I think your video card does not match what you are doing with the machine. If you aren't going to get a professional video card, there is no need to drop $400 on a gaming card since it won't help with your graphics stuff much.

Otherwise, I think you're good. An i7 will be nice since you are doing CPU-heavy work.

>and i'm not 100% sure what i'm doing. i'm gathering a list of
>parts. trying to do some price shaving. this mostly for high
>end graphic work and video editing and A LOT of multitasking.
>unfortunately there's no microcenter in TN
>
>$1500 budget
>
>PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/16t1y
>Price breakdown by merchant:
>http://pcpartpicker.com/p/16t1y/by_merchant/
>Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/16t1y/benchmarks/
>
>CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99
>@ Microcenter)
>CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS9500 AT Ball Bearing CPU Cooler
>($30.99 @ Newegg)
>Motherboard: ASRock H87M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard
>($109.98 @ SuperBiiz)
>Memory: Mushkin Silverline 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1333 Memory
>($108.89 @ NCIX US)
>Storage: Crucial M4 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($189.99 @
>NCIX US)
>Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal
>Hard Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
>Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 660 3GB Video Card ($233.98 @
>Newegg)
>Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Arctic White) ATX Mid Tower
>Case ($89.99 @ Microcenter)
>Case Fan: Noctua NF-P12-1300 54.4 CFM 120mm Fan ($22.99 @
>NCIX US)
>Power Supply: Rosewill 350W ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @
>Newegg)
>Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($17.98 @
>Outlet PC)
>Speakers: Creative Labs A220 9W 2.1ch Speakers ($25.56 @
>Amazon)
>
>Total: $1120.32
>
>(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when
>available.)
>(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-14 19:20 EDT-0400)