Building a work computer and a gaming system for $2000-$3000

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Tinkmaster Overspark

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Feb 14, 2014
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Hello everyone,

I haven't been monitoring computer hardware for quite some time, and i want to ask about the kind of parts you all would suggest for a computer in the $2000 to $3000 budget range. I require a large amount of ram and a good computer for work which is photoshop based, and also a strong system overall because i enjoy gaming in my spare time.

I am wishing to run 2 or 3 monitors at 1920x1080 if at all possible, They don't have to fall under the budget as i can add them one at a time as funds become available.

Thank you for any and all reccomendations, i'll be looking into all of them seriously
 
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lmaonade200

lmaonade200

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Oct 31, 2013
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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($309.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($99.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte G1.Sniper Z87 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($174.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Trident X 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($164.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($89.89 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital WD Green 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 290X 4GB Video Card ($629.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 660W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($58.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit - OEM (64-bit) ($99.98 @ Best Buy)
Total: $1953.76
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

I'd say something like this, a solid i7, even though photoshop is largely a single process application I think having an i7 will benefit in the long run.

16 GB of RAM at 8 CAS latency, a fast set of RAM even if it's "only" clocked at 1600MHz (you can always overclock and tweak the timings on your RAM later anyways)

R9 290x, the main reason why I didn't go with an Nvidia card even though AMD ones are horribly overpriced currently is that Photoshop CS6 no longer supports CUDA acceleration, so the main thing that Nvidia had an advantage over AMD is gone, Photoshop CS6 utilizes OpenCL acceleration instead and AMD cards trump Nvidia cards in general in that area of GPU computing. I also only went with one for now because horribly expensive, when prices die down you may want to consider another one for Crossfire if you wish (you'll also have to replace the PSU, 660W is not enough for 2 cards)

the R9 290x at superbiiz right now is actually out of stock, but I put it here in hopes that it'll restock at the same price because that's about the lowest you'll find for a quality 290x right now

660W Platinum rated Seasonic power supply, the best of the best to give your system a nice overclock should you want more performance.
 
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