$900 Newegg/Microcenter Photoshop rig

P

PinataUT

Gawd
Joined
Aug 9, 2004
Messages
775
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Photoshop, some PC gaming. Photo archive / server.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
900 not including tax/shipping
900 to include SSD and single 2 Tb drive

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Near the Philly Microcenter

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Case, CPU, RAM, vidcard, drives, Blu-Ray player, OS/apps SSD, data drives (budgeted with 2 Tb, but I will likely get it up to 6+ Tb 'off budget')

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
No need to reuse anything on this build.

6) Will you be overclocking?
CPU: yes. GPU: no.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
At the moment 1920 * 1080 single 24". Might add a second similar monitor.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Aug 27 or so.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
USB 3, maybe an eSATA port.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes. 64-bit Win 7 HP.
 
How serious are you at using Photoshop? Is it more or less a hobby or do you count on it for your bread and butter? What exactly do you do with Photoshop? Basic resize/photo correction or serious development/photo correction for customers, etc..?
 
I'm in the middle. Sports. Thousands of images, mostly correct right out of the camera.

Likely shifting much into LR4...

Laptop is great, but want to get all off-line archives up and online on on machine.

Might be doing more and different photography.
 
On my phone atm, when I get back to my computer ill spec you out a build list.
 
Figured I'd take a poke at this.

265 $265 - Intel Core i5-3570K CPU + Asus P8Z77-V LK Intel Z77 ATX Motherboard Microcenter Combo
35 Coolermaster 212+
80 $40 - G.Skill Value Series F3-10666CL9D-8GBNT 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
? video card?
138 SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC128D/AM 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) Desktop Upgrade Kit
119 Data drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152245
20 dvd drive
64 $64 - Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W PSU
99 Corsair Carbide Series 400R Graphite grey and black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Gaming Case

820
 
I was gonna wait for Skillz to post a build list but since I'm up anyway: You're on the right track. But the build could still use improvement:
- Go for the $5 cheaper Coolermaster Hyper 212+ (the price you listed shows that you actually looked at the Hyper 212 Evo):
$30 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF for LGA 1366 and LGA 1156

- Go with this similar performing and quality SSD for $28 less:
$110 - Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SSD

- Shave off $2 with this DVD burner instead:
$18 - LG GH24NS90B DVD Burner

- Drop the case down to the Cosair 300R for $20 less:
$80 - Corsair Carbide Series 300R ATX Case

- With all those savings, you can now afford a decent GPU for gaming:
$125 - XFX CORE Edition FX-777A-ZNF4 Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB PCI-E Video Card

Granted you may not be able to max out settings and such with the above GPU but it's still a lot better performance wise than any $80 GPU out there.
 
Heh, thanks. I saw you were on.

Yeah I was was looking at video cards in the $225 range. Budget has a little bit of flex in it. Probably not $400 worth of flex.
 
PinataUT said:
Yeah I was was looking at video cards in the $225 range. Budget has a little bit of flex in it. Probably not $400 worth of flex.
Click to expand...
Well if you still want a higher-end GPU, around that $225 price range, you're pretty much looking at two cards:
$200 - Sapphire 1188-22-20G Radeon HD 6950 2GB PCI-E Video Card
$238 - XFX CORE Edition FX-785A-ZNFC Radeon HD 7850 1GB PCI-E Video Card

The HD 7850 performs slightly faster than the HD 6950 2GB but the HD 7850 is more than likely to be supported longer since it's the newer card. The HD 7850 also uses less power and generates less heat than the HD 6950. XFX's customer support has unfortunately been reported as bad lately but it still edges out Sapphire's customer support a tad. The Sapphire card is $38 cheaper and has the same warranty length as that XFX card.
 
If this was a pure Microcenter buy...

Is this a decent power supply?
Antec BP550 Plus 550W ATX Modular Power
SKU: 243295 $62.92 $62.92
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0315117

(edit reasearch showing Danny does not think highly of this power supply)

atx power supplies link
(http://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.phtml?N=4294966654+4294962099)

Memory? Want to get 2 kits.
Corsair XMS3 Series 8GB DDR3-1333 PC3-10666) CL9 D
SKU: 102889 $49.99

Video card
Gigabyte GV-R785OC-2GD AMD Radeon HD 7850 2048MB G
SKU: 374181 $259.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0387395

Looking for a decent vid card between 225 and 300. (Stupid question - can I assemble the system and pop in a vid card afterwards? Not sure how onboard video works... derp.)
 
Last edited:
PinataUT said:
If this was a pure Microcenter buy...
Click to expand...
Did you raise your budget by $100 to $150 or something? I ask because, as you can tell, total MC build will cost you more money for the same performance from a mixed MC + online build due to sales tax and higher overall costs. Especially since you're planning on getting 16GB of RAM and have upped the GPU budget to $300.
PinataUT said:
(edit reasearch showing Danny does not think highly of this power supply)
Click to expand...
Yeah I don't recommend that particular Antec at al
PinataUT said:
atx power supplies link
(http://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.phtml?N=4294966654+4294962099)
Click to expand...
Cheapest PSU that I can recommend is the Antec HCG-520 520W PSU.
PinataUT said:
Memory? Want to get 2 kits.
Corsair XMS3 Series 8GB DDR3-1333 PC3-10666) CL9 D
SKU: 102889 $49.99
Click to expand...
Pricey for the kind of performance you're getting and the sticks you're getting.
PinataUT said:
Video card
Gigabyte GV-R785OC-2GD AMD Radeon HD 7850 2048MB G
SKU: 374181 $259.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0387395

Looking for a decent vid card between 225 and 300.
Click to expand...
At the $300 mark, the HD 7870 is the better buy.
PinataUT said:
(Stupid question - can I assemble the system and pop in a vid card afterwards? Not sure how onboard video works... derp.)
Click to expand...
Yes you can.
 
A few changes. Whats your planned setup now and what's your updated budget?
 
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