Non-Gaming build, help needed :D

[Moonlapse Vertigo]

Building a PC for work, not going to be playing any games on it just mad multi-tasking with tons of programs open across multiple monitors. Never built for anything but gaming so I'm somewhat lost on what to go with. Price and value are a huge concern here! $550 is more or less the maximum I'd like to spend (I already have the 9500gt graphics card). I have some questions about harddrives farther down the page.

Here is what I have drafted up so far:
Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1333 8gb:Newegg
Rosewill RCX-Za CPU cooler: Newegg
Earthwatts Green EA-430D 80+ Bronze PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371034
Phenom II x6 Black Edition 1090T: Newegg
ASUS M4A89GTD PRO: Newegg
Nvidia 9500gt 512mb: Newegg
NZXT GAMMA case: Newegg

For a work PC, would it be better to try to fit a sandybridge build into my budget (would probably hae to use a $20 PSU, $20 case, and a small harddrive to get it to fit in my budget?)? I can get an i5 2500k for $200 total at my local microcenter (the same price as the Phenom II x6 1090T), but I would need to spend $50 more on a mobo (I need esata ports, crossfire ready). Is it worth it to take some downgrades for the sandybridge? Is the 1090T better for having just a ton of programs running (excel, VMware, Cam Studio, Word, Outlook, Google Chrome, Pidgin, etc.)?

My final question: I will be using an external HDD as the main drive for this computer, I want to boot off it, install everything to it, and store everything on it. I have heard that USB 3.0 is difficult to boot off of, so I figure I should get something with an esata interface... approve/deny?

I want to be able to move this drive to my home computer and access the files on it as well as store files on it... would this be difficult if I have and i5 2500k at home and a 1090T at work?

Looking at going with a WD Caviar Black 1TB 7200RPM 64MB cache drive: Newegg, but I need suggestions on what external enclosure to get. I saw this Thermaltake external enclosure: Newegg and I thought it looked nice. I would love something that does both esata and usb3 but there is nothing I can find that isn't super expensive =/

Any tips or reading material on doing this external harddrive plan of mine?

Thanks for the help guys.

[Nellah]

You won't be able to boot two machines off one Windows installation. However, if you're just looking to use the external as a boot drive for one computer and a data drive for the other, that'll work okay. And yes, e-SATA is viable for booting from, it is nearly as fast as internal SATA.

As for the processor... yes, from what I've seen the Sandy Bridge chip will be a better buy for you anyway. Even in heavily multithreaded applications it beats the X6 (in the Anandtech benchmarks, the X6 barely squeaked by with a win in exactly one of the twenty or so tests they ran) which makes it a better buy for single and multithreading.

[vesseblah]

If you need to run multiple virtual machines that are actually doing something, not just idling, then the x6 is better value than i5-2500K if you want to build the computer as cheap as possible, but if they just idle you don't really need more than 4 cores and SNB will run the apps faster. Depending on how much stuff you're actually running at the same time and VMs even 8GB of RAM might be dragging you down, but it's a question that nobody else can really answer. One possibility to save money would be getting slower/cheaper CPU than 1090, maybe 1055 for example.

Booting off from external discs depends on motherboard/BIOS, so if you want to be sure, you should check out motherboard manual from the manufacturer's site.

If you're planning on transfering single disc back and forth between two computers, something like this would be better solution than any external USB3/eSATA thingy. It's completely transparent to computer and there's no difference between using disc in it or having it plugged directly into SATA port so there will be zero issues booting from it, or getting crap transfer rates. You'll need to buy two of these racks, one for each computer. One you set as boot drive on work computer, and one you set as data disc on home computer. Your home computer will work totally normally even if the disc is not plugged in so that's not gonna be a problem either.

[Asera]

For a work PC, would it be better to try to fit a sandybridge build into my budget (would probably hae to use a $20 PSU, $20 case, and a small harddrive to get it to fit in my budget?)? I can get an i5 2500k for $200 total at my local microcenter (the same price as the Phenom II x6 1090T), but I would need to spend $50 more on a mobo (I need esata ports, crossfire ready). Is it worth it to take some downgrades for the sandybridge? Is the 1090T better for having just a ton of programs running (excel, VMware, Cam Studio, Word, Outlook, Google Chrome, Pidgin, etc.)?

I'd stick with the X6, it's a multitasking monster. I was surprised how much difference it made when I went from a 955 BE to a 1090T BE in terms of multitasking performance (I usually have Premiere, Photoshop, Corel Draw and sometimes other stuff open, along with standard windows stuff, your usual IM and internet crap, and WoW all running at the same time myself). Of course, an i7 will beat it, but it will cost much more not from just the CPU, but the motherboard.

Intel is kicking the shit out AMD in terms of gaming performance, but the Phenom line can still hold its own in terms of workstation level performance requirements (when you keep cost/performance in mind).

[qw4]

I would go with something like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128443 and save yourself $50 on the mobo. Other than that, it really looks like a solid workstation.

[shaw0050]

How many monitors did you plan to run off of that comp? If it's 3+, an AMD graphics card with Eyefinity would be the best way to go.

[Chickensoup23]

How many monitors did you plan to run off of that comp? If it's 3+, an AMD graphics card with Eyefinity would be the best way to go.

It's for work. I have a 8600 gt on my work computer and I still run 3 monitors easily...just need a good CPU to handle all the things going on at the same time, if you can say it like that.

Now if you want to run a game on 3 monitors, that's different. Don't confuse both.

[ayako]

@OP can you give us an example of the exact programs/things you do?