My mid-range upgrade. Time to retire the i7-920!

[suschnauzer]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

Web browsing to ms office to playing the latest games at 1080p to setting up a home file and media server.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread.

$1200 +/- $200

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

USA

4. IF you're buying parts OUTSIDE the US, please post a link to the vendor you'll be buying from.
We can't be expected to scour the internet on your behalf, chasing down deals in your specific country... Again, help us, help YOU.

N/A

5. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.

My only requirement is an Intel cpu. I'm flexible on everything else.

6. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

Corsair HX850 power supply
2 x HD 6970 video cards
HGST 3TB Nas hard drive
Noctua NH-U12P CPU cooler


7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

Overclocking

8. What resolution, not monitor size, will you be using?

1080p

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Note that it is usually not cost or time effective to choose your build more than a month before you actually plan to be using it.

I want to be done within 3 weeks.

X. Do you need to purchase any software to go with the system, such as Windows or Blu Ray playback software?

I currently have full versions of Windows 7 Ultimate and Office 2007. I was thinking of going with Windows 8.1 Pro and Office 365.

My proposed build:

ASUS Z97-PRO(Wi-Fi ac) motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132117
$227.86

i7-4770K cpu
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.aspx?sku=583369
$269.99

Corsair Obsidian Series 750D case
http://www.ncixus.com/products/?sku...ure=Corsair&promoid=1308#sthash.KIlQ91XJ.dpuf
http://www.ncixus.com/products/?sku=90220&vpn=CC%2D9011035%2DWW&manufacture=Corsair&promoid=1308
$144.98

Samsung 840 EVO 500GB SSD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147249
$229.99

HGST 3TB Nas HDD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145911
$129.99

iStarUSA BPN-DE230SS Trayless Hot-Swap Cage
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816215240
$80.98

Kingston HyperX Beast 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 ram
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104363
$144.99

Pioneer 16X BD-R 2X BD-RE blu-ray burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827129075
$64.99

Total - $1293.77 + $100 for Windows 8.1 pro and $69 for Office 365 Student 4 yr subscription (my son is a college student) = $1462.77

Or I can save some money and keep my Windows 7 Ultimate and Office 2007.

I also want to dual boot Windows and Linux. I would install Freenas on Linux for my media and file server. I would run 2 x HGST in raid 1. I would have the drives installed in the hot swap cage for easy removal and secure storage.

Let me know what you think. Fire away!

 

[escrow4]

I've been using Gigabyte for Haswell and its been smooth so I'd recommend a Z97-UD4H or UD5H over Asus. Apart from that I'd wait for the Haswell refresh. Might as well. I'm partial to WD for HDD's but that build looks fine and I would definitely recommend 8.1.

 

[MongGrel]

What MOBO ya have ?

Just a suggestion.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2335636&highlight=l5639&page=54

 

[mfenn]

I think you might be confused about the NAS part of the system. Dual-booting doesn't make sense for a NAS because you'd have to reboot your main PC into the NAS OS when you wanted to share files and reboot the NAS into Windows when you wanted to game. That doesn't make sense, you might as well just share the drives out from Windows at that point. Also, FreeNAS is its own operating system based on FreeBSD, it's not something you install on Linux.

For a NAS, what you want is to have a separate low-power machine that stays on all the time and is dedicated to serving files.

For your actual parts, it looks like you just went with the most expensive version of everything. You should spend less on the main PC so that you can spend the money to do a proper standalone NAS.

Main PC:
i5 4670K + GA-Z87X-HD3 combo $346 - The i7 4770 is unnecessary for gaming and is only available at that price in-store, so it doesn't help if you're not physically near a MicroCenter (are you?)
G.Skill DDR3 1600 16GB $130
Reuse GPUs $0
Crucial M500 480GB $237
ASUS Blu-Ray Burner $50 AR AP
Reuse PSU $0
Crucial 550D $110 AR
Reuse OS $0
Reuse Office $0
Total $873

NAS:
Celeron G1820 $50
ASRock B85M-ITX $75
G.Skill DDR3 1600 4GB $37
Reuse 3TB HDD $0
HGST 3TB HDD $130 AP
CFI A7879 case w/ 200W PSU $150
Total: $442

 

[suschnauzer]

I think you might be confused about the NAS part of the system. Dual-booting doesn't make sense for a NAS because you'd have to reboot your main PC into the NAS OS when you wanted to share files and reboot the NAS into Windows when you wanted to game. That doesn't make sense, you might as well just share the drives out from Windows at that point. Also, FreeNAS is its own operating system based on FreeBSD, it's not something you install on Linux.

For a NAS, what you want is to have a separate low-power machine that stays on all the time and is dedicated to serving files.

For your actual parts, it looks like you just went with the most expensive version of everything. You should spend less on the main PC so that you can spend the money to do a proper standalone NAS.

Main PC:
i5 4670K + GA-Z87X-HD3 combo $346 - The i7 4770 is unnecessary for gaming and is only available at that price in-store, so it doesn't help if you're not physically near a MicroCenter (are you?)
G.Skill DDR3 1600 16GB $130
Reuse GPUs $0
Crucial M500 480GB $237
ASUS Blu-Ray Burner $50 AR AP
Reuse PSU $0
Crucial 550D $110 AR
Reuse OS $0
Reuse Office $0
Total $873

NAS:
Celeron G1820 $50
ASRock B85M-ITX $75
G.Skill DDR3 1600 4GB $37
Reuse 3TB HDD $0
HGST 3TB HDD $130 AP
CFI A7879 case w/ 200W PSU $150
Total: $442

Thanks for the clarification on the nas. So I would use Freenas as the OS for the nas? There has to be an online guide on how to set that up. As far as the parts list goes, I can modify it a little. There is a little bit of overkill based on my needs.

 

[mfenn]

Yes, FreeNAS makes a really nice NAS OS. They have a pretty good documentation wiki here and videos here. If you can install Windows and have an idea of what an IP address is, then you can install FreeNAS.