Gaming/Photoshop PC build request. ~$1500 budget.

[Alundar]

Hi everyone!
I'm looking to build a new desktop, upgrading from my 4-year-old Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop. I plan to do a decent chunk of gaming. I also plan to use the machine for photoshop, photo editing, batch RAW editing and conversion, and programming (entering a Comp. Sci. program this year).
My budget is around $1500 all inclusive, after rebates, though it's flexible. No OS is necessary, nor are speakers.
I'd like something that will last for a while, something "future-proof", as they say.
Large storage would be nice, though I can always toss in another HDD when needed.
Overclocking as an option would be nice, though I don't plan to OC this system all that much. Just enough to give it a boost if needed.

If you magicians here can help put together the best system for the money, I would be very grateful!

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Around this week.

BUDGET RANGE: $1500ish after rebates

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, Photoshop, programming, HD movies, daily usage.

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: OS is not needed. I have 5.1 speakers. Need everything else, including a pretty good gaming mouse and keyboard.

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Nothing specific, though if I can reduce shipping costs, that would help.

PARTS PREFERENCES: Intel i7 would be nice, but not mandatory.

OVERCLOCKING: Eventually, yes.

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: If it's a benefit.

MONITOR RESOLUTION: Widescreen, 1920x1280 at least.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Quiet would be nice, as would lower power consumption. Not critical, however.
I would like something that will last a long time.
Numerous USB ports would be nice. (Is USB 3 all that useful yet?)
High HDD capacity would be a plus.


Thank you greatly!

 

[MadAdmiral]

CPU/RAM: i7-930 and G.Skill Pi 3x2 GB 1600 mhz CAS Latency 7 $465
Mobo: ASRock X58 Extreme $170
GPU: HD 5870 $410
HDD: Seagate 7200.12 500 GB $55
PSU: Antec Earthwatts 750W $85 after rebate
Case: HAF 922 $80 after rebate
Optical: Cheap SATA DVD burner $22
Monitor: Asus 23" 1080p $180 after rebate

Total: $1,467.

I don't buy into the fancy mice/keyboards idea. If you suck at gaming, a $50-100 mouse isn't going to make you good. Grab any set that's under $50. Or sacrifice actual performance for it.

USB 3 isn't that useful right now. However, I consider it an essential to future proofing. That said, you can add a card that allows it later, so I would take the i7-930 over USB 3/SATA III any day.

 

[whatelsematters]

as usual, madadmiral's build is excellent.

just a few things i'd like to add:

you mention that you don't need an OS, hopefully you've already purchased a 64bit platform. if you haven't, a lot of your RAM is going to go to waste. i assume you're probably (hopefully) going to run windows 7...

if you end up having any money left over, don't drop it into super expensive mice/keyboards (as madadmiral says), and instead spend that money on a bigger monitor or maybe a speaker/headphone upgrade. i've tried almost every mouse and keyboard out there, and after all my testing i'm back with my logitech G5 and a $9 microsoft keyboard from newegg.

good luck with your build

 

[Alundar]

MadAdmiral, you are amazing. That's an excellent looking build. Very fast response too!
Great advice for USB III. It's nice to know that a card can just be added to give the functionality. I really missed that upgradability that I lost after moving to a laptop.

Good advice on both of you regarding mice and keyboards, too, to both of you guys. I wasn't planning on going all-out on them, but it's nice to know that they aren't really critical pieces of equipment.

As for the OS, I do indeed already have a 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium, so no problems there. Thanks for the warning, though, whatelsematters.

I'll leave this open for a bit longer, to see if anyone else wants to toss in their $.02, but I think it's looking pretty good so far.

Cheers!

edit: I was also wondering if you had any recommendations for a higher-capacity HDD. Maybe something around 1TB+, if there are any good drives/deals floating around. As I am dealing with a lot of space-consuming photos, having the extra storage may be rather useful.

Thanks!

 

[MadAdmiral]

Seagate 7200.12 1 TB for $90 or the Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TB for the same price (shipping usually isn't free on it though). If you need more than that, I would just buy multiples of those drives. The 2 TB drives are just crazy expensive and the 1.5 TB drives are a lot slower.

 

[snowgoer1998]

If you act quick those Seagate drives MadAdmiral is suggesting are $85 at Newegg.com right now...and that's also FREE shipping

I just picked up 3 for a HTPC

These are also the same drives that are fairly highly rated at Tom's...look up the HDD charts at the top of the page

 

[MadAdmiral]

Guess I should actually check the price on those instead of assuming it hasn't changed...

 

[snowgoer1998]

Guess I should actually check the price on those instead of assuming it hasn't changed...

That actually just changed between 12 p.m. central and 3 p.m. central today...

I checked the Newegg price before trucking off to Microcenter...and it was $89.99

I got back to place the order at Newegg and I couldn't understand why the price of my build was cheaper...

 

[Alundar]

All right, looks like I'm going with this build, though subbing in the Samsung 1TB drive. I like the excellent reviews on the Samsung, so it's worth the $5 premium.

I had another question, though.[strike] Do I want any sort of CPU fan, or anything like that? Is it included?[/strike] (Sorry, just saw that heatsink and fan are included.) Also, do I need any sort of thermal compound?
Any recommendations from newegg for a good surge protector?
Edit: Also, any media-card reader recommendations?
Finally, do I need any other components? HDMI cables, nuclear reactors, etc?

Thank you again!

 

[MadAdmiral]

You don't need extra thermal compound. The stock cooler comes with it. Even if you buy an aftermarket cooler for overclocking, you still don't need special compound.

I usually just use a cheap surge protector. Don't know if that's good or bad...

You may need an HDMI cable. I would take a look at all the components and see exactly what they come with. The motherboard will usually come with a few SATA cables, while anything that says "OEM" comes with nothing but the component. What comes with the GPU varies from brand to brand and model to model.

 

[Alundar]

Mr. MadAdmiral, one again you are amazing.
Should get the order through tomorrow. Thank you greatly for your help!

 

[Alundar]

Best answer selected by Alundar.