Quick(er) Business Machine

kenmid

Member
Hello, after much head scratching I have come up with what I think should be a good business machine for my wee business at home. Would appreciate some feedback on a couple of items. Machine runs a couple of servers used to create web sites which totally slows my existing PC to a crawl - it is only 2.5 Mhz

Reasoning for choices -
Case has front mic/headphones,
4690 processor can be overclocked slightly if I ever need to,
Hyperx 1600 few bangs per buck for bigger/faster RAM,
Don't play games anyway,
M.2 SSD drive well why not, huge bangs for bucks,
450 W power unit - I have existing data HDD's to add,
USB 3.1 - a bit of future proofing,
Windows 10 Pro - would prefer 7 Pro but difficulty working with SSD.

The one question I have in my mind is the cooling fans. If I ever want to overclock the CPU a little which seems to be a doddle looking at the ASUS Motherboard specs (simply tick one of a choice of overclocking options) would I need to purchase a better fan set up or would standard fan still manage. If not I would purchase now but I feel it may just be overkill.

Thanks in anticipation,
Kenny


Case
SHARKOON BD28 GAMING CASE (Green LED)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4690K (3.5GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® Z97-P: ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
16GB HyperX FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
M.2 SSD Drive
256GB SAMSUNG SM951 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 2150MB/R, 1260MB/W)
1[SUP]st[/SUP] DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling
INTEL STANDARD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
2 PORT (2 x TYPE A) USB 3.1 PCI-E CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
DVD Recovery Media
Windows 10 (64-bit) Professional DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Quantity
1
 

kenmid

Member
OK only me then.

I have updated the cooling since Spydertrax suggested that the standard fan may be a little noisy on another thread. This is where I am at right now.

Kenny

Case
SHARKOON BD28 GAMING CASE (Green LED)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4690K (3.5GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® Z97-P: ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
16GB HyperX FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
M.2 SSD Drive
256GB SAMSUNG SM951 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 2150MB/R, 1260MB/W)
1[SUP]st[/SUP] DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet Titan DragonFly Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
2 PORT (1 x TYPE A, 1 x TYPE C) USB 3.1 PCI-E CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
DVD Recovery Media
Windows 10 (64-bit) Professional DVD with paper sleeve
 

GeorgeHillier

Prolific Poster
I'd go with a standard SSD, the SM951 is over the top, you could get a larger standard samsung SSD for the same price.

What programs will you be using?
 

kenmid

Member
George,

I use a lot of business type software -
Adobe ColdFusion Builder
MySQL5
Adobe CF10 server
Railo server
WSFTP Pro
Photoshop
McAfee (BT Netprotect Plus)
Microsoft Office
TeamViewer
Acronis
and all the usual other browsers, updaters etc.

Cannot currently have it all on at the same time (that is not my aim, just an observation). Actually I am not sure I would want an even bigger OS disk, I use 147Gig since many of my business files are saved on C:drive. My current (partitioned) os/data SSHD is 2TB which will become data only on a new PC. Have another Seagate disk as well.

Food for thought though since I could double my SSD size for an extra tenner. Was thinking about longevity when I decided on the M.2 drive.

Kenny
 

kenmid

Member
George, another thought I would also be able to get Win Pro 7 which allows me to copy across all of the programs and files using Acronis 2016. The m.2 SSD doesn't work to well on Win Pro7 it seems.

Kenny
 

Stephen M

Author Level
It is the NVMe drives that have issues with W7, standard m2s are OK but as you have a desk top and are not pressed for space I would go with a Hyper X or a Samsung SSD, they are both fine. If you stick with a 4th gen CPU W7 will be fine, I have heard of issues with the Skylake but unsure on this, it would be worth double checking.
 

kenmid

Member
Stephen,

It was the NVMe that I originally intended to go with. Just the fastest out there and tickled my fancy a bit due to the speed. According to the configurator I couldn't have win 7 and M.2 NVMe SSD. I would perhaps like win 7 to be able to copy lock stock and barrel across to the new PC using Acronis 2016.

And, OK this is the psychological bit now, will I always feel I have missed out on something by not going superfast SSD (voice on shoulder - aye you would). However chances are they would drop in price fairly drastically within a few months anyway.

So that may be the best option, order 250Gb Samsung SSD now, order Win 7 now, copy stuff over from old to new PC, upgrade to Win 10, see how that goes, wait until PCI SSD drops in price then purchase one (if the PC doesn't feel fast enough).

Kenny
 

Stephen M

Author Level
If you are using normal HDDs at the moment a standard SSD will seem very fast. As you said, the NVMes will drop in price eventually so you can add one then, the other SSD will still be useful.
 

kenmid

Member
Thanks Stephen, I use SSHD at the moment but you are right a "normal" SSD will probably seem superfast to me on this machine. My wife has an i7 Lenovo Yoga with an SSD which seems fast but there ain't a lot on it to slow it down.

My goal is not out and out speed but something that will last a fair bit of time as a business machine, managing to run a few business apps concurrently.

Thinking about ordering right now as there is £20 pounds off fro Black Friday.

Kenny

Kenny
 

kenmid

Member
Well missed the Black Friday deadline - decisions, decisions!

Have come up what will be my final (for the moment anyway) build

Reasoning -


Case has front mic/headphones and can take card reader,
4690K processor can be overclocked slightly if I ever need to,
Z97-P motherboard allows a level of automatic setting for overclocking for us OC newbies don't need SLi or SATA Express and don't need other enhancements,
16GB Hyperx 1600 few bangs per buck for bigger/faster RAM, need lots of RAM for business software,
Ist level up processor cooling may be quieter don't even think it is required for mild overclocking,
Don't play games anyway,
M.2 SSD drive well why not, huge bangs for bucks but out for now replaced with Samsung SSD, can get one later if needs be,
450 W power unit - I have existing data HDD's to add,
USB 3.1 - future proofing but out for now I don't have any USB 3.0 devices and when I do the ASUS motherboard will try to push info to them at 170%,
Windows 7 Pro, win 10 won't allow some of my existing software to work without workarounds,
SHARKOON BD28 GAMING CASE (Green LED)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4690K (3.5GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® Z97-P: ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
16GB HyperX FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
250GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
1[SUP]st[/SUP] DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet Titan DragonFly Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
DVD Recovery Media
Windows 10 (64-bit) Professional DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

So unless I have a cathartic experience I think this is what I will be going for in a day or two when I pluck up the courage to pull the trigger.

Kenny
 
Top