$2000 - $2500 digital artist PC build

[Eviktus]

Good afternoon,

Now if i'm honest i have no clue where to start but after 100 google attempts this seems like the most promising avenue to find a solution for my problem. my knowledge in the technical aspects are minimal and the construction of the build will be done by a friend. I am not fussed about where i have to order the parts from however it is important to consider the following;

PRICE RANGE IS JUST FOR THE MACHINE

- must handle multiple screens
- must handle extended periods of Photoshop cs6/zbrush usage (10+ hours daily)
- must handle multiple applications running design+entertainment
- must support atleast 6 direct usb ports
- despite the ever changing technical advancements it must look to serve me for at least the next 2-5yrs and leave room for relatively easy upgrades
- gaming will be mainly on MMO platforms
- minimum storage 1TB

I know there was a format to request a new build but due to my lack of knowledge i felt it was easier to just explain simply what i wanted and hope someone here can steer me in the right direction or give me food for thought.

I have mentioned above that the price range would just be for the tower build however if you can suggest 2 screens or 2x1 screen that you feel suits my needs and brings the totally to approx $3000 that would be greatly appreciated. Apologies if this is long winded but will help as much as i can.

T

 

[mastrom101]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4930K 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor ($564.98 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($99.99 @ TigerDirect)
Motherboard: ASRock X79 Extreme6 ATX LGA2011 Motherboard ($224.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($259.95 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($139.99 @ Best Buy)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($449.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: XFX TS 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro (OEM) (64-bit) ($129.99 @ NCIX US)
Monitor: Acer K272HULbmiidp 60Hz 27.0" Monitor ($349.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Acer K272HULbmiidp 60Hz 27.0" Monitor ($349.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $2804.81
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-05 09:24 EDT-0400)

Great for gaming and editing.

 

[manofchalk]

I went into this thinking you would need a beastly machine in terms of CPU and RAM, but Zbrush has surprisingly low requirements (its apparently 32bit... very strange for what I think is a 3D modelling application). So I think an i7 and 16GB of RAM should be plenty
For gaming, MMO's arent that intensive so you dont need much. I picked the Nvidia card because I know CUDA can be leveraged in Adobe software, couldnt find much about Zbrush with CUDA vs OpenCL.

The monitors are ASUS ProArt's, which are pre-calibrated IPS panels intended for design and colour-correction work, it has great colour reproduction.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($319.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD4H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($143.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($229.20 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 450D ATX Mid Tower Case ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($100.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Asus PB238Q 23.0" Monitor ($193.58 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus PB238Q 23.0" Monitor ($193.58 @ Newegg)
Total: $1756.26
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-05 09:33 EDT-0400)

 

[game junky]

Going to send you a couple of options - first one (Haswell i7):

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3mmun

 

[game junky]

Option 2 (Ivy-Bridge Extreme):

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3mmEL

 

[game junky]

I stick by the components, the processor/motherboard are the only two things I might debate between. That Haswell build is more than sufficient to tackle CS6 with ease, but the Hexcore processor on the Ivy-Bridge Extreme would be a little step up. If they had the Haswell-Extreme processors out, I would probably look at those because odds are they will be more power-efficient and probably increase the clock speed for the same price but they haven't given a launch date so it's probably best not to plan on that.

There are 3 drives in each build - one of the SSDs is for your operating system, 1 is for your Adobe scratch disk (where your projects are built) and the 2 TB hard drive is where you'll transfer those project files once they're completed and for document and media storage. You will install the operating system with just 1 of the solid state drives attached in the system, then once windows is installed you will shut off the system and attach the sata cables to the other 2 drives. This is important because you don't want to have windows require all 3 drives in order to function in case you want to upgrade down the road. Trust me - I have had to build 2 of these within the last 2 months and they selected to upgrade the SSDs from a 120 to a 250 and I had to reinstall windows because I was lazy and didn't detach the other drives. Make sure you have enough SATA cables to accommodate 3 HDDs and an optical drive - if not, monoprice.com is uber cheap and they're reliable. You don't have to go with SATA III cables but they're nice because there is a small pressure point to release the cable.

For the graphics card, you will want the additional video memory slightly more than you'll want the additional processing cores because CS is a resource hog. There is talk of releasing a 780/780ti series with 6GB of video memory. If that happens before you buy your parts, select the 780 w/ 6GB of RAM that has the highest clock speed. Usually that's EVGA but who knows.

You could go with faster RAM, but you'll have to adjust your bios settings to support the overclocking which I wouldn't recommend. It gets unstable and then you spend all your time trying to get your hardcore RAM working instead of designing. 1866 is still plenty fast so don't feel like you're missing out.

Case and Power Supply could easily be swapped out depending on your tastes - I like Corsairs power supplies and I am starting to like their case as well. I am a cheap skate, so I usually go with a Coolermaster HAF case but it's up to your taste. As long as it's a midtower or larger, you'll be fine.

That's my two cents - good luck and enjoy regardless of which of the two Intel platforms you go with

 

[game junky]

For monitors, that depends on what kind of designing you're going to do. Traditionally, most people use displays that mirror what they're planning on producing the image quality as. For photography, 3D design/modelling or animation, I would probably go with a higher-res display (no need to go 4k - those things are ridiculously expensive) like a 1440p display. This is the one our graphic designers use:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-27-widescreen-flat-panel-ips-led-hd-monitor-black/7008795.p?id=1218821195800&ref=199&loc=8BacdVP0GFs&siteID=8BacdVP0GFs-r4lRNR0Iq2f2Zah6RPSqhg

I personally don't get much benefit from the additional screen res since I am in IT, I use 2 of these at my desk and they're perfect for what I need:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824005495&clickid=whvRtw26u2HpR2zUxr34yQ4OUkTQEG2J3TX5TQ0&iradid=97618&ircid=2106&irpid=79301&nm_mc=AFC-IR&cm_mmc=AFC-IR-_-na-_-na-_-na

 

[Dblkk]

Not to sure about the program itself, but i would figure a i7 4770k would be ideal. The 4930x is just a beast of a card but you'll have to pay alot more. Chip itself, motherboard itself, then 4 sticks ram to take advantage of quad channel memory.

But that said, i just learned from my own video editing, that my weakest link is my ssd/hhd. The video files when put on a hhd are to no suprise slow, but putting them on my ssd were better but still not ideal. What i learned is that ssd is not the best/fastest for rendering, plus you should never use your system drive as a main render drive either. The best way to go, is mechanical 7200rpm (wd black optimal) raid 0 with minimum of 4 drives.

So for op, i would get the 4770k, asus hero z87 board, 16gb (2x8gb) ram no higher than 1866, 128-256gb ssd for boot, 4x1-3tb wd black hhd in raid 0, gtx 770 or higher, good quality psu