comments on Specification please

[sherman39]

Dear All

Firstly I am not a gamer, my use is general office type stuff and video editing using consumer editing software (corel Video Studio). I also do a fair amount of work on line to my office servers.I put together the below spec budget circa £1500.00 but to be honest have no idea if, as I am a non-gamer, it is a sensible configuration. I usually use ethernet rather than wireless but added a wireless card because it seems sensible to have both.Comments would be appreciated.I also added a sound card thinking this would improve the qhality of sound for playing music.

Case
CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 200R COMPACT GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-6700 (3.4GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® Z170-E: ATX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
16GB HyperX SAVAGE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB Kit)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 750 Ti - DVI, HDMI VGA - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
2TB WD BLACK 3.5" WD2003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SAMSUNG SM951 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 2150MB/R, 1550MB/W)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
16x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW & SOFTWARE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster Z 5.1 PCI-E Soundcard - OEM
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11 AC1900 1,300Mbps/5GHz, 600Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
DVD Recovery Media
Windows 10 (64-bit) Professional DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Regards
Paul

 

[SlimCini]

Ditch the sound card. Could get the 6700k which has a higher base clock than the 6700... Would probably help with what you use it for. Otherwise looks quite good. Never ever ever ever going to get a more powerful gpu? If there's even the tiniest chance it wouldnt hurt to get a modular and better psu.

 

[sherman39]

Ditch the sound card. Could get the 6700k which has a higher base clock than the 6700... Would probably help with what you use it for. Otherwise looks quite good. Never ever ever ever going to get a more powerful gpu? If there's even the tiniest chance it wouldnt hurt to get a modular and better psu.

Firstly, thank you for your input.

Am I correct in assuming that the suggestion to "ditch" the sound card is because it is no better than the on-board sound and therefore why not save the money.

Thanks for the thought about the modular power supply, a good idea.

I have selected the Z170-E mother board but am wondering if the Z170 Pro gaming (I am not a gamer) would add anything desirable for a non-gamer. I tried reading on line comparisons but didn't reallyy understand what I was looking at.

Thoughts please.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Firstly, thank you for your input.

Am I correct in assuming that the suggestion to "ditch" the sound card is because it is no better than the on-board sound and therefore why not save the money.

Thanks for the thought about the modular power supply, a good idea.

I have selected the Z170-E mother board but am wondering if the Z170 Pro gaming (I am not a gamer) would add anything desirable for a non-gamer. I tried reading on line comparisons but didn't reallyy understand what I was looking at.

Thoughts please.

The on board sound these days is excellent, you only really need a sound card for daw studio setups and for driving professional headphones. Try the on board first.

Higher end motherboards add more graphics card slots and have tighter overclocking controls for extreme users. The upgrade wouldn't benefit you at all.

 

[sherman39]

Thank you very much for getting back to me, and so quickly.

 

[Oussebon]

The Pro Gaming has DP and VGA connectors on the back (not really an issue as you use as graphics card anyway), 4 USB 3 ports instead of 2, and a USB 3.1 type A and a Type C, while the -E only has a USB 3.1 type C. If you don't care much about that, a cheaper board is fine.
Pro Gaming: https://www.asus.com/media/global/p...USlxJoLFCNNOFMD1_setting_fff_1_90_end_500.png
Z170-E: https://www.asus.com/media/global/p...EtUCNGK9ZxBbh8Ec_setting_fff_1_90_end_500.png

It might also have slightly better sound. But you're unlikely to notice much of a difference between onboard sound chips and a sound card without relatively expensive hifi equipment. If you don't listen to beyond CD quality music on reasonably high end kit, it's probably not much benefit. If you acquire some £400 headphones in the future, you can add a sound card yourself easily enough

 

[sherman39]

Thank you for your help.
I note what you say about the USB slots but I see that I can add extra USBs under the USB option in the configurator, including one (the last option) that gives Type A and Type C. That said I do not know the difference but I can google it.

 

[Oussebon]

If you add extra USB slots in the

USB Options

dropdown menu in the configurator, you are doing so by adding a PCI-E card - one of these things:


If you find yourself doing that you might as well get the more expensive motherboard. Since the Pro Gaming is £19 more than the Z170-E and adding the PCI-E card for Type A USB 3.1 slots is about the same price. Plus you get 2 more USB 3.0 slots with the mobo and (possibly) slightly better onboard sound.

And you're not taking up a PCI-E slot.

 

[sherman39]

Thank you for responding so quickly and for pointing that out. Seems that the Z170 Pro Gaming is the way to go and save the PCI-E slot for something else.

Regards