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So, at this point I have built the PC however due to some motherboard issues it will be at least two weeks before I can get back to work editing the video for the full build guide as well as a new series that will encompass how to pick each part of the computer. Since I cannot bring the video content to this page I will be covering each of my choices in this post with as much detail as I can put together.  Once I have had the ability to script, record and edit the ‘How to Pick…’ videos I will also post them along with a brief description of the choices that I made.  Keep in mind that this computer will be used for video editing, 3D rendering as well as some gaming.

Picking PC parts is an incredibly difficult process because of the optimization you need to do throughout the process.  I would advise starting off with a fairly conservative build that encompasses everything that you want without going over budget and then adjusting them as you get into the details like color scheme, reliability, power consumption, connectors necessary, customer support ect.  Also there is a great resource called PCPartPicker.com that I used extensively while planning for this build and I would advise anyone else building a computer to use it as well.  It checks some basic metrics for compatibility and will help speed up the part picking step in computer building.

 

The basic build that I started off with was:

-Intel i7 4770K  –four core, eight thread processor good for general productivity and light video editing work

-2×8 GB sticks of DDR3 RAM –more RAM than typical so that video editing would run smoothly

-Asus motherboard  –Asus has great reliability and customer support and I really enjoy their products

-GTX 780 Ti graphics card  –most powerful single graphics card that was available at the time

-Corsair RM series power supply  –80 plus gold efficiency as well as a good fan and many good reviews

-250 GB SSD and 3 TB hard drive from Western Digital –more than enough storage for my current needs, however due to large video and audio files it might need to be upgraded quickly

*this was the build as it was almost two years ago when I learned about the program.  Now this build would only cost $1700-$1500 even thought then it would have been roughly $2000.

 

 

Since this was just the rough outline of the build I kept things pretty vague so that when it came time to build the pc I could go through and hammer out the details.  However due to some upgrades over time the processor, graphics card, the power supply, the SSD and the hard drive were upgraded to:

-Intel i7 4790K  –better heat dissipation due to improved thermal interface between the chip and the heat spreader

-2×8 GB sticks of DDR3 RAM

-Asus z97 chipset motherboard –just an update on the intel chipset that goes along with the processor update

-GTX 980 graphics card –similar performance to the 780 Ti with a newer generation of graphics chip that is significantly more power efficient.  Also this card has more digital display outputs which is important as displays move to higher resolutions such as 2160×3840 (4K).

-EVGA G2 series of power supply –due to some information found on the website Johnnyguru.com I changed the power supply to this one.  The specifics can be found below with the full parts overview

 

This build was the plan late last year until Intel released their new X99 chipset and processor family.  This series is the continuation of the enthusiast platform that was last updated with the x79 chipset.  X99 includes three processors (all including hyperthreading) one octa-core chip for $1000, one hexa-core for around $550 and one hexa-core processor for around $300.  The difference between the two hexa-core processors involves a higher clock speed (3.3 Ghz vs 3.0 Ghz) as well as the ability to use more expansion cards in the system (specifically in the PCIE slots on x99 motherboards).  So I re-updated the build once more:

-Intel i7 5820K –hexa-core hyperthreaded processor (lower cost one) the 4790K is roughly the same price however the two extra cores will help significantly with rendering

-Noctua NH-D15 –CPU cooler that should allow for some serious overclocking of the CPU

-4×4 Gb DDR4 RAM

-Asus x99-pro motherboard –updated to match the processor family

-GTX 980 graphics card

-EVGA G2 power supply

-Samsung 850 Evo 250 GB SSD with an Hitachi 4 Tb NAS Series hard drive (picked for reliability and speed)

-Fractal Design Define R5 — computer case to hold all of the hardware

-4x Noctua NF-A14 fans –for extremely quiet cooling power

 

 

 

At this point I could really see the computer coming together very nicely.  The price was near my step budget however there were some details that still needed to be worked out.

Details include:

-Brand and speed of RAM

-Brand of GTX 980

-Spacial restraints due to the case size (especially graphics card, CPU cooler, motherboard and fan configuration)

 

For the RAM in my final build I picked up a set of corsair RAM that had gone on sale during the time-frame of the build.  It is a really solid kit of RAM due to a decent CAS latency (affects the speed of the ram slightly) and high clock speed at 2666 at an overclocked XMP.

For the Graphics card I went with the EVGA GTX 980 ACX 2.0 superclocked edition.  This was one of the fastest (out of the box) graphics cards within my price range that also came with a very good aftermarket heatsink on it. Also it fits the color scheme of the build quite nicely.

For the Case I ended up not running into any issues because the case is quite roomy on the inside.  However space constraints due to the large CPU heatsink (especially with ram height) was something to keep in mind throughout the parts picking process.

 

 

 

So the final build consisted of (see picture attached for full prices and other specifics)

Intel 5820K CPU

Six cores, twelve threads clocked at 4.4 Ghz

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Noctua NH-D15 CPU cooler

Two 140mm fans with six heatpipes for superior cooling similar to an All-in-one liquid cooler.

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Corsair 2400 MHz CAS 14 4×4 RAM kit

Low profile DDR4 RAM kit that was on sale
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Asus X99-Pro with USB 3.1

Very solid motherboard that unfortunately I am having some issues with currently. Updates to come once ASUS updates me on my RMA.
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EVGA Superclocked ACX2.0 GTX 980

Powerful graphics card for running games, offloading rendering (if possible) from the CPU and enough digital display interfaces for my immediate future (triple monitor and a tv hooked up to it)
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Samsung 850 EVO 500GB

Very fast storage for my OS, key applications, and a couple games.  I do not want to put any content on this drive that will be removed quickly due to the limited write cycles that SSDs currently have.  They are quite robust, as shown by numerous tests however I have the scratch disk for any video files that I need to move around.
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Hitachi 4TB NAS series hard drive

Incredibly reliable drive that has decent speed and large capacity.  This will be where I put all of the large format video files and any finished projects.
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Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB (added due to extra funds as a scratch disk for large files)

This is for temporary storage of video and audio files while I work on them.
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EVGA G2 750W Power supply

80+ Gold efficiency with a enough capacity for the current system as well as any other upgrades (more RAM, storage, graphics card etc.)
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Fractal Design Define R5 Case

Good case with decent air flow due to the fans below.  Also, the dust filters will help keep the system in top performing condition for a long time.
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4x NF-A14 case fans from noctua.

These will supply the system with enough positive air flow to keep dust in the system down as well as keep everything cool under load. From my testing (before the motherboard needed to be RMAed) CPU max temperature is 74 degrees C and the graphics card is max 65 degrees C.
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So, again apologies for the lack of updates.  Once my motherboard gets back I will be recompleting my build and editing the video.

 

Thank you for reading, and thank you to OSUs STEP Program for providing this opportunity!

 

John Coffey

 

 

Hello!

My name is John Coffey and I am a current second year student at The Ohio State University.  This blog page will be used over the course of the next couple months to explain my personal PC part choices (purchased through my STEP grant) and how I built my PC.  Along with my computer, I will be going through the basic steps of how to build a computer at a variety of price ranges for a variety of tasks.  I will list some recommended peripherals for use with the different computers as well.

 

 

For instance, an sRGB* certified monitor is the most basic monitor that should be used for professional content creation so that colors can be edited to look as true to life as desired.  My current main monitor is the Asus PA-248Q-R.  This monitor has a resolution of 1920×1080 with a, better than sRGB, color accurate (once calibrated) panel with minimal back-light bleed.  I also have an Asus Vn248H-P monitor which is also 1920×1080, however it is not nearly as accurate as the PA monitor due to some color banding that occurs (less color accurate and cannot display all colors accurately) as well as some significant back-light bleed.  Both of these monitors will serve me well for a variety of reasons which I will cover in a full ‘review’ of the monitors.  However, keep in mind that my monitors are uniquely for the work I will be doing with my computer and they might not be the best price/performance monitor for your application.

-An important note, both of these panels are IPS panels (In Plane Switching) which means that colors are more true to life and there is very little color shift when viewing the monitor at an angle.  Cheaper monitors may only be TN (Twisted Nematic) which has very poor color depth and viewing angles.  Currently the only benefit of a TN panel is that they have significantly lower response times which gives less latency while gaming or running other fast paced applications. –

*sRGB stands for Standard Red-Green-Blue Spectrum.  Some professional monitors have greater than sRGB color-space support meaning that they can show more colors than the average monitor.

 

 

Hopefully this has given you a glimpse at what I hope to be putting on this page.  I will be going through my entire build (once the STEP funds are distributed and I have time to film it) as well as writing posts geared towards college students looking to build a PC on a variety of budgets with a variety of desired applications in mind. Feel free to contact me at the email listed below with any questions you might have!

 

All the best,

 

John Coffey

Co-Founder of ZenithMedia and ZenithTech