I think Costco has a computer with the specs I want for cheaper than I could build...

[handymanshandle]

Just now, Lisa.Lisa said:

Thanks, I appreciate the advice. So even though my build would cost a bit more, I'd be getting better quality parts if I did it myself?

 

I'm not actually sure. Right now I've been doing my small video editing/3D animation projects in Photoshop and Pinnacle Studio

Well the benefit to building a PC yourself is that you choose the parts, and you know what's going in to the PC and the satisfaction of building it yourself.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($267.35 @ Vuugo) 
Motherboard: MSI Z170A SLI PLUS ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($179.98 @ NCIX) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($109.98 @ DirectCanada) 
Storage: OCZ TRION 150 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($105.98 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($62.98 @ DirectCanada) 
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 380 4GB Video Card  ($305.50 @ Vuugo) 
Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($98.05 @ Vuugo) 
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($64.50 @ Vuugo) 
Total: $1194.32
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-19 19:38 EDT-0400

A non-K CPU with a Z170 motherboard? Well that's because you mentioned you wanted to overclock later on down the line well you can just pick up like a Skylake K or Kaby Lake K CPU later on when you feel like you need to overclock, I don't think a few hundred MHz would affect performance too much.

Of course if you're not going to overclock by next year you could just get a H170 mobo.

 

[handymanshandle]

@Lisa.Lisa I guess if you don't plan on upgrading but you still want to overclock...

This build might be a little better.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($325.98 @ DirectCanada) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($42.35 @ Vuugo) 
Motherboard: MSI Z170A SLI PLUS ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($179.98 @ NCIX) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($109.98 @ DirectCanada) 
Storage: OCZ TRION 150 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($105.98 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($62.98 @ DirectCanada) 
Video Card: MSI Radeon R7 370 2GB Video Card  ($174.98 @ DirectCanada) 
Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($98.05 @ Vuugo) 
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($64.50 @ Vuugo) 
Total: $1164.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-19 19:50 EDT-0400

[Starelementpoke]

1 minute ago, wcreek said:

@Lisa.Lisa I guess if you don't plan on upgrading but you still want to overclock...

This build might be a little better.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($325.98 @ DirectCanada) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($42.35 @ Vuugo) 
Motherboard: MSI Z170A SLI PLUS ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($179.98 @ NCIX) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($109.98 @ DirectCanada) 
Storage: OCZ TRION 150 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($105.98 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($62.98 @ DirectCanada) 
Video Card: MSI Radeon R7 370 2GB Video Card  ($174.98 @ DirectCanada) 
Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($98.05 @ Vuugo) 
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($64.50 @ Vuugo) 
Total: $1164.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-19 19:50 EDT-0400

Even in Canadian, a 370 and a B1 psu on $1100 is pitiful...

[handymanshandle]

Just now, Starelementpoke said:

Even in Canadian, a 370 and a B1 psu on $1100 is pitiful...

I don't really think so as the 370 isn't a horrendous GPU and the 500B isn't a bad PSU (it's better than the CX430m).

Though the OP isn't looking for a gaming rig, I guess you could make a better gaming rig for about the same price.

 

[NumLock21]

X99 5820k is a good choice.

[tataklee]

55 minutes ago, Lisa.Lisa said:

So I was planning on building my own PC, but then I saw that Costco has a Dell XPS 8900 on sale for $1139 which I'm pretty sure is a lot cheaper than what I was going to pay to build it myself, and it basically has all the same specs or better than my build plan. 

 

 http://www.costco.ca/Dell%E2%84%A2-XPS-8900-English-Desktop%2c-i7-6700.product.100240521.html

 

Any advice? I'd been stoked about building myself but I'm also stoked on saving money...   Is there a way of finding out how upgradable one of these computers would be?

 

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($325.98 @ DirectCanada) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($42.35 @ Vuugo) 
Motherboard: ASRock Z170M Pro4S Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($131.50 @ Vuugo) 
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($50.98 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($90.35 @ Vuugo) 
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 950 2GB Video Card  ($181.50 @ Vuugo) 
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($69.65 @ DirectCanada) 
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($79.99 @ NCIX) 
Total: $972.30
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-19 20:10 EDT-0400

[handymanshandle]

12 minutes ago, wcreek said:

I don't really think so as the 370 isn't a horrendous GPU and the 500B isn't a bad PSU (it's better than the CX430m).

Though the OP isn't looking for a gaming rig, I guess you could make a better gaming rig for about the same price.

 

Actually I'm not sure if there is anything much better than that config that's between $1100 to $1200. Unless you go with a 2GB GTX 960 or GTX 950.

[Starelementpoke]

2 minutes ago, wcreek said:

Actually I'm not sure if there is anything much better than that config that's between $1100 to $1200. Unless you go with a 2GB GTX 960 or GTX 950.

Challenge Accepted. WITH TAX:

PCPartPicker part list: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/9xJTdC
Price breakdown by merchant: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/9xJTdC/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($370.17 @ shopRBC) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H-A Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($93.65 @ Amazon Canada) 
Memory: Mushkin Essentials 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1333 Memory  ($85.78 @ Canada Computers) 
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($60.47 @ DirectCanada) 
Storage: Seagate SV35.5 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($64.76 @ Canada Computers) 
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 380 4GB Video Card  ($285.97 @ DirectCanada) 
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($63.74 @ Vuugo) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($87.98 @ Newegg Canada) 
Total: $1112.52
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-19 20:20 EDT-0400

[handymanshandle]

4 minutes ago, Starelementpoke said:

Challenge Accepted. WITH TAX:

PCPartPicker part list: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/9xJTdC
Price breakdown by merchant: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/9xJTdC/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($370.17 @ shopRBC) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H-A Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($93.65 @ Amazon Canada) 
Memory: Mushkin Essentials 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1333 Memory  ($85.78 @ Canada Computers) 
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($60.47 @ DirectCanada) 
Storage: Seagate SV35.5 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($64.76 @ Canada Computers) 
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 380 4GB Video Card  ($285.97 @ DirectCanada) 
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($63.74 @ Vuugo) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($87.98 @ Newegg Canada) 
Total: $1112.52
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-19 20:20 EDT-0400

lol LGA1150 is dead. Long live LGA1151.

[Starelementpoke]

2 minutes ago, wcreek said:

lol LGA1150 is dead. Long live LGA1151.

IPC is 5% better with Skylake. Haswell isn´t going anywhere buddy.

[handymanshandle]

Just now, Starelementpoke said:

IPC is 5% better with Skylake. Haswell isn´t going anywhere buddy.

Sure sure.

But OP wanted to overclock, Xeons and B85 aren't overclockable.

[Lisa.Lisa]

1 hour ago, connorpiper said:

The Dell PSU might actually be better than the Corsair CX600. Would change that out right now. 

Also, yours does have the possibility of an overclock. Though the CPU cooler won't handle that too well. If you want to save some, then don't get a Z170 motherboard. And use the stock cooler with the CPU. 

Is the Corsair CX600 not a good PSU? I picked it because I'd heard Corsair PSUs go well with Corsair cases. Also it good really good reviews on pcpartpicker

[Starelementpoke]

 

3 minutes ago, wcreek said:

Sure sure.

But OP wanted to overclock, Xeons and B85 aren't overclockable.

1 hour ago, Lisa.Lisa said:

But the 6th generation intel CPU doesn't come with a stock CPU cooler. I wasn't planning on overclocking either, at least not for the first few years.

Do you have any suggestions for a different mobo? I've been having a hard time deciding on a good mobo. 

What PSU would you recommend? 

[stconquest]

4 minutes ago, Lisa.Lisa said:

Is the Corsair CX600 not a good PSU? I picked it because I'd heard Corsair PSUs go well with Corsair cases. Also it good really good reviews on pcpartpicker

All budget Corsair PSUs are below the quality of equally price alternatives. 

 

Seriously, what is your exact use for this PC?  What programs are you planning to use?

[Starelementpoke]

3 minutes ago, Lisa.Lisa said:

Is the Corsair CX600 not a good PSU? I picked it because I'd heard Corsair PSUs go well with Corsair cases. Also it good really good reviews on pcpartpicker

CX series is ment for office builds, nothing more.

[handymanshandle]

2 minutes ago, Starelementpoke said:

"at least not for the first few years" -OP

 

[Lisa.Lisa]

1 minute ago, stconquest said:

All budget Corsair PSUs are below the quality of equally price alternatives. 

 

Seriously, what is your exact use for this PC?

 

Intended Use is for photoshop and smaller video editing and 3D animation projects. Not intended for gaming. 

 

I don't plan on overclocking right away, but if in a few years I'm finding my computer isn't as fast as I'd like then I'd consider overclocking. 

[Starelementpoke]

Just now, wcreek said:

 

By then, newer (and hopefully) much better cpus would have been released! At that point, it´s platform upgrade time!

[stconquest]

Just now, Lisa.Lisa said:

 

Intended Use is for photoshop and smaller video editing and 3D animation projects. Not intended for gaming. 

 

I don't plan on overclocking right away, but if in a few years I'm finding my computer isn't as fast as I'd like then I'd consider overclocking. 

The smaller 3D animation projects, do you know what programs you will be using?  The more we know of the type of usage the PC will need to handle, the best we can help you spend your money. 

 

That PC you listed was not much of a deal.  It was effectively a CPU (that has a iGPU integrated just as powerful as the dGPU included, roughly) in a box.

[Starelementpoke]

2 minutes ago, Lisa.Lisa said:

 

Intended Use is for photoshop and smaller video editing and 3D animation projects. Not intended for gaming. 

 

I don't plan on overclocking right away, but if in a few years I'm finding my computer isn't as fast as I'd like then I'd consider overclocking. 

How long do you mean by a few years? Like 5 or what? And not as fast in what? Games I assume?

[handymanshandle]

Just now, Starelementpoke said:

By then, newer (and hopefully) much better cpus would have been released! At that point, it´s platform upgrade time!

lol sure sure. 

[Starelementpoke]

Just now, wcreek said:

lol sure sure. 

I just really wanted to use the pictures. I still stand by my point that the 1231v3 will be more than enough for a few years though.

[Lisa.Lisa]

 

1 minute ago, stconquest said:

The smaller 3D animation projects, do you know what programs you will be using?  The more we know of the type of usage the PC will need to handle, the best we can help you spend your money. 

 

That PC you listed was not much of a deal.  It was effectively a CPU (that has a iGPU integrated just as powerful as the dGPU included, roughly) in a box.

 

The 3D animation projects I've done so far have just been a few seconds of video or gifs using photoshop. It's something I've just gotten into more recently so I'm not sure what program I'd use in the future if I wanted to do more advanced projects.  Video editing I generally use Pinnacle Studios. The main thing I do on my computer though is 2D graphics in photoshop as my job includes designing workbooks for kids. 

 

 

 

[stconquest]

1 hour ago, Lisa.Lisa said:

 

 

The 3D animation projects I've done so far have just been a few seconds of video or gifs using photoshop. It's something I've just gotten into more recently so I'm not sure what program I'd use in the future if I wanted to do more advanced projects.  Video editing I generally use Pinnacle Studios. The main thing I do on my computer though is 2D graphics in photoshop as my job includes designing workbooks for kids. 

 

 

 

Photoshop will use multiple cores for effects like radial blur, but it can also use OpenGL (on the graphics card).

 

Pinnacle Studio does have CUDA support (nvidia GPUs) that can do the encoding/decoding.  It also can support 2D/3D effects on the GPU as well. 

 

I really am searching for hard numbers to verify if a GPU is even required for the PC you need.  Alternatively, if it is most beneficial to put the load on the GPU for both Photoshop and Pinnacle Studios, then you don't need more than an i5 (maybe even an i3).

 

@Lisa.Lisa

 

Let's say you went with something safe.  An i5 6500 + a GTX 960 (16GB of RAM, SSD + HDD).  You could test whether or not a given program is faster when working the CPU or GPU as you have both.  If you found the CUDA (GTX 960) was more beneficial than the multicore CPU you would learn that the system would have been better by lowering the CPU tier and raising the GPU tier:  i3 + GTX 970.  If the CPU (with Intel QuickSync supported in Pinnacle) was using all four cores fully and asking for more cores (while doing at least as well as the GTX 960), then you could rationalize a better system with a better CPU and possibly skip the GPU entirely.

 

I am just trying to skip the manual testing by getting an idea of what others have already learned.

 

@Lisa.Lisa

 

Unfortunately, unlike gaming benchmarks, there does not seem to be readily available benchmarks for Pinnacle Studio.  I searched their forums and did some general web browsing, but I was unable to get real world numbers for processing times using different setups.

 

What are your thoughts on this?  Why are you set on the i7?  The i7 6700 is not the same as the 6700K.  The Dell machine cannot be overclocked.  You would be better served by a Xeon E3-1231 V3 as it is cheaper and performs quite well next to the i7 6700.  With the Xeon, you must get a GPU as well as the Xeon does not have integrated graphics.

[stconquest]

An example of a "safe" build:

 

$1257 after taxes:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($267.35 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($69.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($81.00 @ shopRBC)  <<You could probably get away with just 8GB
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($77.99 @ NCIX)  <<run all your programs and projects on this
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($66.75 @ shopRBC)  <<store your finished projects on this
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB SuperSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card  ($239.99 @ NCIX)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($57.95 @ Vuugo)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($79.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit)  ($126.00 @ shopRBC)
Case Fan: Fractal Design FD-FAN-SSR3-120-WT 46.5 CFM 120mm  Fan  ($5.99 @ NCIX)  <<Front intake
Total: $1072.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-19 21:29 EDT-0400

 

I forgot the wireless... make that $1300 total.

 

A comparison the the Dell Machine:

 

$1158 after taxes:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($445.00 @ Canada Computers)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($69.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($81.00 @ shopRBC)
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($77.99 @ NCIX)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($66.75 @ shopRBC)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($57.95 @ Vuugo)
Power Supply: Antec Basiq 350W ATX Power Supply  ($39.48 @ shopRBC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit)  ($126.00 @ shopRBC)
Wireless Network Adapter: Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter  ($44.99 @ Canada Computers)
Case Fan: Fractal Design FD-FAN-SSR3-120-WT 46.5 CFM 120mm  Fan  ($5.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $1015.13
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-19 22:12 EDT-0400