Ideal Desktop: Animation Student and Personal Device Hybrid

namelessfallen

Honorable
Sep 30, 2013
3
0
10,510
Greetings, I'm new here with low to moderate technical knowledge, but it's usually just the basics. I'm coming across a roadblock at the moment, and could use some help.

I'm trying to get specs to build a sort of 'hybrid' machine, one for personal use and animation projects. I'm a student at the Art Institute, and I'm working not only on school related projects, but also personal projects. In that down time, I'll wanna play games like Skyrim, Fallout, maybe get back into World of Warcraft. I'm also trying to get into the Elder Scrolls MMO as well.

I'd like to get a three tiered price range. Basically a High/Mid/Low end pricing, something that respectively runs Perfectly/Moderately/Minimum Reqs for what I need.

I would like to have two separate HDDs, one for Personal another for School/Personal Projects, that's for sure. Other than that, I'd like to keep as close to the high end tech curve as possible (last I was told, technology becomes obsolete after 2 years), so something that's gonna last a while. I'm comfortable with Windows 7, but 8 makes me wary. Something for Dual Display would be nice, but not required. Something that will not need overclocking (Personally I've heard too many horror stories on overclocking, and I'm not looking to killing the life of my processor), good cooling, plenty of space, 3.0 USB, etc.

Thanks for your time, and if you need any more info out of me, I'll respond ASAP. Thank you again!
 
Solution
So you'd be fine with

High Budget MAX Price == $2000
Medium Budget MAX Price == $1200
Low Budget MAX Price == $800
---
here are some [very] rough builds -->

INTEL $800

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1JDA4
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1JDA4/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1JDA4/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($194.97 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: ASRock H87M Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($86.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston Blu 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.75 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($46.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($46.98...

namelessfallen

Honorable
Sep 30, 2013
3
0
10,510


Three different builds based on pricing.

Software for Animation would end up being (at least from what I've heard, I'm still only 2 quarters in for my school): Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Maya

Software for personal gaming: Skyrim, Fallout 3 and New Vegas, World of Warcraft, Elder Scrolls Online, to name a few.

I'm trying to get a build list with estimated prices. Places like Walmart.com or Newegg.com will work, but the part list would be extremely helpful in the cases of having to acquire the parts myself and build myself.

In the software preferences on OS: I'd like to stick with 7. If 8 becomes the best idea, then so be it, but 7 seems to have the best reviews (besides XP).

Overall: I need an estimate/build list. Like I said, my knowledge is limited, and at this point so is my time with an impending surgery on it's way.

I hope this helps.
 

Archean_0-1354672

Honorable
Jul 5, 2013
186
0
10,710
High Budget MAX Price?
Medium Budget MAX Price?
Low Budget MAX Price?

or did you want somebody to take care of pricing? (is money an issue?)

Do you know the specs for the computers your school has in their labs/classrooms?
 

namelessfallen

Honorable
Sep 30, 2013
3
0
10,510


As I said, I'm looking for three builds priced accordingly, High/Med/Low. I'm not looking to have a 5k-7k priced device. Honestly, no more than 2k, overall. Again, I just want an estimated price range AND list of parts.

I'm lookin for PC, cause the majority of what I worked on was Apple. I believe they had Mac Pro's. I'll probably get one later on down the line as a workhorse for projects, but I'm going with the hybrid for now because of the consolidation of space.

Thank you
 

Archean_0-1354672

Honorable
Jul 5, 2013
186
0
10,710
So you'd be fine with

High Budget MAX Price == $2000
Medium Budget MAX Price == $1200
Low Budget MAX Price == $800
---
here are some [very] rough builds -->

INTEL $800

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1JDA4
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1JDA4/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1JDA4/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($194.97 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: ASRock H87M Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($86.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston Blu 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.75 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($46.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($46.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 371 ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($90.88 @ Amazon)
Total: $756.49
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-01 11:47 EDT-0400)
===
INTEL $1200

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1JDPH
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1JDPH/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1JDPH/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($300.57 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus Z87-K ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($115.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($120.00 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($46.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($46.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card ($349.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Rosewill Line Glow ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($90.88 @ Amazon)
Total: $1176.35
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-01 12:03 EDT-0400)
===
INTEL $2000

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1JEde
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1JEde/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1JEde/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($300.57 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus Z87-K ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($115.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($156.90 @ NCIX US)
Storage: OCZ Vector Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($103.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX Titan 6GB Video Card ($995.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Rosewill R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($75.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($90.88 @ Amazon)
Total: $2015.22
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-01 12:27 EDT-0400)

The titan will require a higher watt PSU, but again, those builds are just guidelines. The req PSU for the GTX Titan is ~ 650W w/out SLI.
Proper cooling is also recommended.
 
Solution