Can you help me build a new pc from scratch?

Hi guys, pc noob here. I'll try and keep this short and sweet.

I want to build a new pc from scratch (inc. monitor, case etc.) but am having difficulty picking the right components that would work well together. I have a budget of anywhere up to €700 ($950, £560). May go slightly higher if it would make sense.

The pc will primarily be used for meshing (finite element and CFD) so it will need a good solid processor. It will also be used for 3D solid modelling, programming and officey type tasks. I would also like the pc to double as a gaming rig. I'm not all that interested in high performance but I would like to play some big games like skyrim with mods or Just cause 2, gta etc.

I would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks

@bfa1509: Try http://www.logicalincrements.com/ for some ideas but you will want to favor cpu over gpu. I would suggest a 4th gen Haswell I5 and maybe an R7 265 or a 750ti.

Also don't take Logical Increments as gospel, they recommend a 50 dollar cooler with a locked I3 budget build (lol).

Hm, that's a very nice site. I could use it to narrow down to a list of suitable components. Thanks for the tips.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/hDMJgs I'm not aware of how demanding those programs but you could pick i7 and 16Gb RAM if needed.

Here's $950 build w/ an IPS monitor, unlocked 4th gen Haswell i5 & much more beast GPU then R7 265 or 750 Ti. It's more along the lines of something between GTX 760 - GTX 770
- http://pcpartpicker.com/p/rnJvdC

Great, thanks for the tips guys! So we have a consensus on the Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor and the Gigabyte Radeon R9 280 3GB WINDFORCE Video card?

Any objections?

Just for some insight, if you happen to use SolidWorks for 3d modelling, an Nvidia card helps as the program uses CUDA, it'll just render faster.

Start with what CPU processor you want (AMD or Intel) then find the motherboard socket that's compatible with it then buy your graphic card, everything else is just a cake walk. Also don't make the mistake like I did and buy a case or other parts first.

I think you will want a top of the line CPU like the i7 and at least an R9 280 for what you want to do for the tasks you want to accomplish.

I do happen to use Solidworks, yes. I wasn't sure whether or not to save money on the graphics card as I wouldn't be doing any heavy gaming but if solidworks is heavy on the graphics then maybe I shouldn't skimp on the graphics card? I do like the sound of Nvidia though.

I like learning from other people's mistakes, thanks. More mistakes please!

Yes I did consider the i7 range. I wasn't planning on sparing any expense on the processor but some of them are just ridiculously expensive. If I could get a reasonable quad core for €250 or under ($340) then that would be preferable as the computational software can split the workload across the 4 cores. This would also be better for gaming a assume?

i7 4770 or 4790 should be right at $340, but if not then i5 4670 or 4690 will do the job. The only real differences between i5's and i7's is cache and hyperthreading their processing performance per core is virtually the same.

Ok so the i7 is about $60-70 more than the i5 but implements Hyperthreading amongst other things. Is it worth forking out the extra cash for these features?

http://ark.intel.com/compare/80806,80811

Some programs make use of the extra threads in the i7 and that can improve the performance quite abit. While most of the time there are only slight differences

All your programs make use of HT, but it will be useless if you get an Nvidia card as CUDA is more efficient than HT, if you get an AMD card, then you sort of need HT and an i7 rig.

AMD card - need i7

Nvidia card - can do with an i5

huh? that makes no sense

hey carraher should I upgrade my phenom II x4 940 with a better one

like the x4 965. It's still with ddr2 ram though

or should i just sell the whole damn thing

@04dcarraher:

TC's programs use CUDA or HT, if he were to use an Nvidia card, HT on the CPU is a bit wasted as the GPU would do the work. If its an AMD car (without CUDA), the HT would be used extensively.

O I see what you mean now, lol my bad

@evildead6789:

That DDR2 is limiting the ability to feed data to modern gpu's correctly let alone other items.

hmm, i didn't know that. Thought it just was a couple of fps less

Its ok lol, I just don't know what CFD is, the other I know very well (finite elements), I'm guessing its computer flow/fluid dynamics but I'm completely lost, if it uses CUDA as well, then just get an i5 and 16/32GB RAM, the VRAM isn't used that much.

Oh and TC, you need an SSD or your leaving your PC on for days just for a model.

Yes CFD is Computational Fluid Dynamics, which can be used to model anything from turbulent air flow over a jet wing to thermal radiation patterns in a combustion engine.

Yes models can take days or even longer. I know a guy who meshed a small cross section of bone, which had about 28 million nodes and took 1 month on 16 processors to run the job. I won't be going that far though.

Which would be better for gaming then:

An i5 with a Nvidia card or

An i7 with an R9 280?

CFD makes use of CUDA from Nvidia cards so I would grab an i5 and a GTX 760 or better.

That seems like the best option at the moment. Anyone disagree?

So the i5 4690 will cost about €230 ($307, £182)

The GTX 760 will cost about €150 ($200, £120)

So that's a total of €380 ($508, £300)

That leaves €320 ($430, £250) for everything else. I think I will omit the monitor from my budget.

I suppose the motherboard and the RAM are the next in line?

The motherboard will need an 1150 socket I assume? Are there any other major requirements I need to consider?

@bfa1509:

Just make sure ti get Z97 based motherboard and you will be good to go.

This and about 16GB RAM, also don't get a reference 760 or anything, you need good cooling on the card if its going to be used at 95%+ load for long periods.

@04dcarraher, @GTR12 and other wise fellows,

Thanks a lot. I was a bit intimidated by the range of processors and gpus, I was afraid that I would spend too much on expensive components only to find that they don't like each other. Also I would never have known about the CUDA- hyperthreading overlap. I'm learning...