Project Phazon VS. Athlon Dragon: Which build is best for my needs? Or are their other options?

[SoundFX09]

Hello,

 

I am Planning on Building my Own PC soon, and I am in a PC Dilemma. I can't decide between these two builds, and I need help on deciding which one is best for my needs.

 

1: Budget and Location:

My Budget is going to be $600 for now. I'm gradually building this, and I want to have a Decent PC to start. I'm near Augusta, Georgia, so this is $USD.

 

2:What is the Aim of my PC?

I am going to be using my PC for Schoolwork (Just started College), Gaming (Not really competitive, and I'm Playing Team Fortress 2, Combat Arms and Minecraft.), as well as Video Editing and Rendering.(Using AVS Video Editor, nothing much beyond that.). Also, I don't really care about the quality of how I play the game, As long as I can play and record games at Medium settings at 60+ FPS, I'm fine.

 

3: Monitors: 

ONLY one monitor. I will not be doing any Multi-Monitor setups or going for a 4K Monitor. I will likely use a 1366x768 or 1920x1080 Monitor.

 

4:Peripherals:
I have a mouse and Keyboard, but I only plan to Upgrade the Mouse soon, as the current mouse I'm using has issues with the right-click button.

 

5: Why am I upgrading/Building a PC?

1) My Laptop is very outdated now. I've only had it for 3 Years, but It's parts are really starting to become Lackluster. It is a Lenovo B570 Laptop with a Intel Pentium B950 Dual Core at 2.1Ghz, with Intel HD Graphics, 8GB of RAM and a 750GB HDD. at this point, It cannot record games very well, and Video editing and rendering takes quite awhile. Although not very old, I can see now why it was a questionable $300 I spent.

 

2) I am extremely interested in becoming a Computer Support specialist, and Building my own PC will give me the confidence to go into the Computer industry. Also, I want to make a building experience I can actually enjoy.

 

3) I want to make a Computer that will last me for awhile. Something that I can upgrade, but may not need to upgrade for awhile.

 

Notes:

1) I actually don't care much about the game quality. As long as it can play games at 720p or 1080p on Medium-Ultra settings at 60+ FPS, I'm fine with it.

 

2) For video editing, as long as it gets the job done with no issues, I'm fine. I don't care much about it getting done quickly, just efficiently.

 

3) This will be my first build, and I am not planning to make it a show-off type of build, but something I can be proud of.

 

So here's the two builds I've come up with:

 

Project Phazon:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($289.99 @ TigerDirect) 

Motherboard: MSI Z97M-G43 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($106.99 @ Directron) 

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($75.98 @ OutletPC) 

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (Purchased For $53.99) 

Case: Enermax ECA3280A-BL ATX Mid Tower Case  ($49.99 @ Newegg) 

Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (Purchased For $29.99) 

Total: $606.93

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-27 22:35 EST-0500

 

Athlon Dragon:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($75.04 @ Mwave) 

Motherboard: MSI A88XM GAMING Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($89.99 @ Newegg) 

Memory: Kingston Fury Black Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($68.85 @ SuperBiiz) 

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (Purchased For $53.99) 

Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 270X 2GB Video Card  ($149.99 @ Newegg) 

Case: Enermax OSTROG ATX Mid Tower Case  ($44.99 @ Newegg) 

Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (Purchased For $29.99) 

Total: $512.84

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-26 19:49 EST-0500

Which of these builds is best for my situation? 

Let me know below.

 

Also:

If you have a suggestion for a different build, Post below and Tell me.

 

Thanks,

SoundFX09.

https://www.youtube.com/user/SoundFX09

[Octavialicious]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/CNYrWZ

Slight bottleneck, but in the future get a cheap CPU cooler and overclock or just upgrade the cpu

[Fate]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/CNYrWZ

Slight bottleneck, but in the future get a cheap CPU cooler and overclock or just upgrade the cpu

G3258 for video editing? 

[SoftenButterCream]

Maplestory!!! 

[Mattr567]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/CNYrWZ

Slight bottleneck, but in the future get a cheap CPU cooler and overclock or just upgrade the cpu

 

"Slight"

[natelliot123]

how anout this

8 threaded cpu and bigger gpu

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($234.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($56.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($48.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 290 4GB PCS+ Video Card  ($209.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($25.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 750W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $634.43
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-27 02:27 EST-0500

 

no offence but naming the build sounds lame

[SoundFX09]

how anout this

8 threaded cpu and bigger gpu

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($234.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($17.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($56.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($48.49 @ OutletPC)

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 290 4GB PCS+ Video Card  ($209.99 @ Newegg)

Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($25.99 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 750W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($39.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $634.43

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-27 02:27 EST-0500

 

no offence but naming the build sounds lame

 

A pretty Good build, but it exceeds $600, Which is my Budget right now. Also, i do not go by Mail-in rebates. I heard they're a nightmare to get processed efficiently. Also, The Hard Drive and Power Supply have already been purchased.