Build me a Rig Please!!

O

OuTLaWzSm

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 26, 2004
Messages
204
Hey my laptop is breaking and am in the market for a desktop. Im in NYC and I am a designer. I use a lot of memory/cpu intensive applications, photoshop, Cinema 4D, after effects, light gaming. I need something around 600 bucks, mainly a real good CPU and lots a memory (8GB?) and i'de be running dual screens at 1920 x 1200 each. a decent vid card would be nice but nothing over the top. if theres a deal for say a brand of desktop then i would jump on it and just replace whatever needs to be replaced. i havent been following so much tech stuff, whats the most recent pin # on the core i3/5/7 line. and whats a good budget/good featured mobo?

thanks.
 
Please answer the stickied "ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS FIRST" thread so that we can help you better.

But I can tell you right off the bat: 8GB of RAM is not a good idea for a $600 PC.
 
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
light gaming, photoshop, after effects, dreamweaver, illustrator, 3d modeling programs, regular stuff.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
6 - 700 bucks, tax/shipping not included

3) Where do you live?
NYC

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
6 - 8 GB of ram, alot and a good quad core processor

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
just some dvd drives

6) Will you be overclocking?
if it keeps costs down and can run stable, yes

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
24 inch benq

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
whenever theres a real good deal

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
SLI would be nice but not required, USB 3.0, good RAID performance and proper cooling.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
64 bit windows 7 pro
 
OuTLaWzSm said:
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
light gaming, photoshop, after effects, dreamweaver, illustrator, 3d modeling programs, regular stuff.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
6 - 700 bucks, tax/shipping not included

3) Where do you live?
NYC

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
6 - 8 GB of ram, alot and a good quad core processor

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
just some dvd drives

6) Will you be overclocking?
if it keeps costs down and can run stable, yes

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
24 inch benq

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
whenever theres a real good deal

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
SLI would be nice but not required, USB 3.0, good RAID performance and proper cooling.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
64 bit windows 7 pro
Click to expand...

At today's RAM prices, 8GB of RAM would cost you over $200 right off the bat. This leaves less than $500 for the rest of your build. At that sub-$500 price you're not going to get components that are even remotely capable of what you're planning to run. In fact, the apps require that you spend more than $1,300 for a system that can run your apps at even a minimally acceptable pace. The last two versions of After Effects are not only RAM-intensive, but also CPU-intensive as well. And even if you can find room in the $700 maximum budget for a decent CPU and graphics card, you still might have to reduce the amount of memory to an amount that's too low for your apps to run at all (or to no memory at all whatsoever, which would leave you with an unusable system).

In other words, with that sub-$500 budget you will likely get components, especially the CPU, that will not be able to run many of your apps at all.
 
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Well I got the apps covered, I guess I'm mainly looking for a killer desktop deal that pops up on slickdeals.net. for 500 bucks what is a good CPU/memory/mobo combo?
 
OuTLaWzSm said:
Well I got the apps covered, I guess I'm mainly looking for a killer desktop deal that pops up on slickdeals.net. for 500 bucks what is a good CPU/memory/mobo combo?
Click to expand...

At this point, absolutely nothing in that price range whatsoever. Even an i7-930 with a Gigabyte X58 motherboard and 6GB of RAM (the absolute minimum that I'd recommend for those apps) would have run you at least $600 by themselves, which would have left you with less than $100 for the PSU, case, hard drive and GPU combined (and you're not going to get anything but utter crap if you have to get all of them within that sub-$100 total) - and if you order from most vendors, the mobo/CPU/RAM combo that I mentioned would have already gone over your firm $700 budget maximum without any other required components added. You will need to double that budget in order to get a system that can even run those apps properly. At $500, your planned rig would have run those apps slower than shit.

In other words, your planned system trying to run your apps would be like getting a Yugo to do the job of a Ferrari.
 
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Here is a decent system but still over your budget. I didn't include a powersupply or case.

You will not be able to get everything you want in that price range. Have you considered buying some used parts. You can get some great deals.


Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822148433

$84.99

POWERCOLOR AX5750 1GBD5-H Radeon HD 5750 1GB 128-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
Item #: N82E16814131354

$114.99

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9Q-8GBRL
Item #: N82E16820231323

$229.99

Combo with motherboard and cpu

Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I5750
Item #: N82E16819115215


ASUS P7P55-M LGA 1156 Intel P55 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813131605
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

$292.98

Subtotal: $722.95
Shipping: $6.77
 
wagsrules said:
Here is a decent system but still over your budget. I didn't include a powersupply or case.

You will not be able to get everything you want in that price range. Have you considered buying some used parts. You can get some great deals.


Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822148433

$84.99

POWERCOLOR AX5750 1GBD5-H Radeon HD 5750 1GB 128-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
Item #: N82E16814131354

$114.99

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9Q-8GBRL
Item #: N82E16820231323

$229.99

Combo with motherboard and cpu

Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I5750
Item #: N82E16819115215


ASUS P7P55-M LGA 1156 Intel P55 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813131605
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

$292.98

Subtotal: $722.95
Shipping: $6.77
Click to expand...

I do have a couple of the Seagate drives mentioned above. They are a tad slower (transfer-rate-wise) than most other 7200 RPM hard drives with 500GB platters while their random access speed is merely middling for this speed class. (This makes the 7200.12 a mediocre buy compared to some of the other 1TB 7200 RPM SATA hard drives on the market.) And if I'm going to get a hard drive with only middling random access/seek speed, why not go with one that has the highest sequential transfer speed (both average and maximum) in this class (I mean the Samsung F3)?
 
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OuTLaWzSm said:
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
6 - 8 GB of ram, alot and a good quad core processor

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
just some dvd drives
Click to expand...

And this is why I love having questions 4 and 5 in the list. Great way to check one another: So will you also be needing a new PSU, case, motherboard and HDD as well? ;)

Also, what's your definition of "light gaming?" So you mean light gaming as in gaming with low settings? Or you don't game often but still want the ability to play games? If the latter, do you need/want high, medium, or low settings in games for the few times you do play a game?
 
gaming is not important to me, i occassionally play but since my budget is moot, the video card is low priority and i can always upgrade it down the line.
 
OuTLaWzSm said:
gaming is not important to me, i occassionally play but since my budget is moot, the video card is low priority and i can always upgrade it down the line.
Click to expand...

The video card isn't low priority due to the fact that you're using 3D modeling apps. Here's a prelim build:
$275 - AMD Phenom II X6 1055T CPU + Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AM3 AMD 880G HDMI mATX Motherboard
$110 - G.Skill Ripjaw Series F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL 2 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$115 - Powercolor AX5750 1GBD5-H Radeon HD 5750 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$56 - Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$50 - Corsair 400CX 400W PSU
$50 - Cooler Master Elite 335 RC-335-KKN1-GP ATX Case
--
Total: $656 plus tax and shipping.

EDIT: Alternative build:
$275 - AMD Phenom II X6 1055T CPU + Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AM3 AMD 880G HDMI mATX Motherboard
$206 - 2 x G.Skill F3-10600CL9D-4GBNT 2 x 2GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$65 - EVGA 01G-P3-1227-LR GeForce GT 220 SSC Edition 1GB DDR3 PCI-E Video Card
$56 - Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$50 - Corsair 400CX 400W PSU
$50 - Cooler Master Elite 335 RC-335-KKN1-GP ATX Case
--
Total: $702 plus tax and shipping.

Yes that's 8GB of RAM. However, I'm not 100% sure how well that GT 220 will handle your 3D modeling apps. In games, it's definitely only capable of low settings at 1920x1200 for most games.
 
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Danny Bui said:
The video card isn't low priority due to the fact that you're using 3D modeling apps. Here's a prelim build:
$275 - AMD Phenom II X6 1055T CPU + Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AM3 AMD 880G HDMI mATX Motherboard
$110 - G.Skill Ripjaw Series F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL 2 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$115 - Powercolor AX5750 1GBD5-H Radeon HD 5750 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$56 - Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$50 - Corsair 400CX 400W PSU
$50 - Cooler Master Elite 335 RC-335-KKN1-GP ATX Case
--
Total: $656 plus tax and shipping.

EDIT: Alternative build:
$275 - AMD Phenom II X6 1055T CPU + Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AM3 AMD 880G HDMI mATX Motherboard
$206 - 2 x G.Skill F3-10600CL9D-4GBNT 2 x 2GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$65 - EVGA 01G-P3-1227-LR GeForce GT 220 SSC Edition 1GB DDR3 PCI-E Video Card
$56 - Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$50 - Corsair 400CX 400W PSU
$50 - Cooler Master Elite 335 RC-335-KKN1-GP ATX Case
--
Total: $702 plus tax and shipping.

Yes that's 8GB of RAM. However, I'm not 100% sure how well that GT 220 will handle your 3D modeling apps. In games, it's definitely only capable of low settings at 1920x1200 for most games.
Click to expand...

Yes, those are about the best that the OP can do at his price limit. He has to settle for either only 4GB of RAM or a low-end GPU if he wants a sufficiently robust CPU. He simply cannot have all three in the same system unless he raises his budget by another $150. (That's the difference that would get the OP the hexacore AMD CPU and 8GB of DDR3 memory needed for the 3D apps, but would also pay for both a slightly better PSU in the 500~550W range and an HD 5770 GPU and possibly even that 1TB Samsung F3 HDD.) That's a total outlay of about $850 for a system that can handle 3D modeling/productivity apps adequately and also play games at maximum settings at resolutions up to 1680x1050 (or 1920x1200 at slightly lower than max settings).
 
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I guess i can stretch out my budget, i'm mainly scrubbing slickdeals, techbargains, the hotdeals section of this forum and trying to buy each component piece by piece for as cheap as possible.

for processors i was under the impression that the i7 was superior to amd's offering. can someone elaborate on this or tell me if im under the wrong impression.
 
OuTLaWzSm said:
I guess i can stretch out my budget, i'm mainly scrubbing slickdeals, techbargains, the hotdeals section of this forum and trying to buy each component piece by piece for as cheap as possible.

for processors i was under the impression that the i7 was superior to amd's offering. can someone elaborate on this or tell me if im under the wrong impression.
Click to expand...

For the kind of work you're doing and your budget, AMD is your best bet. How much are you going to increase your budget to?

Also, if you see an OCZ PSU on sale from any of those sites, don't buy them. OCZ is not a good PSU brand. Also, the parts I chose are already cheap as possible i.e the PSU, case, RAM, HDD, and possibly video card.
 
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