Non-Gaming PC that will allow easy upgrade to Gaming PC in the future

M

mike_d99

Bronze Level Poster
Thanks a lot for the helpful explanations, Scott. The money I save on the network card pays for the 2nd SDD, pretty much :)

Is the 3070 ti a good choice? I was reading some reviews last night and they were rather lukewarm to say the least, both in terms of comparison to the closest AMD card (6800?) and the performance improvement vs cost ratio over the standard 3070 card.

My other question, is the motherboard good enough? Reviews were calling it a budget option, although the reviews were positive. Is it going to be enough to not need replacing in the short term?

Thanks all!
 
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
I think the 3070Ti is an ok choice, mostly based on availability as you should get the build quicker. It's better than the 3070 by a reasonable-ish margin and it'll definitely serve you well. Compared to the 6800 there isn't too much in it really, it's a whitewash if you want to turn on Raytracing though so this is the main thing to keep in mind. The cost over the 3070 isn't really that worth it, but again it is better and it's the availability.

The motherboard is by no means the budget option. No idea where would be calling the TUF X570 a budget choice. Do you have any links to this? Just curious as I wouldn't fancy taking anything they said with any real standing if that's where they stand on that board. It won't need replaced until the entire system is being replaced.
 
M

mike_d99

Bronze Level Poster
Scott said:
I think the 3070Ti is an ok choice, mostly based on availability as you should get the build quicker. It's better than the 3070 by a reasonable-ish margin and it'll definitely serve you well. Compared to the 6800 there isn't too much in it really, it's a whitewash if you want to turn on Raytracing though so this is the main thing to keep in mind. The cost over the 3070 isn't really that worth it, but again it is better and it's the availability.

The motherboard is by no means the budget option. No idea where would be calling the TUF X570 a budget choice. Do you have any links to this? Just curious as I wouldn't fancy taking anything they said with any real standing if that's where they stand on that board. It won't need replaced until the entire system is being replaced.
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Thanks Scott. The review was here https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/asus-tuf_gaming-x570_plus-wifi-motherboard,6273.html

Happy with the reassurance provided though so thanks for that, and for your help in general. I'm excited about the prospect of the new system, if slightly daunted by the outlay :ROFLMAO: but having had my current, never-upgraded PC for 11 years the difference will be amazing I'm sure. Probably not that likely to be overly picky about ray tracing/4K in general for a while yet, given my current card is 11+ years old!
 
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
It's poor wording and not accurate IMO. £200 is not and never will be budget. However, to quote:

"budget end of AMD’s pricier new X570 platform"

The budget option for the chip would be the B450, the reference they are making is to the X570 lineup.... which is the premium offering/chipset for the 5000 series CPUs. Regardless of which option you choose in the X570 lineup it is not going to be budget. Even with the X570 considered on its own the TUF Wifi is not the budget end, the Prime is the budget end.

To put it into perspective:

B450 Prime
B450 TUF
B450 STRIX
B550 Prime
B550 TUF
B550 TUF WIFI
B550 STRIX
X570 Prime
X570 TUF
X570 TUF WIFI <---- This is the board suggested
X570 STRIX
X570 HERO

So I wouldn't read into too much that they are saying in that regard ;)
 
M

mike_d99

Bronze Level Poster
He also says it here "Included accessories are minimal, as we would expect on a budget level motherboard, but the basics are covered.". These sites have a different definition of what is 'budget' compared to the average Joe though, as they're dealing with components that range from the cheap to mind-bogglingly expensive. Reminds me of when I was looking in What Hi-Fi magazine and they described an amp that cost more than my entire monthly salary as 'mid-range' :ROFLMAO:
 
M

mike_d99

Bronze Level Poster
What monitor would you recommend for the above? Obviously I want something that's great for gaming, but I do a ton of work on my PC too. I work from home full time and I'm always working in Excel spreadsheets, VBA, databases etc, so it has to be something that will work well for office use too. I'm led to believe that some 1440p monitors don't look so hot with Windows or Office applications so I'm keen to avoid those if so.

My current monitor is 23". I can just about fit a 27" monitor on my desk so that would be the maximum size I could stretch to.
 
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
No idea why there would be anything against 1440p, unless you're getting confused with running a 4k monitor at 1440p?

1440p Ultrawide would be my choice.

Flat
www.currys.co.uk

IIYAMA G-MASTER Red Eagle GB3461 Quad HD 34" LED Gaming Monitor - Black

Wide Quad HD 3440 x 1440p; Refresh rate: 144 Hz; Response time: 1 ms; Input: HDMI / DisplayPort; Built-in speakers; USB 3.0 x 3; Can be wall mounted
www.currys.co.uk www.currys.co.uk

Curved
www.currys.co.uk

ASUS TUF VG35VQ Wide Quad HD 35" Curved VA LCD Gaming Monitor - Black

Wide Quad HD 3440 x 1440p; Refresh rate: 100 Hz; Response time: 1 ms; Input: HDMI / DisplayPort; USB 3.0 x 2; Can be wall mounted
www.currys.co.uk www.currys.co.uk
 
M

mike_d99

Bronze Level Poster
Scott said:
No idea why there would be anything against 1440p, unless you're getting confused with running a 4k monitor at 1440p?

1440p Ultrawide would be my choice.

Flat
www.currys.co.uk

IIYAMA G-MASTER Red Eagle GB3461 Quad HD 34" LED Gaming Monitor - Black

Wide Quad HD 3440 x 1440p; Refresh rate: 144 Hz; Response time: 1 ms; Input: HDMI / DisplayPort; Built-in speakers; USB 3.0 x 3; Can be wall mounted
www.currys.co.uk www.currys.co.uk

Curved
www.currys.co.uk

ASUS TUF VG35VQ Wide Quad HD 35" Curved VA LCD Gaming Monitor - Black

Wide Quad HD 3440 x 1440p; Refresh rate: 100 Hz; Response time: 1 ms; Input: HDMI / DisplayPort; USB 3.0 x 2; Can be wall mounted
www.currys.co.uk www.currys.co.uk
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Thanks Scott, but those are wayyyyy too big for my desk. 27" is the absolute biggest I can accomodate.
 
RichLan564

RichLan564

Bright Spark
mike_d99 said:
Thanks Scott, but those are wayyyyy too big for my desk. 27" is the absolute biggest I can accomodate.
Click to expand...
Take a look at the LG 27GL850, £299 on ebuyer, great monitor, really pleased with mine

27" Monitors | Cheap 27-inch Monitor Deals | Ebuyer.com

Not too big or too small, a 27" monitor is just the right size for a wide variety of computing tasks. Next-day delivery and flexible finance available.
www.ebuyer.com www.ebuyer.com
 
Martinr36

Martinr36

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
mike_d99 said:
Thanks all. My computer desk is an enclosed space with a back panel so the above wouldn't work. It's a lovely piece of furniture but comes from a time when large screens weren't that large!
Click to expand...
I know where you're coming from @mike_d99 , I recently tried to fit a monitor arm to my desk, but there wasn't a big enough lip at the back of the desk top to clamp it on due to a panel
 
M

mike_d99

Bronze Level Poster
Hey all. I sat on the above for a while, whilst I ummed and arred about the cost. Now I have a bit more money I can go ahead, and I've upped the spec slightly - changed the RX3070TI to a 3080. With that in mind, is everything else still ok with this build, for example the cooling now that I've increased the graphics card and I'm likely to end up with a lot of HDDs in there? I've read the included fans on this case might not suffice in instances like this.

I've found finding a suitable case to be a total headache. I wanted something that:

- had lots of 3.5" drive bay capacity (looked into getting a NAS but it's not worth the expense for me),
- could support RGB/LED lighting because I love all that stuff,
- has capacity for a Blu-ray drive
- would also fit under my desk (56cm max clearance).

I found this to be a pretty tricky combination to pull off.

In the end I think I'm gonna go with the Fractal 7 XL, sending it in to PCS. It's 56cm so probably won't quite fit under the desk. Stuff it, it can go on the floor next to the desk. The drive capacity sounds amazing and it saves me spending hundreds on a NAS.

So with all that in mind, is this spec ok before I pull the trigger?

Case
Send In Your Own Case
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING WIFI (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
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)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
16x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW & SOFTWARE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
LED Lighting
2x 50cm ARGB LED Strip
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NOT REQUIRED
USB/Thunderbolt Options
2 PORT (1 x TYPE A, 1 x TYPE C) USB 3.1 PCI-E CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Supplied on USB Drive
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 18 to 21 working days
Price: £2,365.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/79cMFtab23/
 
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D

DarTon

Well-known member
Looks a very balanced build to me.

The only question I have is what happens to the airflow in this case if you place in it so many HDDs. The Fractal series are generally ok for CPU temps if you have an AIO (as you do). The issue is GPU temps can (but not always) be impacted negatively by adding extra PCIe cards and/or large amounts of internal storage.

Do you really need to drag over the 6 or 7 drives you already have? Is there an argument to rationalize those HDDs into a smaller number of larger HDDs? What is the total storage capacity of all the drives you are intending to move across?
 
M

mike_d99

Bronze Level Poster
Thanks Darton. I currently have 2 x 10TB and a 4TB in my current setup, which is almost at capacity and I have about 15TB of data not backed up, so I'll need to invest in a couple more drives soon.

I also have another 4TB, a 2TB and a 1TB that I've had to take out due to lack of space. The 2TB and 1TB drives are old and aren't part of my long term storage plan, but I'll have them in there in the short term.

I'm not intending to have 18 HDDs or anything like that, but I could see myself ending up with 7 or 8 (plus the 2 SSDs). In the longer-term, maybe some sort of NAS or server might be an idea if my data usage continues to expand, but that's for another day. For now hopefully I can make things work with this case.

Would different cooling to the one I've selected be advised?
 
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D

DarTon

Well-known member
Oh dear. If you have that much data then I think you may well need that case!

I don't think the cooling can really be improved. You've got a really good AIO and the case comes with a few fans. You can always add more later if required.

The Fractal cases are very good. It's just that if you are running it under stress you may want to open the case up. Also just don't fill up all the PCIe slots at the rear. I remember that some reviews noted that filling those up caused the GPU temps to rise substantially.
 
B

Bigfoot

Grand Master
How often are you accessing the files on all that HDD storage? An alternative approach would be to buy a housing for your HDDs and connect externally. You do need a proper backup strategy that includes off site backup or you risk losing all your data.
 
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