$1500 Digital Art build

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Approximate Purchase Date: Next week

Budget Range: $1,200-$1,500, but I can go to $2,000 if it guarantees upgradeability. I'd rather stick to budget, though, so it would have to be something really worth it.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Digital painting in CS6 Photoshop, modeling in Mudbox and Maya, animation in Flash, basic animation in Maya, surfing the internet, gaming, and eventually 3ds Max (I'm fine with upgrading before I step up my use of Maya and 3ds Max. I need Photoshop to run well immediately.)

Are you buying a monitor: Yes

Parts to Upgrade: Entirely new build. I just fried another Mac and I'm jumping ship. I don't even have a keyboard.

Do you need to buy OS: Yes, and it'll have to be Windows 7 Pro.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com

Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Parts Preferences: by brand or type: I'll take any quality part that I can afford. I don't care who made it, so arguments for AMD processors or Radeon video cards are welcome here.

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe. I know Maya doesn't support SLI--I'll have to check my other programs.

Your Monitor Resolution: I'd like to buy the highest possible within budget.

Additional Comments: I will be upgrading in the future, so a case, motherboard, and CPU that allow this are my first priority. I can add RAM or upgrade the GPU later, so it's ok if they're just competent instead of outstanding.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: I'm one crashed project away from going the full Office Space on my Mac.
 
My suggestion, all from newegg :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($319.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC12DX_BK 68.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($65.66 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra Plus 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB Video Card ($259.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 650W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1473.55
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
 
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Wow, that is a great build. Thank you.

One question: is there any other video card you would recommend? I've heard bad things from other animators about the GeForce 600 series--apparently it refuses to play nice with Maya. I can't afford a quadro, so I think I need to either drop back to a Nvidia 500 series or switch to AMD. Suggestions?
 
I thought it was for adobe, yes, a professional card will be better, updated suggestion to fit the budget :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($319.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra Plus 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: ATI FirePro V5900 2GB Video Card ($430.98 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Source 220 ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 650W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1488.87
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
 

boulbox

Honorable
Apr 5, 2012
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Nice build django,

there is also the option to save money by going with the xeon chip which is pretty much a locked i7 3770k and costs $100 cheaper.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1220 V2 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.98 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($87.55 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Plextor M5S Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($94.99 @ Microcenter)
Video Card: PNY Quadro 4000 2GB Video Card ($703.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($52.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 450W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($86.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($135.62 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1578.04
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-13 15:54 EST-0500)

went a bit over for the quadro card also the quadro can not be SLIed
 
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Like I said, I don't mind going over provided I'm getting a noticeable improvement, which is why I keep looking at the i7 3930K and trying to decide if I'll need the extra processing power.
 
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Thanks, djangoringo and boulbox. These builds are really helping, especially the second one djangoringo put together.
 

boulbox

Honorable
Apr 5, 2012
1,880
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11,960
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3930K 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($560.98 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 CPU Cooler ($80.48 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock X79 Extreme6 ATX LGA2011 Motherboard ($219.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung Spinpoint F3 EG 1TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.88 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Plextor M5S Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($94.99 @ Microcenter)
Video Card: ATI FirePro V5900 2GB Video Card ($429.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($52.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($135.62 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1900.87
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-13 17:59 EST-0500)

2011 builds can be pretty pricey but here it is for you, the ATI firepro can CFX and doesn't use a whole lot of energy. so i put enough power in the PSU to allow for that.

thanks for the info django