Need help building a work computer

[apim]

Hey guys,
I'm interested in building a work computer. See below for details of what I'm looking to put together.

1) I'll be using this computer for work. I primarily work out of Excel, Photoshop, InDesign, Outlook, Firefox, Acrobat Professional and Word. I leave every program listed in that last sentence open 24/7 while the computer is running. I plan to reboot every 2-4 weeks. The computer doesn't ever sleep/hibernate.
2) Budget is $750 without shipping & taxes. Orders must be through newegg.com (I'd prefer Amazon to to support this forum, but unfortunately our company does not have an account with them and there's nothing I can do to change that).
3) Live in Florida, USA
4) Need CPU, RAM, Motherboard, HDD (150GB+), CPU heatsink/fan(if one isn't included with CPU), PSU, Graphics Card, DVD-RW
5) Case isn't an issue. After I see what motherboard you guys pick out for me, I'll select a case myself.
6) I'm willing to OC if a noob can do it within 30 minutes and if it makes a large difference. I plan on using this setup for the next 5 years.
7) I run 3x monitors. Two are 30 inches and the max resolution is 2560x1600 on each of them. The 3rd is 24 inches and has a max resolution of 1920x1200.
8) I plan on buying the parts asap and building them whenever I have time after they arrive.
9) Motherboard minimum requirements: I need 5x USB, onboard 100mb NIC, onboard audio (nothing fancy needed here).
10) I'll be purchasing Windows 7 64-bit professional & Office 2010 64-bit (not sure what version, but it'll have Outlook, Word, Excel).

My budget isn't firm. If I can gain a significant performance improvement by going up in price a little bit, then I'd be willing to do that. Alternatively, if I can save a lot of money by decreasing performance a little bit, I'd be ok with that.

Finally, I'm not opposed to purchasing a computer from Dell or some other merchant that pre-builds them. I know back in the day, you'd save a ton of money by building your own computer. If that's no longer the case, then I don't mind buying a pre-built system.

Any assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[NoOther]

A few questions really quick.

1) as this is for work, can we make the assumption that you will not be gaming on it?
2) The monitors are all independently driven and you are not intending to span resolutions across multiple monitors?
3) How extensive/intensive are your Photoshop and Indesign projects?

 

[apim]

1. Correct, there will be no gaming on this machine.
2. Correct, the monitors are all independently driven.
3. I'm not really sure how to quantify the intensity, or lack there of, that I'll be doing in Photoshop and InDesign. Indesign books will range from 1-150 pages. Photoshopping will average 10-15 layers with a maximum of 30-40. While this may not seem too intense, I want a computer that can keep up with both of these programs because 60-80% of my day will be working out of these programs.

 

[NoOther]

There is another thread that talks about GPUs for Photoshop CS where they seem to believe the AMD 7750 is a good choice.

You could do something like this:

Intel Core i5-3350P $180
ASUS P8B75-V LGA 1155 $90
Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) $60
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7750 $110
SeaSonic SSR-450RM 450W $75
Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB $100

 

[apim]

Thanks for putting that together. I really appreciate it. One tweak that I'd like to consider. My monitors have DVI outputs and the graphics card in that build only has one DVI input. Would it be most cost effective to go with that card and purchase adapters or would it be best to select a different card with more DVI inputs?

 

[apim]

I opted for an SSD (SAMSUNG 840 Series MZ-7TD120BW 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)) over the HDD as I don't need that much space and would rather have the speed. Additionally, I went ahead and selected a case - Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case. Once I hear back from you about the GPU, I'll finalize this order and get it going. Thanks again for all of your help!

 

[Dangman]

I opted for an SSD (SAMSUNG 840 Series MZ-7TD120BW 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)) over the HDD as I don't need that much space and would rather have the speed. Additionally, I went ahead and selected a case - Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case. Once I hear back from you about the GPU, I'll finalize this order and get it going. Thanks again for all of your help!

Don't go with that case as it's relatively cramped and outdated these days. Go for the NZXT Source 210 Elite or Corsair 200R since those are roomier, have significantly better cable management and come with USB 3.0.

As for the video card, I'd recommend getting the GTX 650 instead: It's a tad faster than the HD 7750 in photoshop as shown in this Puget Systems article. Plus it's $5 cheaper while having two DVI ports:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00966IU4M/?tag=extension-kb-20

While that Seasonci 450W is a great PSU, for the money it's not a good choice since its bigger brother is only $5 more:
$80 - Seasonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W Modular PSU

Since you're getting Windows 7 Pro and the fact that you plan on using Photoshop, I highly recommend going with a single stick of 8GB of RAM as that would allow you to upgrade to 32GB of RAM later on without having to replace any RAM stick:
$53 - Corsair CMV8GX3M1A1333C9 8GB DDR3 1333 RAM

 

[J Macker]

While that Seasonci 450W is a great PSU, for the money it's not a good choice since its bigger brother is only $5 more:
$80 - Seasonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W Modular PSU

Is it really necessary to get an $80 psu for this basic build? I'd stick the cheap Corsair CX430w in it.
It's $30 after rebate right now.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139049

or there's the CX600 for $58 - $20 rebate = $38
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028

 

[apim]

Don't go with that case as it's relatively cramped and outdated these days. Go for the NZXT Source 210 Elite or Corsair 200R since those are roomier, have significantly better cable management and come with USB 3.0.

Understood. I'll look into the other cases.

As for the video card, I'd recommend getting the GTX 650 instead: It's a tad faster than the HD 7750 in photoshop as shown in this Puget Systems article. Plus it's $5 cheaper while having two DVI ports:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00966IU4M/?tag=extension-kb-20

I like it. Will do.

While that Seasonci 450W is a great PSU, for the money it's not a good choice since its bigger brother is only $5 more:
$80 - Seasonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W Modular PSU

Do I need the extra power though?

Since you're getting Windows 7 Pro and the fact that you plan on using Photoshop, I highly recommend going with a single stick of 8GB of RAM as that would allow you to upgrade to 32GB of RAM later on without having to replace any RAM stick:
$53 - Corsair CMV8GX3M1A1333C9 8GB DDR3 1333 RAM

I might as well go for 32GB now if it's going to make a huge difference as it seems like purchasing 32GB instead of 8GB would be cheaper per stick of RAM. If I opt for the 32GB up front, would you still recommend the same RAM as you're recommending for the 8GB?

 

[Dangman]

Do I need the extra power though?

No.

I might as well go for 32GB now if it's going to make a huge difference as it seems like purchasing 32GB instead of 8GB would be cheaper per stick of RAM. If I opt for the 32GB up front, would you still recommend the same RAM as you're recommending for the 8GB?

No. I'd go for two of this RAM set instead:
$123 - Crucial BLS2CP8G3D1609DS1S00 Ballistix Sport 2 x 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM

Also note that if you're doing an extensive amount of photoshop and/or doing extremely large photoshop projects, I highly recommend getting a second SSD for the scratch disk.

 

[apim]

Is it really necessary to get an $80 psu for this basic build? I'd stick the cheap Corsair CX430w in it.
It's $30 after rebate right now.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139049

or there's the CX600 for $58 - $20 rebate = $38
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028

Is there any reason to go with the more expensive one? I'm not concerned about noise; I'm only concerned that the PSU has sufficient power to power the system and as low of a price as possible. Maybe there are some other factors I'm not considering, but if those 3 are the main ones, then I would be happy to save the money and go with the CX430M as that other PSU you listed had some pretty bad reviews.

 

[Dangman]

Is it really necessary to get an $80 psu for this basic build? I'd stick the cheap Corsair CX430w in it.
It's $30 after rebate right now.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139049

or there's the CX600 for $58 - $20 rebate = $38
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028

Is there any reason to go with the more expensive one? I'm not concerned about noise; I'm only concerned that the PSU has sufficient power to power the system and as low of a price as possible. Maybe there are some other factors I'm not considering, but if those 3 are the main ones, then I would be happy to save the money and go with the CX430M as that other PSU you listed had some pretty bad reviews.

Sorry, didn't see J Macker's post: Considering that this is a work PC that's going to be used rather heavily, I'd highly recommend spending the extra cash for the Seasonics due to their higher quality and therefore lesser chance of failure. Lesser chance of failure: Lesser chance of downtime. Not to mention that both of the Seasonic PSUs mentioned so far have far more modular cables than the Corsair Cx430M and obviously the CX600. This means an easier time of cable management. Finally, Seasonics are well known for being rather quiet PSUs.

EDIT: Go for this RAM instead:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233296

 

[The Recessionist]

After reading about a bazillion of Danny's recommendations, I'd have to say the man knows his stuff. Knows it well!

I'd go for the Seasonic as well.

I wouldn't go with the CX series for a work PC. When you are killing it with PS and your components start to draw more and less power more often, you'll want a hefty stable PSU by your side. Not trashing the CX series by the way.

 

[apim]

Got it. Thank you guys for all of the help on this build. It's much appreciated!