Here's what I came up with. It's going to be used mainly for indesign/photoshop/gaming: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qrFLjX
The only part that I'm somewhat back and forth on is the CPU. Wondering how big of a gap does the 4790k make versus the 4690k in adobe suite software. I'm not doing anything too extreme in terms of editing, mainly just light photography/design work.
With that in mind, are there any changes I should make?
Thanks in advance, this community is simply awesome.
If it is mainly gaming. Then the i5 will be fine. If you are doing alot of editing the i7 would be worth it if your version of the software take advantage of hyper threading. Right now, unless there is something really specific you want out of the z97 platform, you should consider a z87 board (make sure it works with devil's canyon, though the majority seem to though) or maybe a 990fx. I have an 8350 that i got to 4.5ghz on air (evo 212) and it stomps the crap out of about 90% of the i5s unless you have a golden chip.
If you went the i5 option I would say a z87 board and put more money into storage or a better cooling solution for your CPU
For the 8350, the asus 990fx boards are as solid as they come and you can get them for 100usd on sale.
As always make sure you look up your exact version of software so you know what they take advantage of and have been tested with. Even if it worked on an older or new version it may not work on yours.
I'd take a Z97 board with a 4690k - just easier to not have to deal with a UEFI update.
I've used 10 z87 boards with devils canyon and not one has needed a bios update. Just saying.
I remember when the Z97/Haswell refresh came out, some people were having trouble with Z87 boards acting funny.
Just to give an example, JayzTwoCents put his 4790k in his z87 gigabyte board, and had his chip running at a ridiculous voltage.
Curious, do you know which board(s) you used?
almost all the msi gaming ones, all the ROGs and sabertooths, and a ecs leet gank one if i remember right.
On the matter of CPU Photoshop is a chubby chaser, loves'em big and beefy as it does most of the work (tile rendering, filters, and plugins are really the only thing the GPU touches.) Ram wise its ok for editing depending on the image size in dimensions, number of layers, as well as the configuration of Photoshop.
Thanks for the info! I should probably clarify that the photoshop/indesign use will be relatively light. Nothing too crazy.
I'm putting this together for my girlfriend, her parents wanted to get her a $1,300 13in macbook. She's not all that crazy about macs and asked if I could build something with better specs. Hahaha here's what she was going to get in terms of specs:
2.6 Ghz Dual Core i5
No GPU
Seems stunning to me people are willing to pay that much of a premium.
Don't worry too much about it, its partly due to Apple's history with graphic design as well as their marketing. Although I prefer being a windows user I can understand the appeal of more premium for less headaches as most of my peers in the field are all Apple users who would rather spend time creating and less time trying to figure what option they accidentally turned on/off.
then put an install of OSX on your system if you prefer OSX... it's a good operating system if you don't mind the lack of gaming options... but the components used in Apple builds are *incredibly* overpriced...
To OP... not a huge fan of Rosewill PSUs... I prefer Seasonic, XFX, higher-end Corsair, and Fractal Design models... most of the time XFX ends up being the cheaper option, as their low-end models are still very well built... prefer WD Caviar Blues over Seagate models for a few bucks more, but an HDD is an HDD at some point... otherwise, looks great... might look into an aftermarket CPU cooler whenever you plan to overclock or get tired of listening to the stock one wind up...
Your build will be absolutely fine for what you want to do with it, just invest in a better PSU, preferably Corsair or Seasonic.