Budget editing PC build help - $500

[cgipperich]

Hey all! I recently took a position which will require me to do a loooot of editing this coming summer. I'm look for a machine that can effectively run all of the Adobe Creative Suite (less emphasis on After Effects - primarily Premiere and Photoshop). I need something that won't leave me sitting and waiting for hours for projects to render/export. And I'm hoping my budget of $500 will allow for that.

Now I haven't built my own computer before, and if it was mine personally then I may take a stab at it. But this is for my employer so I aim to impress within the confines of the limited budget they allowed for me.

Parts they have on-hand already to reduce the purchase cost include:
-Peripherals: monitor, keyboard, mouse, and even a case (though I don't know which one - just don't include in the build, I can add on later for cheap if need be)
-a "few sticks" of 4gb DDR3 RAM (assuming at least 8gb - so the MOBO would have to be compatible with multiples of those)
-also a "few" 250gb HDDs. I'm not sure if using several of these would beat out having a single 1tb 7200 RPM HDD or not.

So I would need everything else required to make this machine run, which I believe includes the following:
- CPU
- MOBO
- Video Card (1gb at least NVIDIA with CUDA)
- Power supply
- Optical drive
- Sound Card
- OS

If there's any other information I could provide to help my situation please let me know! And thanks a loooot in advance!!!

p.s. if you could use pcpartspicker.com or some equivalent to make it easier for me, I would really appreciate it

 

[ATMINSIDE]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3F8XD

There you go.

There's onboard sound with the motherboard, do you really need a dedicated sound card?

Edit:
Here's one with RAM, HDD, and Case
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3F92E

 

[Theocnoob]

I don't think what you're envisioning is really possible for $500. A competent Adobe creative suite PC, in my opinion, starts at about $800 (without a case or OS). Without the RAM and the HDD you can knock that down to $650 but that's really as low as I'd go.

I wouldn't want you using something like an APU or an APU based Athlon because the CPU performance on those is really poor. So, sorry to say I disagree with your ATMINSIDE, even though you were within budget, and I will not be.

Here's what I would recommend:

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/mistersprinkles/saved/4BaH

(No RAM, no HDD, no case)

$671 with Windows 8
and a very tantalizing $571 if you already have an OS.

This will murder ATMINSIDE's build (no offense intended) much in the same way that a powerful lion takes down a defenseless baby gazelle.

I urge you not to go any lower end than the parts I have suggested. Otherwise you're going to be doing a lot of sitting around and waiting. Productivity is paramount for business computers. If you have a card that does CUDA so slowly, you feel like a 386 could outrun it, and the CPU is a pokey slump with almost no cache and poor performance... you're losing a lot of productivity. With parts any slower than these you're losing money every time you sit down at the desk and use the computer. I built my friend a PC which is also primarily for Adobe Creative Suite in 2011 that consisted of:

2500K
P67AUD3P
2x4GB DDR3 1600 C9
GTX 560Ti
CX600
1TB WD Black

It handled the task quite admirably. The system I have spec'd for you will be slightly faster on the CPU side and significantly faster on the GPU side (as a 760 is equivalent to 580+)

Also, when you have a spare couple hundred dollars, pick up at least a 240GB quality SSD.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

I don't think what you're envisioning is really possible for $500. A competent Adobe creative suite PC, in my opinion, starts at about $800 (without a case or OS). Without the RAM and the HDD you can knock that down to $650 but that's really as low as I'd go.

I wouldn't want you using something like an APU or an APU based Athlon because the CPU performance on those is really poor. So, sorry to say I disagree with your ATMINSIDE, even though you were within budget, and I will not be.

Here's what I would recommend:

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/mistersprinkles/saved/4BaH

(No RAM, no HDD, no case)

$671 with Windows 8
and a very tantalizing $571 if you already have an OS.

This will murder ATMINSIDE's build (no offense intended) much in the same way that a powerful lion takes down a defenseless baby gazelle.

I urge you not to go any lower end than the parts I have suggested. Otherwise you're going to be doing a lot of sitting around and waiting. Productivity is paramount for business computers. If you have a card that does CUDA so slowly, you feel like a 386 could outrun it, and the CPU is a pokey slump with almost no cache and poor performance... you're losing a lot of productivity. With parts any slower than these you're losing money every time you sit down at the desk and use the computer. I built my friend a PC which is also primarily for Adobe Creative Suite in 2011 that consisted of:

2500K
P67AUD3P
2x4GB DDR3 1600 C9
GTX 560Ti
CX600
1TB WD Black

It handled the task quite admirably. The system I have spec'd for you will be slightly faster on the CPU side and significantly faster on the GPU side (as a 760 is equivalent to 580+)

Also, when you have a spare couple hundred dollars, pick up at least a 240GB quality SSD.

And its also double the price, so its should.

Premiere and Photoshop honestly don't even need the 750, so the 760 is a waste IMO.

 

[Theocnoob]

All the better. That way he can drop to the 750 with my cpu and mobo and be within budget (assuming he already has an OS).

 

[ATMINSIDE]

I'm just going to throw this out there:
Why would he ask for an OS if he had one?

 

[Theocnoob]

I'm just going to throw this out there:
Why would he ask for an OS if he had one?

It would appear that I don't read posts so much as I skim over them.

 

[bob4933]

This can't be done for 500. Not unless you are willing buy used components, and "source" windows 7 from a cheaper source. I will say, you are allowed to "try out" windows 7 for free for a while, perhaps go that route.


For video rendering, you are going to need a solid gpu... An "ok one" for the job would still run you almost 300$.

We also can't say for sure that a "couple sticks of ram" is going to be compatible with anything, much less working properly. And for video editing a "couple" 250gb hard drives are proably not gonna cut it...


"an optical drive" is pretty low on specifics. Blu Ray? Blu ray burner? DVD burner? What do you need?

Why do you need a sound card???

For decent performance and reliability... your budget needs to almost double, and thats WITH skimping on parts.



"1gb graphics card " doesn't mean anything at all either.

Heres a 1gb Nvidia GPU with cuda cores for instance.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130815

 

[Theocnoob]

This can't be done for 500. Not unless you are willing buy used components, and "source" windows 7 from a cheaper source. I will say, you are allowed to "try out" windows 7 for free for a while, perhaps go that route.


For video rendering, you are going to need a solid gpu... An "ok one" for the job would still run you almost 300$.

We also can't say for sure that a "couple sticks of ram" is going to be compatible with anything, much less working properly. And for video editing a "couple" 250gb hard drives are proably not gonna cut it...


"an optical drive" is pretty low on specifics. Blu Ray? Blu ray burner? DVD burner? What do you need?

Why do you need a sound card???

For decent performance and reliability... your budget needs to almost double, and thats WITH skimping on parts.



"1gb graphics card " doesn't mean anything at all either.

Heres a 1gb Nvidia GPU with cuda cores for instance.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130815

Church.