Looking for a machine for photo editing, and for playing Planet Zoo.

[mark49s]

Hello! My current machine is on it's last legs, so I am looking at getting a new one. The only problem is, I don't really have a clue what i'm doing!

Primarily it'd be used as an everyday machine however, there are two things I'd very much like it to be able to cope with. I'm in to photography, so I'd need a machine that can run Lightroom/Photoshop. They don't have to run at lightning fast speeds, but ideally would run smoothly.

I'm not much of a gamer, however, my girlfriend is desperate to play Planet Zoo, so if the machine could play it at a decent level, that would be a bonus. The recommended hardware for Planet Zoo can be found here.

There'd be no need to have it light up, or look ultra-sleek or anything along those lines. I would require a CD Drive, and wireless connectivity (though I imagine the latter is a given these days?). My budget is £800-£1000. Ideally it'd be at the lower end of said budget, but I appreciate that may not be possible.

Any help would be great appreciated, hopefully i'm not being too unrealistic. At the moment I have come up with the following build:

Case
PCS 3601 CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600X Six Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.4GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B450-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 580 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st Storage Drive
512GB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 450MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CV SERIES™ CV-650 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD 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
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
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
Firefox™
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 16 to 18 working days
Promotional Item
Get Godfall and/or WoW:Shadowlands w/ select AMD Radeon Graphics
Price: £0.00 including VAT and Delivery

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

 

[Me4499]

Hi @mark49s,

Did you decide on a build or have a completed PC in use now? I am finally looking at ordering a PC and the needs are about the same: photo editing with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop and a bit of gaming but not expecting to run on max settings.

A couple games I was would like to play:
Subnautica, Steam requirements suggest graphics: Nvidia GTX 550 Ti or equivalent, 2GB VRAM
Ark Survival Evolved, for graphics I found suggestions for: AMD Radeon RX 470 4GB or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB

Both are older than Planet Zoo so I think they should be fine for those with either of the specs.

Hi @Nursemorph,

Any particular reason for picking the case you chose? Looking at the specs, I like that the Fractal case comes with two large fans with Silent Series you have to hope they will be quiet. I also spotted "ULTRA QUIET" in the Power Supply choice, I've had a noisy laptop on my desk for years, it will be nice to move to a PC on the floor again.

On the graphics card, I looked online (https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/compare/GeForce-GTX-1650-SUPER-vs-Radeon-RX-580/4167vs3736) and that benchmark score is bit better for the GTX but not a lot, it's a bit newer too. But that choice is dropping the GPU ram by half. Any particular reason for this choice?

Any help would be great appreciated, thanks.

 

[Me4499]

The case as it's the best budget case available...it has excellent airflow considering the price.

As to the GPU, no clue on benchmarks as I don't look at them as they can be very misleading. As to why I chose it, a combination of budget and the likely level of the monitor....no poiint getting an 8GB GPU for a basic monitor as it won't be used. That £30 difference went towards a better base system....GPU can always be upgraded later, things like the motherboard is more difficult

Thanks, that makes sense in this case.