 1866 is cheaper today.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148561
Save $5 and stay at 1600 CAS 9 and you can get down to 1.35 V
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148663

But like Walterm said, the difference between the very best and the cheapest is only around $15. To save any big money you need to step down to 8GB(2x4). Certainly an option, but just not a good long term investment.
$55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231544

I tend to like my rigs to last 3-5 years and often out from there.

EDIT: regarding OB sound...I know it has gotten better over the years, but that's about the extent of my knowledge.

Spending $25 more on the MB gets you

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157293
With Realtek ALC898

According to this, the specs are top end. (as of April last year)

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/artic...on-Table/520/2

But how that compares with your old sound card, I don't know.

So summation:

Better audio MB = 125
8GB memory = 55
Xeon = 234
Gold 450 PSU= 60

Total $475

Good compromise...You can always get a new graphics card later...new generation coming out next year anyway, right?

And if you find $55 under the couch cushions, you can always spring for another 8GB of memory.

Pity about memory prices...I got used to the glut pricing.

I bought 32GB 1600 CAS 10 for my notebook during the Christmas sales($100 delivered). I don't think we will see those prices again soon.

[Silk_the_Absent1]

If I bump the budget to $500, and stick with my Audigy 2 ZS Platinum instead of getting a better onboard audio solution, would I be able to get a beefier PSU? If I'm going to upgrade my GPU in the near future, I *may* be able to go a bit bigger than I'd anticipated, looking at my finances. So, I'd like to have a little more available overhead.

-Adam

[mdk777]

Well, you've been around long enough to figure that.

Top end cards now are at 250 watt max. (AMD 7970)
Your new CPU and MB will be around 100 watts (no OC, two sticks)

450 Watts is really fine.

550 costs an extra $20

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182068

I don't think you'll need it, but I really don't know what that sound card pulls.

[walterm]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182073

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817153174

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151095

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817207023

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817207013

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139020

If I've learned to choose, this is a good selection of today's pricing in your range.

In my comfort zone, let us say.

Rosewill Hive 750 is just under these.

[mdk777]

OK Silk,

My final best Recommendation.

When building on a tight budget, sales predominate. You need to be willing to change tact quickly to get the best deal.

The thing we have ignored is one of the most important. A new SSD.

A super fast CPU doesn't really sing without an SSD. I've upgraded all my old AMD sytems over the years with new ssd and it makes a HUGE difference.

Intel controllers are even better. Also, the entry level 120 GB (enough easily to set up a boot drive) were much slower than the 256 versions that were budget breakers at $256 (still way, way faster than HD {factor of 4x-5X})

Anyway, the new Samsung EVO is out and the 120 version is pretty snappy.
you really need this for your boot drive at $110.

So we need to finds some deals.

Lets, give the new Haswell a try since there are a bunch of really good bundles. The New IGP is about 2x as good as the old (you will still want a dedicated card to game...but you could give it a try until then for doing your college work, Right?)

Intel Core i5-4670K Haswell 3.4GHz LGA 1150 84W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics BX80646I54670K

bundled with:

1x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin ...
Was: $308.98
Now: $253.98
Save: $55.00

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...=Combo.1413790

See the CPU for code for another $10 off

+ $10 off w/ promo code 0813BTS46, limited offer

CPU + MEM = $244
MB = 135

GIGABYTE GA-Z87X-D3H LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128591

There are some cheaper but with new tech, I don't want to be the first to try.

SAMSUNG 840 EVO MZ-7TE120BW 2.5" 120GB SATA III TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820147247

450 watt gold is still best deal today. Sales come and go. You might get the 550 or 750 on sale for $70 in the future, but today it is still the best deal.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182066

TOTAL $550

That is a great amount of quality for that price and only a small amount over budget.

For another $20 you can get another 8 GB of memory for 16 GB total. (but that pushes us out more than 10% over budget)


GIGABYTE GA-Z87X-D3H LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

bundled with:

1x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin ...
Was: $203.98
Now: $153.98
Save: $50.00


http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...=Combo.1413998


EDIT:

OF COURSE READING THE MEMORY REVIEWS WOULD HAVE BEEN A GOOD IDEA.

Looks like a 23% complaint rate. That is way high for memory. No wonder they are almost giving it away.

Toss up=crap shoot

Well, I guess you need to take some risks if you want real bargains.

FINAL FINAL EDIT: I REALLY MEAN IT THIS TIME....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148544

23 complaints, = 15% ....still not good, but not as bad.

Lifetime warranty, but RMA shipping cost and possible aggravation need to be weighed.

This is why in general I have given up on budget builds. ;(

[Silk_the_Absent1]

I'm going to have to pass on an SSD for *right now*. Reason being, I'd want to make it my OS, Applications, and Page File partitions, for which I'd need more space. It's *definitely* in the plans, but for right now, I need to just get it up and running. I might even RAID 0 a pair of them for even more speed. But until I'm salaried (hopefully within a couple of months), I need to stay within my needs, and not necessarily my wants.

Looking up reviews, I'm thinking I'll go with a Haswell 4670K, since it looks like it performs similar to the Xeon at stock. And if I decide to OC, I can play with the multiplier rather than the memory.

I think it comes back to the original idea of something like this combo. The PSU is overkill, but I'd rather have some overkill than risk not having enough when I can afford to get the video card and additional drives, etc. that I want.

Does that make sense? I'm sorry I've been dragging this out, I just lost a very close friend to suicide, and combined with grad school (MS in Mental Health Counseling) just having started, I'm a bit frazzled, to say the least.

-Adam

[mdk777]

well, having gone this far...

No, that is a horrible PSU for your application.
Most of the time you will be running at 50-150 watts. which is bellow the 20% of a 750 watt PSU.
You would be running most of the time at 70%-80%
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/C...X750_V2/5.html
At full load, you will never, ever go over 350-400 watts even with a new high end card.
You will never need 750 watts unless you go cross-fire.

MB + CPU
340
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...=Combo.1394990

Memory 58

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...tem=20-231-455

So you are at $400

If you don't trust the $60 450 watt...

There are a half dozen 550 to 600 gold and PLAT bellow $100 that would be much better than an old bronze 750.

550 gold M $85
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182262

Plat 600 M $106 HighPower Astro PT 600W, Digital, 80+ Platinum
Has very good efficiency at low wattage

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817250009

Finally, if you can't be convinced that you don't possibly need 750 watt at some time in the future...

at least get a gold rated one for about the same price as the bronze and a discount on the memory.

750 watt gold and mem

$145

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...=Combo.1411964

Same parts as your combo, but all much better quality(other than same CPU)

All in less than $500.

Two combo price= $485
MB + CPU combo + MEM+ 550 wattM= $485

You only go over $500 with the 600 Watt PLAT += $506

The Astro PLAT is a pretty new unit. techpowerup reviewed the gold version here showing 88% eff at low loads for the 750 GD version.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/H...AGD-750/6.html

review of the 700 plat similar

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Cases-a...Thoughts-and-C

600 watt plat should get you 88- 90% at the low loads you are going to be running at instead of 70% with the 750TX

[Silk_the_Absent1]

Cool, that looks fine to me. Thinking I'll go with the Rosewill. How does this combo look? Same mainboard, but with 8GB of Crucial Ballistix. I'm weighing out whether it would be better to do that one and add the processor separately, or the mobo/processor one and add the memory separately.

-Adam

EDIT: I appreciate all the help. I really do. I used to be up to date on hardware, but with finishing my undergrad, I've fallen behind in that area. Throw in what happened recently, and I'm brainless right now; at least that's what it feels like. Again, thank you, and I'm sorry for being a pain.

-Adam