First PC Build (For College)

[frub]

At the end of August, I'm starting my first year of college and I want to build a good desktop computer to take with. I do use Photoshop quite a bit right now and I may end up getting into Illustrator later on. I'm also a bit of a gamer and have a rather large Steam library. Keep in mind that this is my first time building a pc from the ground up and as a result, I am a bit of a newbie with hardware.

My current part list can be found here, which is subject to change. I would like to purchase everything within the next few days, if possible.

If anyone could provide some feedback on my current part list, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

 

[coastie65]

Looks good. You may want to cut back to 16 Gb of Ram.

 

[g-unit1111]

Right off the bat, you're wasting almost $100 on useless accessories like the extra thermal compound, LED lighting, and static wrist band - none of these things are necessary to purchase or essential to the build. You won't need 32GB of RAM for basic Photoshop uses either - get one set of 2 x 8GB and then add the second set when you need it.

I would do something more along these lines:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($329.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Swiftech H220 55.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($150.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme6 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($673.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 750W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($124.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1907.87
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-08-07 15:07 EDT-0400)

- Lost the useless accessories and extra thermal compound
- Added better liquid cooler
- Better case
- GPU remains the same
- Less expensive motherboard (but still good)

Then you can add OS and whatever monitor(s) you want.

 

[frub]

Right off the bat, you're wasting almost $100 on useless accessories like the extra thermal compound, LED lighting, and static wrist band - none of these things are necessary to purchase or essential to the build. You won't need 32GB of RAM for basic Photoshop uses either - get one set of 2 x 8GB and then add the second set when you need it.

I would do something more along these lines:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($329.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Swiftech H220 55.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($150.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme6 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($673.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 750W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($124.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1907.87
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-08-07 15:07 EDT-0400)

- Lost the useless accessories and extra thermal compound
- Added better liquid cooler
- Better case
- GPU remains the same
- Less expensive motherboard (but still good)

Then you can add OS and whatever monitor(s) you want.

To be honest, I forgot that I had the LED lighting in there still. I mainly had it there to not lose the link.

A friend of mine suggested the thermal paste because of the high maximum temperature it supports. However, I wasn't sure if it was needed because of the already applied paste.

Although a bit pricey, I can justify the extra ram because I am a rather heavy multitasker. There are times when I literally have over 80 tabs open just in Chrome.

I do like the sleek look of the case you suggested, but does it have good airflow?

 

[coastie65]

As for thermal pate, some coolers come with it and some don't. I prefer to use Arctic Silver 5 as it has served me well. I have a buch of that stuff sitting up here on the shelf that came with coolers called GC2 and I didn't use it. As for the CPU cooler, you can use liquid as it is your call but can can save money on a good air cooler such as CoolerMaster 212 EVO. There is only about a 4c to 6c difference in temps under load. You can find a 1TB WD Caviar Black SATA III at Amazon.com for a decent price. I am using the motherboard you had listed, but the suggested ASRock is a good board ( ASRock is made by ASUS ).