New to AMD - could use some help.

[lynnec]

I'd really appreciate some help with this build, as this will be my first venture into AMD. I want it to be fast and quiet, with a lot of different programs and windows open at the same time, including intensive graphics programs like Photoshop and/Or PaintShopPro. Gaming is not important, this is a work computer. And future proof! I was thinking of waiting until DDR5, but not sure that's really what's important - or is it worth waiting until that settles down? I'll transfer my storage devices from my current rig - I have a couple of SSD's where the day to day stuff goes, and a couple of HDD's for backups. The OS will be on the NVME I ordered.

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window) (Special Offer)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 6600 XT - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/sR, 1600MB/sW) (Special Offer)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W CV SERIES™ CV-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 120 Series ARGB High Performance Liquid Cooler (AMD)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
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 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
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 4 to 7 working days

 

[Aza]

Whats your budget for the machine?
Do you have a monitor already, or are you getting one (does that need to be part of the budget?) and what resolution are you working with?
You've got a few parts that I wouldnt suggest putting together, i play with some video editing which is more heavily multithread, from what I understand photo editing isnt as reliant on multiple cores, and the focus is more on single core speed... I think Photoshop is pretty happy on fewer cores as long as those cores are quick.

You may find this useful https://www.pugetsystems.com/recomm...-Adobe-Photoshop-139/Hardware-Recommendations

Are you intending to upgrade the machine over time, as resolutions increase/monitors improve you would require a gpu that can power the monitor but it doesnt need the same sort of power you would want for gaming, GPU can also be useful for some of the features/effects youd find in photoshop, so its still something to give consideration to.
Its still very possible to build a machine that would take that into account to keep it on the ball for a decade with just some careful upgrades over time, so dont overlook the PSU either.

If you can give more information on budget and resolution/size of files you tend to deal with, its going to be a big help in suggesting a spec.
Also, when posting your specs to the forum, if you can include the link at the bottom of the "post to forum" page as its makes alterations a lot easier to do when offering suggestions, rather than completing a fresh one each time.

 

[lynnec]

I don't want to spend more than 2k, and hopefully quite a bit less. I have a 27 inch 4k Samsung monitor. When I have Photoshop up, I'll also have at least my word processor and Firefox with a bunch of tabs, so multitasking is important, and I do a little video stuff. I have a nice Asus sound card that I can install in the new rig and a ton of storage, so I just need the nvme. Not sure where the link is, sorry! My account isn't saving the specs for some reason.

 

[Aza]

Do you have a copy of windows already that you can transfer the licence from?

If I were to take a stab at a spec for it, on the understanding that you then had mass storage HDD drives and a SSD scratch drive/cache drive you would be transferring in, id kinda start here. It could def do with a more expert eye, and most of it is from following advice from puget systems. The define 7 case is one of the best cases youll get for quietness and good airflow, cooler may be a bit of a overshoot and im assuming your 4K monitor is 60Hz and balancing between price and performance scores for Photoshop. If youve got a copy of windows you can transfer, that will save £120 and allow some more fine tuning or enhancement room.

I mostly use mine for gaming, and dabble with video editing, so the requirements are quite different, but I think this is the right sort of lines/a starting point.

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE 7 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 12-Core Processor i7-12700KF (3.6GHz) 25MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z690-PLUS WIFI D4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
12GB AMD RADEON™ RX 6700 XT - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6000MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W 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: £2,039.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/vkGXxJvdMk/

 

[Scott]

Nvidia will always be better for Puget. Intel still have the upper hand also, other than in extreme multi-threaded processing, which the 5800X wouldn't be chosen for anyway.

I've tweaked the storage a little. I understand that you have plenty to plug in, which is great, but M2 is just a different beast. Having a good primary that's only for the OS and those programs is hugely beneficial. Having a second M2 will be perfect for cache and fast storage. It'll be significantly better than your SSD, which will be ideal for live project storage and fast storage. I would advise opting for the second drive but understand if you wanted to drop it to save the money.

As a slight compromise, I've opted for the 12600K. Single threaded performance is very similar to the 12700k. It's only really the Multi-threaded performance where the 12700k has the edge. This will increase the render times of the video editing slightly. I don't think it's too much of a compromise though as the 12600k is still a fantastic processor.

The build can easily handle the 12700k if you would rather it though.

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE 7 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 10-Core Processor i5-12600KF (3.7GHz) 20MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z690-PLUS WIFI D4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 - 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)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W 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: £1,807.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/aw5ZHJ68SC/

 

[lynnec]

Sadly, I don't have a copy of Windows to transfer - what's left of my old rig will go to the person who's doing all the work. Unless he can do without the OS. I'll ask him if he's planning to take it to Linux. I have Windows 10 Home, which won't upgrade on my 6700 chip (one gen out!) but I guess it would work on the new system and upgrade? Not that I'm desperate to have Windows 11, but Microsoft support stops in the mid 2020's.
You guys are great with the help. I did have a fan system in my old set up, but I want the new one to be a bit quieter. The tower sits next to me on a little table (better air flow). I mentioned Photoshop because it is by far the greediest program I use regularly, but I'm using Corel PaintShopPro more these days. Still have to crank up Photoshop to do the occasional job, though. I ahve a retail copy, not the sub, so as long as it works and it's safe, I'll keep it.
Going off to check your recs now!
I bought my last rig from PCSpecialist with the OS included - can it be transferred or is it an OEM?

 

[lynnec]

Why Intel when AMD is getting such a good rep these days? And is so much cheaper? The last AMD set up I had burned hot, but they've solved that problem. It was a long time ago!

 

[Scott]

For your uses, Intel is the top of the heap. AMD still have the efficiency crown, and officially the gaming crown, but Puget will typically favour a comparable Intel offering. I did suggest this above...

Intel still have the upper hand also, other than in extreme multi-threaded processing, which the 5800X wouldn't be chosen for anyway.

 

[lynnec]

Thank you so much! You've been amazingly helpful. I do the software for the family computers, but hardware, although I know something about it, when it gets to the details, I'm lost.
Saved me a bit of money on the thermal paste, too! I didn't realize that the cooler comes with the better quality as standard!
I was moving away from Nvidia because the software isn't great, and it's caused me more problems than anything else when I'm trying to balance things. Then I heard about the new Radeon chips, and thought...why not?

 

[Scott]

Thank you so much! You've been amazingly helpful. I do the software for the family computers, but hardware, although I know something about it, when it gets to the details, I'm lost.
Saved me a bit of money on the thermal paste, too! I didn't realize that the cooler comes with the better quality as standard!
I was moving away from Nvidia because the software isn't great, and it's caused me more problems than anything else when I'm trying to balance things. Then I heard about the new Radeon chips, and thought...why not?

There are typically more issues with AMD over Nvidia with these softwares, as they're more ported for compatibility than designed. The setup is critical though and it does need to be done correctly. The software revisions/versions can make a big impact also, as can making sure you have the correct/latest chipset & GPU drivers installed.

Issues with Nvidia are far rarer than AMD IME. With that said, there are some good value offerings from AMD now.

 

[lynnec]

Thank you so much! You've been amazingly helpful. I do the software for the family computers, but hardware, although I know something about it, when it gets to the details, I'm lost.
Saved me a bit of money on the thermal paste, too! I didn't realize that the cooler comes with the better quality as standard!

My friend who is helping suggested this set-up https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/sFvwJDpwyY/
I added the storage options after the suggestion above, because I really like that idea. My other storage is a 512 Evo SSD and a couple of HDDs which are only used for backups.
Fast, quiet, no bottlenecks, efficient (considering how much energy costs are rising) capable and as future proof as poss at this stage. Or is it worth making do and waiting for DDr5 to come down to a fair price? Or will the cost of pc's rise like everything else is rising? Argh!
you go outside this forum and people are always trying to sell something, or they're sponsored by somebody or other.

 

[Scott]

My friend who is helping suggested this set-up https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/sFvwJDpwyY/

I disagree with most of those choices.

 

[lynnec]

okay then!
Here's my current setup which was the db in 2015, when I bought it from PC Specialist. I bought the Asus Xonar sound card which was installed later, and it's had new storage, the last being an nvme and SSD card which were installed last year. The processor has been great, but it won't upgrade to Windows 11, and the system has a few problems with my 4k monitor.
Worth hanging on another year while DDR5 settles down? Is there anything that can be salvaged? I'm thinking of passing it on to the person who is helping me with this new rig, and installing the storage and sound card for me. He wants to wait for a year or two before investing in his own rig, so it would tide him over. He hates the case because he says it's "fiddly." Tough.

Case	InWIN G7 BRUSHED EFFECT DARK GREY CASE Change to: CORSAIR SPEC-03 COMPACT GAMING CASE - RED LED
Processor (CPU)	Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-6700k (4.0GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard	ASUS® Z170-A: ATX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs Change to: Gigabyte Z170XP-SLI: ATX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)	16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card	4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 960 - DVI, HDMI, 3 DP - 3D Vision Ready
2nd Graphics Card	NONE
3rd Graphics Card	NONE
1st M.2 SSD Drive	NONE
1st Storage Drive	1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE
2nd Storage Drive	NONE
3rd Storage Drive	NONE
4th Storage Drive	NONE
1st PCI-E SSD Drive	NONE
2nd PCI-E SSD Drive	NONE
RAID	NONE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive	24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive	NONE
External Hard Drive	NONE
Memory Card Reader	NONE
Power Supply	CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable	1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling	CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste	ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
LED Lighting	NONE
Fan Controller	NONE
Extra Case Fans	2x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
Sound Card	ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless Network Card	10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Router/HomePlugs	NONE
USB/Thunderbolt Options	MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Capture/Streaming Cards	NONE
Firewire	NONE
TV Card	NONE
Operating System	Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Windows 10 Upgrade	FREE Upgrade to Windows 10 with all Windows 7 & Windows 8.1 Purchases*
Windows Recovery Media	Windows 10 (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software	NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus	NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser	Firefox™
Monitor	NONE
2nd Monitor	NONE
3rd Monitor	NONE
4th Monitor	NONE
Monitor Cables	NONE
Eyefinity Adapter	NONE
Keyboard & Mouse	NONE
Mouse	NONE
Headsets	NONE
Mouse Pad	NONE
Games Controller	NONE
Speakers	NONE
Webcam	NONE
Surge Protection	NONE
Cable Management	NONE
Printer	NONE
Warranty	3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Home Installation	NONE
Delivery	STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time	Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days

 

[Aza]

To be honest, the soundcard probably isnt worth taking over, the onboad sound on most motherboards these days really doesnt need changing unless you're a real audiophile and using very good speakers.

I would take the spec scott's suggested, and probably up the PSU to a 1000W version just to guarantee pletty of swinging room for the next 8/9 years. Even if you never use the extra capacity its like an extra £25 now rather than £140 should you have to change it, and you're well within teh £2K budget. The RMx comes with something like a 10 year warranty, and would likely outlive the machine. You'd then be able to put pretty much any GPU you wanted in there if you upgrade monitors etc over time.

 

[Scott]

How are you trying to upgrade to Windows 11? Are you doing it within Windows itself or are you using a Win11 USB ISO? If you have only tried within Windows, try downloading it to a USB Drive from here and try it that way:

Download Windows 11

What is the monitor issue? Not displaying things correctly? Not working?

Assuming you can resolve the Win 11 and monitor issues, then I'd keep your current system if it is doing a good enough job otherwise

Unfortunately none of the older Intel CPUs take Windows 11 as they don't have TPM2.0.

I think there may be some fudges to get around this but I wouldn't recommend them for the sake of integrity. I believe it's 8th gen onwards that's compatible.

 

[lynnec]

You're so right. You've been really really helpful. I've been reading up on the chips and I don't know if it's FOMO or not, but the new Ryzen chips due out in September might be the thing. Or they might not. And the DDR5 chips just aren't worth it yet. I don't know how long it would take for the price to settle down and for the motherboard makers to catch up.
My computer is working. I don't use Photoshop enough to create a system around it, rather, my usual daily tasks mean having Firefox/Chrome up with a dozen or more tabs, two word processors (they do different things) and a utility or two and on other days, when I'm doing graphics work, PaintShopPro, which isn't as greedy as Photoshop, but still needs a fair amount of oomph.
You were absolutely right about Intel, though, and thanks for that! Right now, that is the way to go.

 

[SpyderTracks]

You're so right. You've been really really helpful. I've been reading up on the chips and I don't know if it's FOMO or not, but the new Ryzen chips due out in September might be the thing. Or they might not. And the DDR5 chips just aren't worth it yet. I don't know how long it would take for the price to settle down and for the motherboard makers to catch up.
My computer is working. I don't use Photoshop enough to create a system around it, rather, my usual daily tasks mean having Firefox/Chrome up with a dozen or more tabs, two word processors (they do different things) and a utility or two and on other days, when I'm doing graphics work, PaintShopPro, which isn't as greedy as Photoshop, but still needs a fair amount of oomph.
You were absolutely right about Intel, though, and thanks for that! Right now, that is the way to go.

I would wait until October November for the Ryzen 7000 and new GPUs if you are going to upgrade the system.

Now is a bad time to buy unless you absolutely have to have a system now

 

[lynnec]

Thanks, I think I'll do what you say. To answer your questions:
1. I can't legitimately upgrade to Windows 11 with this CPU. I know I can do it with the ISO and my chip does have the security requirements, which I implemented just in case they changed their minds, but Microsoft has said that if you install via the ISO, they may not upgrade, and having to manually check for and download them - nah. It's not worth it. Windows 10 is fine, and it will be supported until 2025, so I'm good with that. I upgraded my laptop, and IMO Windows 11 is okay, but not worth upgrading for.
2. I use headphones routed through my sound card, and since I use fairly high end ones and I enjoy my music, it does make a difference. Doesn't sound as crisp through the system, but the new systems might be okay. Currently well-burned in Beyerdynamics are my choice, followed by the Senns.
3. My monitor flickers sometimes. I know someone who bought the same model as the one I have, and we did a temporary swap. Still got the flicker where she didn't. It's a 4k Samsung 27 inch. But it doesn't happen all the time, and I can live with it if I have to.
But - I've been reading a bit more today, and I think you're right. Alder Lake does seem like the best option right now, but there are a lot of things on the way, so I'll hang on. I don't have any graphics work coming up in the near future, so I should be fine.
You're all great, and thank you so much! I will be back!