Help looking to build a new gaming/after effects pc...

[Trollsong]

So aside from installing new graphics cards or ram into already built pcs(usually a dell) I havent really fiddled with building a PC much.

Me and my fiance recently got married and we have some spare wedding money from gifts, she is looking to get a new laptop. I however am looking to get a decent PC. I would mostly use it for gaming, usually games like WoW and Smite. I will also be using it for graphics programs like After Effects, Illustrator, and if I can afford a copy maybe Cinema 4D maybe even try streaming at some point. 

However I haven't really kept up with the tech in awhile so figuring out what I need is a bit of a challenge, especially because while I do have a bit of disposable income I dont want to spend to much. My skill level has mostly involved installing ram, graphics cards, and power supplies.

So I am looking for advice and recommendations on what I should get, or if there are any videos you recommend I watch so I can refresh my memory on doing things other then plugging things into each other.

 

The few things I do know, SSDs are recommended but I dont know if I should have that as well as a normal hard drive. I dont need a graphics card that screams but I want a decent one. And I know I need a lot of ram but I dont know when it becomes over kill.

 

Heck if anyone has a shopping list even better lol.

 

Thank you in advance for any assistance or guidance you can give.

[Miller1218]

Whats your budget.

[Trollsong]

I am thinking between 1500 and 2000 but of course the lower the better.

[Guest]

For a good pc it is usually skylake (with option to kaby lake that is releasing on desktop soon) or broadwell/haswell -e from x99 if you are really focused on video editing

 

 

i7 6700k or i5 6600k with a z170 mobo 

or i7 5820k/6800k/6850k/6900k/6950x (depends on your budget) with an x99

 

video card is also depends on your budget

go for modern 10 series gpu like 1060 or better would be 1070/1060 form Nvidia

 

AMD has their best at RX 480

[Guest]

Something like this will serve you really more than you need

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($328.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
CPU Cooler: Corsair H115i 104.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($114.99 @ Newegg) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170X-UD3 Ultra ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($175.00 @ NCIX US) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory  ($171.08 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($157.30 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Western Digital Blue 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($69.33 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1080 8GB STRIX Video Card  ($629.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case: NZXT H440 (Matte Black/Blue) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($138.98 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($99.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1885.65
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-23 22:41 EDT-0400

 

 

[Miller1218]

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/6rzNyf

 

Water cooled 5820k on an x99 board with 32gb of ram, a gtx 1070, 2.5tb of storage, all packed into an h440

 

But wait there's more, it also has a wifi card so...

[PigWithAMustache]

A 6700k and a 1070 would serve you well. Also cinema 4d is very easy to get for free

[Miller1218]

What res do you run you games at?

[Miller1218]

2 minutes ago, dexxterlab97 said:

Something like this will serve you really more than you need

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($328.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
CPU Cooler: Corsair H115i 104.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($114.99 @ Newegg) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170X-UD3 Ultra ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($175.00 @ NCIX US) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory  ($171.08 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($157.30 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Western Digital Blue 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($69.33 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1080 8GB STRIX Video Card  ($629.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case: NZXT H440 (Matte Black/Blue) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($138.98 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($99.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1885.65
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-23 22:41 EDT-0400

 

 

i think a 6 core will serve him better than a 1080

[Trollsong]

How difficult is water cooling to deal with?

[Omon_Ra]

39 minutes ago, Trollsong said:

I am thinking between 1500 and 2000 but of course the lower the better.

No OS or peripherals, but this is what I put together. It's basically a modification of my workstation I use for video editing (Premiere), After Effects, gaming and streaming.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor  ($368.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($24.88 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Asus X99-A II ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard  ($233.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB (4 x 16GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($309.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Samsung 950 PRO 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($184.99 @ B&H) 
Storage: OCZ TRION 150 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($114.68 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($118.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB SC Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card  ($404.98 @ Newegg) 
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 w/Window (Titanium) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($89.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($104.99 @ NCIX US) 
Total: $1956.47
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-23 22:58 EDT-0400

 

It's a bit close to the high end of your budget, but there's some stuff you can definitely 'cut costs' on. You can get less RAM, but that mobo has a max capacity of 128GB, which if you're planning on doing a lot of After Effects work, you'll want. I have 32GB and I'll nearly max out my RAM from time to time on, IMO, not too complicated projects. Rather than getting a 4x8GB or 8x8GB for 32 or 64GB of RAM, a 2x16GB kit would probably be a good choice. Yes, X99 has quad-channel RAM, and video editing/rendering/encoding is one of those things that could stand to benefit from quad-channel memory; but having to dump your old DDR4 sticks when you get more RAM is kind of annoying and, unless you have another build to put it in, pretty much a waste of money. You can definitely spend less on a mobo, but 128GB of RAM capacity is nice; it does lack wifi, so if you need that, look elsewhere. The storage drives are another thing you can save some money. If you already have an old large capacity HDD that you can put in this build, do it. You'll want it for your bigger video files and games. An SSD is definitely beneficial for your render/cache/export drive (and games like GTAV, Skyrim, anything with typically longer load times); even getting a big m.2 drive would make that a bit better, but from what I can tell, that mobo doesn't support NVME so it's really a form factor decision rather than speed. I personally like to have my render/cache/export drive as a separate drive from my OS/programs. PSU is a bit overkill, but again, I personally would rather have my PSU barely breaking a sweat than pushing its wattage limit. PC Part Picker says the system will use 486 Watts, so a 500 Watt PSU could be do-able (I wouldn't risk it); but if you're planning on overclocking, 600 watts or more is what you should be looking at. Case can obviously be changed on your preference, I just like the R# series cases. As far as water cooling, an H100i-v2 or similar AIO coolers will be the obvious easiest solution. I have had zero issues with my H100i, however I am planning on switching back to air. No real reason other than I just like the look of a big air tower versus the kind of cheap looking rubber tubing found on most AIO coolers and the performance difference between an AIO and a big tower is negligible.

 

Edit: Congratulations on getting married!