Advice needed - small PC (maybe high performance)

[colevalleygirl]

I want to upgrade my PC. (Elderly sister's quality of life will be immeasurably improved by my current PC, plus I want to use two large monitors, which current layout won't permit. And I need to rearrange my cabling. Plus, I just wanna and I have a life limiting-condition -- I shall be delighted to be back here asking for advice in 5 years time! Current PC is 5 years old.).

What I use it for:

**Very Heavy** data mining (via Access, Excel, website scraping and specialist programs) -- drives memory requirement and processor.
Text processing -- writing, programming and genealogy -- nowt special.
Website maintenance including FTP -- nowt special.
Routine browsing and email, viewing videos -- nowt special.
Routine photo manipulation -- nowt special.
NOT gaming.

Requirements:

As small a form factor as possible. Will consider tower or cube or Mini PC, but cube or tower preferred. (I'm beyond the point at which I will whip out my trusty screwdriver to install hardware updates, so upgradeability by me is not an issue -- and if it lasts 5 years without an upgrade, it may outlast me.)

16Gb memory or better (but will depend on budget when other stuff sorted). I do tend to have lots of memory-hungry applications open at once, so 32Gb might be right.

Support for two large monitors side by side operating as a single desktop. Current monitor is Dell U3415W and ideally I'd replicate that but depends on the office layout I can achieve (which depends on PC form factor) but I'm clueless in this area - best to be prepared and add second monitor later?

Single SSD drive, at least 1Tb. (Current 1Tb drive 65% full)

3 front USB connectors plus at least one other at back for webcam.

DVD drive. Performance not critical. Would consider external although it's a hassle ad would affect USB configuration.

Basic sound support.

1000 GIGABIT LAN essential (not fussed about wi-fi).

Windows 10 Professional.

Armoured cables everywhere (have you met my cat, Little Madam?) Just joking.

Suggestions please?

Current spec:

Case COOLERMASTER ELITE 130 CASE
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790k (4.0GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard ASUS® H97I-PLUS: Mini-ITX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM) 16GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card 2GB AMD RADEON™ R7 260X - DVI, HDMI, DP- DX® 11, , Eyefinity 3 Capable

1st Storage Drive 1TB Samsung 840 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply CORSAIR 350W VS SERIES™ VS-350 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling Corsair H55 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler

Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB/Thunderbolt Options MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS

 

[Oussebon]

Potentially something like:

(it won't let me post the spec with an R9 3900x CPU as it's currently out of stock, but it would make the spec below £1645)

Case
CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 275R TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.4GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)

Get 3 Months of XBOX Game Pass for PC w/ select AMD Ryzen CPUs
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
4GB AMD RADEON™ RX 570 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12

Get 3 Months of XBOX Game Pass for PC w/ select AMD Ryzen CPUs
1st Storage Drive
NOT REQUIRED
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H100x Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 14 working days
Price: £1,461.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/eweVk4Au!T/

I couldn't find a very modestly sized ATX case with more than 2 USB at the frontt hat I'd put this kind of hardware in. Though you could always use a hub/extension lead.

Edit: Or, for that matter, a small for factor case!

If you want an internal DVD drive, the Fractal Focus G is a similar size to this one and supports internal DVD drives

 

[colevalleygirl]

I'm way out of touch with all this stuff, so will take the spec on trust (hadn't thought of an AMD -- drank the Intel coolade years ago and need to reconsider my assumptions) but the cases are too tall for the space I have for a tower. Will play around and see if I can achieve the same spec in a shorter tower. Thanks.

 

[Scott]

Heavy data mining in a confined space with a high end CPU isn't going to end well unfortunately. These systems need some room to breathe. The 275R is tiny compared to some of the towers on offer.

There isn't really a small form factor setup that will run well. Sure, you can shoehorn a V8 into a mini but after a couple of laps it's going to be cooking. These things are only any good for show and shine, actual grunt work they are not really fit for purpose.

 

[Oussebon]

As above, stuffing a high end PC into a small space is a recipe for letting the hardware cook itself in its own hot air. If it ends up taking in the air it has just exhausted because there isn't airflow through the place you've put it in, it will hurt the system's longevity and performance.

 

[colevalleygirl]

The space I have available is height limited, but effectively unlimited width and 35cm deep (to a wall). I shall probably rethink and buy some AWS capacity 2 or three times a months to do the data mining...