Content Creation Computer for $2,000

[legendofzac]

Hi there, I'm Zac and i'm working on a planning a $2,000 content creation build. This computer will be running Adobe Creative Cloud Suite along with Blender and I will be doing light gaming on it. I want the PC to be futureproof, upgradeable, and quiet. I have put together a parts list and I was seeing how well it would perform and if it's the best bang for my buck.

 

Here's the PCPartPicker parts list.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($339.98 @ SuperBiiz) 

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($99.95 @ Amazon) 

Motherboard: MSI Z97S SLI Plus ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($134.99 @ Amazon) 

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory  ($169.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Transcend MTS600 64GB M.2-2260 Solid State Drive  ($54.99 @ Amazon) 

Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($247.98 @ OutletPC) 

Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($136.00 @ Amazon) 

Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($136.00 @ Amazon) 

Video Card: *EVGA GeForce GTX 760 4GB Superclocked ACX Video Card  ($279.99 @ Newegg) 

Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($89.99 @ Newegg) 

Power Supply: Corsair CSM 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($84.99 @ Micro Center) 

Optical Drive: LG GH24NS90 DVD/CD Writer  ($29.95 @ Amazon) 

Optical Drive: LG WH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer  ($57.99 @ Micro Center) 

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro - 64-bit (OEM) (64-bit)  ($128.99 @ B&H) 

Wireless Network Adapter: Intel 7260HMWDTX1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter  ($47.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Case Fan: Corsair Air Series AF120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 39.9 CFM 120mm  Fans  ($24.15 @ NCIX US) 

Case Fan: Corsair Air Series SP120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 37.9 CFM 120mm  Fans  ($24.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $2088.91

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-03 22:42 EDT-0400

 

I want it to be beast. My main hard drive, the 500gb SSD, is going to be the boot drive, the cache drive, and the "current projects" drive. THe M.2 SSD is going to be for the Intel Smart Response Technology. Then the two WD Black Series 2TB hard drives are going to be running in RAID 1. I do plan on eventually upgrading to 32GBs of RAM. I'm also trying to go for a blue and black/grey color scheme.

 

If you could help me choose the best parts based off of this list, that would be amazing.

 

- Zac 

[CoolBeans]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($339.98 @ SuperBiiz) 

CPU Cooler: Corsair H105 73.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($99.99 @ Amazon) 

Motherboard: MSI Z97-G55 SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($98.99 @ Newegg) 

Memory: PNY XLR8 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($144.59 @ Amazon) 

Storage: A-Data Premier Pro SP900 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($129.29 @ Amazon) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($101.98 @ Amazon) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($101.98 @ Amazon) 

Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card (2-Way CrossFire)  ($349.99 @ NCIX US) 

Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card (2-Way CrossFire)  ($349.99 @ NCIX US) 

Case: Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($99.99 @ NCIX US) 

Power Supply: SeaSonic X Series 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($157.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Other: windows 8.1 @G2a ($20.00)

Total: $1994.76

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-03 22:51 EDT-0400

 

@helping said adobe uses OpenCL so it would be better to get a radeon card

[CowsGoRoar]

You can't future proof with a GTX 760, I'll tell you that much. 

 

@CoolBeans is much better IMO.

[givingtnt]

That on top is very good. If although for the graphics card you want Nvidia. Go with 2 770 superclock from evga

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-video-card-02gp42776kr

[Mentalguy]

I'd go something like this

 

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4930K 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor  ($576.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler  ($62.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus P9X79 LE ATX LGA2011 Motherboard  ($219.79 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory  ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: A-Data Premier Pro SP600 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($83.49 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($83.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB Superclocked ACX Video Card  ($229.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CSM 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($84.99 @ Micro Center)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS90 DVD/CD Writer  ($29.95 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: LG WH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer  ($57.99 @ Micro Center)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro - 64-bit (OEM) (64-bit)  ($128.99 @ B&H)
Wireless Network Adapter: Intel 7260HMWDTX1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter  ($47.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series AF120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 39.9 CFM 120mm  Fans  ($24.15 @ NCIX US)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series SP120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 37.9 CFM 120mm  Fans  ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $2025.75
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-03 23:46 EDT-0400

[Son of Mike]

Consider going with one WD Black 4TB, as opposed to two. Appreciate you want to raid them - and potentially you may add another later on, 2TB HDD's are too small for content creation PC's. Even with the 8 SATA port board you selected, you'll run out of ports much quicker than you think. Consider adding a 250GB SSD as a scratch disc - aside from speed benefits, it will also reduce wear and tear on your system drive and your HDD's.

Will be interested to hear how this one goes for you.

[brob]

@legendofzac,

 

I would suggest a readjustment of the build priorities. Ideally one would go with LGA2011 and a six-core cpu. But the budget is not sufficient.

 

32GB of memory is going to do more to improve performance than Intel's Smart Response Technology. Besides, presumably active projects are going to be on the ssd. A better gpu will improve performance in Blender and many CCS applications. I would also suggest a better and slightly larger psu.

 

In order to incorporate my suggestions and meet budget I would suggest cutting out the M.2 drive, forgoing RAID 1 hdd, dropping one optical drive, and going with Windows standard not Windows Pro.

 

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($339.98 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler  ($62.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($288.74 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($209.99 @ Micro Center)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($83.50 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 780 3GB TWIN FROZR Video Card  ($459.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($79.00 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($129.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: LG WH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer  ($57.99 @ Micro Center)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit)  ($99.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1952.13
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-04 02:35 EDT-0400