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[New Build] Budget is $1000, what can I do?

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So my aim with this computer is primarily for editing and rendering. I use Adobe AfterEffects often along with PhotoShop and Illustrator for photo editing. I have no specific preference for things except that I don't plan on using dual GPU. It will be used for gaming as well, so the GPU my second priority. I also intend to use it for OSx86 as well because I've taken an interest with FinalCutPro after being introduced to it recently.

So far, this is what I have in mind:
CPU: i5-3570k [$250] or i5-2500k [$230]
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 Socket 1155 Intel Z68 [$160]
GPU:
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz [$60]

Case: Corsair Carbide 500R [$125] or Graphite 600T [$170] or NZXT Phantom [$160] or Switch 810 [$185]
PSU: Corsair HX750 [$160] or NZXT HALE90 750W [$175]
DVD-Drive:
Hard Drive [Primary]:
Hard Drive [Back-Up]:
Hard Drive [Storage]:

I live in Canada, so the sites I have access to buying at are CanadaComputers, NewEgg and Tigerdirect. I hope to spend no more than $1000 with tax so downgrading some parts are acceptable. Thanks for reading and trying to help!

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With what you have chosen so far you have not left much for the video card and hdd's. With what you have listed as uses for the computer the video card would be the most important part to consider. Photo editing and gaming both require good quality video cards and that's even by you saying that gaming is secondary to the photo editing.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1681... $189.99

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1681... $109.99

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1682... $104.99

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1681... $59.99

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1681... $53 after rebate.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1682... $79.99

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1681... $399.99

This will come to $997.99 and will give you a top quality video card and a quad core cpu along with 16gb of ram , which you will need for photo editing , but if you feel you only need 8gb then you can change it to 8gb. The hard drives will be an issue since you are wanting three so maybe start out with the one and then add as you can?
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Anonymous

dzf said:
hmm... Wouldn't it be best to balance out the parts? I am a little hesitant about that GPU though, seeing as it's $400 xD

actually best balance is to spend about twice as much for a GPU.
Anonymous

it is highly unlikely that a $100 GPU will make the best use of a $200 CPU, where as a $200 GPU will keep a $100 CPU under a good load and get the most out of it.

Oh, never knew that. If I got access to the i5-3570k over @ MicroCenter, would it be worth changing the motherboard to a better one for overclocking? I've thought about overclocking along with using an SSD for programs I use often.

If you're planning on doing serious photo ( and especially video ) editing, up your RAM to 16GB. Premiere will make use every ounce of memory you feed it, so if you want renders done as fast as possible 16GB of RAM is the way to go. Also, most Adobe products are very well threaded and will fully take advantage of both logical and physical cores, so you may want to look at hyper-threaded CPUs. If you're really serious about it, you may want to look at the 3930K. I know, it's much more expensive and it will blow your $1000 budget, but if you do this stuff professionally, that CPU deserves some consideration.

As for video cards, you actually don't necessarily need a beast of a card for this type of work. Check the article Tom's just posted today about photo editing. Adobe utilizes CUDA acceleration a lot and even an older CUDA supported card will dramatically speed up rendering. Granted, Photoshop itself doesn't use CUDA ( though some of its plug-ins do. ) Starting with CS6, Photoshop does use OpenCL, which means that it can utilize AMD cards as well. If you're on an older version, nVidia is the safe bet. But I repeat, don't feel like you need the latest and greatest. I'd say get the rest of the parts settled and then spend whatever you have left on your graphics card ( a 670 would be the highest you could possibly need. )

Last, you won't need a PSU anywhere near that big unless you're running multiple high-draw video cards. A good 500W PSU will be more than adequate.

One more final question before I make a list of parts;
- will 500w really be enough to power at least 3 HDDs, a SSD and a mid/high range graphics card?
- I doubt I would be serious enough to get that processor. I feel that a 3570k/2500k is more than enough
- how does Bulldozer compare to Ivy Bridge? I looked at the prices, and I can get an 8 core [FX-8120] for a cheaper price?

As an overall build the Intel cpu's are prefered over the AMD cpu's for gaming and video work while the Buldozer does have the 8 cores it is very good at processing data and would be excellent at server type work. But when it comes the anything video then the Intel cpu's would be a better choice and I would choose the 3570k if you go with a Z77 chipset motherboard and go with the 2500k if you go with a Z68 chipset motherboard.
When you look at a video cards spec's it tells you what power supply is recomended and that's because of the other components that will be in the Pc and will require power. So it will depend on what video card you end up going with that will determine what psu to get. With sales and rebates sometimes you can get a 600w psu for the price of a 500w so in those cases I will usually say why not go with the 600w.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $74.99 -550w

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $64.99 after rebate. -650w

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dzf said:
One more final question before I make a list of parts;
- will 500w really be enough to power at least 3 HDDs, a SSD and a mid/high range graphics card?
- I doubt I would be serious enough to get that processor. I feel that a 3570k/2500k is more than enough
- how does Bulldozer compare to Ivy Bridge? I looked at the prices, and I can get an 8 core [FX-8120] for a cheaper price?

1) Drives use very little power compared to graphic cards. The bigger question is whether the PSU will have enough power connectors for all the drives. Some smaller PSUs don't have as many cables simply because they can't power as many devices, so check the item description before you get one. That may be a bit over-cautious since many PSUs have at least four drive power cables, but "better safe than sorry" and all that. Also check that the PSU has the necessary PCIe power cables for your video card, usually listed as 6-pin or 6+2 pin.

Really, you could likely safely get by with something as low as 430W, though you'd be at its limit. But Inzone is right, if you can find a good deal on a quality 600W+ PSU, there's usually not a reason to go with something smaller. Just beware of el cheapo PSUs that want to masquerade as a high end parts. A good Antec 450W can usually outperform a no-name 650W.

2) If you're not looking for SB-E, then I'd still recommend a hyper-threaded CPU. No, it won't improve game performance, but the four extra logical cores can be utilized by many professional apps. It costs a little extra, but you don't have to change the whole mboard platform to do it.

3) Inzone already answered this. Stick with Intel at this level.
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