Building a new computer

[MastaFran42]

I'm thinking about building a computer for 2D artwork and animation with some 3D hobby work.

I mostly use the Adobe Production Premium CS5.5 Suite and I use 3DSMax 2012 and Sculptris for school work. I'm also hoping to use more software like Toonboom and Zbrush in the future.

I've never build a computer before, so I haven't the slightest clue where to start.

Some specs that I have on my current computer:

-Windows Vista 64 bit OS

-Intel Premium Duel CPU E2220 @2.40 GHz 2.40 GHz

-500GB Hard Drive

-5 GB of RAM

Let me know if I'm missing anything.

[andya147]

biggest question what is your budget

[MastaFran42]

Nothing over $800, but if it's for a good reason I'll bend a little.

[tsabu]

Hey there.

Personally the best way i found to get a proper feedback for hardware stuff is to make a post on forums like CHIP http://forum.chip.com.my/

The only thing i can suggest by myself is to change Vista up to 7

[Arshes Nei]

5 GB ram? That's a very strange number.

Are you in the US?

You can probably do well with an icore 5 and I know Newegg will sell combo kits for a pretty good price
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboB...=Combo.1050244

RAM is pretty cheap, you can get 8gb for 40 bucks on average.

I'm not the biggest fan of Rosewill or MSI but that's a pretty acceptable build for under $500.

You can get a better graphics card later, but I still recommend nVIDA over ATI because ATI has really poor support with OPENGL apps.

The ivy bridge/sandy bridge processors have intel graphics on them already.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboB...=Combo.1050232