[Stu_M3]

It's been a good few years since I built my last PC as I've owed laptops for the last few years. In fact, to give you an idea how long, the last PC I built had a Pentium III 350Mhz in it

I'm hoping it won't be too tough to build a new system, but the one thing I am struggling with is what GPU to go with. Unusually for these forums, I'm not into gaming and today's GPU's seem to me to be focused on either gaming or professional CAD type jobs. I'll be doing a lot of video and photo work. Converting Blu ray's to MKV, plus converting from MKV to a friendly iPad/iPhone format. I'll be editing video from HD camcorders and also some photo editing.
I'd also like general Windows performance to be as snappy as possible.
I can't 100% rule out I won't play any games on it, as the temptation when owning a new PC may get the better of me, but let's assume it's very low on the list.
What is very important to me is having as quiet a PC as possible.

I started looking around and as I say, all the focus seems to be on gaming performance and the more money I spend, the better it gets of course. I didn't want to spend much more than, say, £200 on the GPU. Can anyone make any recommendations please? Something not too noisy but plenty of grunt for the tasks I have mentioned.

System Spec apart from the GPU will be:

- Fractal R4 case
- Intel i7 3770k, probably overclocked if I can keep it quiet
- A decent CPU cooler. Something like a Noctua
- 16GB RAM
- I already have a Samsung 830 SSD
- Asus Sabertooth board or similar
- Cooler Master Modular PSU. Something around 700w

Not sure if it's relevant, but the monitor I am using is a HP2475W @ 1920x1200 resolution and I'd like to consider adding a second screen at some point.

Thanks

[EndlessWaves]

The first thing to find out is whether the specific programs you're using will actually use the processor on the GPU at all as outside 3D gaming/modelling many simply stick to the CPU.

For conversion I would think you'll either be using quicksync or the CPU so unless you want speed and your favourite converter doesn't support quicksync then you can assume a graphics card won't help there at the moment (and you can always add one later).

As to the rest of your specs, the expensive motherboard will only help if you'll actually use it's extra features and I'd recommend downsizing the power supply to something more fitting, 400-450W or perhaps a bit more if you do end up with a powerful card. 700W will just result in poor efficiency because you're putting so little load on it (especially if it's one of the cheaper coolermasters).

[Stu_M3]

Many thanks for that info.

I'll check into the various apps, but it sounds like it might be wise to just run with the integrated GPU on the CPU initially and see how it goes. I can then bolt on a dedicated GPU later on if need be.

The thinking with the choice of motherboard was around future-proofing and the cooling/dust guard features. I'd rather start with a good board and know I can take advantage of other features further down the line. I'd like to consider over-clocking also.

The PSU, again I just wanted to buy something now that will support any additional hardware such as power hungry GPU's (if ever required), several HDD's if I go the RAID route etc. I also wanted to go with a modular design to keep cabling nice and minimal.

Any additional advice on these appreciated

[EndlessWaves]

Originally Posted by Stu_M3

The thinking with the choice of motherboard was around future-proofing and the cooling/dust guard features. I'd rather start with a good board and know I can take advantage of other features further down the line. I'd like to consider over-clocking also.

The 'dust guard' is just to make it look cool, unless you plan to move the machine out of the fractal case with it's own dust filter into one that doesn't have a filter and run it for another ten years after that it'll make no difference.

As for overclocking, you're only looking at a quiet air cooler so I doubt the extra features on the expensive board would actually come into play, you're more likely to be limited by your CPU cooler than the motherboard chipset overheating or the board not being able to provide enough power. I'm not familiar with the Z77 in particular but most of the comments I've come across say the CPUs are particularly hot at the moment, rather than the motherboard chips.

Some more expensive motherboards offer more ports and the like, but looking at that particular one it seems solely overclocking focused and offers nothing else over a significantly cheaper board such as the Asus P8Z77-V

Originally Posted by Stu_M3

The PSU, again I just wanted to buy something now that will support any additional hardware such as power hungry GPU's (if ever required), several HDD's if I go the RAID route etc. I also wanted to go with a modular design to keep cabling nice and minimal.

Looking around it appears the only 700W Coolermaster currently sold is the Silent Pro M which get pretty good reviews and tend to be a bit optimistically rated (600W@12V on the 700W PSU) compared to some of their competitors so running with a low load shouldn't be too bad.