Advice on spec, please

philwil

Active member
Hi All,

I'd be really grateful for some advice on the specs below, which pretty much hits my budget limit. I could stretch to a little more if there's significant gain/future proofing to be had.

The only high end stuff I need is for gaming, things like the upcoming Total War Three Kingdoms, Elite Dangerous, the new STALKER etc, and streaming movies. Other than that it's to be a good workstation, with hopefully best possible wi-fi link as my router hub is in the next room and sometimes the signal isn't so great (I've got up to 40G fibre connection but often only receive mid-20s wi-fi on current old PCI card).


I'm going to be installing a 1050Ti 4Gig GPU from old PC for now but will upgrade when funds allow to a higher end card, so need to be sure I've got sufficient PSU etc.

For sound I'm told onboard 5.1 is fine these days, but if not can install my SoundBlaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro from my old PC.

Win10 OS to go on the M2 SSD - is 500Gig enough for that and other basic apps like browsers, peripherals, Media Player etc?

Do I need better cooling? Or anything? Is it worth spending more on an i7?


And does anyone know if I can install my old Office 2010 on a new PC or do I have to spend on 365?


Many thanks.

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE R6 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-8600K (3.6 GHz) 9 MB 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
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1st Storage Drive
1TB WD Blue™ 3D NAND 2.5" SSD, (upto 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB WD Black™ M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3400MB/s R | 2500MB/s W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
USB 3.0 EXTERNAL SD/MICRO SD CARD READER
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H55 Hydro Cooler w/ PCS Ultra Quiet Fans
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11 AC1900 1,300Mbps/5GHz, 600Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
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
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
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
TIMED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND - MON-FRI (BEFORE 2PM)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,229.00 including VAT and Delivery
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
And does anyone know if I can install my old Office 2010 on a new PC or do I have to spend on 365?
As long as you have a valid retail licence key you should be fine.

When you said "good workstation", workstation for what? What tasks and what software?

Are you aiming for an especially quiet build?

What exactly is your current system?

What monitor do you game on?

I'm struggling a lot here with the merits of buying a £1200+ system to house a 1050 ti versus just waiting to buy a whole new system together. Also the Intel i5 will be bad value these days for most uses (so depends on your answers above).
 

philwil

Active member
As long as you have a valid retail licence key you should be fine.

When you said "good workstation", workstation for what? What tasks and what software?

Are you aiming for an especially quiet build?

What exactly is your current system?

What monitor do you game on?

I'm struggling a lot here with the merits of buying a £1200+ system to house a 1050 ti versus just waiting to buy a whole new system together. Also the Intel i5 will be bad value these days for most uses (so depends on your answers above).


Thanks for your reply.

I work a lot online but that's just down to a good web connection. Other than that I mainly use Word, Photoshop and make music on Cubase. For the latter a quiet build is essential. Current system was bought from PCS in 2011 - a venerable senior citizen now, deserving a rest home. Based on an i3-2130 with 4G RAM. It's served me well but it's upping the crankiness (PSU died, then the PCI wi-fi card ), it obviously struggles with newer games and has recently slowed right down on boot-up, which I think is down to a damnable Windows update but I can't work out how to fix. I added the 1050Ti a year or so ago for better gaming but spending more money on piecemeal upgrading of such an ancient artefact is obviously not cost-effective.


I have dual monitors: BenQ GL2450H and Idek Iyama Prolite BZ4775HDS. They're ok for the time being but, as with the video card, I plan on replacing them once I get the base system sorted and budget allows. The need is for a good system quick, before the current one shuffles off its techo coil, and to then add GPU and monitors a few months down the line.
 

Rajen

Active member
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-8600K (3.6 GHz) 9 MB Cache
Motherboard


Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)


I wonder whether 9700k with 2400 RAM would be a better combination without a corresponding increase in cost. This combination, in my opinion will be significantly faster that the above. The RAM speed will not make much difference but the processor speed will. The extra cost for 9700k almost exactly matches the lowered cost for 2400 RAM and 9700k is fully compatible with a Z370 MB without any performance penalty

Raj
 
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philwil

Active member
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-8600K (3.6 GHz) 9 MB Cache
Motherboard


Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)


I wonder whether 9700k with 2400 RAM would be a better combination without a corresponding increase in cost. This combination, in my opinion will be significantly faster that the above. The RAM speed will not make much difference but the processor speed will. The extra cost for 9700k almost exactly matches the lowered cost for 2400 RAM and 9700k is fully compatible with a Z370 MB without any performance penalty

Raj

I could possibly stretch to the 9700k if it really offers a significant speed increase. If that's the case, though, would it be worth opting for the overclocked version? (I believe the 'k' means it's designed for overclocking, doesn't it?) But am I ever really going to need eight cores?

And is the 550w PSU enough for future video card etc upgrade?

Also, the AMD Ryzen 2600x is looking quite competitive at a much lower price. Never been with AMD but...
 
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Rajen

Active member
The 9700k with be significantly faster, and PCS offers an overclocking service; all core 5 ghz. If you use 2400 RAM rather than 3000 the overall cost will be unchanged and the slower ram would make little if any impact on performance

I don't know much about AMD; maybe someone else can answer that
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
Currently the 9700k is terrible value for most gaming with an AMD Ryzen system being much more competitive in price, while giving performance similar such that you'd not notice the difference for many uses, and offering more upgrade options like Zen 2. The 8600k has even less of a place in the market, as it's expensive, as are Z370 mobos, without being able to claim performance 'crowns' like the 9700k to try to justify the premium.

Never buy slower RAM if you can help it. PS does actually benefit a certain amount from it, and some games can benefit massively. I also expect dropping the SSD as secondary storage and reallocating that spend elsewhere will make sense.

I'll try to get to this later today, not had a huge amount of time for specs lately.
 

Rajen

Active member
As far as Ram is concerned, I've reviewed plenty of benchmarks - they are all over the place esp on you tube. For Intel systems at least, I wasn't able to discern any significant improvement. But my main point was that faster Ram is not cost effective I terms of performance vs cost
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
It varies from title to title. But yes, faster RAM can help a lot.
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See links here: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/foru...-Hardware-FAQs&p=397286&viewfull=1#post397286
There's a lot of bad information on youtube in fairness.

And performance vs cost absolutely makes sense - £29 from 2400MHz to 3000MHz on current PCS pricing. Versus £127 to go from an 8600k to 9700k. And in the case of Ryzen where the mobos will support future upgrades which are already shaping up to offer more performance than Intel's options, getting faster RAM is a longer term investment.

In the case of PCS's AMD systems, it's £22 to go from 2400MHz to 2933MHz.

You can't make the argument that RAM is poor performance per £ and then argue for a £400 i7 tbh as better value, especially since neither part of that is true.

Back to the spec, I would suggest this:

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE R6 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 2600 Six Core CPU (3.4GHz-3.9GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
Gigabyte X470 AORUS Ultra Gaming: ATX, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2933MHz ~ (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1[SUP]st[/SUP] M.2 SSD Drive
500GB WD Black™ M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3400MB/s R | 2500MB/s 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
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11 AC1900 1,300Mbps/5GHz, 600Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
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 [KK3-00002]
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
Quantity
1

Price £1,057.00 including VAT and Delivery

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


RMX PSU is quieter, as is the Noctua cooler - and the cooler is also more effective too.

A 1TB SSD as secondary storage really isn't worth the cash unless you have very niche needs.

R5 CPU will offer similar performance in gaming at the kind of budget you're looking at, and is fine for PS and other uses. And Zen 2 CPUs coming out later this year offer a significant upgrade path, should that be desired later on.
 

philwil

Active member
Thank you, guys. I really appreciate your input.

Oussebon, this seems an excellent spec. I'm just wondering whether it's worth spending on the 2600X and getting the overclocked PCS model? If so, would I need a different mobo/PSU?

Is there any risk in overclocking in terms of reliability, shelf-life etc?


Any thoughts on Nvidia RTX vs Radeon graphics card - again, mostly for gaming?
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
Oussebon, this seems an excellent spec. I'm just wondering whether it's worth spending on the 2600X
That's open to debate, but my answer would be no. It's a £40 price difference, won't matter much or really at all for most titles, and if you really need more CPU horsepower then upgrading to a Zen 2 CPU when it comes out next year would probably make more sense - in which case the 2600 non-x is ~£40 saved towards that

and getting the overclocked PCS model?
I'd say no. I'm not sure how PCS do the overclocking on Ryzen CPUs but it can actually reduce performance in some uses. Also the overclocking headroom is fairly minimal anyway.

The mobo is fairly high end and the PSU is high end. So it should be fine for future upgrades and maybe even OCing Zen 2 if that becomes a consideration.

Is there any risk in overclocking in terms of reliability, shelf-life etc?
Reliability as in stability isn't an issue if you do it right. It will reduce the components' lifespan, although not necessarily to a meaningful extent. After several years one might need to increase voltage a little to maintain the made OC stably. You are more likely to throw the system away due to extreme old age than prematurely due to a modest overclock killing it early.

Any thoughts on Nvidia RTX vs Radeon graphics card - again, mostly for gaming?
Depends a bit on pricing.

At PCS's prices, an RX 580 is way better value than a GTX 1060.

At general market prices, there is Vega 56 vs RTX 2060. Similar pricing. RTX 2060 wins out overall for performance and power consumption. Although there are reasons why Vega would make more sense e.g. depending on the free games being offered with various cards, whether you're prepared to undervolt / overclock the card to squeeze out more performance, or if your favourite games really like AMD/ Vega cards. And freesync/gsync monitor considerations too.

It's not always that some titles really love Nvidia and some titles really love AMD cards - FO4 really doesn't like Vega (in terms of performance versus £), but is happy enough with an RX 580. FO4 is also prone to crashes with weapons debris enabled on Nvidia RTX cards, but not Nvidia Pascal GPUs.

My 2 'bang for buck' picks in the rough area I think you're shopping in are RX 580 (1080p high-ultra) RTX 2060 (1080p very high to ultra or 1440p high+).
 

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
Thanks again. You've been tremendously helpful.

It's helpful to the community to increase the reputation of those members who have helped you. It shows the community which member's are most respected and whose advice is the most valuable. It's also a very nice way of saying 'thank you'.

Just click the star icon below the member's avatar on the post(s) that most helped you. You can leave a note for the member too, but you don't have to.

Thanks! :)
 

philwil

Active member
It's helpful to the community to increase the reputation of those members who have helped you. It shows the community which member's are most respected and whose advice is the most valuable. It's also a very nice way of saying 'thank you'.

Just click the star icon below the member's avatar on the post(s) that most helped you. You can leave a note for the member too, but you don't have to.

Thanks! :)


Done. Thanks!
 
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