Advice on a Build

[DarkTower]

Good day to you all,

Having had a laptop for the last 20 years (and realising it is almost permanently stationary on my desk for the majority of that time) I am looking at the option of getting a desktop instead (in the belief I can get more for my money than in a laptop....)

My requirement would involve video and image editing and production, running many containers simultaneously, doing a lot of development, as well as using it for all the standard things a computer is used for (with the added option of running a game or two and expecting reasonable performance)

My budget is as low as possible up to around 3,300 euro. I was wondering if people could recommend a build? (added bonus that it looks good - and I don't need any monitors I've two 4K Ultra HD monitors already) I would also be wanting a minimum of 64GB RAM.

Thanks in advance!

 

[AgentCooper]

Good morning and welcome. Whilst we can definitely assist with a spec to fit the bill, may I ask how soon are you looking to make the purchase?

It’s coming up to the end of a generational cycle so come September / October we’re going to have a whole new range of processors and GPUs to play with, offering a huge boost in performance for your money.

If you’re not needing to buy immediately, it’ll definitely be worth waiting.

 

[DarkTower]

I'm suffering a hardware failure on my current laptop that I am working around at the moment. I'd like to say I could wait for the next generation of items to come out but it all depends on whether the hardware issues get worse or not. How often are these cycles of new component releases or is this a hugely significant one that is a bit of a game changer?

 

[SpyderTracks]

I'm suffering a hardware failure on my current laptop that I am working around at the moment. I'd like to say I could wait for the next generation of items to come out but it all depends on whether the hardware issues get worse or not. How often are these cycles of new component releases or is this a hugely significant one that is a bit of a game changer?

This is the end of a major generational cycle.

This won't happen again for about 6 or 7 years.

 

[DarkTower]

In case this machine up and dies and as much as I'd like to wait I can't... would you guys have any recommended specs within the price range above And thanks for the fast replies so far!

 

[sck451]

Here's the machine I'd probably suggest to you. Intel is in the lead right now (though that might change in a few months) and an Nvidia GPU makes sense too.

I'm suggesting using DDR5 memory for this for greater upgradability, but the advantages over DDR4 are as yet fairly small. The difference in price is around £200.

Case
FRACTAL MESHIFY 2 LIGHT TEMPERED GLASS
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 16-Core Processor i9-12900K (3.2GHz) 30MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX Z690-F GAMING WIFI (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5200MHz (2 x 32GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2700MB/sW)
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair iCUE H115i RGB PRO XT 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)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 7 working days
Price: £3,152.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-ddr5-pc/fK5R2kXnKy/

 

[DarkTower]

Thanks for that spec! Silly question but there are two SSD drives, I assume the logic is installing applications that need fast access on 500GB and ones needing it less so on 2GB?

 

[sck451]

Thanks for that spec! Silly question but there are two SSD drives, I assume the logic is installing applications that need fast access on 500GB and ones needing it less so on 2GB?

Applications and Windows on the 500GB; projects and games on the 2TB one. If you can spare the cash, it wouldn't be silly to go for a Gen 4 secondary SSD for gaming. It probably wouldn't do much for your other work, but for gaming SSD speed will be increasingly important over the next few years.

The advantages are in terms of cost, speed (because you are using separate PCIe lanes for OS stuff and games/project stuff and so they aren't competing with each other), and when you need to reinstall Windows, it saves you a lot of work.

 

[DarkTower]

Thanks for that - all makes perfect sense!

 

[DarkTower]

Just checked the price and it's over 3,600 euro - I'm hoping to come in under 3,300 euro. Any modifications you'd make to get it down?

 

[sck451]

Oh, I'm sorry: I saw 3300 and immediately went to GBP. In that case I'd definitely suggest the DDR4 variant. I'm also suggesting cutting the storage down to 1TB on the second drive, because it's really easy to upgrade with one or two more in the future. You could get it down further with the Corsair 5000D Airflow case, an 850W power supply. I'd prefer the Fractal case and I'd definitely want the 1000W power supply myself, as future GPUs look to be very power hungry, but the cheaper options would also be fine. You could also save €30ish by going for the 12900KF, which disables the integrated graphics. You'll probably never need them, but if you ever had a graphics card fail it's nice to have something that can do video output. I'd keep them, but I'd totally get downgrading all these things!

Here's the build, then, with the 12900KF, the 1000W PSU, the 1TB SSD and the 5000D. This brings it close to the budget.

If you were able to transfer Windows from your laptop (I believe this is possible, but have no first-hand experience of it) that would bring you under €3300.

Case
CORSAIR 5000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 16-Core Processor i9-12900KF (3.2GHz) 30MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX Z690-A GAMING WIFI D4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW)
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair iCUE H115i RGB PRO XT 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)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
2 - 3 DAY DELIVERY TO REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 7 working days
Price: €3,348.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/fEgccx2ayJ/

 

[DarkTower]

Hi folks, I waited as per the suggestion in the second post so could I ask if anyone has a refreshed spec they would recommend for the same requirements in my opening post?

 

[DarkTower]

Good day to you all,

Having had a laptop for the last 20 years (and realising it is almost permanently stationary on my desk for the majority of that time) I am looking at the option of getting a desktop instead (in the belief I can get more for my money than in a laptop....) A few months ago I asked this but was told I should wait until now as new range of stuff was due out.

My requirement would involve video and image editing and production, running many containers simultaneously, doing a lot of development, as well as using it for all the standard things a computer is used for (with the added option of running a game or two and expecting reasonable performance)

My budget is as low as possible up to around 3,300 euro. I was wondering if people could recommend a build? (added bonus that it looks good - and I don't need any monitors I've two 4K Ultra HD monitors already) I would also be wanting a minimum of 64GB RAM.

Thanks in advance!

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hiya

This is where I'd be looking.

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE 7 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12 Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.8GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® CROSSHAIR VIII HERO WIFI (DDR4, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX/SLI) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
512GB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 450MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
3TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1200W HX SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® PLATINUM, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
Corsair iCUE H115i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB 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)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
2 - 3 DAY DELIVERY TO REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Price: €3,307.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.ie/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/gqfCdfBdY2/

 

[DarkTower]

Thanks for the recommendation. Anyone able to recommend a spec with an Intel chip rather than AMD? Cheers in advance! Or SpyderTracks is it a case of just changing it in your spec?

 

[sck451]

Thanks for the recommendation. Anyone able to recommend a spec with an Intel chip rather than AMD? Cheers in advance! Or SpyderTracks is it a case of just changing it in your spec?

Not a huge purpose in changing for Intel. You won't get hugely better performance or more upgradability; you will get higher prices and temperatures.

But swapping in a 13700K and a Tuf Z690 motherboard (you'd have to do it from scratch on the separate config tool) should be approximately the equivalent.

 

[DarkTower]

Thanks sck451 - so the AMD is the chip of preference? I was reading various articles and it seems to be siding with INTEL of late. That's mainly the reason for the request.