PC for photo/video editing and a bitta gaming

Faylom

Hi. I've no experience with PC building so I'm learning as I go. I'm making this pc for my dad who does photography and I'm sticking a nice graphics card in for myself.

Our maximum budget is €1400, but that is not necessarily the target.
My dad will be using Nikon programs and photoshop, etc and we'd put those on the ssd with Windows 7, of which we have a copy. I'm a gamer when i have the time but I'm not worth going super high end. I just want to be able to run things like skyrim and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. with mods.

We need a monitor, maybe 24". We also need some peripherals like a network card but I'd like to focus on the main body at the moment. I've been looking on hardwareversand for these parts so their stock has influenced my choices.

I think overclocking would be too technical for me so I'm not too fussed about it.


Item|Price
Seagate Barracuda 7200 2000GB, SATA 6Gb/s|€76.64
FRACTAL DESIGN Define R4 Black Pearl|€88.07
16GB-Kit G.Skill TridentX PC3-14900U CL8-9-9-24|€159.44
ASUS H87-PRO (C2)|€91.67
Gigabyte Radeon R9 270 WindForce 2X OC, 2GB GDDR5|€160.76
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256GB SATA 6Gb/s|€179.99
Intel Core i7-4770 Box, LGA1150|€261.84
Fractal Design Integra R2 650W|€65.91
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1103.31



Being a newbie, I have lots of questions.
First and foremost, are these parts compatible with the MOBO and each other?
The MOBO is fairly cheap but I've heard ASUS is good. My dad said he'd like a nice BIOS and manual, and I was previously looking at a GIGABYTE one for that.

The processor is i7 because I think some of his programs can do hyperthreading, but if you think the money could be better spent, let me know. I haven't put in an aftermarket fan here. I'm not planning on OC'ing

The Radeon 270 is good value according to tomshardware. I don't know what company to get it from, though. Chosen Gigabyte provisionally. Will this fit into my case ok?

I don't know much about RAM and there is a lot of choice. Is the G. Skills one good value? Will it fit with the CPU fan?

The ssd seems very pricey for what it is but eh. I've heard photographers refer to a "scratch drive", where they put photos while they are working on them. Would this do as a scratch drive while also hosting programs and the OS?

We would really like a quiet computer. Is the R4 a good choice of case? My dad's not so bendy so the front facing ports are also important.
I don't know about PSUs either so I just picked blindly. I think 650W will be enough with extra to spare, anyway.
I guess I will have to get some fans for the case too. Do you know any?


Thanks if you had the patience to read through this, anyway. Any and all help will be appreciated.

BloodBath

Something like this would do the trick. Similar to your own but with some tweaks, a smaller form factor and a nice monitor for photography. Plenty left over for any peripherals and extras you need.

Prices were got using geizhals.de

Item|Price
Intel Xeon E3-1230v3 Bx, LGA1150|€207.34
ASRock H87M Pro4, Sockel 1150, mATX|€64.17
16GB-Kit Team Group Elite Series, DDR3-1333, CL9|€127.19
Gigabyte Radeon R9 270 WindForce 2X OC, 2GB GDDR5|€153.10
Alpenföhn Sella - 92mm, AMD/Intel|€16.51
Samsung SSD 840 EVO Basic 250GB SATA 6Gb/s|€138.11
2 x WD Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€96.94
FRACTAL DESIGN Gehäuse Define Mini|€77.89
Corsair CX Series Modular CX600M, 600W|€63.38
Dell UltraSharp U2412M (schwarz)|€239.73
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1203.35

Serephucus

PSU is sort of average, and overkill for a 270-based rig. I'd go with a lower wattage, higher efficiency unit personally.

http://www.hardwareversand.de/400+-+500+Watts/74164/be+quiet%21+SYSTEM+POWER+7+450W+-+bulk+-.article

I'd also maybe stick an Evo in there, rather than that 92mm fan cooler, just for quietness' sake.

BloodBath

Since he won't be overclocking that cooler is fine. You can set it to 50% and it's virtually silent. Would be even more so in that case. It's only €10 more for the 212 evo though and would be quieter and cooler again.

The 500w psu was out of stock which is why I went with the 600.

Faylom

Thanks you guys.
Would you mind explaining some of your choices, Bloodbath?

That RAM is a fair bit cheaper. I've realised that mine was a bit too pricey but wouldn't it be cost effective to go for 1600MHz instead of 1333?
I've heard Asrock motherboards are thin, and since I'm a first time builder, I'll be frightened of breaking things already. Are there any others you would recommend?
Is the only step down in that processor the removal of the integrated graphics and the small loss of clock speed? If so, that's a good saving.
2 hard drives in case one breaks, am I right? That seems sensible.
I don't know about the smaller case. What is your reason for that?


Thanks to yis both, anyway. I think I will get an evo fan too. Will I need case fans on top of that?

BloodBath

There will be virtually no difference in performance between 1333 and 1600. Ram is one of the least important components unless you're using an APU. As long as you have enough of it it's fine. The speed and timings have little impact.

Asrock boards are great for the money. I've used a good few of them now and have had no issues with any so far. Good BIOS and manual as well

Yes that's the only difference in the processor.

It's better to have more drives imo. There are multiple ways of setting them up. You could keep your games on one and the other for work or a mixture of both. Or you could set up a raid to backup the other drive if the files are important and you need a backup in case of drive failure. Or you could have 1 for exports and previews and the other for media files which should speed things up a bit if he's running batches of photos through an editor.

I assume the ssd will be used as a scratch disk as well. Maybe go for the pro version of the samsung instead of the evo as the memory is more durable in those.

As for the smaller case. Matx is the new atx. They still have plenty of room for big cards or plenty of drives, even dual graphics cards. I have a big full tower but it's just overkill and takes up a crap load of space.

SterlingArcher

Don't mind bloodbath pffft micro atx cases are the future. Pffft he a caseophile likes em small. Look at any 80s sci fi film. The future computers are gonna be huge. The size of houses. Don't be a fool.

You want a big case , aggressive letting people know it is there , all in your face. like a big obnoxious American car , or a NASA super computer from the 70s.

You want people to think "he is definitely over compensating". But man if them blue lights and fins are not sexy fly.

Apart from that good solid build. Catering for both pops and your needs. Maybe an r9 280x. Be a shame having such a nice monitor and cutting back on the visual settings in game.

But alas that is another 100 euro onto the build. 270 will serve you well.

BloodBath

You could also consider a second cheaper monitor. A lot of editors go with dual or triple monitors. You only need 1 good 1 for the photos. You could get a smaller cheaper lg ips panel for the editor tools while using the bigger better monitor for displaying the photos.

Faylom

Thanks a lot!

This is pretty helpful stuff and I should be ready to build soon enough