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While I have a built a few computers and have some rudimentary understanding of putting together components, I am undertaking something that is a bit outside of my experience.

I have a budget of $1400 with a little wiggle room, but I'd like to stay under if all possible. I know there are some great pre-built and custom built options out there, but to maximize the machine I'm going to do it myself.

This rig will be used for editing video for web and some HD video editing as well as photo editing. I am not adept at overclocking. I also do not plan on using it for gaming, but I do like running more than one program at a time.

Budget: $1400
Goals: Video and photo editing (Premiere Pro and Photoshop) but NO gaming
Resolution: 1080p (?)

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor $315
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819116987
MoBo: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard $145
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813132118
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 $155
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820231486
Video Card: NVIDIA® Quadro® K600 $160
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6814133482
Storage: Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive $125
http://www.neweggbusiness.com/product/pr...20-148-698
2 X Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $180
http://www.outletpc.com/co2169.html
Case:Fractal Design Define XL R2 (Titanium Grey) ATX Full Tower Case $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811352020
Cooling: Antec EarthWatts Platinum 650W 80+ Platinum Certified ATX Power Supply $105
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?p=PS-EA650P

Current total: $1385

I have keyboard, mouse, and monitor (a 26" Asus). The final build will run Windows 7 64-bit and Adobe CS. Is this enough? Or do you recommend some tweaks to make it better?

I may add another 2 HHD, but the the 2 here are for a RAID 0 if necessary.

Is this a solid budget workstation?

---

For the RAID, looks like I'll need one these:
RAID card: SIIG SC-SA0S11-S1 PCI-Express 2.0 x1 SATA III (6.0Gb/s) 2-Port Hybrid RAID Controller Card $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6816150042

Which brings the grand total to $1435

(07-18-2014, 04:21 PM)swimmerbat Wrote: [ -> ]While I have a built a few computers and have some rudimentary understanding of putting together components, I am undertaking something that is a bit outside of my experience.

I have a budget of $1400 with a little wiggle room, but I'd like to stay under if all possible. I know there are some great pre-built and custom built options out there, but to maximize the machine I'm going to do it myself.

This rig will be used for editing video for web and some HD video editing as well as photo editing. I am not adept at overclocking. I also do not plan on using it for gaming, but I do like running more than one program at a time.

Budget: $1400
Goals: Video and photo editing (Premiere Pro and Photoshop) but NO gaming
Resolution: 1080p (?)

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor $315
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819116987
MoBo: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard $145
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813132118
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 $155
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820231486
Video Card: NVIDIA® Quadro® K600 $160
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6814133482
Storage: Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive $125
http://www.neweggbusiness.com/product/pr...20-148-698
2 X Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $180
http://www.outletpc.com/co2169.html
Case:Fractal Design Define XL R2 (Titanium Grey) ATX Full Tower Case $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811352020
Cooling: Antec EarthWatts Platinum 650W 80+ Platinum Certified ATX Power Supply $105
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?p=PS-EA650P

Current total: $1385

I have keyboard, mouse, and monitor (a 26" Asus). The final build will run Windows 7 64-bit and Adobe CS. Is this enough? Or do you recommend some tweaks to make it better?

I may add another 2 HHD, but the the 2 here are for a RAID 0 if necessary.

Is this a solid budget workstation?

---

For the RAID, looks like I'll need one these:
RAID card: SIIG SC-SA0S11-S1 PCI-Express 2.0 x1 SATA III (6.0Gb/s) 2-Port Hybrid RAID Controller Card $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6816150042

Which brings the grand total to $1435

Just thought to add a +1 to your post. I've been lurking again after skipping a few years...never have built a pc myself...but thinking I should go ahead now. What I have come up with is similar to yours...with the addition of an optical drive, different brands, case etc. But kind of along your lines of thinking. I do know that i have read about xenon processors being excellent...and great for a workstation build. One significant difference is that they don't have on board graphics processing. No biggy since you will have a dedicated card. I don't game but thought I might just go with a gaming gpu...but will have to check out the k600. This is a great site for help....hope to see what comes of your idea!

Looks good. I wouldn't worry about overclocking, as you're already running one of the fastest CPU's on the planet. Not sure if you meant "RAID 0". I wouldn't configure your hard drives in a RAID 0, but a RAID 1, for redundancy. (If one drive fails, your data is safely mirrored on the other.) RAID 0 is usually just for performance, which you're already getting from the Solid State Drive. Finally, WD "RED" drives are "optimized" for RAID use, so you may wanna switch from Black to Red.

I'd read through the thread below, as the most of the advice still applies to this build.

http://forums.hardware-revolution.com/sh...orkstation

If you have some wiggle-room, the Samsung EVO comes with much better software, more reliability, and better performance. The "PRO" series adds to all of the above.

Thank you for the notes.

I'll keep the Red/Black thing in mind when I buy the HDD. Though I am thinking that may back off the RAID array, splurge on the video card i.e. upgrade from the K600 to the K2000.

As for the SSD, the Crucial came highly recommended for a "budget" build, so I'm hesitant to spend $$ there when I'm already so close to breaking my budget.

Also getting a lot of pressure from my friends to jump over to Apple, but with this budget I can only afford something used and I'd rather DIY.

Again, thank you for the notes.

I've never understood Adobe's limitation requiring the "Quadro" line for Adobe CS, and I tripped across a few sites describing ways to "unlock" other Graphics cards so that Adobe CS products would use them.

here's an interesting article: http://www.studio1productions.com/Articl...ereCS5.htm

and an excerpt:

Number 15 - Quadro or GeForce Video Cards

The only reason to use a Quadro video card with Adobe Premiere is if you are using a 10 bit monitor like the HP Dreamcolor or similar or you need SDI output. Otherwise, the Quadro’s are under powered and over priced.

Anyway, give that link a read. The prices on the GTX 770 Graphics cards has been coming down and some pretty good deals have come in lately.

I also saw the new Adobe CC (creative cloud) offering lists GTX cards along with quadros. http://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/syst...ments.html

Dan

(07-23-2014, 07:37 PM)Dan-H Wrote: [ -> ]I've never understood Adobe's limitation requiring the "Quadro" line for Adobe CS, and I tripped across a few sites describing ways to "unlock" other Graphics cards so that Adobe CS products would use them.

here's an interesting article: http://www.studio1productions.com/Articl...ereCS5.htm

and an excerpt:

Number 15 - Quadro or GeForce Video Cards

The only reason to use a Quadro video card with Adobe Premiere is if you are using a 10 bit monitor like the HP Dreamcolor or similar or you need SDI output. Otherwise, the Quadro’s are under powered and over priced.

Anyway, give that link a read. The prices on the GTX 770 Graphics cards has been coming down and some pretty good deals have come in lately.

I also saw the new Adobe CC (creative cloud) offering lists GTX cards along with quadros. http://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/syst...ments.html

Dan

mainly because quadro are professional series cards with double precision, which in a professional production, the artifacting that might happen with desktop cards wont make it into the final cut. another thing with the quadro and other certified cards is that if there is a problem with CS then Adobe will usually quickly address the software issues for those cards and supply support. not so with non certified cards. i think in CC you dont have to edit the configuration files to get the GTX cards to work.

quadro cards are pretty much required for any technical, engineering or architectural software because of the precision required by the nature of the work.(you wouldnt want to be designing a building and the structure be off by any amount)

here is a couple of links that explain pretty much the difference between desktop and pro gpu's. notice in the benchmarking for the desktop cards that there really wasnt much difference between the gtx 650 and the upper end cards after the config files were edited.

http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/article...2/#results

http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/article...ation-502/

good luck

This is some very interesting information. It's going to make a difference on what card I choose for my upcoming build. Thanks!

Yeah, take away is you can probably cheap out on the video card if you're not designing bridges. Maybe a GTX 650, maybe even a newer, $65 GT730? Not sure if that's going to low. Either pocket that extra $$$ or put it toward the Samsung SSD upgrade.

If you skip the RAID, be sure to have some other backup solution in place. Good luck!

Edit: This DEAL EXPIRED....

--

Newegg has the 250GB Samsung 840 Evo Series 2.5" SATA III TLC Solid State Drive SSD (MZ-7TE250BW) on Sale for $139.99 - $20 w/ promo code EMCPCHF238 = $119.99

This is the lowest price I can remember seeing.

Just wanted to give an update on this build. Basically went for the "red" HDDs and sprung for the Samsung Evo SDD (price difference was not too bad -- altho I'm going to try Crucial SSDs on a rebuild of a different computer). Parts are arriving now.

I'll share an update once the build is complete and let you know how it works for me.

Thank you for all the comments and suggestions.