Prospective $1500 Graphic Design, Music Production, Video Editing, and Gaming build

[andrewmantitus]

Hey guys,

I'm a writer, musician, and student; and I will be dropping 1500 on a new build for those purposes as well as moderate Gaming and Video Editing. I use Indesign and Ableton Live 9 Suite (64 bit) heavily and daily. I will also be Video Editing in Premiere Pro CC, Photo Editing in Photoshop CC, and Gaming. I'll be using most of the CC Applications as well as 64 bit Ableton and a handful of other music applications. Is there any reason I would need more than 16gb high speed ram? Would I be able to get by on a GTX 960 rather than 970? (I'm really not concerned with 90 FPS on Ultra Game settings. Any insights or observations would be much appreciated, here's my build:

[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/drRPjX) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/drRPjX/by_merchant/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80662i76700) | $329.99 @ Newegg
**CPU Cooler** | [Corsair H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-cpu-cooler-h60cw9060007ww) | $59.99 @ Amazon
**Motherboard** | [Gigabyte GA-Z170N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gaz170nwifi) | $134.99 @ Newegg
**Memory** | [G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f42400c15d16gvr) | $74.99 @ Newegg
**Storage** | [Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz75e500bam) | $149.99 @ Amazon
**Storage** | [Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seagate-internal-hard-drive-st2000dm001) | $69.99 @ Directron
**Video Card** | [EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB FTW+ ACX 2.0+ Video Card](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-video-card-04gp43978kr) | $358.98 @ Newegg
**Case** | [Corsair 250D Mini ITX Tower Case](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-cc9011047ww) | $84.99 @ Amazon
**Power Supply** | [Rosewill 500W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/rosewill-power-supply-valens500) | $58.99 @ Amazon
**Case Fan** | [Cooler Master R4-L2R-20AC-GP 69.0 CFM 120mm Fan](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-case-fan-r4l2r20acgp) | $4.48 @ Amazon
**Case Fan** | [Rosewill RFA-80-K 33.2 CFM 80mm Fan](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/rosewill-case-fan-rfa80k) | $4.99 @ Newegg
**Case Fan** | [Rosewill RFA-80-K 33.2 CFM 80mm Fan](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/rosewill-case-fan-rfa80k) | $4.99 @ Newegg
**Monitor** | [Acer G236HLBbd 60Hz 23.0" Monitor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/acer-monitor-umvg6aab01) | $109.99 @ Amazon
**Speakers** | [Genius SW-G2.1 1250 38W 2.1ch Speakers](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/genius-speakers-31730980101) | $51.99 @ Amazon
| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |
| **Total** | **$1499.34**
| Generated by [PCPartPicker](http://pcpartpicker.com) 2016-02-05 14:35 EST-0500 |

Approximate Purchase Date: mid-April

Budget Range:$1,000
System Usage from Most to Least Important: 1 Graphic Design and Music Production 2 Gaming 3: Video Production and Video Editting 4: Word Processing, Web Browsing, Multimedia (This is last because these are the least demanding tasks.

Are you buying a monitor: yes

Parts to Upgrade: ALL

Do you need to buy OS: No, I have a Bootable USB, I got free for being a student.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Amazon (Prime) and Newegg

Location: Bakersfield, Ca US

Parts Preferences: intel Processor, EVGA GPU, Samsung SSD

Overclocking: not interested

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution:1920x1080

Additional Comments: I would like a reasonably future proof system, and am hoping to get a solid, reliable and quick 3-5 years. I'm set on an an ITX build. While I'm completely willing to go with my price ceiling of $1,500 before tax/shipping, I'm open to cost reducing options and alternatives so long that they wouldn't impede anything excessively.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: My writing and self-publishing of zines, poetry chaqpbooks and novellas as well as my Music are alongside my education in being my priorities in life.I will have the money but not anything else to really spend it on, and my Dell 14z (i5 3317u, 8 gb ram, AMD HD 7570m, small SSD for boot) is just not cutting it and is a profound hindrance. Also, I've been a life-long gamer and have always dream of a moderately powerful PC.

 

[andrewmantitus]

Not a great PSU. I'm making tweaks and I'll post an updated list for you.

Thank you very much, I'd be glad to spend a bit more on a reasonably capable and reliable PSU and look forward to your recommendations.

 

[andrewmantitus]

Thank you very, very much; that's a perfect solution and build. I have great expectations for this machine.