First Build $2,500max

That looks really good - you might want to consider the X79 platform and the i7-3820 - the CPU will clock about the same but the ability to have 64GB of RAM will be more than worth it for working with large files

^+1 but for what you are doing you might want to get the 3930k.
I like the single 7950. that is all you need for 1080p

The problem with the 3930K is that its' a $600 CPU. That could really throw off the budget - the 3820 is a more significant upgrade than the 2600K or 2700K are, and the expanded RAM options would be a huge benefit for video editing.

I really like the new Radeons - I wish I could afford a 7950 but I'm for sure replacing my 550TIs with a 7870 as soon as they're available.

Thank you all for your help! I will take it on board! I'm really excited and nervous about this being my first build. A lot of people have said it's a beast of a project. I just hope it all works out without any problems. I'll be doing the test run when I get the parts to make sure it's all in working order.
SO EXCITED.

Its actually pretty simple to build a computer, if you follow the directions. The hard part is troubleshooting if you run into any problems. You'll enjoy it and once you do it the first time it'll stick with you for a while.

I agree that x79 might be a little better for the extra memory, but is it worth the extra cost to the buyer? If his budget is $2500 max then thats his call, because he can surely afford it.

However, if he is not really wanting to spend that much for a minor improvement he should stay with SB or Ivy Bridge. The only improvement with the x79 system would be on video editing and possibly 3d modeling (not sure how demanding this is) and the price/performance is not amazing.

Overall your build is fairly solid. I like that you went with one of the new cards from AMD as well, and got a quality psu which people around here can't seem to do. If you go this route and have money left over I would definitely look into getting another monitor (Very Beneficial for work related to what your doing)

I do not recommend you get a computer @ $2500 because your computer ganna be trash in 5-7 years where there's these 14nm CPU and the 22nm CPU which is coming later this year plus Kepler is coming out and is said to kill AMD 7970 in games(As in the GTz 680 is owning 7970 at most games except 1 game) It's best if you either build like a $1000 build or waste money on these parts(now like the 2600k which isn't better than X79 + IvyBridge-E) and after few years or month, your ganna be thinking, I wasted $2500... Since last year, lots of cpu and GPU is being upgraded to better performance... Since your doing Video Editing, best if you get a GTx 680 and a 3820 now and upgrade CPU to IvyBridge-E at the end of this year(2012) which is said to take full advantage of the 22nm as in performance or so and it probably comes in either 8 or 6 cores but is extremely fast

Legend that is a wall of text with a lot of misinformation. First of all every computer will be outdated eventually. Some people can afford the $2500 and some cant. I in no means sway people one way or the other. He should of narrowed down his price range imo.

Yes, Kepler and Ivy Bridge are coming. What we know about kepler at this time? Nothing. The only things you have seen legend are either nvidia released marketing graphs, but those graphs are very very very misleading. The 680 by no means "kills" the 7970. It may in fact be faster but we do not know for sure. Nvidia only tested the 680 vs the amd 7970 on games dealing with directx 11.1 and phsyX which will cause it to beat AMD. AMD could very well beat the 680 in non PhsyX titles and games not on directx 11.1. So please keep your opinions to yourself until more information becomes available especially when your talking to a first time builder where your claims to cause bad purchases etc.

On the same point, he did not choose the 7970 anyways he chose the 7950. Both are good cards, maybe a little overpriced but still great cards. If he wants to wait for kepler thats his decision. (March 23rd is the supposed released date of the 680 and 670ti) That is the rumor so do not hold me to it. IMO its worth the wait, but ivy bridge is not a huge upgrade if you already have SB so it might be worth it to wait (depends on buyers itch for the new pc). If not SB will be fine at least until Haswell comes out

Second, if he goes i5 2500k he would not be spending $2500, only if he goes x79 probably. The 2500k is not better then x79 (overclocks better), but the price/performance ratio is. With that being said IB has been shown to compete with x79 without being OC'd which is scary.

Lastly, everything you talk about is 6months to a year away. This forum is about purchases now not in 6 months because we could be wasting our time. If you keep waiting on the best item to come out, Im sorry you won't ever have a computer built.

Oh that's not true even slightly - with minor upgrades (GPU, SSD, etc) a computer on that budget will last a long time. Even a $1K build with the right maintenance and upgrades will last at least that long. CPUs have not changed for the most part - and probably won't for the foreseeable future. Even the hardcore wait for Ivy crowd will only tell you that they're going to be offering only a 10% increase over what's out now - not really that much when you think about it.



Which is exactly why I'm refusing to recommend Keppler until we see an actual, physical card. That could be August, that could be December. Right now - all it is is insane PR overhype. NVIDIA is playing the same PR noise machine that Apple plays and they're doing it quite well. Until there's physical cards on the market, I'm not buying the claim that the 680 is the 7970 killer everyone thinks it's going to be. IMO - the wait for Ivy / wait for Keppler crowd is going to be insanely disappointed if the benchmarks don't match the PR noise.



I've heard they got pushed back until late July / August. I'm not sure how credible my sources are but they've been right on the Radeons so far.



Like I keep saying - we can't really judge that until there's a physical product. Until there is, all I'm seeing is PR noise. Intel and NVIDIA can say whatever they want but until they actually release the products, it's all noise.



That's why I'm never recommending waiting - because if you keep waiting, you'll keep waiting and waiting and waiting. Moore's law states that *SOMETHING* better is always going to be around the corner - it's best to suck it up and buy now rather than to keep waiting, because if you're the type that waits you'll never be satisfied with anything.

GTx 680 is better in games AND also in video editing such as Adobe which requires CUDA or at least for the better which AMD dont have and also We knew probably about 80% on what is going on, on a GTx 680 where as it's fast and have 2GB RAM also with 1k processing unit and is expensive...