First time!

[mmun_80]

Hi everyone, I m planning to build my first PC when Windows 8 comes out. I ve gained quite a bit of knowledge from these forums(Thanks a lot) and have a pre build specs finalized. I wanted your opinions/thoughts as this my first attempt ever, so kinda nervous.

PC will be mainly used for photoshop cs5-6, no gaming. Most important aspects would be responsiveness(app load time, photo processing etc), reliability & longevity(as I'm planning to spend ~ 2500k), so no over clocking, trying to keep temp as low as possible with air cooled system.

Case- Corsair graphite series 600 tm with side mesh

PSU- Kingwin striker 500W fanless( I know but it's platinum plus even on low load so expect temp to remain low)

Mobo- Intel desktop board DZ77RE-75K

CPU -i7 3770k with thermalright archon cooler

Memory- Corsair DDR 3 1600mhz 8gb x 2

Graphics- HIS AMD Radeon 7750 with stock specs

Storage- Samsung 830 series ssd 512 gb

Monitor- Dell U2711 27" IPS back panel


So anyone thinks im doing anything stupid? My concerns- Is 7750 be enough for cs6? And also that I'm not sure about the reliability of the brands I ve chosen, just went with the best guess based on online reviews.

Thanks a lot!

 

[geekapproved]

I'd certainly not recommend a Kingwin power supply, but that's your choice, it's your components and your money.

I have no idea what graphics card is required for CS.

For video card brands, I like XFX because of the lifetime warranty (if you register within 30 days)

 

[mmun_80]

Thank you much for the reply. I did read online that kingwin are not reliable in general but on the other hand I read very good reviews about this one particular model & unlike other 80 plus rated psu it maintains high efficiency even in very low & high(greater than 500W) loads, fully modular, active pfc. Also has a 5 yr warranty. Hard to find all these features in psu ~ 500 w range. I also had narrowed to "be quite 500w" but I guess they don't sell in US. I don't think I need the whole 500 w but just future proofing in case I upgrade the graphic card.

Do you any have any recommendations?

Appreciate it

 

[inzone]

COOLER MASTER Storm Scout SGC-2000-KKN1-GP Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
$79.99 and a $10 rebate makes the final price $69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119196

Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I73770K
$349.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116501

EVGA M020-00-000234 Superclock CPU Cooler
$49.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835288001

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
$119.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533

CORSAIR Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CML16GX3M2A1600C10
$119.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233280

ASUS P8Z77-V LE PLUS LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
$169.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131848


SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold ((SS-650KM Active PFC F3)) 650W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply
$139.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151088

SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC256D/AM 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) Desktop Upgrade Kit
$299.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147135

EVGA 02G-P4-2670-KR GeForce GTX 670 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
$399.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130782

ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM
$16.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

HP ZR2740w Black and Brushed Aluminum 27" 12 ms (GTG) IPS Panel Height & Pivot Adjustable Widescreen LED-Backlit LCD Monitor 380 cd/m2 1000:1
$679.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824176242

LG Black 10X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal 12X Internal Blu-ray Drive 3D Playback & M-DISC Support Model UH12LS29 LightScribe Support - OEM
$59.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136246

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM
$11.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007


The total for this build comes to $2498.87 and is just under your budget of $2500 , the video card is top notch and the SSD is a bit smaller so you can have a regular hdd for storage and a 512gb SSD is not necessary because you can load the OS nad all of your programs onto a 256gb drive. If you want to keep a 2560x1440 monitor then you can go with the HP model which is an IPS pnnel and the monitor will also pivit which is a nice feature so that in some cases when needed you can rotate the monitor 90 degrees to be straight up and down and it has led backlighting which the Dell does not have. Both the video card and the HP monitor have display port connectors.

 

[mmun_80]

Thank you for taking time to give your recommendations. I really like the idea of getting small ssd & a additional hdd as the only thing which will require lot of storage is pictures. But Im apprehensive from my experience with owning a Sony z series laptop. I have only 120 gb, it was blazingly fast when I bought it but now it's as slow or fast as a regular hdd laptop. I have tried everything I'm supposed to make ssd faster. Enabled TRIM etc but it's still not as fast it used to be. I ve used up 100 of 120 gb , I think probably that has something to with slowing the laptop that's why I was going for a big ssd.

 

[inzone]

I have been using SSD's for quite some time and to me the sweet spot for a SSD is the 240/256gb model. It will hold all of your programs and Win. 64. You really don't need to store files on a SSD that in itself will slow it down. As long as you enable AHCI in the bios before loading the OS and yo don't go over 75% capacity the SSD should stay at or near the rated speed. Picking the right SSD brand is also important , Intel 520 , Samsung 830, Crucial M4 and OCZ Max IOPS would be the choices.
Another setup to consider is this , if you notice the price of the Samsung 830 256gb ($274) and the price of the 512gb model ( $699.99) you can get two of the 256gb model and have the same amount of gb's for $150 less and then instead of getting the regular hdd get the Western Digital Veloceraptor 600gb 10,000 rpm sata3 HDD or if you are fine with 512gb of space then the OS and programs will be on one SSD and storage on the other SSD. You could also get the 256gb SSD and the Veloceraptor for storage , I've used the Raptors for rears and had good success with them and they are faster than a regular HDD. So if you manage the Space on the SSD and don't go over 75% and enable AHCI then you should have a good performing SSD for a long time.
That is the setup that I have and you get away from the slower regular hdd and you have just over 1TB of space. The setup does put you over budget though

 

[mmun_80]

Thanks again. That's a good suggestion, most likely I'll go for 2 x 256 gb Samsung ssd.

 

[mmun_80]

Best answer selected by mmun_80.