Will this build be good enough...?

[RyanStern]

Hello! This is my first time building a new PC up myself but I am not sure if I am getting it right. I have also made a post in HardOCP but i thought I'll sought for more opinions here as well.

The programs I will be using are:

I will be using my computer for these programs:
- Autodesk Maya
- Autodesk 3D studio Max
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe After Effects
- Adobe Premiere Pro
- Adobe Illustrator
- Audacity
- Corel Painter
- Cubase
- Cakewalk
- Z brush
- Wacom Intuos Pro

Apart from these softwares, I do a little of gaming. Gaming is not entirely my priority but it will be nice to be have them on the go. Games that I play include Blade and Soul, Witcher 2 and probably Witcher 3, Skyrim and Starcraft 2. If it is possible, I will like to be able to play Blade and Soul at maximum settings.

Experts over in HardOCP had given me some insight into what is more in priority for After Effects and Premiere Pro. As such, I'll work with them using my company's PC.

I have calculated my budget of 1,900 USD and I have come up with a build like this.

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor
Motherboard: Asus Z87-DELUXE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
CPU liquid cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
RAM: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory
Hard drive: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (scratch disk)
Hard drive: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (OS and programs)
Hard drive: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive
GPU: Asus Radeon R9 280X 3GB Video Card
Casing: Corsair Graphite Series 600T ATX Case
PSU: SeaSonic X-650 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX 650W Power Supply
O/S: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro (64 bit)

Is the PSU sufficient enough? Do you guys have any recommendations for which thermal paste I should use?

I am most concerned about cooling system because over where I am, the ambient temperature is about 32 degrees Celsius. I am quite worried about it because my current PC is at 57 degrees Celsius at idle. What recommendation of casing fans should I get for my situation?

 

[H4X3R]

Wow, those over at hardocp must really have no experience. Here is a build i suggest:http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2l9Pi
Now to explain myself.
CPU: you did not mention if you overclock or not, if not this will be great. The stock cooler will do the job.
Graphics card: i chose a gtx 780 because it was the best card within your budget for the programms that you are using. Many of the programms utilize the cuda core architecture in this nVidia card.
Storage: i chose a 1TB SSD as all the files that you create have to go somewhere. This will help speed up your producing and also copying of files, thus making you more efficient. I chose another 1TB HDD for other storage.
Motherboard: this is a fully specd motherboard from the #1 motherboars manufacturer in the world meaning you have a lot of room for more drives or additional pci / e cards such as sound cards, raid cards, etc.
RAM: i chose 16GB because that will help with the rendering and quick transfer of files. Can be upgraded to 32GB
Power supply: i chose a 650W gold plus psu from one of the best brands, corsair (although it is not made by corsair). This is a fully modular psu meaning that your system will look better with less wires. The gold plus means your system will be more efficient. I chose 650W because adding a second 780 wouldnt make sense in your scenario and your system will never take more than 400W. This leaves space for future upgrades such as HDDs and SSDs and more.
Case: best case in my opinion. Comes with 2 fans so that should be fine. Its also very quiet.

 

[RyanStern]

Uhm. I will like to clarify some things first. It is me who is inexperienced haha. I do not know about them but the insights I mention are actually these, quote:

If you are going to be using After Effects and/or Premiere Pro frequently, consider the LGA 2011 (X79) chipset-based platform instead of the LGA 1150 (Z87) platform, and consider going with an i7-4930K CPU instead of the i7-4770K. Also, if you are going to use the last released boxed version of the Creative Suite apps (CS6), do not consider anything but an nVidia GPU for that system (in the case of the i7-4930K-based system, go with at least a GTX 650 Ti Boost or a GTX 660 in order to keep such a system "balanced"). However, if you are planning to use the very latest release of the subscription-only Premiere Pro CC, you may want to try the latest, fastest AMD GPUs (such as the R9 280 or R9 290 series) since the very latest update to Premiere Pro CC does offer enhanced OpenCL GPU acceleration (in addition to CUDA - CS6 only supports CUDA for GPU acceleration).

In addition, if you are planning to add a discrete hardware RAID card, LGA 2011 (X79) is the best way to go since adding such a card to an LGA 1150 (Z87) system will reduce the GPU's bandwidth in half (which in turn will reduce performance in Premiere Pro by about 15 percent compared to full-bandwidth GPU operation). This is because the LGA 1150 platform has only 16 available PCI-e 3.0 lanes, all of which are normally consumed by the primary GPU. The LGA 2011 platform, on the other hand, has 40 available PCI-e lanes (the i7-4930K and other Ivy Bridge-E CPUs fully support PCI-e 3.0 while the earlier i7-3930K and Sandy Bridge-E officially supports only PCI-e 2.0).

Full thread is here: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1797012

Also, thanks for your suggestion. I am very new to this so I have a lot of questions in me now. Really confused at them moment. I hope you don't mind my questions...

CPU: I do not OC at the moment, but I may be doing in so in the future if needed. (When I know more about what I am doing.)
CPU cooler: I just want to be safe to get by with no more temperature issues. The one I am having now is a mess.
GPU: As I will be using the CC versions, I am thinking if OpenGL will be fine. I am not sure if programs like Z brush utilizes OpenGL or not though.. I will definitely consider it though.
Storage: I get your idea of the SSD. I know adobe photoshop utilizes scratch disk but I am worried if I will encounter issues with it or not. Plus I read that SSD gets issues over time. What about RAID? Is there a need for it? (Sorry I am totally clueless about this..)
Also, why not Samsung EVO? Is it because of budget?
Motherboard: What is the difference between the H and the Z series? Is it generally for OCing?
RAM: Is the RAM brand selected based on budget? What do you recommend for RAM if budget isn't an issue here?
PSU: So in other words, it makes no difference between seasonic and corsair as long as they are 80+ Gold and fully modular?
Case: Thanks! That's another option for me to consider!

Also, will I need the pro version of windows 8?

 

[H4X3R]

Great answer. Lets get to more answering

1) I agree with the people over at hardocp, a x79 chipset build is better for stuff like video editing, but mind you its more expensive. That is why i chose the H/Z 87 route. Of course i will suggest a build with a x79 chipset

2) If you think you need a cpu cooler i will include it in you budget.

3) interesting. Adobe CS 5 and above all utilize the cuda technology, thats why i assumed a nVidia card would be more helpful. Now that you have given me insight on your programs i shall suggest a card from AMD (as well).

4) This is an interesting topic. I also went through the process of choosing between a 500GB samsung evo or 480GB m500. This "sort of" comes down to personal preference. I chose the M500 because of some key factors:
a) the flash technology in the M500 lasts longer than the one on the samsung evo. This is because each flash cell is being stressed 33% more on the evo. I have also had good experience with crucial before. Each SSD has a limited amount of read and writes that it can perform, and on the evo those are more-per-second therefore the lifespan is shorter.
b) The speed between the two is nearly identical (only on the higher storage options [480GB and 960GB])
So this you have to decide. Also, the M500 is a bit cheaper, although where i live (austria), the price is identical.

Motherboard: You got it. Z87 is for overclocking while H87 has all the same features but cannot overclock (H87 being significantly cheaper because of that)

PSU: sort of spot on. It depends on the internals. Seasonic is an OEM, the one who make the internals of a power supply (there are many OEMs). Corsair is a brand that uses fsp (also very good OEM) and seasonic (best OEM) internals in their power supplies. I trust corsair on bringing good quality, especially if a power supply is rated to be 80 gold+ it will in most cases have good internals.
Case: I really think you should consider the Define R4

You will not need a version of windows 8 pro. If you were referring to windows 7 i'd go for professional. Windows 8.1 is what you are looking for though. (non pro)

Here is a build with the X79 chipset and an AMD card.

Here is my recommended build: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2ldqj

Its a little over 1900$, if you are stricly on a 1900$ budget then you can cut back on the power supply.

Something has to be criticized about this build, namely the GPU. It will run very loud under load, so i suggest you wait just a little longer (end of this year, january next year) to get a aftermarket cooler.
I also has to cut down on the 1TB SSD. I changed it to a 480GB and 240GB, this was you have more flexibility in choosing where to store your data. For example, you could use the 240 one for games, OS, applications and the 480 for the data that you will be accessing most of the time (such as files that you are editing,etc.)

 

[RyanStern]

Thank you for helping me out here.

To be honest, I will like scrimp a little on the budget here. This is because I am not experienced at all. Getting an X79 will be much like a waste since I don't even know how to utilize a Z87 motherboard. It had made me kicked off the idea of getting high end motherboards until I know what is in a motherboard. Therefore, I am leaning towards getting a build just enough for me to get by with non-video editing software. I'll do my video editing work at my company.

Part of the reason is also because I want to try figuring out all the features in a Z87 board as well as trying out OCing in the near future. Possibly learning everything I can about PC before I make a decision to move on to X79 platform which is very much possible a X99 platform then. Haha.

Sorry for making you coming up with a X79 platform build.

And onto your suggestion:

1) As above, I probably do not want a X79 chipset build for now. I am actually thinking of Asus Z87-Pro but do you think it is a little overkill for me current situation? On personal preference, I will rather aim for a higher end x79 platform motherboard because there are more features for me to try using them then but that is only if I know how to. Well, it's a waste for me to get those now.

2) Yes, in fact, I am pretty fixed on Corsair H100i regardless. Although I know that CM Hydro 212 EVO is very much welcomed but I'd rather be safe with a liquid cooler because of my current temperature experience.

3) There are only 2 brands of GPU I will consider and that is eVGA or Asus. Well, again, mainly because I read that EVGA and Asus kind of have better cooling systems in the GPU itself. It is a much safer route for me in terms of temperature issues. Furthermore, I have never meddled with any coolers before so far. All I had been doing was reading and forums over the past few days so I will never know which cooler works best.

4) From what I read, you are suggesting me to use the 480GB SSD as a scratch drive while the 240GB as an application drive. Naturally, the hard drive will be storage. Will that not be a waste since more read/write will executed on the 480GB SSD and naturally, killing it off sooner than the rest of it which is much a waste. (Although sooner isn't any lesser than 3 years.)

After reading your suggestion about SSD, I did google and came across another suggested storage build. He mentioned the use of 60GB SSD solely for OS, a 250GB - 500GB for applications, a 50GB - 250GB for scratch disks and lastly a 1TB - 4TB hard drive for data.

If it is indeed more efficient, I may consider grabbing up a 120GB for OS and 250GB for applications. And probably save up again for another 120GB for scratch disk with a 2TB hard drive for data.

5) I guess we are somewhat settled with PSUs here. I'll go for whichever with 80+ Gold, Full Modular and cheaper between the 2 brands. If I move on to the Z87 platform, it is unlikely I will need 750W either since I am not planning for 2-way SLI or Crossfire. A +100W PSU will suffice I think.

Once again, sorry for being so fussy about a PC build. I am still learning so I probably am not sure how much will these minor differences be as well. Once again, thanks for being patient with me here.

 

[scottishbullet]

Hi guys. Last December (2012) I built a system on a budget with the goal of upgrading this year. I was (and still am) a novice when it comes to hardware but I did some research last year and got some help from a local computer store. I use my PC for video editing with Premiere and After Effects so that's my main focus to make faster editing and render times. Here are my specs.

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770 @ 3.4GHz
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z77-D3H LGA1155 Motherboard
RAM: Patriot Viper 3 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Hard drive: 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (OS and Premiere and AE)
Hard drive: WD Green 1TB (Programs, Current Data)
Hard drive: Raid 1, 1TB backup for storing unused files (Will upgrade to 2 or 3 TB)
GPU: MSI Radeon 7770 1GB GDDR 5 Video Card
Casing: Antec 300 TWO ATX Case
PSU: Antec 620W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular Power Supply
O/S: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro (64 bit)

So what would be suggestions on improving the hardware to get better rendering results?

 

[H4X3R]

Please do not highjack a thread. It is against the rules. Please start your own thread. Thank you.

 

[scottishbullet]

Hmm. Seems related to me but sure ok.

 

[H4X3R]

This is a new question asked by a different person. I would be glad to help you in a new thread. I am going against forum rules if i answer your question in this thread.

 

[scottishbullet]

Thanks H4X3R. Sorry for post against the rules. I started a new thread at http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1937043/upgrade-advice-build.html