Helping a friend design/build his new PC

[dark2099]

So a friend/customer from work is in the market for a new PC and asked me to help him decide on parts since he is quite out of the loop on current tech. I can probably spec something out pretty well, but considering that he does a few things I don't a 2nd opinion would be great. The basic use for this PC will Office based applications, with some sound, picture, and video editing. The video editing isn't super intensive, as a police officer he when necessary will use Pinacle video software to enhance video quality, so I'm guess more than a iGPU on a chip probably is needed, also to meet his out put requests. Max budget is $600 USD, all parts need to be new. Since he does not upgrade often, I'd like to try and get him a 80+ Silver PSU if possible. Thanks!

Basic Requirements

AMD chip
8GB Ram
1TB Seagate HDD
Dual layer DVD burner
500w PSU
Video out put needs to have SVGA and at least 1 HDMI, 2 preferred, and if possible HDMI in

[newtekie1]

HDMI In is going to require a separate capture card, and last I checked they are pretty expensive. So I'd forget about that on a $600 budget.

An AMD APU rig would probably fill every need he has, and the iGPU should be able to accelerate Pinnacle without a problem. Though with the budget it might be better to go with an AM3+ rig with a discrete card, that would allow him to use a 6-core or even 8-core CPU, while the APU rig would be limitted to a 4-Core.

I'll throw what I would build together and update this post. Is the $600 budget the actual budget for parts, or are you taking some out of that for building it for him? Does he need keyboard, mouse, monitor, OS?

Edit: Once You Know, You Newegg

That is what I came up with.

You can use the DVI to HDMI adapter to get your second HDMI port, however it will only carry a video signal AFAIK, so no sound using that port/adapter. The native HDMI port on the motherboard will carry sound and video signals though.

[Ravenas]

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM

Rosewill FBM-01 Dual Fans MicroATX Mini Tower Computer Case

Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

MSI FM2-A55M-E33 FM2 AMD A55 (Hudson D2) HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 430W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

CORSAIR 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 Desktop Memory Model CMV8GX3M2A1333C9

AMD A10-5800K Trinity 3.8GHz (4.2GHz Turbo) Socket FM2 100W Quad-Core Desktop APU (CPU + GPU) with DirectX 11 Graphic AMD ...

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit - OEM

$543.92

Good luck with the two HDMI option. Lots of money can be saved on the CPU by choosing one of the following: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...e=Socket%20FM2

You may be able to accomplish that 2 HDMI need by using the following card: SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6670 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Expr... that pairs with that apu. If you change the APU above, then there needs to be a change in the card obviously.

[dark2099]

Thanks guys, was mostly curious about weather an iGPU would be strong enough for the video editing.

[Ravenas]

The video card I recommended with that build supports hybrid crossfire with the APU. The APU itself should be enough for light video editing. Adding the hybrid GPU should give it a nice amount of editing strength.

[tokyoduong]

just pop in a Radeon 7750 or nvidia GT 640/650 and you're set for light photo editing.