Input for High End 5-7+ Year Editing/Gaming Build for Friend

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(Edit Again: After getting advice from many awesome people here and doing much research I came up with some parts with a hopefully decent upgrade plan for the near future, I outlined the part list and details in my post here on page #2)


Hello Forum,

I was wanting to get some thoughts and input on a build I am going to be doing for a friend in a few months(around august).

(Edit: I am such an idiot because I totally had not kept on some of these prices some of this stuff is way more than I thought it would be! So yeah... adjustment must me made)

I am going to be visiting her around August, she lives a long way away[In Canada] and I have to go by greyhound, so we'll need to get everything once I'm there, she has an NCIX store nearby as well as other smaller stores we were planning to look into.

She and I work together to make some websites for people(we're just getting started, done less than a dozen so far), but she also does Graphic Design, and lately has been asked to do some video rendering for a couple of projects(edit & burn some DVDs for some people, that kind of thing).

She is finding her current laptop too slow, like when shes using an adobe program she can't really do anything else, and things take a while to render etc. I believe it has an i7 ~2Ghz mobile chip and I want to think.. 460M or so nVidia GPU, with 8GB of DDR3. This is all offhand so forgive the lack of specifics please :P

She also wants to go with Intel for the CPU because we need to test websites, DVDs, etc in Mac OS X too and it's just much easier to run it in VMware when you have an intel CPU. She does not plan to "use" OSX for anything other than testing compatibility.

She also plays some games, usually things like MMOs or RTS games, sometimes RPGs too (Skyrim anyone?), and TellTale Games(Walking Dead, Wolf Among Us, etc.)

When I visit her she wants me to help her get a new computer that will last her a long time and be able to do all this stuff much better.

She wanted to get another laptop, but I talked her into a desktop, because her laptop is still plenty good for pretty much everything else, no point in having a second one really when for the budget she is planning on I'm sure we could build a kickass system that would last a lot longer and be more upgradable.

-------The (Rough) Plan-------

Budget- Her Budget is probably going to be somewhere between $2000 - $3000, I'd like to keep it as low as possible, while still getting something that will last as long as possible(planning for a video card upgrade in several years, but would like the rest to last as long as possible).

CPU- Intel CPU with as much power as we can get with as close to 8 real physical cores(not 8 with hyperthreading) as we can get. She has no desires to mess with Overclocking.

Cooling- Just something as quiet as we can get it. In the summer time her room can get rather hot.

Motherboard- Good Motherboard with lots of connectivity, ports, I/O connectors and some decent recovery capability (dual bioses, easy to reset bios if misconfigured and won't boot, etc.)

GPU- Whatever the best GPU for rendering with Adobe CS6, and maybe some other software & playing some games would be.

Storage- For the storage, I was thinking a 128 or 256 GB SSD for the OS and Core Programs, then a 1TB HDD for Extra Programs and Games. Followed by a (Probably Mirrored)RAID Array of Four 2TB Drives for Data Storage and Backups. Maybe more or less, whatever would work best, but I am NOT going near 4TB drives I don't trust them, with the failure rates(Unless it has gotten much better, last I knew it was like 50/50 or so).

Removeable Media- Also want to get her a Bluray burner, and a good USB 3.0 card reader(maybe built into the case)

Memory- As much RAM as I can fit, 32GB, maybe 64GB or even 128GB (Overkill?)

Power Supply- And of course I'd like to get an 80 Plus  PSU, Gold or Platinum, with more than enough juice for all this, and future video card upgrades (800W? 1000W? 1200W?)

Case & Etc- And Lastly a Case & any needed Accessories with plenty of room to hold all this that will be cool but also as quiet as we can get it. She already has one 1080P 22" (I think) monitor, and she plans to get a second.

Hopefully I haven't forgotten anything :P

-------

Thank you for your input! It is really appreciated! Even though I don't really post much I've been watching the tech for a while now and really like it and this whole community :)

The parts in this post were edited some to be more realistic in terms of pricing, I was shooting way too high for her budget, and am a total idiot for not triple checking prices before posting.

The parts have also been edited again to reflect some of the ideas put forth in the discussion below.

Edited Title to reflect more realistic longevity expectations.

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http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3JAsq Sorry to say, but there is really no possible way you can get everything from your list in under $3000. 

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Crossfire/SLI (Multi-GPU setups) are mainly for gaming, and very few video editing/rendering programs can utilize more than one GPU.  I would try to get the strongest single GPU card you can get.

I would also try to stick to air cooling.  Liquid cooling has more points of failure(aka a pump), and if it ever so happens to leak(rarely does, but it is of course possible) it becomes troublesome for the non-techie person to fix.

Also, I would think that a good 1000w power supply would be plenty for what you're asking for.

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Thank you for your reply :)

I was not aware of that pc parts picker site, that's awesome!, & bookmarked!

I had been poking around the a bunch of different websites looking at things, but hadn't gotten too serious yet(as the plan is still kind of like a rough draft), I see you picked out a bunch of parts, thank you SO MUCH for spending your time and effort doing that!

I was afraid it might be a bit of a longshot, but it looks like you found some good stuff. I really like the look of the case you picked, maybe she will too.

Anyone else has any ideas, please keep them coming, but I am definitely going to be looking into the parts you picked here & see what we can figure out. Thank you again!

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Ah ok, didn't think about the GPU computing not carrying over, well, noted then, might have to change the plan some. Thank you.

Yeah, that might be better, I was thinking(hoping) a all in one closed loop thing would be less likely to have any sort of issues like that, but, seeing as I have limited experience with it myself, probably a good idea to stick to air cooling. Just wanted it to be quiet, she doesn't live alone, and one of the people in her house, is paranoid about electronics being left on and if he hears her PC making noises he turns it off when shes not there, by pulling the power plug out. =\

And I knew the PSU might be a bit overkill, what do you think would be the best for power efficiency? (I've heard about 80% usage is the most efficient)

Thank you again so much for your replies and advice! :)

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I just want to manage your expectations on the longevity of your build. It will not be practical for gaming or video editing in 10 years. There is a good chance that the tablets that are out in 10 years will be faster than anything you can build today. Just as a reference, the top of the line graphics cards 10 years ago still used pixel pipelines (and would for another 2 1/2 years) and dual core wasn't even a thing yet. Sadly there isn't really any such thing as future proof in todays world.

If you really need all that power now, then caveman has put together a nice list. The only thing I would change would be the cooler. If you are not overclocking you do not need an AIO and something like a noctua will be cheaper, quieter, and provide plenty of cooling. If you don't need all that power now and were just trying to future proof the build, I suggest you cut your budget and only build a little bit more than what you need today. Then in 5 years when everyone is using quantum processors (that was sarcasm but you get my point) you will not feel like you have to stick with your old machine due to that fact that you invested so much in it.

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Well its basicly impossible to build a system, that will last you 10 year in video editing and graphic design. But you could build a nice system for now, that will last her atleast for about 5 years.

But i made this: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3JEKj

i choosed for the GTX780Ti this is the stongest single gpu on the market right now, i was looking for a titan, but i think that one is way over priced for its performance, i choosed for a 256 gb ssd, and two 2 TB WB black hard drives. 850W psu, is basicly a way overkill, but she could allways add a second 780Ti is she thinks she would ever need it, alot upgrade path there. cooling i choosed nzxt krakan X60 best close loop system out there. case is personal. DVD burner not needed, cause you can burn dvd´s with blueray burner aswell.

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Yes, I was just trying to "future proof" things. Thank you for your input. I think we might go more with a plan like you've suggested, get some good things for now and work on upgrading over time.

She likes that Intel i7 4930k 6 core though, so we'll probably end up with that. (Gonna look to see price/performance though and see what I can come up with)

But as for the rest we're going to tone it down a bit. Definitely gonna go with the nocturna fans you mentioned!

She said the main thing she wants is to be able to render stuff reasonable quick and also do other stuff at the same time. Right now if Photoshop or Premier are going she can only do one thing at one time.

Thank you so much for your input! :)

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Thank you so much for taking the time to put those together!

I think we'll go with the 256GB SSD so she'll be sure to have enough room for programs she wants to run fast.

Do you think the 780Ti will be able to say, do rendering in premier and not lag enough to let her do other things with her computer?

After showing her this thread and all the replies, including yours, she was saying she liked the idea of having two GPUs better because she wanted to be able to use her computer to work on other things or do other stuff while Premier or Photoshop are doing their things.

It seems like, right now, for her, the most important thing isn't necessarily speed, but multitasking. Speed is still a close second though, like she doesn't want it to still take a dozen or so hours to render a couple hour DVD from footage she filmed.

We will definitely be looking into all the parts you and other people have mentioned, again thank you for taking the time! :)

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She wanted me to ask what stuff could we start buying now that won't change over the next few months, so she can have as much of it as possible already there, and then get the most important bits at the last minute when I'm visiting. (Probably with a trip to NCIX and/or other local computer shops).

I already mentioned the case, but she wants to wait until I'm there for that, so we can make sure everything will fit the way we want.

Again thank you all so much for all of your input and suggestions! I am really so glad for all your help, much better with more heads than just mine here! You guys & gals are AWESOME! :)

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Not sure about this but isn't cuda better supported than opencl by adobe? Sure price to perf 290X may be better but if something that costs say 150 more will save you an hour of rendering a week it pays itself off very quickly. Also ECC on the ram. The last thing you need is a single error to force a complete rerender of the video.

 http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3JHWd

mine is way over budget, but i didn't skimp on anything really and also included peripherals. two 256GB SSDs throw em in RAID 0, 1TB Black for misc(maybe scratch disk) and two 2TB for data storage. again reiterating the ECC RAM thing, it is important on something like this. pcpartpicker didn't have any listed but here http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820239814 they aren't pretty but this is a workstation, not a modding contest entry. also, the cpu could be swapped for a E5-2650 and not change price to much, it comes at the sacrifice of core speed vs core count. so 6 at 3.3Ghz or 8 at 2.0Ghz. also gpu could be swapped for a standard 780 rather than Ti model. would cut a couple hundred bucks there. hope she likes her system

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i think that a 780Ti should be good enough, i was looking for the titant black in the first place, cause this is should be a better productivity card, but as far as the specs of both cards go, they are roughly the same, only the titan black has more Vram. so i dont realy think it would be worth it grabbing a titan black.

Also maybe 2 GTX780´s in sli, or maybe 2 R9-290´s is something to concider, if she does alot on open CL and open GL, then i would look for a radeon option. But adobe premiere, has a realy good cuda support aswell. thats something, to investigate by her self, does she like to render on cuda, or on open cl.

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  • On the CPU, if you're not overclocking then get a Xeon. It will be superior to an non-overclocked 4930K. So look at a mid to high range E3 or a low range E5.
  • On the GPU, a Quadro card may be more effective for content creation, but it would drive the price up unfortunately. Otherwise a Titan or 780Ti will do. Multi-GPU setups are only effective for ultra-high resolution gaming, extremely intensive/repetitive computations or specialised rendering. Therefore, I would recommend sticking with a single very powerful card. Like another user already said, many programs don't support utilisation for multiple GPUs, so it would be a waste of money.
  • On memory, start with 32 GB then upgrade in the future. 64 GB is too much to begin with unless you're doing really specialised rendering with extremely large files. Yes 128 GB is overkill and I don't think it's even supported on motherboards.
  • On storage, definitely look into a RAID setup for the mechanical drives and then use a SSD as a boot/important programs drive.
  • On power, get around 750 W give or take. Make sure the efficiency is at least silver, preferably gold (you could even justify getting platinum). If multi-GPUs are not used, no watercooling and no overclocking, you don't need anything beyond 700 W, but if you include many storage drives, that will increase the power consumption slightly. 750 W in my opinion is a good compromise. Just remember the efficiency is important.
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Thank you for taking the time to put that together! Shes thinking about the stuff you said.

I also did some searching and it seems it's the Creative Cloud versions that can use OpenCL on Windows, but she has CS6 for Windows and it was kind of hard to find much info but it seems like that is CUDA(nVidia) only.

This is becoming quite an expensive endeavor indeed. We do really appreciate all this advice, I definitely don't think she wants to go through taking a month to make DVDs again, probably half that or more was just waiting on the computer, I believe.

Thanks to all this help though we're getting a much clearer picture of what this will be and have much better, and more realistic expectations.

Again, Thank you all so much. Hope to see more thoughts and ideas :)

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it is a very expensive endeavor. but at this point you are building a workstation designed and geared towards a task that makes money. it will pay itself off.

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Thank you for your input! :)

I think at this point the one Powerful nVidia card will be the way to go, and keeping the power consumption down(and efficiency up) is very important. Quadro is probably out of the budget entirely, plus she would still like to do some Gaming.

I think you idea on the memory makes sense. We're gonna do that.

She agrees about the watercooling, shes deathly afraid to have something go wrong, if I'm not there, she doesn't want to touch anything inside the computer if she can help it.

As for the PSU, absolutely gonna get at-least Gold rating.

Again Thank You, and Everyone, for all your input, help and advice! You are all awesome! :)

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If she needs her computer to be silence optimized, I would recommend a Noctua air cooler, 80+ Gold or Platinum rated power supply, and a silence optimized case.

I did a little bit of tweaking to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3JIWF

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My apologies I didn't read that your girlfriend will be gaming as well.

  • Okay so the Xeon is probably not ideal for gaming performance. CPUs generally don't improve performance in games much, but using a workstation processor on a gaming rig is not logical. So to potentially save money and give you options for overclocking in the future, the 4930K is probably a better option. I'm interested in what other users have to say about this though.
  • Watercooling is generally not advisable for a first build (especially open-loop implementations), but if you do sufficient research it can be made as reliable as air cooling and improve acoustics, temperatures and of course performance. Moreover overclocking is not hard at all, and a 4930K is ideal to overclock. So perhaps looking at a closed-loop watercooling implementation (such as the Corsair H100i) or use a decent CPU air cooler (Phanteks and Noctua are what I recommend). With a decent CPU cooler, you can easily push the CPU frequency to 4.2 GHz + which will give tangible performance increase. Just something to consider, I appreciate that a lot of people are hesitant/sceptical of overclocking, but once you do it you'll never go back.
  • For gaming, a 780 Ti or Titan would be amazing. Quadro cards are not designed for gaming, so stay away from them for now. Maybe in the future if your girlfriend becomes more serious, a Quadro could be implemented (but yeah price is quite ridiculous).

 

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I put this together. She really doesn't need 32GB of memory, I doubt she knows how to setup and run a ram drive. I am thinking 16GB is plenty and she can upgrade later. There is really no reason to spend $3000 (USD) on a system for her either. Also, getting the parts in the US is cheaper.. and you can just bring them to her there.. Or build it and bring it to her. Up to you.

Here is what I put together;

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3JKiI

This has a 120GB SSD OS boot drive, a 250GB SSD working/game drive, 4x2TB HDD's. 2x8 GB ram, upgradable to 32GB if she needs later. I put a GTX 780 ti in, but if you are using openCL then go for the AMD r9-290x... The GTX 780 ti is a better card overall though.

Some highlights,

All the parts are premium/long warranty parts. Samsung SSD's have a 5 year, The powersupply is very highly rated by an excellent company and there is enough power for a second graphics card if needed. In addition, the motherboard is the newest z97 chipset which can use the next intel processors if need be and have a TON of connectivity.

The CPU cooler is silent and some 14cm Noctua fans can be added to the front of the case to make the system even quieter.. but I don't think it is necessary.

Hope this helps.

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One thing to look at though, is what's the primary purpose of the rig. If its gaming then don't go Xeon. If its video editing and content creation then the 4930K loses there with lack of things like ECC. As for avoiding liquid, AIO coolers are sufficient for this kind of thing. They allow you to liquid cool without really having to invest heavily in a loop.

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