Need some input and suggestions about building a pc

Hi guys, I'm in the Philippines right now and I'll be moving to New York next year. I'll be looking to buy my own pc setup there.. So my question is where do i go if i need help on building a pc? By build, I mean physically build it and put it together because i'm not confident at all with my hardware skills.

And since i'm on the topic already, can you guys give some setups that could work for me?

I'm a designer/animator/video editor so I would want my pc to have a good graphics card because i'll be dealing a lot with 3d and video. I'll need a firewire port. I want my pc to be 64bit and windows 7. I might also try dual booting with Linux. Sound is not that important, i can live with a pretty basic setup. Those are the more important things that I could think of that i would want to consider.

I'm also not looking to play a lot of games on my pc, but it would be great if you guys can give me suggestions on how i could build a good pc for my profession, while also serving as a good gaming pc. And also tips on how to keep a pc that will be used A LOT at tip top shape.

Thank you!

EDIT: oh wait, i forgot the most important thing.. i need something cheap.. not cheap cheap, but cheap yet still good quality for what i need..

 

What software will you be using? If you are using professional software like cad and maya you will want a workstation card. A workstation card has many improvements for these programs that make them run alot faster than on a regular gaming graphics card.

cpu core i7 860 2.8ghz - $280
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115214

motherboard -$135
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128412

ram - $95
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145260

case -$55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066

psu - $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004

hard drive -$55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073

dvd drive - $27
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151197

windows 7 64bit - $105
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754

workstation gpu - $190
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133273

or

gaming gpu - $180
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143140

Total = ~$1030 without shipping

The workstation card will be good for professional video editing and rendering software but wont be good at gaming. The regular gpu will be good at gaming and not at the other programs. The gaming card will be able to use cuda. There are some programs out there that use cuda to speed up video encoding over just cpu. The gpu just depends on what software you are going to use.

 

wow thanks a lot for that.. softwares i will be using would mainly be adobe products like photoshop, flash, after effects, and premiere pro, also pixologic zbrush and autodesk maya.. so the main stuff i need the pc for are digital painting, 3d modeling/animation (rendering also but not as important as the first two), and video editing..

is it possible for that set up to have more ram? because that's something i think i need a lot of, especially since i usually have quite a few programs open at the same time..

for the gpu, will the workstation be that much of an improvement over the gaming one? again, i'm not really looking to use my pc for gaming as i have gaming consoles for that purpose, but it'd be nice to be able to play games on the pc.. if i choose the workstation, would i be able to play high end games at lower quality settings?

and lastly, i was also thinking of using dual monitors, would i need an entirely different setup for that? or would i need to add a lot more parts to my pc if i decide to do that? i'm thinking to start off with just one, and then but another monitor later on, would that setup you provided me still be good enough?

wow sorry that's a lot of questions, thanks so much for the help!

 

You can use up to 4 sticks of memory or two of the sets that I recommended for 8gb. It sounds like the workstation card would be better for the software that you are using. This card will be a big improvement over even the best gaming graphics cards because of driver and firmware optimizations. It will not be able to do high end gaming, it is not meant for that. I will run the games but not very well.

Multiple monitors will not be a problem. The workstation card has one dvi port and has two display ports. It has a display port to dvi adapter so you can run two monitors with dvi.

 

I did a little more research on some workstation cards and I have changed my recommendation. I was having trouble findinng reviews of the quadro fx580 so I found another one at a similar price.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/FireGL-Quadro-Workstation,1995.html

this is an article comparing performance of workstation cards in professional programs.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/quadro-fx-4800,2258.html

 

oh ok, i'll go with the workstation gpu then..

about putting it all together, should i be able to put this together on my own? or would it be best if i can get some help from someone to put it together for me?

if i can set it up on my own, then which parts would go first? and which parts i should be really really really careful of?

thanks again!

 

Its actually very easy to do. Here is an article from maximum pc about building a gaming computer. You can just ignore the first page and look at how they put the computer together. It is pretty much the same for all computer.

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/how_build_a_kickass_800_gaming_pc?page=0,0

 

alright then, thank you so much!

if anyone else can provide alternative builds, that would be great..

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102858 I would get this GPU. Compared to the Nvidia 260, its DX11,less power draw from the PSU, and if im not mistake the benchmarks are about the same or at the least close enough you wouldnt tell a difference in the real world.

Or your could go with a 4890 as well. It works well with all the program mentioned. Now yes a workstation card will be better on the application side, but your going to sacrifice gaming ability. With a 5770 or 4890 you get the best of both worlds.

Id also see if you cant splurge and spend another $50 or so for a 1 TB drive.

 

hmm that actually looks better, how come the nvidia one is more expensive? i might just follow your suggestion Xplorer4, thanks for that! for the hard drive, is it possible to add more hard drives later on when i need it? i already have one external 500gb and a portable 320gb so i might not need all that memory..

and krj15489, it'd be nice to hear what you can say about Xplorer4's suggestion for me to use as my GPU..

 

You cannot compare a gaming card to workstation card for professional work. I do agree that the 5770 is a good gaming card but is won't perform in the applications that you are going to be using. The drivers and firmware on the workstation cards are optimized for professional editing and video applications.

You can always add more hard drives if you would like. The case I listed can hold 5 or 6. The reason I did not list the tb drive was because you said you wanted to keep the cost down.

 

Here is an article showing the difference between desktop cards and workstation cards.

http://tech.icrontic.com/articles/perspective-the-radeon-hd-5870-vs-the-firepro-v8750

 

yep cost cutting lol.. thanks for the link, it was a good read and now i do understand what you're talking about when you say that workstations are optimized.. thanks for that!

 

your welcome, if you have any other questions let me know.

 

oh hey dont i need a sound card? and a fan?

and what do you think if i just buy this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145222 for 6gb ram instead of buying 2 of those that you recommended for 8gb? will the 3 that go together in one package work better than just doubling one package? does it work like that? and why are there so other rams that are really cheap compared to the one you recommended? sorry i dont really have any idea how rams work..

EDIT: also can you recommend a monitor for me? something 24"+... thanks!

EDIT2: i saw this and it looks ok, what do you think? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254044

 

That is triple channel ram, it is meant for x58 motherboards with 6 ram slots. If you use that you will fill only 3 out of the 4 slots on your motherboard and that would cause it to run in single channel mode. This means that your memory performance would be lowered. If you want 6gb of ram then I would get the 4gb set that I listed and then a 2gb set. That way all you memory slots are filled and your memory performance is maximized.

The sound card is not really necessary unless you are getting nice speakers. The onboard sound will be good enough for youtube or the occasional movie.

This monitor is a 24in 1920x1080 with a built in webcam.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236048

or this monitor is 1920x1200. It has more vertical room.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001280

 

thanks for the links.. i like the first one with a built-in webcam.. how about fans? do i need to buy one? i'm worried about this because right now my problem with my laptop is that it keeps on overheating and i dont want the same problem when i buy a desktop..

and also that's the reason i dont really know much about desktops, it's because i've been mostly a laptop user for more than 6 years now.. so i dont really switch parts or anything..

 

The case I listed has 3 120cm fans. That should be good enough. You might want a better cpu cooler if you want to overclock, but that is not necessary.

 

ok thanks for that.. and for the ram i guess i'll just go with the 2 sets of of what you suggested to me..

oh and the power supply unit you recommended was out of stock, what should i be looking for in a power supply for this setup? just so i know, thanks!

 

This would be about the same power as the other one but a little cheaper.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371030