Looking for a build suggestion for a computer for my GF

[Crenz]

Hey everyone,

I am looking for any good suggestions for a build I could make for my GF. I built my own computer, but she needs one a lot less powerful (does not game), so I figured I would look for suggestions here.

Approximate Purchase Date: This week

Budget Range: all in, about $1000, this is flexible though (don't feel the need to make it that high, or limit it either)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Editing pictured, surfing the web, basic video editing, and a LOT of multitasking (she leaves 30+ tabs open on google chrome).
Are you buying a monitor: Yes

Parts to Upgrade: (e.g.: CPU, mobo, RAM) : New build so everything

Do you need to buy OS: Yes (Prefers Windows 7)


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Any sites that ship to Canada relatively quickly (1 week or so max)

Location: Ottawa, ON, Canada

Parts Preferences: Would prefer Intel as I know more about it

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: She prefers a larger screen (21-27 inch)

Additional Comments: This is the important part, she wants it to look really nice. She wants a nice case so it looks awesome, so any suggestions you have on a good case website, or case itself, would be awesome. Another important thing is she wants it to be usable for 3 years with minimal maintenance. Also, a SSD is preferred, as she has an external she can use for more storage.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading:Her laptop (she wants a desktop this time around) recently broke again, and apparently the first time she got it fixed, they sauntered the power cord connection to the motherboard. This resulted in not being able to fix it again, as the motherboard is damaged somehow. I don't fully understand it, but that is what the repair shop told her. Bonus point question: Any idea if this is indeed fixable, or a good place to sell the parts of the laptop? She had a fairly high end laptop (i7 processor, 2gb video card, 12 gb ram, 17 inch screen, etc), so it be nice to be able to get something out of it.

Thanks for your time!

 

[Scoutdrago3]

Hey, I got a couple questions to ask before. Does she have a color scheme she wants on the case/parts?

Also do you want the PC to built around or better than the specs of her old laptop?

And if your looking to sell parts there's always eBay. Other than that you can look around locally.

 

[Crenz]

I know her new desk is red, so hopefully something to go with that. Red/Black or something.

They can be built less than her old laptop on the gaming side as she does not game anymore (so no need for a high end video card or processor), she just wants it to run well doing everyday tasks. We looked at Future Shop for pre builts, but all of them seem to be lacking in one key area (5400 RPM HHD, or no SSD till you spent 1200+), and are also really boring/ugly to her.

Thanks for your questions!

 

[Scoutdrago3]

Sorry for the late response, I just got internet.

Anyway, I got a nice build for you. Its about $990(sorry for almost reaching your cap) and I tried to find either Red or Black parts. Also if you want to make it look even nicer and you have an extra $200, you can get some red/black colored cabling and replace all your cables with those and then you can get some acrylic tubing and a couple of other parts and an LED strip(around $13 US on eBay with a controller) and you can make your gf a custom water cooling loop.

And about the build, it should be able to handle all the tasks you listed and just in case she ever want to try a game out I threw in a entry-mid level GPU.

Hope I helped
-Scoutdrago3

 

[shortstuff_mt]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($235.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97M-HD3 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($89.99 @ NCIX)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($84.79 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($149.99 @ Canada Computers)
Case: Fractal Design Arc Mini R2 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($99.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 400W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ Memory Express)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($15.79 @ DirectCanada)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($99.79 @ DirectCanada)
Monitor: AOC E2425SWD 60Hz 24.0" Monitor ($129.99 @ Canada Computers)
Total: $951.30
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-07 11:45 EDT-0400

 

[Crenz]

Sorry for the late response, I just got internet.

Anyway, I got a nice build for you. Its about $990(sorry for almost reaching your cap) and I tried to find either Red or Black parts. Also if you want to make it look even nicer and you have an extra $200, you can get some red/black colored cabling and replace all your cables with those and then you can get some acrylic tubing and a couple of other parts and an LED strip(around $13 US on eBay with a controller) and you can make your gf a custom water cooling loop.

And about the build, it should be able to handle all the tasks you listed and just in case she ever want to try a game out I threw in a entry-mid level GPU.

Hope I helped
-Scoutdrago3

Thanks for your work, although I do not see the build you mention posted anywhere. Can you link it again?

 

[Crenz]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($235.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97M-HD3 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($89.99 @ NCIX)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($84.79 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($149.99 @ Canada Computers)
Case: Fractal Design Arc Mini R2 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($99.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 400W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ Memory Express)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($15.79 @ DirectCanada)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($99.79 @ DirectCanada)
Monitor: AOC E2425SWD 60Hz 24.0" Monitor ($129.99 @ Canada Computers)
Total: $951.30
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-07 11:45 EDT-0400

Thanks for your suggestions as well! I am hoping for a bit flashier of a case, but some of the parts you listed seem in my price range I shall do some searching on my own and see what cases I can find.

 

[gizzard1987]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($235.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty H97 Performance ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($104.50 @ Vuugo)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($84.79 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($124.99 @ Canada Computers)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($152.25 @ Vuugo)
Case: Cooler Master Storm Enforcer ATX Mid Tower Case ($88.95 @ Vuugo)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ NCIX)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.75 @ Vuugo)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($99.79 @ DirectCanada)
Monitor: Asus VE278H 27.0" Monitor ($247.25 @ Vuugo)
Total: $1248.24
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-08 04:34 EDT-0400

I went a little over the budget but for what was asked, I've certainly had a hard time finding a good setup of parts that aren't pure junk. Some of the parts could probably be rebranded, as I'm an Asus fanboy. All for good reason, I've had great luck with all of my asus gear over the years, my only problem is I like all the NEW shiny toys that come out every couple months. :lol:

I would certainly suggest going with an AMD processor though. If you're not going into overclocking the only real difference is going to be the CPU clips, but personally I feel the AMD clips are easier to deal with. A quick youtube video would show you the difference in only a few seconds. If she's doing video editting and photoshopping, I'd definitely suggest one of the 8 core processors that are about the same price as the i5 because photoshop and just about all video editting software LOVES more cores. Considering you'll have 8 cores@4+ Ghz that'd be a huge gain over the i5 (which doesn't even have hyperthreading to help make up for 4 less cores).

As I said before I realize I broke budget by a few hundred bucks, but you seemed to act like the budget wasn't quite set in stone. That monitor will be pretty sweet for photo and video editting as you'll have TONS of screen to scan for imperfections.

That case is most certainly one of my favorites, though I personally use the HAF-932 Blue Edition (They have red too) for the extra airflow.

I did go ahead and add a "cheap" video card as well. The 750 Ti is a wonderfully powerful card and hardly uses any power. I've used these babies first hand and they are a real lifesaver when you're forced to use an prebuilt PCs with junky PSUs that has proprietary mobo connectors. With 2 GB of vram, that'll certainly help make her video editing and photoshopping life a lot easier.

Aside from all that, I selected everything else based on your color choice (and solid, reliable brands) to choose everything else.

On a final note, I'm not a huge fan of such a small hard drive, even with access to a larger external drive. With a SSD you'll want to save some wear and tear on writing "unnecessary" files to the SSD just to simply turn around and rewrite them to an outside drive. I have a 512 GB Samsung 840 Pro and I write everything to my seperate 3 TB "dump drives" to help prolong the life on my SSD.


In case you were curious about the AMD side of things, here is my list.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($204.98 @ Newegg Canada)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.79 @ DirectCanada)
Motherboard: ASRock 990FX Killer ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($169.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($84.79 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($124.99 @ Canada Computers)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($152.25 @ Vuugo)
Case: Cooler Master Storm Enforcer ATX Mid Tower Case ($88.95 @ Vuugo)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ NCIX)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.75 @ Vuugo)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($99.79 @ DirectCanada)
Monitor: Asus VE278H 27.0" Monitor ($247.25 @ Vuugo)
Total: $1312.51
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-08 05:00 EDT-0400

The build is actually just a little more expensive than my previous because of the need for a better cooler, which could be added later on down the road. I haven't personally used one of the coolers from "newer" AMD processors, but I've heard they're very loud and aren't made for longevity.

For the difference in AMD processor installation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzZQgJDyzGI

 

[gizzard1987]

Oh I almost forgot your bonus points question! As for reselling the parts from the old laptop, you really have 2 options that I can think of. If you're handy at taking laptops apart, as I am not (I tend to break things in laptops as I have big hands and little patience), you would probably have no problem selling those parts (Or as a whole) on Ebay or Amazon. Another option would be, sometimes PC Repair shops will buy broken PCs for decent money, as long as they have current hardware, and that could be the easiest way to get rid of it.

As for the Amazon bit for parting it out, I know you can usually get 50-100 bucks out of a working used screen for a laptop as they are pretty generic so you can use them in just about any 17" laptop. RAM doesn't go for as much since it's fairly cheap just about anywhere online. The gfx card would probably eventually sell, but I'm not sure how specific they are to what they came in. The processor, depending on the series and which model of i7 it is, could bring a couple hundred bucks. I wouldn't stop there, if the charger works and is the original, I know I recently sold an HP charger to a local shop for 60 bucks because they're around 130 bucks direct from HP. I'm sure you can figure out the rest.

Good Luck to you, and I hope this helps some!

 

[Crenz]

Oh I almost forgot your bonus points question! As for reselling the parts from the old laptop, you really have 2 options that I can think of. If you're handy at taking laptops apart, as I am not (I tend to break things in laptops as I have big hands and little patience), you would probably have no problem selling those parts (Or as a whole) on Ebay or Amazon. Another option would be, sometimes PC Repair shops will buy broken PCs for decent money, as long as they have current hardware, and that could be the easiest way to get rid of it.

As for the Amazon bit for parting it out, I know you can usually get 50-100 bucks out of a working used screen for a laptop as they are pretty generic so you can use them in just about any 17" laptop. RAM doesn't go for as much since it's fairly cheap just about anywhere online. The gfx card would probably eventually sell, but I'm not sure how specific they are to what they came in. The processor, depending on the series and which model of i7 it is, could bring a couple hundred bucks. I wouldn't stop there, if the charger works and is the original, I know I recently sold an HP charger to a local shop for 60 bucks because they're around 130 bucks direct from HP. I'm sure you can figure out the rest.

Good Luck to you, and I hope this helps some!

Thank you for your detailed answer and build, I will definitely be looking into it!