First Custom Build on A Budget - Help Please!

wilkin47

Honorable
Jul 11, 2013
2
0
10,510
This will be my first custom built PC and I'd like to keep things sub $900. Here's what I have so far:

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/mdwilkins/saved/1aIr

My number 1 priority is being able run video/photo/audio editing software side by side with ease. i.e. Photoshop, Illustrator, Audition, Pro Tools, Premiere Elements, etc. I'll likely throw in an audio card somewhere down the road but I'm not so concerned with that for the time being.

I'll likely install Windows 8 (64-bit).

I haven't picked a video card yet... I'm not a heavy gamer by any means but do play Starcraft, Warcraft, and Diablo. Obviously I'd like to play those on the highest settings (which likely isn't relatively demanding). I will be running dual HD monitors.

I've never experimented with OC'ing but thought the 3570k was a pretty solid choice if I choose to down the road. I considered upgrading to an i7 but after reading up on it I'm not so convinced it would be as beneficial as spending the extra $100ish on the video card.

Finally, I'd like the computer to run cool and quiet. I can't stand sitting in an office listening to fans that sound like the computer is about to take off.

Thanks for your time and critiques. I'm pretty much open to anything as long as I can stay within the budget.

 
For the gpu, i think you best bet is with the GeForce GTX 650 Ti. This card will breeze through any modern game and im sure it can keep up with Photoshop.

I would stay with the i5-3570K, it provides very good video and gaming
performance, and it OC very well.

However, since productivity is your first priority, an amd FX-8350/8320 may be an attractive offer at up to $60 less. You'll suffer 5-10 fps loss in high-demand games (starcraft and diablo you shouldn't be able to tell the difference.) but multi-thread apps and productivity tasks perform slightly better. It is worth considering.

Adding a few case fans on low will keep the system quiet and cool.
 
If you don't want a graphics card then you can get a beast with i7 4770K, 128GB SSD and a lot of other good stuff for that price. Below is the build i would gladly suggest to you. If you are running photoshop and other things to create content then there will be real difference between the i5 and the i7.

The i5 and i7 are almost equal on games but for Video and Photo editing and related stuff, the i7 is much better for those stuff. So just go for the i7 which is possible with that budget.

So here is the build i would suggest to you :
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($279.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Silverline 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($108.89 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($92.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: XFX 750W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $802.81
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-11 11:08 EDT-0400)

If you think that the answer helped, then don't forget to select it as the best answer. It would be highly appreciated by me.
 
If you don't want a graphics card then you can get a beast with i7 4770K, 128GB SSD and a lot of other good stuff for that price. Below is the build i would gladly suggest to you. If you are running photoshop and other things to create content then there will be real difference between the i5 and the i7.

The i5 and i7 are almost equal on games but for Video and Photo editing and related stuff, the i7 is much better for those stuff. So just go for the i7 which is possible with that budget.

While the i7 would have much better compile speeds, using it on integrated graphics, well, sucks. An i5 with graphics would be a much more well rounded system, but of course it would still dwarf in the performance of the i7.

If you go with the i7, you'll have to play games on pretty low settings until you get a gpu, i think my old amd APU had better graphics than it.
 
You know you can still drop in a 80 dollar video card and it would still be in your budget of 900 dollars. Considering that you are not into much gaming the 7770 should be just fine for your needs. And the best thing is that your build is still below 900 dollars which was the bar set by you for the budget. So i think this should do just fine if you need a graphics card too.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB Video Card ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $79.99
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-11 13:56 EDT-0400)
 
Thanks Bob and Sangeet. You've both been very helpful. I think I might just bump the budget up to sub $1000 and put in a GTX 650 Ti/HD 7770 with the i7 as that would be the best of both worlds.

One other question for you - Should I be looking at DDR-1600 over DDR-1333 and how significant is the CAS? I've heard that 9-10 is about industry standard and 7-8 is a noticeable difference. Just curious because as you know - the price of memory can get pretty ridiculous as the specs increase.
 
From each step:1336-1600-1866, the difference in performance isn't really that huge, I've tried 1600 and 1866, and I couldn't tell the difference, although i think a felt a little more latency in 1336. I would look at DDR3-1600, its the sweet spot in ram right now. As with CAS latency, 9-10 are pretty standard and 7-8 you can see a difference, but i don't think its worth the money. You get much better value in 1600 with 9-10 timings. 7-8 cost a lot more with slight increase in performance. And of course, you can always OC your ram slightly.
 
Wait , if you are raising your budget to a 1000 dollars then you can fit in a 7870 in that which is a beast for 1080p which can run a lot games at very-high settings. The build without graphics card (800 dollars) + 7870 (200 dollars) = 1000 dollars. There is no reason why you should not go for the 7870 if you can.

Just add this graphics card to the build above :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7870 2GB Video Card ($189.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $189.99
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-11 14:45 EDT-0400)