Out of the game eleven years

[donegal]

My PCS desktop is starting to chug and refused to start this morning although eventually after several on/off operations at the mains, it fired up again. I've taken this as a warning. This has given me a chance to do an up to date backup of critical stuff and copy over to my laptop. The desktop was purchased in 2012 and has been like a true and faithful friend for eleven years. This meant that not having to buy replacement kit, I've no real idea of what I am ordering. NVMe wasn't an option or was outrageously expensive in 2012, for example. I would be grateful if you could cast your eye over my spec below.

From where I'm sitting, it looks brilliant. I'm not (yet) a gamer but do like video editing in PowerDirector and photo editing in Lightroom. I also edit music tracks I record on my keyboard. I publish to YouTube and a website I run. I am currently running 5 storage drives, 2 SSD and 3 HD, all SATA. I watch Prime video and I also run two monitors. TIA.

Case
CORSAIR 175R RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 12-Core Processor i7-12700F (2.1GHz) 25MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z790-P (DDR5, LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3050 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6900MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W CV SERIES™ CV-450 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster Hyper 212 (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler Black Edition
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
2x 120mm Black Case Fan
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
ASUS PCE-AX3000 Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) 2400Mbps/5GHz, 600Mbps/2.4GHz
USB/Thunderbolt Options
2 PORT (2 x TYPE A) 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 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 8 to 10 working days

 

[Scott]

Hi there, thanks for the info

I would definitely recommend a number of changes but there are also some things for you to consider.

If you have a look in here, specifically the building guide and how to post your configuration (to include the link) it'll help guide you and help provide what we need to get you sorted.

Given your uses I think Intel would be a fair shout but I think I would be opting for DDR4, as I don't think you have any real merit for a DDR5 build. There's also AM5 to consider, which are significantly more power efficient. Then there's X3D, which is the game-centric offerings.

There are no bad selections in this price-range. But it's good to nail down some reason to the choices

 

[donegal]

Thank you Scott. I shall do as you suggested. I went for DDR5 for the usual 'futureproofing'. My laptop is Ryzen so I am already sold on those. I use Passmark Software to measure CPU benchmarks and the Intel was better than Ryzen 5800X for the money.

Watch this space.

 

[Scott]

I forgot to post the link :

Please read before posting:- Collaboration of Helpful Hints

NB: These forums are not an official support channel. None of us work for PCS, we're all either customers or techies who just like to help out where possible. For any official support, you need to contact PCS directly either through your PCS account, or via the contact details on the main...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

 

[Scott]

Thank you Scott. I shall do as you suggested. I went for DDR5 for the usual 'futureproofing'. My laptop is Ryzen so I am already sold on those. I use Passmark Software to measure CPU benchmarks and the Intel was better than Ryzen 5800X for the money.

Watch this space.

The AM5 option is the 7800X3D, rather than the 5k series. As much as there may be swings and roundabouts with performance, there's a gulf in difference between future support and power efficiency.

Benchmarks are good to use for significant differences, but when you're comparing top tier CPUs, it's unlikely you would notice use case differences.

 

[donegal]

OK - my monitors are an Iiyama Prolite E2473 and a Dell (don't know the model number). They are both 1080p and 24".

Not sure I will need x3d because gaming is down the road a bit. I have noticed that in regards to the rendering speed of videos the cpu is massively important. That's one reason I went for the fastest given my budget (£1500). I've always used 16gb ram but decided to treat myself to 32gb. Below is the spec for a Ryzen 7 desktop. It's benchmark is about 13% higher than the Intel in my last spec. And DDR4 is nowhere in sight so DDR5 it is. And it's £30 cheaper for very similar spec. (which surprised me).

Case
CORSAIR 175R RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Promotional Item
Get STAR WARS: Jedi Survivor when you buy select AMD Ryzen™ 7000 Series processors!
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-5.3GHz/40MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B650-PLUS (DDR5, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 4800MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3050 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6900MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W CV SERIES™ CV-450 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 V3 Series High Performance CPU Cooler (AMD)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
2x 120mm Black Case Fan
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
ASUS PCE-AX3000 Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) 2400Mbps/5GHz, 600Mbps/2.4GHz
USB/Thunderbolt Options
2 PORT (2 x TYPE A) 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 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 8 to 10 working days
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland

PCSPECIALIST - Configure the AMD Am5 PC to your ideal requirements.

PCSpecialist is an award-winning manufacturer of high quality custom PCs & Laptops. Configure the AMD Am5 PC to your ideal requirements.

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

 

[donegal]

I included the link but it's disappeared - https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/H0Jzf8VkBV/

 

[Scott]

There are a number of shortcomings with that build. Keeping the main base spec but propping up the shorter areas I come up with the below;

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-5.3GHz/40MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (DDR5, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3050 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 3000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6900MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 V3 Series High Performance CPU Cooler (AMD)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe 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
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 8 to 10 working days
Price: £1,621.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/K6rjV7g5yw/

 

[Scott]

This would perform a bit better like for like with your uses in mind, but it only really makes sense in DDR4 as it's a throwaway platform. There won't be any more updates for either the DDR4 or DDR5 options from Intel so you are as well opting for DDR4 and saving the money.

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 14-Core Processor i5-13600K (Up to 5.1GHz) 24MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B760-PLUS WIFI D4 (LGA1700, PCIe5.0, USB 3.2)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3050 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 3000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6900MB/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, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR iCUE H100i ELITE RGB 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
ONBOARD 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
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Price: £1,615.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/GE55u30d!w/

 

[donegal]

Thank you for your suggestions. I am swaying towards the Ryzen cpu possibly the 7700x. My budget is £1500 and I'm pretty firm on that unfortunately. I am also somewhat restricted by the width of the case. My current Coolermaster is 190mm and most of the cases are way above that. Sorry I never mentioned that as a restriction. I chose the case not just on size but on number of bays and usb ports which most of them seem to be in accord. I dropped the 1st M2 drive to 500gb. I have this in my current computer for the OS and have had for about 3 years. It's used just under 100gb.

Thank you again for your input.

 

[Scott]

No probs. The case selection wasn't based on aesthetics or anything like that. It's based on suitability for the components that are inside it. Airflow is very important to the performance and longevity of the system.

With the choices in play I'm afraid that £1500 doesn't get you a well rounded system, it's going to have a number of either performance hindering corners cut or longevity ones. It's unfortunate but that's just the way pricing is right now. The biggest cost burden is the 3050 GPU. It's not a great card at the best of times and it's very expensive for what you're getting, there aren't any real alternatives right now but if you could drop the card and purchase a 2060 6 or 12GB yourself then that would be worthwhile and would hopefully allow for a more rounded build.

The easiest way to reduce costs would be to reduce the performance of the M2 drives. They are extremely high end and can happily be reduced to one of the alternative, and cheaper, options.

 

[Scott]

Footprint reducing and cost cutting:

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 220T RGB AIRFLOW MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-5.3GHz/40MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (DDR5, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3050 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR, 1625MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 3325MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 V3 Series High Performance CPU Cooler (AMD)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe 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
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 8 to 10 working days
Price: £1,492.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/qPfeMgxmAV/

 

[donegal]

I love what you've suggested re the case and motherboard. I don't want to get hung up on the graphics card. I have no allegiance to nVidia or Radeon so you can chop and change how you like. I have changed the 3050 (re your comments) to the nVidia 1660 super. My son is using this on his laptop for gaming and loves it. I also considered the Radeon 6600. Please choose which you think best. As long as I can plug in my two monitors, I don't mind. The budget is broken by a max of £15 using the Radeon card but I can live with that.

I changed your selection for the 1st M2 drive to Samsung. I get a faster write speed for a few quid more. I changed the cpu to the 7700x. I get a boost on the benchmarks of close to 1000 for only £3 more. I've never heard of solidigm (I've been away a while!!) but trust your greater knowledge re the 2nd M2 drive.

I went on the newegg site and used their power supply calculator and your choice of power supply is perfect because I will be adding two or three drives.

This is current build. Please don't hesitate to modify it if you think it needs it -

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 220T RGB AIRFLOW MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 7700X Eight Core CPU (4.5GHz-5.4GHz/40MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (DDR5, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 3325MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 V3 Series High Performance CPU Cooler (AMD)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe 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
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 7 to 9 working days
Price: £1,503.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/Tg35HDgwAh/

 

[Scott]

That looks fine to me. The thing with the GPU is that it can be very beneficial for rendering in video editing software. If you're happy to have most of the work done on the CPU then the 1660 Super fits the bill nicely. It should be mentioned that it's very expensive. It's a difficult one though. If gaming is really far down the list and you're not looking to use the GPU for rendering then I would be more likely to go for low end. The 1650 or the 6500XT. You're not going to really get use of the £100. The 2060, bought elsewhere, would be the best option for the budget/uses in all honesty.

I wouldn't get hung up on power supply calculators btw. They're notoriously wooly and often under-estimate the requirements. The 750 wasn't so much for your requirements, it was to get the RMx model..... which is premium and will look after all the gubbins nicely with a 10 year warranty. You may even want to consider the 850w as there's not a lot of cost in it

With the storage drive, it was budget related. You won't get any real benefit from anything over the Solid for speeds etc, but if you wanted to be more comfortable with the brand the corsair offerings are good

 

[donegal]

Thank you for all your help and advice Scott. I've gone for the spec above except the 750w RMx is now 850w. For some reason the 750w disappeared off the drop down menu. It comes to £1506. I plumped for the 1660 super because the Radeon 6600 was nearly £100 more. The gpu benchmarks show the 6600 at 16473 and the 1660 at 12814. My current PC is using the 650 TI and its benchmark is 2530 !! It does everything I have ever wanted it to do regards video rendering, watching tv through an adapter, processing still photographs as well as viewing two cctv cameras content being saved on to a hard drive 24/7 for the last five years.

My most grateful thanks.