Work/Gaming PC

Hi. I’m looking for a PCS build suitable for web development and design (the usual suspects: HTML, CSS, Java and PHP) plus weekend gaming (mostly the Football Manager series with a large database and high graphics settings). I’m hoping for something with a decent combination of performance and power which will last me a good few years with the odd upgrade when necessary.

It’ll need to be able to run several different programs at the same time (so plenty of RAM, i7 processor and 256GB SSD, I’m guessing?). I’ll be messing about on Photoshop and Lightroom and watching video streaming (YouTube, Netflix, etc.) and Blu-ray. And in a perfect world, it’ll be as quiet as an incredibly considerate church mouse.

Budget is 2k but obviously the more value for money the better.

If anyone on the forum can offer me advice on the most suitable spec I would be terribly grateful.

(so plenty of RAM, i7 processor and 256GB SSD, I’m guessing?)

Click to expand...

Sounds about right. Possibly a larger SSD.

FM benefits from faster RAM, CPU frequency, CPU cores/threads, and fast storage. Photoshop also CPU frequency, faster RAM, and fast storage. A pre-overclocked build by PCS will give that bit more CPU frequency as well.

For quiet, the go-to choices would be the Fractal Define cases, Noctua cooler, and RMx PSUs (which are effectively silent, as they can cool themselves quite often without needing to use their fan at all.

A GTX 1060 3gb is capable of playing demanding modern titles from high-ultra, depending on the title, so should be liberally enough for FM and dabbling in other games.

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE R5 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™ i7-8700K Six Core (3.7GHz @ up to 4.8GHz)
--FREE Warhammer: Vermintide 2 & XMorph Defense w/ select Intel CPUs!
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z370-P: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
3GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1060 - DVI, HDMI, 3 x DP
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1[SUP]st[/SUP] M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3200MB/R, 1900MB/W)
--FREE Far Cry® 5 with select SAMSUNG NVMe SSDs!
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
16x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW & SOFTWARE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Noctua NH-U14S Ultra Quiet Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
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
Quantity
1

Price £1,617.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-overclocked/Ebv68skkk6/

Thanks, Oussebon. I didn't realise you could get such a powerful machine for that price. I've been struggling to prioritise and constantly going over budget.

I've tweaked a couple of things. I'm a little wary of getting an overclocked CPU due to a previous bad experience. Would the Intel® Core™ i7 Six Core Processor i7-8700k (3.7GHz) 12MB Cache as is do the job? I've changed the case to FRACTAL DEFINE R6 BLACK as it looks a little less bulky. Also, is the CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET overkill if not overclocking?

Thanks again. I really appreciate your help.

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE R6 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Six Core Processor i7-8700k (3.7GHz) 12MB Cache
FREE Warhammer: Vermintide 2 & XMorph Defense w/ select Intel CPUs!
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z370-P: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
3GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1060 - DVI, HDMI, 3 x DP
1st Hard Disk
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3200MB/R, 1900MB/W)
FREE Far Cry® 5 with select SAMSUNG NVMe SSDs!
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
16x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW & SOFTWARE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Noctua NH-U14S Ultra Quiet Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
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
Quantity
1

Price £1,619.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations//uqQtk0sd6R/

Oussebon said:

Sounds about right. Possibly a larger SSD.

FM benefits from faster RAM, CPU frequency, CPU cores/threads, and fast storage. Photoshop also CPU frequency, faster RAM, and fast storage. A pre-overclocked build by PCS will give that bit more CPU frequency as well.

For quiet, the go-to choices would be the Fractal Define cases, Noctua cooler, and RMx PSUs (which are effectively silent, as they can cool themselves quite often without needing to use their fan at all.

A GTX 1060 3gb is capable of playing demanding modern titles from high-ultra, depending on the title, so should be liberally enough for FM and dabbling in other games.

Click to expand...

Thanks, Oussebon. I didn't realise you could get such a powerful machine for that price. I've been struggling to prioritise and constantly going over budget.

I've tweaked a couple of things. I'm a little wary of getting an overclocked CPU due to a previous bad experience. Would the Intel® Core™ i7 Six Core Processor i7-8700k (3.7GHz) 12MB Cache as is do the job? I've changed the case to FRACTAL DEFINE R6 BLACK as it looks a little less bulky. Also, is the CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET overkill if not overclocking?

Thanks again. I really appreciate your help.

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE R6 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Six Core Processor i7-8700k (3.7GHz) 12MB Cache
FREE Warhammer: Vermintide 2 & XMorph Defense w/ select Intel CPUs!
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z370-P: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
3GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1060 - DVI, HDMI, 3 x DP
1st Hard Disk
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3200MB/R, 1900MB/W)
FREE Far Cry® 5 with select SAMSUNG NVMe SSDs!
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
16x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW & SOFTWARE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Noctua NH-U14S Ultra Quiet Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
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
Quantity
1

Price £1,619.00 including VAT and delivery

Sometimes, especially as a relatively new poster, your posts can get auto moderated. Please bear with the volunteer moderators until we get around to releasing them

Also, is the CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET overkill if not overclocking?

Click to expand...

It's main benefit is that it's basically silent. All the other PSUs will have their fan switched on at all times. The RMx is semi passive, meaning that where possible it will cool itself without switching its fan on. In real terms, my RMi (full pc spec in my sig) will not have to turn its fan on even when the PC is under heavy gaming load.

So I suggest the RMx because it's high quality, but above all because it's quieter than the others by a large margin.

The R6 is actually a bit larger - 2cm deeper and about 1.5cm taller. But if you mean looks less bulky in terms of aesthetics, then by all means go for it.

Note that the overclock is covered by PCS's warranty, and the cost difference vs a stock-clocked build is only about £10. Their OC is also somewhat tame. Upto 4.8GHz across all cores is upto 500MHz extra across all cores (versus max 6-core boost), which is enough to make a difference to performance, but arguably not particularly ambitious. Which is understandable as for £10 they'd probably only try to reach an OC that most chips were capable of meeting

Very insightful. Thanks for your help. Off to order I go!

Final peice of the jigsaw is which monitor to pair it with. I'm after a Full HD 1080 24" for £100-200 but there's almost too many out there to choose from. Which monitor, available via pc specialist and within my budget, would you opt for Oussebon?

Probably anything budget and around ~£120, with an IPS panel esp for photoshop.

If you were shopping outside the PCS range the HP VH240a would be worth a look, being 23.8" 1080p, IPS, and height adjustable

Absolutely delighted with the current desktop setup (see post 3). However, I've decided to donate it to a relative who's in dire need. Bring on all that good karma.

Now, should I just order the same desktop again or is there better value for money to be had elsewhere on PCS given the passing of time and upgrades?

I still need it for all the things I mentioned in my opening post, aside from the Blu-ray player which I'm ashamed to admit I never used in the end. Also, max budget is down to 1.5k.

Similar components, but updated to take into account new CPU, GPU, and SSD options.

Aiming for the same uses, and quietness.

What games are you playing? You could save a load of £ by dropping to an RX 570 (which is good bang for buck)


Case
FRACTAL DEFINE S BLACK GAMING CASE (Window) ()
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor i7-9700K (3.6GHz) 12MB Cache
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z390 UD: ATX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 Ti - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Noctua NH-U14S Ultra Quiet Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Price: £1,460.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-pc/UtcQ97Bbhr/

Thanks yet again, Oussebon! To be honest, the only game I ever play on pc is Football Manager.

No worries

RX 570's more than enough then. It's more powerful and cheaper than the Nvidia 'equivalent' of the GTX 1650. and saves you over £130 versus the 1660 ti, which is way overkill for that title.

Ah, brilliant. Love a good money saver. With £130 saved, that's my monitor sorted too

I'll be putting my order in at the end of the month and will review/post pics of it in the relevant forum.

Worth checking back in before you order. New hardware comes out all the time.

Zen 2 might well be super imminent by the end of May.

Will do. Thanks for the tip!

Just a quick bump as I'm looking to put my order in next week. Same uses as detailed in my original post although I'm not as obsessed with it being as "quiet as an incredibly considerate church mouse" if it comes at the cost of more power consumption.

Is the spec below still a good deal for my requirements or is there more value to be found in recent hardware updates?

Thanks!

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE S BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor i7-9700K (3.6GHz) 12MB Cache
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z390 UD: ATX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB AMD RADEON™ RX 570 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
Get 3 Months of XBOX Game Pass for PC w/ select AMD Radeon Graphics
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Noctua NH-U14S Ultra Quiet Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
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 6 working days
Promotional Item
Get 3 Months of XBOX Game Pass for PC w/ select AMD Radeon Graphics
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
Price: £1,324.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-pc/UFRvTs8mhe/

could you give an example of the stack you're using for web design?

Once you got a couple of node threads running the ram is eaten up pretty quick.

You mentioned PHP so I guess you're just working off a presumed lamp stack?

HenrySwanson said:

"quiet as an incredibly considerate church mouse" if it comes at the cost of more power consumption.

Click to expand...

?

Noise and power consumption aren't really related, other than more power consumption = more heat = more cooling = more noise. So lower power consumption can go hand in hand with a quieter system.

For Photoshop and FM the 9700k is probably still the preferable option (hard to say as no Zen 2 FM benchmarks)
But your other uses could potentially benefit from more threads, I couldn't say.

A similar spec based on Zen 2 would be: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/FMZTjUuPUS/

NB: The RM850x PSU was suggested before as the smallest RMx series unit PCS sold (with these specs). But they now offer the RM750x. So go with that and save £20.

Oussebon said:

?

Noise and power consumption aren't really related, other than more power consumption = more heat = more cooling = more noise. So lower power consumption can go hand in hand with a quieter system.

For Photoshop and FM the 9700k is probably still the preferable option (hard to say as no Zen 2 FM benchmarks)
But your other uses could potentially benefit from more threads, I couldn't say.

A similar spec based on Zen 2 would be: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/FMZTjUuPUS/

NB: The RM850x PSU was suggested before as the smallest RMx series unit PCS sold (with these specs). But they now offer the RM750x. So go with that and save £20.

Click to expand...

maybe he means he'd rather have lots of big chonky fans with low rpm pushing lots of air than less doing more at a higher rpm?

Well, if he does, he can stop worrying about fan power consumption - it's minimal