1500 - 2000 build for photo and video editing

[the stranger]

Ok I have been trying to read other people's build and build mine from their but find i am just getting confused and also dont want to build anything overkill, so thanks in advance for all suggestions and help.


Here are the parts I found so far..

- Gtx 670
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0083Y6MV6/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

- Asus sabertooth Z77
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007RIFKUS/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

- Intel i7 3930
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00603QXPM/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

- Corsair NeutronGTX 120gb -- as a boot drive
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008YUVA20/ref=ox_sc_act_title_9?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

- Corsair Vengeance 1600mhz ram
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00569K7LM/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

-Seagate Barracuda 7200 1TB hdd -- for storage

- Silverstone Tek body
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005DDCDH2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_7?ie=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER


All other things such as power supply, cooling fan, dvd drive and hydro cooling are up to you guys for suggestion.





Approximate Purchase Date: Within 3 months.

Budget Range: 1500-2000 after rebates and not including a monitor.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Almost 100% photo and video editing and
graphic design.

Are you buying a monitor: Yes -- A good ips monitor

Do you need to buy OS: Yes, windows 7 -- upgrade to 8 when released.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Amazon, newegg, -- anywhere reputable really.

Location: Spearfish, SD

Parts Preference: No

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: Dont know what this means.

Your Monitor Resolution: Would like to get a full 1080p ips monitor.

Additional Comments: Quite and cool running system.

Thanks again!

 

[fpoon]

1. The motherboard will not fit in your case. Here is a similar case with the same clean style.
2. The Sabertooth Z77 will not support your CPU, either get a X79 mobo or switch the CPU to an i7-3770 (non K, you'll be wasting money if you don't overclock).
3. Corsair doesn't make the best SSDs, get a Vertex 4 by OCZ (Vertex 4 only, the rest is crap)

SLI or Crossfire is to pair up two graphics card to work together, giving a performance boost. The power supply really depends if you SLI/CF or not. If you don't, you can get by with a 550W. If you do, 750W is enough. There is also 3-way and 4-way SLI/Crossfire, which will need even more expensive power supplies.

Note: There are many brand such as Raidmax, Coolmax, and Apevia whose power supplies might seem a bargain to you, but they are crap. They will fail easily and might even fry all your other parts. The only brands you should get are Antec, Corsair, Seasonic, and XFX.

Here are a few good LED/IPS monitors by ASUS:
21.5''
23''
24''

Here's a nice and quiet cooler:
Zalman CNPS12X

 

[redeemer]

i7 3770
Gigabyte UD5H
G.skill 2133 16 GB Ram
Plextor 256GB M5P SSD
Corsair 400R
Corsair TX 650
Gigabyte Windforce GTX 670
PA246Q Asus24 inch IPS

 

[the stranger]

1. The motherboard will not fit in your case. Here is a similar case with the same clean style.
2. The Sabertooth Z77 will not support your CPU, either get a X79 mobo or switch the CPU to an i7-3770 (non K, you'll be wasting money if you don't overclock).
3. Corsair doesn't make the best SSDs, get a Vertex 4 by OCZ (Vertex 4 only, the rest is crap)

SLI or Crossfire is to pair up two graphics card to work together, giving a performance boost. The power supply really depends if you SLI/CF or not. If you don't, you can get by with a 550W. If you do, 750W is enough. There is also 3-way and 4-way SLI/Crossfire, which will need even more expensive power supplies.

Note: There are many brand such as Raidmax, Coolmax, and Apevia whose power supplies might seem a bargain to you, but they are crap. They will fail easily and might even fry all your other parts. The only brands you should get are Antec, Corsair, Seasonic, and XFX.

Here are a few good LED/IPS monitors by ASUS:
21.5''
23''
24''

Here's a nice and quiet cooler:
Zalman CNPS9700LED

Thanks! So far I have:

Seagate Barracuda 7200 1tb
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840

Corsair Vengeance 16gb
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233281&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&PageSize=10&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&IsFeedbackTab=true#scrollFullInfo

Asus Sabertooth Z77
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131821&Tpk=sabertooth%20z77

Corsair H70 liquid cooler (Will this work with the build?)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181019

Seasonic 560w
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151098&Tpk=seasonic%20560w

i7 3770 (BUT, wouldn't I want the K since I will be working with video?)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116502

OCZ Vertex 4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227791&nm_mc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r&cm_mmc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r-_-Solid+State+Disk-_-OCZ+Technology-_-20227791

Zalman CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118019

Fractal Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352020


Now my question is...would this be all I need? And I tried comparing these specs to a fully upgraded Mac Pro and the only way it was even getting close to this was at 4,300 dollars...So would you experts say this is a pretty good PC for my needs? Or the Mac would still beat it?

 

[willyroc]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($289.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($127.86 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($93.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung Spinpoint F4 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($99.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB Video Card ($299.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Antec Three Hundred Two ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk II 950W 80 PLUS Silver Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($99.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($24.98 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus VE228H 21.5" Monitor ($123.98 @ NCIX US)
Monitor: Asus VE228H 21.5" Monitor ($123.98 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1454.73
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

Great dual-monitor solution which I've been deciding on whether or not to buy myself.

 

[fpoon]

Thanks! So far I have:

Seagate Barracuda 7200 1tb
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840

Corsair Vengeance 16gb
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233281&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&PageSize=10&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&IsFeedbackTab=true#scrollFullInfo

Asus Sabertooth Z77
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131821&Tpk=sabertooth%20z77

Corsair H70 liquid cooler (Will this work with the build?)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181019

Seasonic 560w
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151098&Tpk=seasonic%20560w

i7 3770 (BUT, wouldn't I want the K since I will be working with video?)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116502

OCZ Vertex 4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227791&nm_mc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r&cm_mmc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r-_-Solid+State+Disk-_-OCZ+Technology-_-20227791

Zalman CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118019

Fractal Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352020


Now my question is...would this be all I need? And I tried comparing these specs to a fully upgraded Mac Pro and the only way it was even getting close to this was at 4,300 dollars...So would you experts say this is a pretty good PC for my needs? Or the Mac would still beat it?

Assuming, you don't Crossfire, I've made a few changes to your build...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($309.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS12X Ball Bearing CPU Cooler ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($87.55 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($93.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($182.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: OCZ Vertex 4 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card ($387.86 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($124.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic X Series 560W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($71.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus VS239H-P 23.0" Monitor ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus VS239H-P 23.0" Monitor ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $2039.29
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-09-18 19:29 EDT-0400)

1. Seagate's drives aren't as reliable as Western Digital's drives.
2. Since you don't overclock or SLI/CF, a H77 board would be enough. No use in spending $200 for the Sabertooth.
3. I upped your SSD's space to 256GB.
4. A 7970 would be the better choice for $400 because it performs about the same as the GTX 670 with the new drivers, and it excels in photo/video editing.
5. You don't need liquid cooling for this build since you don't overclock. Besides, Corsair coolers are loud as heck.
6. I included dual 23'' IPS monitors and a Blu-ray drive, if you don't need them then you can change it.

 

[the stranger]

This looks great.

One last question though. Is the expensive video card for powering two monitors, since photo and video editing you wouldn't really need a really high end one?

Thanks.

 

[fpoon]

This looks great.

One last question though. Is the expensive video card for powering two monitors, since photo and video editing you wouldn't really need a really high end one?

Thanks.

The 7970 can power up to 4 monitors, getting 2 monitors would be a better deal since a single high end monitor (27'' 1440p) can cost up to $1000. Also the 7970 is a top of the class card, great for photo and video editing.

Also, I've changed the cooler in your build, this one cools better and is a tad quieter:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($309.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($87.55 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($93.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($155.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: OCZ Vertex 4 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card ($387.86 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($124.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic X Series 560W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($74.98 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus VS239H-P 23.0" Monitor ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus VS239H-P 23.0" Monitor ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $2030.29
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-09-19 18:21 EDT-0400)

 

[the stranger]

Thank you!

 

[the stranger]

Best answer selected by The Stranger.