Building my first hack here. It's going to be a half work/half games computer. My work needs me to juggle big datasets in statistical software, as well as relatively big excel sheets with tons of calculations each (think 100k+ rand() variable seeds + associated calculations on top). I will want to run a couple of windows7 VMs at the same time without hiccups, but the work inside them won't be too intensive. Also I'll host a mavericks VM for... my more private files/browsing stuff. Ahem. My games aren't cutting edge graphically intensive, it's mostly Diablo, Dualboxing WoW and some older ones, like Spore and Rome: Total War. I intend to game on one monitor and have desktop stuff on the other one, unless I'm dualboxing in wow when I'll be using both screens. There's a possibility of caving and putting windows for some modded Skyrim love since the VMs won't be able to handle that.
The parts I've already got: 212 Evo cooler, Corsair 400R case, 2x 23' 1920x1080 monitors, 850W psu, bluray writer, ssd +hdd, tplink wifi, general peripherals.
At first, I went to pcpartpicker and put in the absolutely best I could find, since I can't resist pure POWER, but then I started trimming down my build, since I'm sadly not made of money. What I'm adamant on keeping: I'll have 2x 1920x1080 main screens where most of the fun happens, preferably both attached to the discrete card, and I would like a smooth high-detail performance on the games I mentioned. I initially had 32GB of ram, but I read almost everywhere that it's a waste compared to 16, so I dropped that for now, with a possible upgrade later on if I end up needing/wanting it.
Mobo: I initially had the GA-Z87X-OC in mind, but after carefully comparing it with the UB3H I don't think I'm missing anything by selecting the cheaper one. A hack can't do the SLI stuff anyway, and I'll probably not run 2 discrete GPUs unless seriously advised.
GPU: I think the 770 will handle my needs nicely. I've read conflicting opinions about 4 vs 2 gigs of vram, but they are so close in price right now I don't see a serious reason to not get the 4, unless it's seriously overkill.
CPU: There's my main issue. I've read everywhere that an i5 will probably be just fine for me, and it will be able to handle the stuff I'm asking it to do without issue, but I really CANNOT shake the feeling that I'd probably be better off with the i7 in the long term, even if it's mostly for my own piece of mind and or "Satisfaction" from splurging into a better part. Will the i5 perform just as well in my heavy excel and somewhat moderate VM usage? Is the difference small enough for me to not regret the $100 savings? I'm trying to get a system that will comfortably last me for 3-4 years before needing to upgrade the core parts.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks
| Type | Item | Price |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor | $326.98 @ SuperBiiz |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard | $159.00 @ Amazon |
| Memory | Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory | $129.99 @ Amazon |
| Storage | Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk | $114.99 @ Amazon |
| Video Card | Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card | $389.99 @ Amazon |
| Total | ||
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available. | $1120.95 | |
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-28 10:48 EDT-0400 |
Coming from a 2009 MBP that's starting to feel sluggish after putting it through all the stuff I mentioned (after upping the ram and putting an SSD), I'm really excited to build my hackpro-ish.
Thanks for reading my wall of text!
TL;DR i5 vs i7 for moderate VM useage, heavy excel and stats software, comfortable use of VMs. 2gb vs 4gb gpu for dualscreening, wow dualboxing, else single screen gaming with desktop software on the other
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