Please help me with a new ~$600 office build

[The Fire Snake]

Hi guys. I really need your help. I am trying to build a new machine for a family member. This build will be an office build and the person keeps machines till they die. So, I have been doing some research in this regard. I will list you some of my requirements and some parts I have been looking at. I won't be overclocking. Could you please provide me your advise so that I get the most powerful machine for $600 plus or minus a few bucks? This would be just for the tower. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks!! :thumb:

My Requirements:

Needs to be super reliable as the machine will be used for years
Around $600. I need the best for this money.
No gaming or video trans-coding. The only video will be watching Youtube videos and any basic graphics on the web.
Will be used for typing documents using Office 2010, Surfing the web and coding in Visual Studio once in a while.
I need the machine to be as silent as possible. Can I get away with out running any case fans?


CPU:
I am looking at a high end core Ivy Bridge i5 processor. So I am looking at the following 2 CPUs:

Intel Core i5-3570K (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504)
Intel Core i5-3570 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115233)


CPU cooler:
Can I stay with the stock cooler? I thought since I wasn't overclocking, I would be ok with the stock cooler but I am reading some horrible reviews of the included cooler even for non overclocking use. What do you think I should do? If I do an aftermarket cooler, I need it to be quite and since I am not overlcoking, I don't think it has to be a monster cooler.

OS:
I am planning on doing Windows 8 64 bit Home version - OEM

Case:
I am looking for something with a very clean simple look. All black with no LED lights or windows. I need one to be as silent as possible and want to spend around $50 for one. I would ideally like one with USB 3.0 front ports if possible. If there is case that has 2.0 but is a great case, I would be willing to consider it. So here are the ones I am considering

Corsair Carbide Series 200R (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139018&SortField=1&SummaryType=0&PageSize=100&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&IsFeedbackTab=true#scrollFullInfo)
Antec Three Hundred Illusion (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066)
NZXT Tempest 210 CA-TP210-01 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146084)
NZXT Source 210 S210-001 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146075)
Xigmatek ASGARD PRO USB 3.0 CCC-AE37BS-U02 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811815014)
Thermaltake V3 Black Edition VL80001W2Z (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133094)
Thermaltake V4 Black Edition (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133179)
Thermaltake Versa II VO700A1N3N (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=17C-0007-00002)
COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN2 CM690 II (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119216)
COOLER MASTER RC-692A-KKN5 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119259)
GIGABYTE GZ-F5HEB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811233073)


Moniter, PSU, DWDRW drive and memory
I have all of these already. I have the following PSU. Is it enough to power this build with no problems?
Antec Basiq BP430 430W (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371023)

SSD
The user doesn't need much storage but the SSD will give screaming performance. The last time I was shopping for an SSD, the Sandforce controller was not too good. People were reccomending the Crucial or Samsung 830. Looks like the Samsung has upgraded to the 840. So here is what I am looking at


SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=20-147-192&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Page=2#scrollFullInfo)
Crucial M4 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442)


Motherboard
This is where I am confused which one would be best. I need an ATX board, able to expand the memory to 32 GB, USB 3.0, SATA 6.0. So I am considering ASUS, ASROCK and Gigabyte as they seem to be producing some good boards. I am looking to spend $120 ish. Is there any point spending more for a MOBO if I am not overclocking? Does spending more give me more reliability? Here are the ones I am considering:


ASRock Z77 Pro4 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157296)
ASRock Z77 Pro3 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157297)
ASUS P8Z77-V LE (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131823)
ASUS P8Z77-V LX (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131824)
ASUS P8Z77-V LK (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837)
GIGABYTE GA-Z77-HD3 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128582)
GIGABYTE GA-Z77-DS3H (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128547)


GPU
I will be using the GPU built into the core i5.

[RickyTick]

Hello Fire Snake. Welcome to the forums.

I'll post a suggested build list in the morning when I have more time, but let me say first that you'll have a hard time staying under $600 if you're starting with a i5-3570.
Read through this too.
http://techreport.com/review/23965/corsair-carbide-series-200r-vs-antec-three-hundred-two

[RickyTick]

OK, so let's give this a look.

Case $50
CPU i5-3570 $215 the stock cooler works just fine
mobo $130 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837
ram $50 for 8gb http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428
ssd $140
hdd $80
That's about $670 if my math is correct. You could drop the ssd and save some money.

That psu will have no problem powering this system

[The Fire Snake]

Hi Ricky. Thanks for your response. I don't need the ram since I have some already, so that doesn't figure into the price. I don't need a hdd, as the person who I am building for needs very little storage, so I am defineetly going with a SSD. As far as the CPU, I am not overclocking bu I know that the 3570K has a better IGPU than the 3570, so I am looking at the K version. It costs like $30 more. I read some horrible things about the stock cooler. People saying that it is worse than the old ones. Any validity to this? Should I buy an after market one? For the MOBO, I was recomended the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H. Are any of the budget cases($50 to $70) quite, or all are about the same? I am planning on running no fans or maximum just one 120mm or 140mm. Thanks.

[RickyTick]

Yes, the onboard graphics of the "k" version is better, so if the choice is between those two, then it's an easy decision.
The stock coolers on cpu's are more than adequate to keep them cool under normal circumstances. Intel and AMD can't warranty their products if they know they are going to constantly overheat. No different than Ford or Chevy building a car with radiators that don't perform well. It's just not in their best interest to put a cooler on there that's not up to the job.

If I were building this pc myself, this is what I would use.
Already acquired psu, monitor, optical drive, and ram.
$50 Case Corsair 200R
$130 CPU Intel i3-3220
$105 GPU HD7770 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202011
$130 Mobo Asus Z77 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837
$140 SSD Samsung 840 Pro
Total $555

The i3 3220 combined with a discrete graphics card is an excellent combination of price and performance, and easily performs all the tasks you listed above and more. Plus the power consumption is low, the heat level is low, and therefore the noise level will be low.

[zburns]

Here is a review on Intel HD Graphics 4000 compared to Intel HD Graphics 2500. The review is by XBit Labs and is 9 pages long, dated June 2012. Here is the url: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/intel-hd-graphics-4000-2500.html

Here is another later X-Bit Labs review url on the i5 cpus. http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i5-ivy-bridge.html
-----------------
When double checking this post, I found something that seems strange. The Newegg listings for the i5-3570 call for HD Graphics 2500, while the Newegg listing for the i5-3570k call for HD Graphics 4000.

Here is the url for Intel specs on the i5-3570: http://ark.intel.com/products/65702/Intel-Core-i5-3570-Processor-6M-Cache-3_40-GHz These intel specs do show the graphics being HD 2500. ( I point this out only because when I first tried to google Intel specs for i5-3570, I kept consistently getting the i5-3570k and not the i5-3570. I kept altering the google entry and finally did get the 'Intel specs for i5-3570) (Pulling up the specs for the 'Intel specs for the i5-3570k is straight forward; pulling up the non-k version is what I found a little difficult) -- repeating myself, what was 'strange' was the lengthy problem in 'pulling up' the Intel specs on the i5-3570 -- gave the impression that something was wrong with the non 'k' version.

[RickyTick]

The Newegg listings for the i5-3570 call for HD Graphics 2500, while the Newegg listing for the i5-3570k call for HD Graphics 4000.


Correct, just scroll down to the graphics specs
i5-3570 http://ark.intel.com/products/65702
i5-3570k http://ark.intel.com/products/65520