Photoshop/Games Build for Under $1k USD

[kstrat2001]

I've been working on a new build for a friend. I started with the Tom's system builder marathon $650 gamer build and ended up with some upgrades. One thing was I wanted to get up to DX11 with the new AMD 5000 series cards. I also made it up to date with DDR3 instead of DDR2.

Let me know if there are any suggestions. I know he will be running Windows 7 Pro and will use the machine for Photoshop and Flash/After Effects. He will also dabble in games and already said he is interested in Starcraft 2 which unfortunately doesn't have any benchmarks that I know of on current hardware. Other than that it will be a general purpose machine. We have also been on the fence about 64 bit in order to get more RAM for these apps (being conservative in case of compatibility issues). Any input there would be a plus.

He would also like to keep costs below $1000 including Win7. Another question: is it ok to use the OEM copies of Win7 for personal use or is that limited to system builders (high volume) only.

GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
$84.99

SAPPHIRE 100283L Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card
$169.99

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor Model HDZ955FBGIBOX
$175.99

Crucial Ballistix Tracer 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory w/ LEDs Model BL2KIT25664TR1337
$94.99

Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply
$79.99

Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
$59.99


Rosewill Wind Ryder RZLS142A-P BK Dual 120mm Cooling Fans and Mesh Design Front Panel Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
$39.99

Pioneer CD/DVD Writer Black IDE Model DVR-A18M LabelFlash Support
$44.99

 

[dmcfc]

Why do you want to get a IDE optical drive??Really??
Get a sata drive

Get this hd instead

and this psu because it is more powerful, modular, leave you more power to upgrade in the future, and it is just 10 dollars more expensive

 

[ghoulsrulefools]

Why do you want to get a IDE optical drive??Really??
Get a sata drive

Get this hd instead

and this psu because it is more powerful, modular, leave you more power to upgrade in the future, and it is just 10 dollars more expensive

The corsair TX series that you recommended isn't modular, but they are still very good power supplies. Also there is nothing wrong with buying an oem copy of Windows.

 

[kstrat2001]

Why do you want to get a IDE optical drive??Really??
Get a sata drive

Get this hd instead

and this psu because it is more powerful, modular, leave you more power to upgrade in the future, and it is just 10 dollars more expensive

I appreciate the help. It's been a couple years since I built a system and I guess I should have assumed SATA was the way to go these days with the optical drive. I'll switch that up right away.

I am wondering why you would recommend the cheaper HDD? It has half the cache than the WD and is only like 5 bucks cheaper. The WD is $10 off right now which makes it a steal for a black edition.

 

[ibnsina]

I would add another 500 GB HD for backup.
..........................................................................................
The WD Black WD5001AALS has 2 x 250 GB platters (slower to access data) and comes with 5 years warranty. While Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB HD502HJ has 1 x 500 GB platter (faster to access data) and comes with 3 years warranty. Also it consumes less power, quiter and cooler operation. The choice is yours. I would go for 2 Samsung F3 drives.

 

[dmcfc]

The corsair TX series that you recommended isn't modular, but they are still very good power supplies. Also there is nothing wrong with buying an oem copy of Windows.

ops, sorry, yeah that psu is not modular, but still i would go with it,xD