New budget gaming/photo editing build under 1000

[kzrol88]

Approximate Purchase Date: This week

Budget Range: 750-1000 after rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Photo editing, light gaming

Parts Not Required: Keyboard, Mouse, OS

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg, open to any however

Country of Origin: USA

Parts Preferences: none

Overclocking: no

SLI or Crossfire: maybe in the future

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1200

Additional Comments: Building for sister-in-law who will be doing professional photography, so I'm going to be looking into setting it up for RAID 1, so advice on software vs hardware RAID would be helpful

Also, looking for 2 monitors for editing, cost of monitors is separate from the 1000 for computer but should be under 200 each if possible

 

[BADGJ31]

Most importantly you want an IPS type of monitor rather than TN panel. I personally recommend the new LG IPS226V-PN for a good 22" monitor. The Dell U2311H (or the smaller U2211H) is an older, yet GREAT monitor that comes HIGHLY recommended that is said to have better color reproduction but it costs more. The LG monitor is newer with LED backlighting, thinner, and has HDMI input for $200.

Hands down you want hardware RAID, but luckily many newer motherboards have this capability (RAID 0,1,5,10) for small setups so you do not need additional PCI RAID cards. Software RAID is a bad idea for photo editing - you need your CPU resources for editing.
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CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145345

Intel Core i7-2600 Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I72600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115071

COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233

ASUS P8P67 PRO (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131703

XFX P1-650X-CAH9 650W ATX12V v2.2 / ESP12V v2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207007

ASUS ENGTX460 DirectCU TOP/2DI/768MD5 GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 768MB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121390

2 x SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

Windows 7 - OEM (64 bit)

TOTAL = $1045

Best would be to skip the RAID1 and just use 1HDD for OS + Programs and 1HDD for storage of photos. OR If your budget allows you to spend another $65, then get 3 drives to allow a C: drive and an additional RAID1 for storage. Good article on RAID is here: http://forums.adobe.com/thread/525263

 

[BADGJ31]

Edit: Get this mobo instead of the one above... will allow for Quicksync which will speed up photo editing.


ASUS P8Z68-V PRO LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131730

New TOTAL = ~$1065

 

[kzrol88]

Sorry it took so long to reply, I've been in Florida for 3 weeks for my job.

I went ahead and bought what you suggested, and now as I try to install windows I get a blue screen as soon as it says "Starting Windows"

I've tried the hard drives and RAM in my other desktop and they work fine.....I'm stumped and don't know what my next step should be, any suggestions?