$3k Gaming/Video Editing/Workstation build

Northwood · Jan 8, 2014

I am looking forward to building my third desktop within a few months. I am looking for something to be my daily workstation, so reliability is of utmost importance to me. Here is a list of parts that I have picked out, but if an entirely different configuration would be better, by all means let me know:
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Northwood/saved/3nhu

Approximate Purchase Date: e.g.: Two to three months (should I wait for Broadwell/Maxwell?)

Budget Range: $2,000 - $3,000, including monitors

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Daily use Workstation (coding, word processing), Video Editing, Gaming

Are you buying a monitor: Yes, at least one, or preferably two 1440p displays

Parts to Upgrade: Everything - though I have several secondary drives that I will be moving over, so I don't need a secondary HDD.

Do you need to buy OS: No, I have a copy of Windows 8.1 Pro - non OEM

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg.com/Amazon.com

Location: Houston, TX

Parts Preferences: Intel/Nvidia

Overclocking: Maybe, if it's easy and 100% stable

SLI or Crossfire: No, I don't want to have to deal with multiple cards or their heat dissipation

Your Monitor Resolution: Upgrading to 2560x1440

Additional Comments: I would like for the PC to be as quiet as possible, since I will be sitting next to it all day long. I have 3 21.5" 1080p displays right now in Eyefinity. I would like to use at least two of them in portrait mode on either side of the 1440p displays.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: I want something newer than my current rig (AMD 1055T, 6850, 128GB SSD, ~5 TB Storage w/ RAID)

TheMohammadmo · Jan 8, 2014

You live in houston, man thats where I used to live. I just moved like a month ago.

Marcopolo123 · Jan 8, 2014

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($319.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9B SE2 37.9 CFM CPU Cooler ($46.99 @ Mwave)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-D3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($134.95 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($160.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($82.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB Video Card ($745.91 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Crossover Black Tune 2755 AMG 60Hz 27.0" Monitor ($449.00 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Crossover Black Tune 2755 AMG 60Hz 27.0" Monitor ($449.00 @ Newegg)
Other: Monitor Mounts ($50.00)
Total: $2754.77
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-08 12:24 EST-0500)

Francisco Costa · Jan 8, 2014

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($319.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($299.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($160.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB Video Card ($699.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 500R White ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair RM 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Asus PB278Q 27.0" Monitor ($557.58 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus PB278Q 27.0" Monitor ($557.58 @ Newegg)
Other: Monitor Mounts ($50.00)
Total: $3001.05
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-08 12:12 EST-0500)

Made some changes and included a motherboard, which you didn't

About the graphics card, here's a link to the seller's website, because it doesn't have an image on Pcpartpicker: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127770

TheMohammadmo · Jan 8, 2014

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($319.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme6 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($164.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($157.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($160.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($58.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 4GB Video Card ($389.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT Phantom (White) ATX Full Tower Case ($114.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: Corsair 760W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Asus PB278Q 27.0" Monitor ($557.58 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus PB278Q 27.0" Monitor ($557.58 @ Newegg)
Other: Monitor Mounts ($50.00)
Total: $2783.04
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-08 12:13 EST-0500)

Benefits
-You can get the cpu way cheaper if you go to the Micro Center store in galleria http://www.microcenter.com/site/stores/houston.aspx
-Corsair H100i is a great cpu cooler and can definitely overclock the i7 over 4.2 ghz
-For the motherboard, I choose the Asrock Z87 Extreme 6 This motherboard has a whole lot of great features which you can read at newegg.com and really goes with the color scheme
-Speaking of color scheme, I went for a blue color scheme
-Instead of 32gb ram, I went with 16gb ram that is at 1866mhz. I have this same exact ram personally.
-The ssd is the same as you chose and I added a 1tb hard drive.
-Instead of the 780ti, I had to go with the 770 at 4gb.
-The Phantom should hold all of your parts and even if you do upgrade, it should still hold it. Plus it goes with the blue color scheme with the blue led fan.
-The psu is the same as you chose which is a great decision
-The two monitors are at 1440p and they are cheaper than the dell monitors that you chose before.
If you have any questions please let me know

TheMohammadmo · Jan 9, 2014

Who chose francisco build as the best solution. Not trying to be mean or anything, my intention is to just criticize. There is no storage whats so ever except for the 250gb ssd. That 250gb ssd will easily run out in probably 2 months. I have a 1tb hard drive and I am already down to 694gb left. I have given 100gb to backup and the rest to all of my files. The cpu cooler he has chosen is considered the best "lower budget cooler". THIS IS A $3000 BUDGET. The only good thing that I would say about his build is the graphics card. You really dont need 32gb of ram for gaming and video editing, its too overkill. My psu is 80+ platinum and is made my SeaSonic who manufacture the best psus available, according to SR71 BlackBird (he is a psu expert on Tom's Hardware). Even though it says Corsair AX760, it actually is made my SeaSonic. There you go.

Francisco Costa · Jan 9, 2014

I didn't put any hard drives because he said he already had hard drives he would move to the new build...
The CPU cooler I chose is very competent if he's going to do small OCs... Just because it is a high end build it doesn't mean it must have a watercooler. That way it sounds like the CPU will overheat because of the awesomeness of the build around it

I put 32GB of RAM because that's what he had in the build. I wouldn't buy 32GB of RAM, but he may need them for some heavy editing/rendering stuff. I personally would put 8GB if I wasn't going to edit and 16 if I was. But I don't know what's he going to do with his PC.
What's wrong with the PSU I chose? It is a great PSU for the price. It is 750W and 80+ Gold. Try finding something similar in Seasonic.

Northwood · Jan 9, 2014

Marcopolo123 :

TheMohammadmo :

I have 5TB worth of storage that I will be moving over from my previous build, so I do not need to purchase an HDD (I only need three available HDD bays, SATA Power connectors, and SATA connectors on the motherboard)

I have chosen to keep sections of each build - I like the idea of the Corsair H100i for cooling, as I hear Haswell does not overclock well due to temperatures.

I've never really given thought to the PSU, I always buy Corsair, and my PSUs always work. I bought an XFX and a CoolerMaster one time and they both broke within months (Replaced with Corsair units).

As for the 32GB of RAM, I plan on using at least 16GB of it as a RAMdisk to place my scratch files on when I'm working in Premiere Pro. The benefits are amazing, as I've got 8GB RAM right now, and I split if 4GB available 4GB RAMdisk, but I'm running out a available RAM during renders

. I guy down the hall from me has 24GB RAM, and he wishes he could have a bigger scratchdisk, so I figured 32GB was a safe bet.

Here is my most recent build, including a few bonus features like a 500GB SSD, speakers, wireless headphones, a mousepad, and a blu-ray burner, but only has one high-quality professionally calibrated 1440p screen. I plan on tipping two of my current 1080p screens into portrait mode (hence $50 for monitor mounts) and placing them on either side of the 27" 1440p display - useful for code, word processing, or web pages.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Northwood/saved/3nUc

Let me know what you think, I appreciate you guys' help.

TheMohammadmo · Jan 9, 2014

Im sorry I guess I accidentaly skipped the part that you said you would be bringing hdd's over so i must have missed that my bad. Just a quick question, WHY DO YOU ALWAYS GET THE MOST EXPENSIVE MONITOR. LOL. Anyway, so I changed up the motherboard and you are going to love this motherboard. It is the ASRock Z87 OC Formula/ac. Its is waterproof, so lets say the h100i does leak(which it never really has except for like 10 people on the interwebz). Comes with thermal paste, has a monitor that shows the cpu temp, twin power cooling, etc. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157379&clickid=wRwSZDQO21JHxXiTF5yWBz4jUkT1ji1we1jZSU0&iradid=97618&ircid=2106&irpid=79301&nm_mc=AFC-IR&cm_mmc=AFC-IR-_-na-_-na-_-na I also upgraded the ram to ddr3 2133. Here is the build ----->http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2ynN1

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$3k Gaming/Video Editing/Workstation build

Northwood

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Marcopolo123

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Francisco Costa

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TheMohammadmo

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TheMohammadmo

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Francisco Costa

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Northwood

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