PC Build Help for Beginner

[seadwellingbones]

Hi, so I'm a complete beginner at PC building, and I've got very specific needs for my PC so I'm at a loss at what is at least the minimum I should be expecting to spend on a PC and what specifications I should be looking for.

I am a digital artist who does animations, runs things like Photoshop, Maya, Clip Studio Paint, Adobe Animate, Sculptris, (Hopefully potentially Zbrush one day), After Effects, Premiere, etc is looking to be able to stream my art (not games). I would also like to be able to run games (but I'm not looking to stream games) like Overwatch and the like but that's less important than the art capabilities. I do not care for aesthetics in the least for my PC, so long as it runs well, and while I would like a fan that isn't too loud (I don't mind some noise), I'm willing to compromise and forget it if nothing else can be done.

If this is too broad a question, then I suppose I can ballpark a budget of about $1000-1500, if that's even possible.

I'm not looking to overclock.

Thanks.

 

[Darkbreeze]

You can build an extremely capable system for that price. I'll be glad to recommend a build. Do you have ANY parts that you wish to repurpose from an existing build?

 

[seadwellingbones]

Thanks for the help! Unfortunately no, since all I've got is a pre-built laptop with parts that are, as far as I'm aware, unremovable without replacing the whole laptop.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Ok, no problem. So are you looking then, I assume, to use a gaming card rather than a workstation card, since you would be mostly unable to game well, or in some cases at all, with a workstation card?

Conversely, you can often use a great many 3D and graphics applications, even high end ones, with a gaming card. There are however as I'm sure you're aware, a lot of CAD and 3D applications that almost require the use of specific workstation cards if you are working or trying to work at the professional level and require high performance workstation type features for those applications.

 

[seadwellingbones]

I'd be looking for a gaming card for right now. While I use and am hoping to use a good bit of 3D & CAD applications, the ones I currently use can run on gaming cards. Worst comes to worst, I can hopefully upgrade down the line, but for right now that'll do.

 

[Darkbreeze]

What resolution are you going to be working with?

How many monitors?

 

[seadwellingbones]

1280x1024 most likely.

2 monitors.

 

[Darkbreeze]

That, is a really off the beaten path resolution. Especially these days. It used to be popular for some TFT panels but honestly I haven't seen anybody running that resolution for some time. Weird. Maybe just me. Generally I see almost exclusively 1920x1080, 2560x1440 and 3480x2160. AKA 1080p, 1440p and 4k.

Well, as long as it works for you I suppose it doesn't matter but it seems like a lot of stuff would be off if you design for online viewing or to be viewed by other people who are likely to have a 16:9 aspect ratio panel of some kind. I think yours are 5:4 or something like that. Weird. Well, to me anyhow. LOL.

Anyway, this will do all you want, and probably more. If it's overkill for what you want, and how can it ever be overkill these days, some parts can be redacted to a lower tiered part, but I think this is on point for your budget. This is a very capable machine for both gaming and productivity applications, not to mention for a system that doesn't have a dedicated workstation graphics card, those kinds of apps as well.

It will be very fast in practically every regard. Lots of cores, fast cores, fast storage at least for the primary drive which is a PCI M.2 drive. There is always room for tweaking things to better suit you though. It should also be very quiet as the Fractal Design R series cases are pretty silent. About the only way it could be quieter is if you swapped out the three fans that it comes with and replaced them with Noctua fans.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7GHz 8-Core Processor ($318.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus - TUF X470-PLUS GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard ($148.99 @ Newegg Business)
Memory: G.Skill - Trident Z 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($142.99 @ Newegg Business)
Storage: Samsung - 860 Evo 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($107.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($58.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Gaming iCX Video Card ($526.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design - Define R6 Black TG ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.99 @ Newegg Business)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1484.22
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-09-22 00:33 EDT-0400

 

[Darkbreeze]

There is actually a really good sale on the Gigabyte GTX 1080 right now at Newegg, if you are able to pull the trigger right away. If not, there will probably be other sales you can keep an eye out for, but this would save you about 100 bucks off the price of the graphics card. I do prefer EVGA for graphics cards but Gigabyte is a good board partner as well.

439.99 after the promo and rebate.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125880&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=EXPRESS092218&cm_mmc=EMC-EXPRESS092218-_-EMC-092218-Index-_-DesktopGraphicsCards-_-14125880-S0B&ignorebbr=1