Getting components together for my first build need some help.

[fastfibre]

I am going to build my first PC, It is going to be used for encoding video, a bit of movie watching and no game playing. I have most of the components selected and just need some help with the power supply, monitor and possibly a Graphics card.

These are the components I have selected so far.

Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail [BX80637I73770K]


Asus P8Z77-V Premium w/Thunderbolt Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard [90-MIBIK0-G0EAY0KZ ]


Fractal Design Define XL USB3.0 Full Tower Case - Black Pearl [FD-CA-DEF-XL-USB3-BL]


Corsair Vengeance Blue Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9B) [CML8GX3M2A1600C9B]


Pioneer BDR-207DBK 12x BluRay RW / 16x DVD±RW Drive - Black (OEM) [BDR-207DBK]


Lian Li IB-01B PCI-Express 5-Port SATA-II & 1-Port e-SATA RAID Controller [IB-01B]
Can't get picture to show up.

My main issue in regards to a display is. I am torn between 30' and 27' and the 30' is 16:10 not 16:9, and I have read in reviews that with 30" displays at that resolution that movies with black bars on the top and bottom of the screen. If they are watched on a 16:10 display the bars increase in size, so I was wandering does anyone have experience with this senario

I have been told that what I am going to use the system for will not require a graphics card, as the integrated graphics will play and stream 1080p fine and reading up on encoding the CPU is the crucial component for that not the gpu. My dilema here is I again from reading reviews have heard that some displays require graphics cards to work. Is this the case or can all displays work by just being connected to a display port on the motherboard rather than a graphics card?

The final thing once the above parts are sorted is which power supply to get and at what wattage, I know I want a moduler. I should also mention at this point that I am in the UK, so don't know if that will have a bearing on the wattage on the power supply I should get at all as I know US and UK power is different.

[Meridian]

Power is power: it's the output voltage which matters and that is the same in every country. I'd go for an 850W: it will give you a bit of headroom if you eventually add serious graphics. Without an add-on graphics card you could probably get away with 650W, but for the money saved I wouldn't. I personally get Corsair units.

Personally I prefer 16:10 screens, but that's me. Any vertical resolution bigger than 1080p will, I would guess, result in black bars top and bottom. But my first question is: so what?

I'll leave someone else to answer the graphics question, but I'm thinking: don't reviews usually give benchmarks of graphics encoding? That should give you a handle for CPU-based versus proper GPU.


M

[fastfibre]

Power is power: it's the output voltage which matters and that is the same in every country. I'd go for an 850W: it will give you a bit of headroom if you eventually add serious graphics. Without an add-on graphics card you could probably get away with 650W, but for the money saved I wouldn't. I personally get Corsair units.

Personally I prefer 16:10 screens, but that's me. Any vertical resolution bigger than 1080p will, I would guess, result in black bars top and bottom. But my first question is: so what?

I'll leave someone else to answer the graphics question, but I'm thinking: don't reviews usually give benchmarks of graphics encoding? That should give you a handle for CPU-based versus proper GPU.
M

Thank goodness I checked when I was asking about power supplies elsewhere I was told to put my components into neweggs Watt calculator and the estimate it returned was below 300W, I had a feeling that was to low. Also I will definitely go for 850W as you suggested as in a situation like this I would rather have excess instead of not enough.

Also glad to find someone who has watched movies on a 16:10 display and to hear that from your experience at least it has not been a issue.

While I wait to see if anyone can tell me what I heard about some displays requiring graphics cards to work is true or not I'll continue looking around to see if I can find some benchmarks for encoding to find out if the CPU is indeed more important than the GPU or not.

[Activate: AMD]

looks like a good set of components. I agree with Meridian that you should probably go with a power supply that has a decent amount of headroom, 850w is definitely generous. If you're not planning on doing any gaming at all, then the HD4000 IGP will be enough to get you started. If you find its inadequate you can always put a GPU in.

As far as monitors go, 16:9 vs 16:10 will not make a huge difference when watching movies. Yes, the black bars will be bigger, but they will be present for a lot of movie content in either aspect ratio since most movies are actually in much wider aspect ratios than 16:9 to begin with. The only real difference would be in 16:9 content like TV shows. The real deciding factor for monitors might be cost. good 30" 16:10 monitors (I assume you're looking at 2560x1600) are very expensive, 27" 16:9 monitors (2560x1440) can be much less so

[fastfibre]

looks like a good set of components. I agree with Meridian that you should probably go with a power supply that has a decent amount of headroom, 850w is definitely generous. If you're not planning on doing any gaming at all, then the HD4000 IGP will be enough to get you started. If you find its inadequate you can always put a GPU in.

As far as monitors go, 16:9 vs 16:10 will not make a huge difference when watching movies. Yes, the black bars will be bigger, but they will be present for a lot of movie content in either aspect ratio since most movies are actually in much wider aspect ratios than 16:9 to begin with. The only real difference would be in 16:9 content like TV shows. The real deciding factor for monitors might be cost. good 30" 16:10 monitors (I assume you're looking at 2560x1600) are very expensive, 27" 16:9 monitors (2560x1440) can be much less so

So in regards to some large monitors needing graphics cards (according to reviews I read) if I was to go with the following 30" monitor could that be able to be powered by the integrated graphics alone.

Dell Ultrasharp U3011 30" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey [U3011]


As you say the price is high but I have the money to get it, if anything that is why the decision was so difficult, compared to if I did not have the money and I could have ruled it out off the bat.

Also in regards to Corsair possibly not being the best choice, any particular brand of power supply that anyone would recommend because elsewhere Corsair was recommended as one of the good brands of power supplies.

I also looked up about CPU vs GPU encoding, and found a site that ran several comparisons. One of which was with intel Sandybridge CPUs, (I guess they have had no time to update it yet) and apparently while GPUs can be handy for encoding they are not sufficient to justify buying one purely for that purpose. So assuming the above monitor can run of the integrated graphics, I think I will definitely start without a GPU and see how it goes.

[Activate: AMD]

So in regards to some large monitors needing graphics cards (according to reviews I read) if I was to go with the following 30" monitor could that be able to be powered by the integrated graphics alone.

Dell Ultrasharp U3011 30" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey [U3011]


As you say the price is high but I have the money to get it, if anything that is why the decision was so difficult, compared to if I did not have the money and I could have ruled it out off the bat.

Also in regards to Corsair possibly not being the best choice, any particular brand of power supply that anyone would recommend because elsewhere Corsair was recommended as one of the good brands of power supplies.

I also looked up about CPU vs GPU encoding, and found a site hat ran several comparisons. One of which was with intel Sandybridge CPUs, (I guess they have had no time to update it yet) and apparently while GPUs can be handy for encoding they are not sufficient to justify buying one purely for that purpose. So assuming the above monitor can run of the integrated graphics, I think I will definitely start without a GPU and see how it goes.

Hmmm. I looked into it a bit further you should be able to run the U3011 using the IGP, but not using the DVI. Monitors with those resolutions require a dual-link DVI and it looks the Z77 mobos have single-link DVI outputs. Displayport output will run 2560x1600 so you'd be fine there as long as you get a displayport cable since the U3011 has a displayport input. Just be aware that the HD4000 will really struggle doing anything more intense than desktop/movie usage at that high of a resolution.

Also, I don't see anyone here saying Corsair PSU's aren't a good choice! for the most part, their PSU's are based on Seasonic designs, and Seasonic is building the best PSU's in the business these days. They're definitely a safe choice.

[fastfibre]

Hmmm. I looked into it a bit further you should be able to run the U3011 using the IGP, but not using the DVI. Monitors with those resolutions require a dual-link DVI and it looks the Z77 mobos have single-link DVI outputs. Displayport output will run 2560x1600 so you'd be fine there as long as you get a displayport cable since the U3011 has a displayport input. Just be aware that the HD4000 will really struggle doing anything more intense than desktop/movie usage at that high of a resolution.

Also, I don't see anyone here saying Corsair PSU's aren't a good choice! for the most part, their PSU's are based on Seasonic designs, and Seasonic is building the best PSU's in the business these days. They're definitely a safe choice.

That was my thought process to hook up the monitor with a display port cable, as both the motherboard and the monitor have that connection and that is also why I wanted to check about the intel gpu being able to run the monitor as the situation seemed right on the fringe to say the least. But as I say my main goal is encoding and some movie watching definitely no exhaustive tasks like game playing at least not for the foreseeable future if that was to change I would definitely make use of the excess wattage in my power supply and get a separate graphics card.

When I said had others recommend corsair as one of the good power supply brands, I was not talking about this forum. I have been through several others on my research and including your input Seasonic seems to be the other name that has now cropped up multiple times.

The only draw back is our equivalent to newegg here in the UK (overclockers.co.uk) does not stock them for some stupid reason.

So I have just looked on amazon uk and these are the only Seasonic moduler ones I could find.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=sr_nr_...rnid=419150031

This one out of the those choices, that is spot on the wattage I was recommended. Does anything about it look inappropriate for my setup?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seasonic-Mod...0225381&sr=1-4

EDIT: Is it at all worth doing a bit more searching to see if I can get a 80 Plus certified one, or is the 80 plus certification not really worth anything?

[Activate: AMD]

The seasonic looks good, but the corsair TX850 is 20 pounds cheaper and will perform just fine since it is basically a rebadged seasonic. Thats my vote. 80Plus certification is a measure of the efficiency. Most quality PSU's have some kind of 80Plus rating, but an 80Plus rating is not a true guarantee of quality. I'd probably get at least an 80Plus Bronze PSU if I were looking, but I wouldn't go too far out of my way to get anything higher, the price would have to be right.

lastly, regarding the GPU, I think you've got the picture in terms of the IGP on the Intel. I think it will be technically possible, in theory it should be capable of handling what you want to do, so its worth a shot. If you need a little more juice on the graphics end, you wouldn't need to spend much money at all to get a big upgrade and it would be easy to drop that in at a future time.

[fastfibre]

The seasonic looks good, but the corsair TX850 is 20 pounds cheaper and will perform just fine since it is basically a rebadged seasonic. Thats my vote. 80Plus certification is a measure of the efficiency. Most quality PSU's have some kind of 80Plus rating, but an 80Plus rating is not a true guarantee of quality. I'd probably get at least an 80Plus Bronze PSU if I were looking, but I wouldn't go too far out of my way to get anything higher, the price would have to be right.

lastly, regarding the GPU, I think you've got the picture in terms of the IGP on the Intel. I think it will be technically possible, in theory it should be capable of handling what you want to do, so its worth a shot. If you need a little more juice on the graphics end, you wouldn't need to spend much money at all to get a big upgrade and it would be easy to drop that in at a future time.

The reason I was curious if the 80 plus was worth it, was because a situation has recently occurred where we are really having to watch our electricity usage at home and can't afford (financially) to waste any. So as my understanding is that 80 plus means that the PSU makes use only of what it needs to and does not use over excessive amounts of electricity. As far as reliability I do understand that if I get a 80 PLUS certified PSU it could still fail within a week. It was when I heard that it "might" be beneficial for my electricity bill that it caught my attention.

I have just put the corsair into overclockers uk and even though it says it is modular the picture looks a bit more like a non modular one.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=CA-054-CS

As far as the graphics go, definitely going to give the intel graphics a shot first. As Overclockrs uk does one day delivery, and I subscribe to amazon prime for one day delivery also It would not take me long to get one if needed.

[Activate: AMD]

Yes thats certainly the rationale behind the 80Plus certification. I'm all for increased efficiency, but like I said, I wouldn't pay too much for it because every dollar more you spend on the PSU is more time it takes for the efficiency to "pay you back" This article over at [H]ardOCP has a little info:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/...n_buying_psu/2

I'm not sure I agree with his conclusion entirely because I AM one of those people that runs their PC 24/7 @ 100% load (folding@Home!), but obviously I'm a special case. I think in your case you'll have to look at the costs and the potential savings and decide for yourself if its worth it

[fastfibre]

The picture of the power supply did it look like a modular? Whenever have seen modulars previously, they have had a red ish maroon colour area absolutely covered in connectors where the cables connect. But the picture for the corsair does not seem to have that area (or at least it is very minimal). The area next to the main cables looks like it is mostly sealed not covered in connectors like I thought modulars were. will there be enough connectors on there considering how many HDD slots my case has and the motherboard plugs that will need to be connected. I am just concerned that there may not be enough.

I know most people are satisfied with bronze 80 plus so I am ok with that level.

[mmettin]

The 20+4 connector & the EPS (8 Pin) motherboard connectors are "hard wired" (you always need these connectors anyway)

The -m designation on TX series PSU's mean it is semi-modular.

http://www.corsair.com/enthusiast-se...er-supply.html

[Activate: AMD]

my mistake, I forgot you had asked for a modular PSU, the TX850 was just an example

[Meridian]

In the real world I suspect the difference between 80+ and not, will be next to nothing. But I'd still advise 80+ anyway.


M

[fastfibre]

my mistake, I forgot you had asked for a modular PSU, the TX850 was just an example

Upon doing some more research I am so grateful so mentioned that PSUs are rebranded in some cases. Upon doing some more searching I found a list and my goodness the number of rebranded power supplies is unbelievable.

searching through the list I only could find 2 that fitted my following criteria. 1.850W 2.Seasonic make 3. modular. 4 some sort of 80 plus to keep my £s in my pocket and not the electricity company.

This is the list I was working from.
http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/psu_manufacturers

The 2 that matched my criteria were these.

Corsair Professional Series AX850 High Performance 850W Modular '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply (CMPSU-850AXUK) [CMPSU-850AXUK]


There just seems to be one issue the cpu power cable is too short apparently with a full tower case and as that is what I am going for it will probably be to short for my setup.

So just to make sure the cable is long enough I am going to get a extension cable.

I this is right for a cpu power extension cable?


Also I know it is gold not bronze but as this is the only cpu that met all 3 of my other criteria I might as well just go along with it.