First Time New Build For Base Workstation

[c_mackey]

Hi,

I am finally taking the plunge and building my first system. The component list and build info can be found below. It will be mainly used for 2D and 3D design work, modeling, animation, some video editing (i.e using Autodesks' Maya and Adobe CS5 products). My budget is pretty low but i just need a new system to work off asap (as my laptop has finally bitten the dust). I want to create a decent base system and will look to develop upon it over the next few years. Any advice on parts, changes and other recommendations or general thoughts will be very helpful, as this is my first system build. Also links to anywhere I can buy parts at decent prices in the UK and Ireland would also be helpful (aside from the obvious online component retailers).

Thanks!!

Colin.

Build Info:
Approximate Purchase Date: early Feb at the latest
Budget Range: £600 - £700 max
Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, monitors, speakers, OS
Country: UK and Ireland
Overclocking: Maybe at a later date
Crossfire: Maybe at a later date

Case: Bitfenix Shinobi (windowed)
http://www.bitfenix.com/global/en/products/chassis/shinobi-window
PSU: Antec Neo Eco 620w
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371031&Tpk=antec%20neo%20eco%20620
CPU: Intel Core i5 2500k (retail)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072
Mobo: ASRock z68 Extreme4 Gen 3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157264
Mem: Corsair Vengeance 8gb 1600 mhz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233144
Graphics: Sapphire Radeon HD 6870
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102948
HDD: undecided
Optical undecided

 

[danraies]

This is a pretty solid system. Some small changes...

I don't know why you picked the Extreme4 over the Extreme3 but the downgrade won't cost you any performance.

Get whatever optical drive you want. There are about 3000 CD/DVD burners at $20 USD and they're really all the same.

You're looking for a 7200RPM HDD from Western Digital, Seagate, Hitachi, or Samsung at whatever capacity you want. It needs to be SATA but SATA II vs. SATA III doesn't make a difference and don't worry too much about cache either.

If you're going to be doing video editing you might find yourself using some cuda applications so you might want to get an nvidia card instead of a radeon card. The GTX 560 is about the nvidia equivalent of the HD 6870.