Best gaming/ editing pc for $800

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Avenetador

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Feb 18, 2014
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Hey guys i'm fed up with my 5 year old toshiba laptop and i'm looking to build a new pc for around $800 it can go a little over but not more than $900 max. Anyways i'm looking for something that would be good for editing high quality photos in various applications, and also being able to play games like fsx, bf3, dayz, etc. Pretty much I just want the best I can get for the price, I plan on running windows off a ssd so a small one maybe 80gb max and a 1tb hdd 7200rpm for the rest, preferably intel processor, and nvidia graphics if it comes down to a higher speed I could live with a amd/ radeon combo, or a mix of both... I dont need a keyboard mouse, or windows, but I will need a monitor dont include the monitor in the price of the build I want a good monitor for about $200-$300, 27' if possible. I don't really want to mess around with water cooling, but I want an i5-i7 preferably with a 3.0ghz or higher clock speed... Let me know if I am being completely retarded in thinking I can build what I want for the price, Thanks!

I forgot to add I want something that will last a good 5-6 years, This is the college computer so it needs to be easy to maintain also... I don't really think it would be a problem but maybe...
 
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lmaonade200

lmaonade200

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well it's possible to fit all that in, but I would seriously recommend AMD if you are on a budget and want to do some photoshop work:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fx-8350-vishera-review,3328-9.html
this is from tom's hardwares own review of the FX 8350 and it matches pretty well with i5's and i7's for a lower cost
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r9-280x-r9-270x-r7-260x,3635-17.html
and for GPUs, the R9 270x is top notch, above anything Nvidia has to offer in that price bracket, for OpenCL acceleration, which Photoshop utilizes often
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor ($154.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($89.97 @ OutletPC)
Memory: GeIL EVO VELOCE 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($72.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk ReadyCache 32GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($45.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 270X 2GB Video Card ($227.45 @ TigerDirect)
Case: NZXT Source 220 ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ TigerDirect)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $831.31
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

For the PC, I'm sorry but I just had to go with an AMD/Radeon combo, your needs and budget just suit it too much, AMD processors are great for photoshop and video editing/encoding, and are less expensive than equivalent Intel counterparts, and AMD graphics cards are great for OpenCL applications (photoshop) and will play the games you want at high settings too, at this price which only tigerdirect has atm it doesn't lose to the GTX 760 in value/performance.

the most inexpensive 1866Mhz RAM available because photoshop is memory intensive, standard hard drives, with a small SSD for your OS, and a 650W gold power supply for you to give your CPU a nice overclock, the Gigabyte motherboard can handle it, it has a 6+2 power phase IIRC so it can take some juice!

as for the monitor:
Monitor: HP 27xi 60Hz 27.0" Monitor ($279.99 @ B&H)

I have one of these personally and the picture is just so good, the color reproduction is absolutely amazing, it does have some drawbacks though, it's very reflective and some people may not like staring at themselves all the time.

Monitor: ViewSonic VX2770Smh-LED 27.0" Monitor ($251.90 @ Amazon)
this is a good panel too, Viewsonic is a reputable monitor company
 
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lmaonade200

lmaonade200

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actually I would usually choose Intel/Nvidia because AMD prices are terribad at the moment, but AMD hardware runs photoshop and media encoding apps much better, it's only because I found a decently priced R9 270x that I even put that in there at all, usually I'd recommend a GTX 760 and never look back
 
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Avenetador

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would water cooling do anything for me? would it be worth it? also would this be a good set up to last 5-6 years?
 
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lmaonade200

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water cooling is nice to have when you dislike clutter in your case (since air cooler heat sinks are huge), and when you want an extreme overclock on your CPU, other than those reasons though they're not great, as they are expensive and the lower priced ones often cool on par or less than most quality air coolers out there.

it's a pretty decent set up that can last quite a while, but I'm not sure about 5-6 years, because technology moves pretty fast
 
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Avenetador

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Ok, thanks I can still over clock my cpu a little maybe like 4.0ghz with an air cooler though right? And I understand that technology moves fast but I just want something that if I need to will last that long...
 
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lmaonade200

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you can go past 4.0 Ghz with an air cooler, a FX 8350 is basically a FX 8320 @ 4.0Ghz and that can run on a stock cooler with no problems usually.

with the cooler master I think you should be able to take it up to 4.4/4.5Ghz

well, your system can last 5-6 years but you must be willing to take gaming down a notch as it ages, if you don't mind playing games on like low/medium settings in the future then sure this rig will last you 5-6 years no problem. As for editing and other work related applications your performance won't change, it doesn't work like games
 
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Avenetador

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Oh wow I didn't think I could clock it up that fast... But thats great to know, thanks! and yeah I saw the gaming problem but I think in a few years I might move from gaming into more of editing, thats my path for college so gaming will just be a free time kind of deal. thanks for all your knowledge. I have one more question which is would it really be worth it to get a 280x instead of a 270x or would the set up be plenty for what I need? Also what is a good high speed wifi/ wired network adapter for a good price around 20-30 im looking for 100mpbs+ speed
 
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lmaonade200

lmaonade200

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well a R9 280x is ridiculously expensive atm so I'm really not sure, if you can find a R9 280x for near 300/350 then I would say it's worth it, but the current trend has it near 400 dollars so that's not even close to worth it.

I hear Rosewill PCIe wireless adapters are pretty decent and around 20 bucks, but I've never used one before so I can't say how good they really are
 
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Avenetador

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alright after pretty much a month of scratching my ass and looking around I blew my budget and went with this set up mostly the reason why is just because some of the parts cost the same as the others or they were relatively close to the same price for more... http://pcpartpicker.com/user/avenetador/saved/4azb
 
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