Work/Gaming build challenge

[Rival Son]

(Sorry, It's quite long)
Okay, so I'm new to PC gaming. I have a fair bit of background knowledge and I'm currently swimming through the oceans of forums, articles and flame wars about who/what is best for what. I'm looking to build a pretty good system, but over a long period (around a year/ year and a half). Its going to have to end up pretty beefy, but can take steps along the way if thats a better way to do it.

The basics : Gaming, is the main focus to start.
I will be doing 3D modelling/design (using Solidworks and similar), including simulating airflow and stress testing.
Video and photo editing too.

So the challenge is, do I build a cheap gaming PC and gradually build up.
Do I make a great gaming PC and worry about Design/editing later
Make an average system and build on that base (mid-range MB and upgrade later)
Make a great base (Great MB and Full tower with good PSU) and build on it (may not have as good a system to start, but means I am future proof since I can upgrade to better parts easily)

My budget is limited to around £800 at the moment(willing to spend more later, but money doesn't grow on trees 🙁 and I'm a student).

Sorry for the long post
Hope you can give me some insight and help
Rival

EDIT: Corrections and Clarifications

 

[Transmaniacon]

A workstation card is going to be out of your price range, and since you are also gaming, a gaming GPU will cover your main task and still be decent for CAD. I went with an AMD build to give you a little more bang for your buck, but you could easily go Intel with a few changes.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor (£145.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.49 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Extreme3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£61.80 @ Dabs)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£38.91 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£105.55 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£45.98 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card (£166.99 @ Novatech)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case (£79.99 @ Dabs)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£52.41 @ Dabs)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£11.47 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£67.19 @ Aria PC)
Total: £800.77
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-20 17:51 BST+0100)

You can OC the CPU and it should provide good performance for your needs.
The SSD is one of the fastest on the market, put your OS and apps on here.
The GPU will give you good performance at 1080P.

 

[g-unit1111]

A workstation card is going to be out of your price range, and since you are also gaming, a gaming GPU will cover your main task and still be decent for CAD. I went with an AMD build to give you a little more bang for your buck, but you could easily go Intel with a few changes.

Not necessarily - AMD rigs are far more prone to what I call "bent CPU pin syndrome" than Intel rigs are, and I definitely have some first hand experience with bent CPU pins. If you screw something up during installation then you'll wind up buying another CPU. One of the reasons I like Intel rigs more is that they've made installation far more idiot proof. :lol:

That said here's what I would get:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3350P 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor (£139.92 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£67.92 @ Dabs)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£57.91 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: OCZ Vector Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£127.24 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£49.25 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card (£167.96 @ CCL Computers)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case (£59.94 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£75.97 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£11.47 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £757.58
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-20 18:11 BST+0100)

The GTX 660 will give you decent frame rates in games (but that depends on the most recent drivers) and I think the i5-3350P is just as good if not better of a CPU than the FX is. And with the NVIDIA cards are better for CAD use with CUDA and Phys X.

 

[Rival Son]

A workstation card is going to be out of your price range, and since you are also gaming, a gaming GPU will cover your main task and still be decent for CAD. I went with an AMD build to give you a little more bang for your buck, but you could easily go Intel with a few changes.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor (£145.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.49 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Extreme3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£61.80 @ Dabs)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£38.91 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£105.55 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£45.98 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card (£166.99 @ Novatech)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case (£79.99 @ Dabs)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£52.41 @ Dabs)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£11.47 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£67.19 @ Aria PC)
Total: £800.77
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-20 17:51 BST+0100)

You can OC the CPU and it should provide good performance for your needs.
The SSD is one of the fastest on the market, put your OS and apps on here.
The GPU will give you good performance at 1080P.

A workstation card is going to be out of your price range, and since you are also gaming, a gaming GPU will cover your main task and still be decent for CAD. I went with an AMD build to give you a little more bang for your buck, but you could easily go Intel with a few changes.

Not necessarily - AMD rigs are far more prone to what I call "bent CPU pin syndrome" than Intel rigs are, and I definitely have some first hand experience with bent CPU pins. If you screw something up during installation then you'll wind up buying another CPU. One of the reasons I like Intel rigs more is that they've made installation far more idiot proof. :lol:

That said here's what I would get:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3350P 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor (£139.92 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£67.92 @ Dabs)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£57.91 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: OCZ Vector Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£127.24 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£49.25 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card (£167.96 @ CCL Computers)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case (£59.94 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£75.97 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£11.47 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £757.58
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-20 18:11 BST+0100)

The GTX 660 will give you decent frame rates in games (but that depends on the most recent drivers) and I think the i5-3350P is just as good if not better of a CPU than the FX is. And with the NVIDIA cards are better for CAD use with CUDA and Phys X.

Is there a reason you chose the 3550P rather than the 3570K ? The 3570K seems to be a very popular gaming CPU and is not much more than the 3550P and you can OC?

Looking at the Samsung 840 Pro since it has a good rep and is a little cheaper.

Do you think its better to pick up say a Z77 board and then just get a fairly basic rig, then over time upgrade? Or just go out and get it a little later on? Currently looking at the ASRock Extreme4 (ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard).

Also, do I get a standard 660? or pick up a 3Gb 660 Ti? (It is quite a bit more, but should future proof a lot better than the standard 2Gb 660).

Also, as regards to the AMD, would you say they are better as workstation cards than the Intel? I have a slight preference for Intel just due to overheating problems I have had with AMD CPUs and friends too. But I am willing to consider it if it has clear advantages?

Thanks!

 

[g-unit1111]

Is there a reason you chose the 3550P rather than the 3570K ? The 3570K seems to be a very popular gaming CPU and is not much more than the 3550P and you can OC?

Looking at the Samsung 840 Pro since it has a good rep and is a little cheaper.

Do you think its better to pick up say a Z77 board and then just get a fairly basic rig, then over time upgrade? Or just go out and get it a little later on? Currently looking at the ASRock Extreme4 (ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard).

Also, do I get a standard 660? or pick up a 3Gb 660 Ti? (It is quite a bit more, but should future proof a lot better than the standard 2Gb 660).

Also, as regards to the AMD, would you say they are better as workstation cards than the Intel? I have a slight preference for Intel just due to overheating problems I have had with AMD CPUs and friends too. But I am willing to consider it if it has clear advantages?

Thanks!

I only chose the 3350P over the 3570K because it met the budget where the 3570K and a Z77 motherboard wouldn't have. Overclocking really isn't a necessity. And if that's one thing I would cut on a rig, it would be it.

 

[Rival Son]

Is there a reason you chose the 3550P rather than the 3570K ? The 3570K seems to be a very popular gaming CPU and is not much more than the 3550P and you can OC?

Looking at the Samsung 840 Pro since it has a good rep and is a little cheaper.

Do you think its better to pick up say a Z77 board and then just get a fairly basic rig, then over time upgrade? Or just go out and get it a little later on? Currently looking at the ASRock Extreme4 (ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard).

Also, do I get a standard 660? or pick up a 3Gb 660 Ti? (It is quite a bit more, but should future proof a lot better than the standard 2Gb 660).

Also, as regards to the AMD, would you say they are better as workstation cards than the Intel? I have a slight preference for Intel just due to overheating problems I have had with AMD CPUs and friends too. But I am willing to consider it if it has clear advantages?

Thanks!

I only chose the 3350P over the 3570K because it met the budget where the 3570K and a Z77 motherboard wouldn't have. Overclocking really isn't a necessity. And if that's one thing I would cut on a rig, it would be it.

Okay, yeah. I mean I'm not SET on that budget, like I said, I intend to upgrade it over the next year, so that By around this time next year I'll have a "finished" (at the target specs I'm aiming for). I would happily consider Building a £700/800 rig and then just building it up, which is why Im looking at Z77, however with Haswell less than a week away, I am considering that option too..

If I can get hold of a little more money, is it worth going mid-range, then upgrading in 6-8 months time? It might be a cheaper upgrade, but Ill probably lose more than if I were to take a bigger jump? Or just make the Massive jump first time but just wait a little longer (meaning Haswell may drop in price, or even just Ivy Bridge)

Thanks
-Rival

 

[g-unit1111]

Okay, yeah. I mean I'm not SET on that budget, like I said, I intend to upgrade it over the next year, so that By around this time next year I'll have a "finished" (at the target specs I'm aiming for). I would happily consider Building a £700/800 rig and then just building it up, which is why Im looking at Z77, however with Haswell less than a week away, I am considering that option too..

If I can get hold of a little more money, is it worth going mid-range, then upgrading in 6-8 months time? It might be a cheaper upgrade, but Ill probably lose more than if I were to take a bigger jump? Or just make the Massive jump first time but just wait a little longer (meaning Haswell may drop in price, or even just Ivy Bridge)

Thanks
-Rival

Well you definitely picked the time of year when the new hardware is coming out so if you want to wait a couple of weeks, do that. The one thing you have to keep in mind though is if you're waiting for Haswell because Ivy Bridge prices might drop, that ain't happening. Intel doesn't drop prices on CPUs and hasn't for several generations now.

 

[Rival Son]

An update on what I finally went with. The SSD, 2nd hard drive and Monitor were bought about a month or so after I made the original build, mostly due to the old drive being really slow. The H80 was from a good friend who had upgraded his cooling and was happy to sell it to me pretty cheap, and I also got my 670 from him too at a really good price and this also meant he was more than happy to give me a hand putting my rig together. Drop me a message if you have questions and I may add a final parts price list if anyone wants..

Partpicker list - http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/kCdwyc

CPU - i5 4670K Quad Core @ 3.4 GHz
Motherboard - ASRock Z87 Extreme 4
GFX Card - Gigabyte GTX 670 Windforce x3
RAM - 8 Gb Avexir Core Blue
Memory - WD Black 1Tb 7200rpm, Corsair Force 3 240 Gb SSD (OS and some games), WD Green 2Tb Hdd
Cooling - H80i with Corsair SP120s x2, 2x Fractal Design 120mm Case Fans(intake), Corsair 120 (top exhaust), Antec 120(top exhaust)
Case - Fractal Design, Define R4
OS - Win 7 Enterprise 64.
Monitor - Asus VE 24-7H (24")