Budget PC Build help for animation and online gaming

mckitten1997 · May 1, 2016

Hello I will be attending art school next year and will be using a variety of different art programs mostly Photoshop/Adobe software, Z Brush, Maya, and Paint Tool SAI. Online gaming will consist mostly of MMORPGs.

This is my very first time creating any PC build (I am very new to PC building) and I would prefer to stay on a budget below $1,200 US, less would be even better although i'm open to more if needed. I'm not a serious gamer and am mostly a digital artist, please let me know/give feedback if this build seems suitable or if I could leave out/add anything else, thank you

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($319.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.33 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($139.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($37.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($41.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($318.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair SPEC-02 ATX Mid Tower Case ($52.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Micro Center)
Optical Drive: Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($53.89 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($79.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1119.92

EDIT: I am aware peripherals still need to be added and the reason I haven't added any is because of my $1,200 budget, I want to see if this build is ok first

jmsellars1 · May 1, 2016

That looks OK although the SSD and PSU aren't great quality. You could get better ones for not much more.

I don't think the CPU is very good value for money either personally. If you don't plan on overclocking I'd get a Xeon as it is much cheaper with slightly less performance and if you do plan on overclocking I'd get the i7-6700k for a similar price. Means you could get DDR4 RAM which would probably help with the work stuff.

If you're just playing MMO's, this would be a decent build for significantly less cash:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($69.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($55.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($87.77 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 950 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair SPEC-02 ATX Mid Tower Case ($52.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $786.59
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-01 14:00 EDT-0400

If you do plan on playing very demanding games at some point though, a GTX 970 and an overclockable CPU would probably be best.

EDIT: Whatever happens I'd definitely go for that Rosewill PSU, it is significantly better quality for the same price.

StormBrew · May 1, 2016

I was a content creator back in Middle and High School, for digital broadcasting which involved heavy use of Premiere and Photoshop. From past experience, I would say the CPU isn't as important as you might think. Both photoshop and premiere utilize the GPU in the actual editing process more so than the CPU. If you are using tools that involve high amounts of rendering output, I would reccomend springing for 32 gigabytes of ram. It may seem a bit excessive now, but when it comes to editing and rendering video, Ram is your life saver. All pre-renders in application rely on ram, so the more of it, the faster the render time. I added a 1tb harddrive as i'm guessing you want to save your work. Changed the GTX 970 to a 960, since 2gb of VRAM is all you need for 1080p video, and the 970 is overkill for MMO's. To summarize, worry more about rendering versus CPU horsepower, and you should be fine.
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/8TjTbv
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/8TjTbv/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($69.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Gaming Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($87.77 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($179.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H22 ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.98 @ Directron)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($79.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $838.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-01 14:32 EDT-0400
EDIT: I changed the PSU to the aforementioned one above.

mckitten1997 · May 1, 2016

jmsellars1 :

That looks OK although the SSD and PSU aren't great quality. You could get better ones for not much more.

I don't think the CPU is very good value for money either personally. If you don't plan on overclocking I'd get a Xeon as it is much cheaper with slightly less performance and if you do plan on overclocking I'd get the i7-6700k for a similar price. Means you could get DDR4 RAM which would probably help with the work stuff.

If you're just playing MMO's, this would be a decent build for significantly less cash:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($69.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($55.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($87.77 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 950 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair SPEC-02 ATX Mid Tower Case ($52.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $786.59
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-01 14:00 EDT-0400

If you do plan on playing very demanding games at some point though, a GTX 970 and an overclockable CPU would probably be best.

EDIT: Whatever happens I'd definitely go for that Rosewill PSU, it is significantly better quality for the same price.

Thank you for your answer!

mckitten1997 · May 1, 2016

StormBrew :

I was a content creator back in Middle and High School, for digital broadcasting which involved heavy use of Premiere and Photoshop. From past experience, I would say the CPU isn't as important as you might think. Both photoshop and premiere utilize the GPU in the actual editing process more so than the CPU. If you are using tools that involve high amounts of rendering output, I would reccomend springing for 32 gigabytes of ram. It may seem a bit excessive now, but when it comes to editing and rendering video, Ram is your life saver. All pre-renders in application rely on ram, so the more of it, the faster the render time. I added a 1tb harddrive as i'm guessing you want to save your work. Changed the GTX 970 to a 960, since 2gb of VRAM is all you need for 1080p video, and the 970 is overkill for MMO's. To summarize, worry more about rendering versus CPU horsepower, and you should be fine.
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/8TjTbv
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/8TjTbv/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($69.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Gaming Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($87.77 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($179.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H22 ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.98 @ Directron)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($79.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $838.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-01 14:32 EDT-0400
EDIT: I changed the PSU to the aforementioned one above.

Thank you!!

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