Need help to build a =<$3000 PC for design (Photoshop, AE, ZBrush, 3ds Max)

[Nam Dang]

Hello all,
Im studying Master of multimedia design and im in need of a new PC for studying and future work. I'm not a hardcord in 3ds Max so Quadro cards properly wont be my choice. And I have some in my minds for some of the parts. Please look at my build below and let me know what you think about it and give me some feedbacks for the rest of the build.
Thanks for your time and feedback you can offer.

Budget Range: $3000
Are you buying a monitor: Yes
System Usage from Most to Least Important: VFX, 3D, Design
Do you need to buy OS: No (but which one should i choose - Window 7 Pro/Window 7 Ulti/Window 8)
Your Monitor Resolution: Maybe 1920x1080, but i need the monitor color to be good
Additional Comments: I would spend most of my budget on CPU, then monitor if needed to

Storage: HDD 2 TB
Storage: SSD 128 GB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 4GB

 

[herrwizo]

Do you need a monitor (or monitors - say what size and resolution), operating system, peripherals?

 

[Nam Dang]

Do you need a monitor (or monitors - say what size and resolution), operating system, peripherals?

Sorry for lack of information, i just updated my post. Please check

 

[herrwizo]

This one will do perfectly. I put in a very expensive 27" monitor with great color accuracy - it is simply stellar for the job.

Also, I did take some freedom to add extreme 32GB of memory, but this can actually be easily used in graphics design environment.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($319.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($146.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($277.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($104.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($128.00 @ B&H)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB ACX 2.0 Video Card ($526.30 @ Directron)
Case: Fractal Design Arc XL ATX Full Tower Case ($114.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Monitor: NEC PA272W 85Hz 27.0" Monitor ($1299.00 @ Adorama)
Total: $3028.11
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-20 09:05 EST-0500

 

[herrwizo]

As a sidenote, I would like to add that you can drop the price considerably by going for GTX970 instead of 980 and 16GB of memory instead of 32 (you know the best how much do you need). I also forgot to include a DVD/RW drive, but that's only $10 anyway.

 

[herrwizo]

After the revision (970, 16GB, DVD-RW drive) this would be the one I'd settle for:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($319.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($146.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($135.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($104.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($128.00 @ B&H)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card ($338.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Arc XL ATX Full Tower Case ($114.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: NEC PA272W 85Hz 27.0" Monitor ($1299.00 @ Adorama)
Total: $2713.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-20 09:03 EST-0500

 

[Nam Dang]

After the revision (970, 16GB, DVD-RW drive) this would be the one I'd settle for:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($319.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($146.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($135.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($104.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($128.00 @ B&H)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card ($338.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Arc XL ATX Full Tower Case ($114.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: NEC PA272W 85Hz 27.0" Monitor ($1299.00 @ Adorama)
Total: $2713.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-20 09:03 EST-0500

Thank you very much for you suggestions.
I wouldn't want to go for GTX 970 since i heard that this card has problems with memory. For the CPU and RAM, i read in another threads that i should go with CPU with 6 cores rather than 4 and 32Gb ram is recommended. What do you think? The monitor is way too expensive and oversize, ~$500 should be enough for the monitor.

 

[herrwizo]

If you prefer more cores to better monitor, I can certainly fix that. More RAM is also a great thing for graphics.

Give me a sec then

 

[Archgaull]

Changed the SSD to 250GB.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5930K 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($548.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock X99 Extreme4 ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($202.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws 4 series 32GB (8 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($505.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($119.28 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.99 @ Best Buy)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($549.00 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT Phantom (White) ATX Full Tower Case ($85.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 1000G2 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($149.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Micro Center)
Monitor: Asus PB287Q 60Hz 28.0" Monitor ($564.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $2887.16
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-20 09:23 EST-0500

 

[herrwizo]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($373.95 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock X99 Extreme3 ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($186.78 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($402.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($104.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($128.00 @ B&H)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB ACX 2.0 Video Card ($526.30 @ Directron)
Case: Fractal Design Arc XL ATX Full Tower Case ($114.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Dell U2515H 60Hz 25.0" Monitor ($465.69 @ TigerDirect)
Total: $2428.64
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-20 09:20 EST-0500

 

[herrwizo]

This monitor is also very good:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/nec-monitor-ea273wmibk

 

[Nam Dang]

Thank you for both of your solutions herrwizo, Archgaull.
I did a comparison between 2 builds and there still few things i need to ask again:

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler or Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler
Video Card:
EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB ACX 2.0 Video Card
EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card
or should i go with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Video Card as many people prefer NVIDIA
Monitor: can i choose Dell U2715H since i couldnt find Dell U2515H

 

[herrwizo]

Both coolers will work fine, Noctua is better though.

"EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card" is simply additionally overclocked as compared to the other one.

They are both Nvidia. EVGA is only the partner who makes the cards, but chips on them and board design is from Nvidia.

Yes, that Dell is even larger, and is a better choice for graphics design.

 

[Nam Dang]

Both coolers will work fine, Noctua is better though.

"EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card" is simply additionally overclocked as compared to the other one.

They are both Nvidia. EVGA is only the partner who makes the cards, but chips on them and board design is from Nvidia.

Yes, that Dell is even larger, and is a better choice for graphics design.

Thank you herrwizo, you were really helpful and supportive. I think I have what i need for my new PC now

 

[herrwizo]

You most certainly do All the best and enjoy the build!