Budget build for design student

[inkyserifs]

Hi there! I'm a design student and since my laptop is pretty much dying on me, I've been looking into replacing it as soon as I possibly can. I'm very, very new at this stuff, so I was hoping to get some advice from an experienced crowd. :> I had a few questions and a few builds I was looking into (I have never built a computer before, so this will be a first) so without too much dallying:

 

1. I study design. I will be working with Photoshop, After Effects, some light video editing, animating and 3d rendering in the nearish future. Nothing professional yet, and I'm not looking for a PRO build due to my rather tight budget, but something that won't totally suck at those things. 

 

2. I am not based in the US, but in Poland, so prices might be a bit finicky, but basically my budget is around 800 USD

 

3. I'm a gamer and I would LOVE for it to be at least a semi-capable machine. I don't need ultra 60fps 4k gaming as my priority is my studies, but something that could run newer games at 1080p at playable fps  and decent settings would be awesome. I like BF3, Witcher series, Far Cry 3 and 4, FO4 etc.... nothing too cutting edge yet. 

 

4. I know there isn't really such a thing as a truly 'future proof machine' but I want it to last a little while before needing upgrades because I'm too poor to constantly replace components

 

5. Budget does not include monitor and OS prices. I've got those covered. 

 

 

 

 

I am having a tough time deciding between a few builds/components, but this is what I am working with for now. This is very flexible, but I'm trying to stay in this price range:

 

 

CPU: Intel Core i5 6400

Motherboard: MSI H110M PRO-VD

GPU: MSI Radeon r9 380 4GB (It's less than 20 bucks more expensive than the 2 GB verion where I'm buying, so I think it's worth a shot?)

RAM: Samsung 8 GB DDR4 2133Mhz (single stick, for easier upgradabilitly later?)

PSU: Corsair VS 450W CP-9020096-EU

Storage: Generic 1TB WD HDD

 

 

HERE is an alternate model that's not Skylake, it's a good chunk more cost efficient *_* and extremely tempting. The prices are in my regional currency, so the values here in USD are about price/4 . I put it down with the GTX 960 because it's a good deal cheaper and I'm on a really right budget, but I welcome any and all suggestions. 

 

Now, a few questions:

 

1. For a similar price I can get an AMD FX8350 based build, and I thought this might be better for my kind of work because of the 8 cores, but i do know it's not the greatest for gaming. For a tad MORE I can ditch skylake and go with an i5 4460 and a GTX 970 that's on sale right now. It's a hair out of my budget but if it's worth it I think I might save up a few weeks more (assuming the sale holds. It's about 90 bucks more expensive. Is that something worth considering, taking into account money and time constraints? 

 

2. I'm not sure if 450W will be enough. Should I upgrade to a better PSU just to be safe? I'm trying to avoid that if possible because I don't want to cut things out of the GPU/CPU. 

 

3. How worried should I be about cooling? How many case fans should I be looking into? Will stock cooling be enough for some moderate gaming and work?

 

4. Lastly, big question. I can get my part supplier to build this for me for around 15 bucks. I've never put a computer together in my life so I'm deathly afraid I will break something or screw up and not know how to troubleshoot (I also don't have a lot of room in my house, many pets, and no antistatic tools etc). I do like the idea of building it myself. It seems like a really good way to know your computer. But it seems safer to just let a professional do it so... should I?

 

 

Anyway, feel free to suggest alternate builds and parts because I am very much a noob and will take any tips, tricks, and suggestions anyone can offer.. X') 

 

Thanks!

Inky

[GeorgeKellow]

if you want to upgrade your psu, this is a good psu

 

http://www.newegg.com/global/uk/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438049&cm_re=fully_modular_power_supply-_-17-438-049-_-Product

[GalacticRuler]

Does your 3D rendering software prefer CUDA?

[GalacticRuler]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($242.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Motherboard: Asus B85M-G R2.0 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($36.98 @ Newegg) 

Memory: G.Skill Sniper Gaming Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($64.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($45.88 @ OutletPC) 

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 390 8GB PCS+ Video Card  ($293.98 @ Newegg) 

Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($44.99 @ Newegg) 

Power Supply: XFX TS 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($55.80 @ Amazon) 

Total: $785.61

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-25 13:13 EST-0500

 

I chose the Xeon because it is basically an i7 without integrated graphics or overclocking ability, so it has hyperthreading which helps in video editing and rendering.

[inkyserifs]

thank you for the alternate PSU. I'll look into it. 

 

Um, I'm afraid I'm not sure about CUDA. I know I'll be using a lot of Autodesk in the future and eventually Maya as well. I do think those support cuda. 

 

Thank you for suggesting the xeon! I've been considering one for a while as well, and I could probably use that instead of the GTX 970 build If i wanted to spend a bit of extra cash (over here, it seems components are a bit more expensive than the ones I dound through PC part picker, unfortunately. The perks of living outside of the states... sigh. All the same, it looks very promising :> 

[GalacticRuler]

thank you for the alternate PSU. I'll look into it. 

 

Um, I'm afraid I'm not sure about CUDA. I know I'll be using a lot of Autodesk in the future and eventually Maya as well. I do think those support cuda. 

 

Thank you for suggesting the xeon! I've been considering one for a while as well, and I could probably use that instead of the GTX 970 build If i wanted to spend a bit of extra cash (over here, it seems components are a bit more expensive than the ones I dound through PC part picker, unfortunately. The perks of living outside of the states... sigh. All the same, it looks very promising :>

Seems like neither of them use CUDA. In that case you should still stick with the R9 390.

[inkyserifs]

Thank you From what i'm seeing a xeon build tends to come out a bit over budget for the parts I have available to me here, but it might be worth it  if I can manage to pull it off. ^^ 

 

-edit-

 

although, as it turns out, all the parts put together with the xeon cost a fair penny more where i live. It's really disappointing to live here sometimes. I could get a much better PC in the US for my money. Defninitely won't be able to afford anything more than 8 gigs of ram for now, and might have to save on a few other things here and there as well if i want to go with the xeon. 

[inkyserifs]

 

 

 

One last thing. Does anyone happen to have some feedback on this? (prices in USD are about 1/4th of the cost you see) Someone suggested this kind of config and it looks pretty good for the price point. 

[GalacticRuler]

One last thing. Does anyone happen to have some feedback on this? (prices in USD are about 1/4th of the cost you see) Someone suggested this kind of config and it looks pretty good for the price point. 

Why don't you get a 4460 instead of a 4690 and spend the saved money on a R9 380/390?

[inkyserifs]

Why don't you get a 4460 instead of a 4690 and spend the saved money on a R9 380/390?

Hm, I suppose that would also make sense. I wasn't sure if I should try a better CPU or GPU for my needs, so I tipped the scale a little in favor of a slightly better CPU, but the performance difference sin't massive I suppose. O_o 

 

Thank you for all the help by the way. X)