First Build - Light Video Editing/Gaming - $1,200 max

[SmilesAustin]

Approximate Purchase Date: Now (this week)

Budget Range: $800-$1,200 total before rebates. I would preferably like to keep it below $1,000 but would be willing to go up to ~$1,200 if the upgrade(s) provide significant benefit.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Light Gaming, Light Video-Editing, Internet Browsing

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: New Build

Do you need to buy OS: Yes

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg and Amazon

Location: Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA

Parts Preferences: No preferences

Overclocking: Maybe?

SLI or Crossfire: I doubt it

Additional Comments: Okay folks. I am very new to this. I have wanted to build my own computer for a long time, but the whole idea seemed expensive and daunting to me. I don't normally game on my PC, but I bought the new SimCity game over the weekend, and my integrated Radeon video card (HD 3200) just can't handle the game sufficiently, even on low settings. Being as I've also had trouble with my occasional video-editing taking forever on my machine, I made the decision that now is the time to build my own PC.

I suppose this build could be classified as a "semi-budget build." I'm not a hardcore gamer, nor am I a professional video editor. I use my computer for the occasional gaming and occasional video editing. I'd like the computer to be adequate at both, but I also don't want to spend $1,500 going off the assumption that these are things that I spend the majority of my time on. I made a 45-minute video for my wedding reception earlier this year and the rendering/converting took something like 6 hours. I'd like to significantly cut that.

Outside of adequacy of the above activities, I am also very interested in achieving some level of long-term cost savings through upgrading this machine in a few years compared to what I've been doing for the last decade (buying a new $1,000 machine every 3-4 years). So I want a reasonable upgrade path.

Specific Additional Questions:
Do you think it's worth me adding a small SSD to this build?
How about 16GB ram versus 8GB? For occasional video editing, do you think it's worth the extra cost?

Here's what I was thinking:

Case :$99.99 Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with Upgraded USB 3.0
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021

Motherboard: $139.99 GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514

CPU:$139.99 AMD FX-6300 Vishera 3.5GHz (4.1GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 95W Six-Core Desktop Processor FD6300WMHKBOX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113286

Hard Drive: $119.99 Western Digital Red WD20EFRX 2TB IntelliPower SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236343&Tpk=Western%20Digital%20Red%20WD20EFRX

Video Card: $107.99 ASUS HD7750-1GD5-V2 Radeon HD 7750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121633&Tpk=ASUS%20HD7750-1GD5-V2


RAM: $62.99 G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428

DVD Burner: $27.19 ASUS DVD Burner Black SATA Model DRW-24B3ST/BLK/G/AS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135240&Tpk=ASUS%20DVD%20Burner%20Black%20SATA%20Model%20DRW-24B3ST%2fBLK%2fG%2f

Power Supply: $79.99 SILVERSTONE Strider Plus ST50F-P 500W ATX 12V v2.3 & EPS 12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256065&Tpk=SILVERSTONE%20Strider%20Plus%20ST50F-P%20500W%20ATX

Operating System: $99.99 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM

Any thoughts, suggestions, etc would be appreciated. Also if you see that I'm missing something, let me know as well. I am very much an amateur, so I don't want to give off the impression that I have a whole lot of reason for choosing the parts that I have. I tried to make sure they're compatible, and I mostly went off of NewEgg reviews to determine which item I'd choose from there.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Miks1890]

Everything seems ok except for the GPU, i would say http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202024&Tpk=hd%207870xt and if you can you could add a SSD too - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147192

 

[SmilesAustin]

Thanks Miks1890. That GPU seems quite costly. If I told you that SimCity was the most graphics-intensive game I plan on playing for at least the next 12 months (maybe 24 months), does that change your suggestion? My understanding is that the video card won't be used a ton for the light video editing that I do. My only concern with spending too much on a GPU is that my gaming habits are very erratic. I'll play SimCity very often for the next few months, but I may not play another PC game for another 2 years. That's what I mean by "light gaming." It's important to me that the computer can handle a new game in a couple years, but not necessarily vital that it be able to do so at the highest settings.

For the SSD: I like the idea of having one of these, if nothing else because it seems like the computer would respond quicker and would have a faster start up. Do you all think it's worth the additional cost, though? Am I paying an extra $100-150 so my startup time will be 10 seconds instead of 20 seconds? Or is there a tangible benefit to the light gamer/video editor?

 

[SmilesAustin]

Well, I broke down and went with the suggested video card. I also bumped up the RAM to 16GB and power supply to a 600W just to be on the safe side (that graphics card suggests 500w minimum). I figure these things will increase the longevity of the computer so I can go a while without needing to upgrade, and hopefully at least the RAM and the PSU (among other things) can be recycled into my next build.

I was able to make those changes and order from Amazon (free 2-day shipping on everything) for $1050, so I'm still well within my budget. I decided against the SSD because I'm just not sure the benefit is worth the cost for me. After doing some research, it seems like they can sometimes be a bit of trouble. I may keep an eye on them for my next build.

Parts arrive tomorrow & Thursday. Should be putting this thing together Thursday evening!

 

[stewartj2]

I use it on my laptop and phone all the time.

 

[SmilesAustin]

Does anyone have any recommendations for an aftermarket cooler for the processor I chose? Do I even need one? I don't intend on overclocking right now. Is this something I could wait and purchase later if I decide to overclock in the future?

 

[noobuilder1]

If your still looking for a cooler I would recommend the Cooler Master Hyper 212 evo. Its inexpensive and performs great I have the same cpu (FX6300) and overclocked to 4.2ghz and running prime95 for over an hour max temp was only 52°C. It is tall but should fit in most cases and for less then 30 bucks its a great deal. Congrats on your new build by the way.