Silent, budget build for SL/Logic 9

[Mate94]

The Nvidia GT210 is to allow me to run Snow Leopard. If I choose to go Lion I can just ditch that and go with the HD3000 graphics, right?

Right.

[quote:13deemrj]My monitor is VGA for the time being, is that going to cause me any headaches?

There will be a DVI-VGA adapter in the graphics card box, so no problem.

Great, thanks. So everything else is looking good?

Am I likely to be able to get sleep working ok on Snow Leopard?[/quote:13deemrj]
Probably...?

 

[Tagny Daggart]

The requirements:

Silent, silent silent.
Will run Snow Leopard/Logic 9 or Lion/Logic 9 in a completely stable fashion.
Mini-ATX or mid-ATX size.
£500/$800-ish total.

Hi Tom,

I'm embarking on a µ-ATX, i7-3770 build and my requirements are very similar to yours, check it out here: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=64525

The chip I've selected, the i7-3770 is Ivy Bridge which means its using the 22nm lithography. This, in turn means that it is quite powerful but delivers this power with significantly less power draw than its Sandy Bridge counterpart. The result is that this is the most performant 4-core i7 available, but with significantly lower power draw at loads. Less power draw = less heat = fewer/slower fans = quieter + energy savings.

Of course, this latest and greatest chip requires a Ivy Bridge motherboard too, but Going Bald helped me find the MSI IB mobos in µ-ATX form-factor and has fully supported Audio, Ehternet and BIOS for power management and can socket the i7-3770. In total, so far, my build cost (with no graphics card and no sales tax/VAT) is about $995. If you're in the US, you can probably put this together even cheaper. Also, if you leave off the SSD, and use a smaller HDD (I'm using a 2TB), you could easily get this build into the $700-750 range.

I'm hoping to order the parts this week, but I have put in loads of time already ensuring that things work together towards meeting my goals (which, again, are similar to yours).

If you read into the referenced thread, you'll see that I'm adding in a graphics card, but this is only because my Apple LED Cinema Display won't physically attach to the mobo without an adapter ($130). If you have a monitor with a different connector, you can probably go without a graphics card (or at least a cheaper adapter).

Also note that I'm gambling that my planned build is fully supported with Mountain Lion which should land next month. But, in the meantime, I think you could probably use the integrated graphics in 'basic' mode (GE off) until there is support for HD4000. (Confirm anyone?)

 

[tom_android]

[quote="tom_android":3t2nct29]The requirements:

Silent, silent silent.
Will run Snow Leopard/Logic 9 or Lion/Logic 9 in a completely stable fashion.
Mini-ATX or mid-ATX size.
£500/$800-ish total.

The chip I've selected, the i7-3770 is Ivy Bridge which means its using the 22nm lithography. This, in turn means that it is quite powerful but delivers this power with significantly less power draw than its Sandy Bridge counterpart. The result is that this is the most performant 4-core i7 available, but with significantly lower power draw at loads. Less power draw = less heat = fewer/slower fans = quieter + energy savings.

Also note that I'm gambling that my planned build is fully supported with Mountain Lion which should land next month. But, in the meantime, I think you could probably use the integrated graphics in 'basic' mode (GE off) until there is support for HD4000. (Confirm anyone?)[/quote:3t2nct29]

Looks like a cool build. My build is most likely going to be based on Snow Leopard for reasons mentioned previously. I don't think that Ivy Bridge is a good way to go for SL?

 

[Gordo74]

I don't think that Ivy Bridge is a good way to go for SL?

You would be correct.

Also, per your VGA question, as long as you DO NOT use the VGA port on the GF210 and use the DVI port with a DVI--> VGA adapter, that is fine.

 

[Tagny Daggart]

OK, so here's where I'm at right now:

Gigabyte Z68MA-D2H-B3
i5-2500K or i7-2600K (budget depending)
8GB or 16GB Corsair DDR3 RAM (budget depending)
Nvidia GT210
Fractal Design Define Mini Case
Corsair CX430v2 PSU
OCZ Agility 3 120GB SSD
Scythe Mugen 3
Sony Optiarc

Anyone want to point out glaring mistakes/omissions? Throw me a complete curveball?

I would recommend another disk for taking backups of your boot drive (with CCC). Can be a cheap SATA disk, but should be at least as big as your SSD. Also, this could be a good drive to boot Windows from.

 

[tom_android]

[quote="tom_android":1aa35y3c]OK, so here's where I'm at right now:

Gigabyte Z68MA-D2H-B3
i5-2500K or i7-2600K (budget depending)
8GB or 16GB Corsair DDR3 RAM (budget depending)
Nvidia GT210
Fractal Design Define Mini Case
Corsair CX430v2 PSU
OCZ Agility 3 120GB SSD
Scythe Mugen 3
Sony Optiarc

Anyone want to point out glaring mistakes/omissions? Throw me a complete curveball?

I would recommend another disk for taking backups of your boot drive (with CCC). Can be a cheap SATA disk, but should be at least as big as your SSD. Also, this could be a good drive to boot Windows from.[/quote:1aa35y3c]

Sorry, forgot to mention that I already have various other drives knocking around, so that's covered.

Pretty sure I'm going with the i5 now. i7 would be overkill for my purposes and my budget just won't stretch!

 

[Tagny Daggart]

@Tom, where are you getting your RAM from in the UK?

 

[tom_android]

@Tom, where are you getting your RAM from in the UK?

Amazon.co.uk

 

[Tagny Daggart]

[quote="Tagny Daggart":3jsvn7yl]@Tom, where are you getting your RAM from in the UK?

Amazon.co.uk[/quote:3jsvn7yl]

Thanks. I've gotten good deals direct from Crucial.com in the past, but I'm just not seeing them now. =/