Help Me Choose a Desktop PC & Parts Please

[Tiger Feet]

I have always had a laptop but now I want to get a desktop.

I'm not a massive gamer but would like the opportunity for it to be there for light gaming perhaps.

I would definitely want an i7, 16 GB RAM and one of the drives to be a solid-state drive as per the signature for my laptop below. It's just there are so many parts to choose from as compared with a laptop that I do not know where to begin.

I was also thinking about getting at least a 24" monitor.

The other thing I would like is to be able to upgrade any part of the setup at some future point in time.

So can anyone give me a reasonable spec for a desktop based on those facts?

Cheers

 

[Warbloke]

I might as well say this before someone else does... caus we know its coming:

You could post your available budget for this potential purchase?
You mention light gaming... what else do you use it for/ want to use it for?

It is difficult for anyone to recommend a spec to anyone, if they don't know how much you are looking to spend, or what your needs are.

 

[keynes]

Do you have a budget?

 

[Tiger Feet]

I might as well say this before someone else does... caus we know its coming:

You could post your available budget for this potential purchase?
You mention light gaming... what else do you use it for/ want to use it for?

It is difficult for anyone to recommend a spec to anyone, if they don't know how much you are looking to spend, or what your needs are.

Okay budget. Let's say £1500 - £2000 budget (including perhaps a decent 24" monitor).

Uses:
Light gaming (although this is not my main use but may become that on a desktop with larger screen).

Some video editing (as I do on my laptop).

Allowance for Dragon NaturallySpeaking Speech Recognition (as I do on my laptop).

Lots of applications being opened at the same time without any crashes (as I do on my laptop).

Lots of dictating in Microsoft Word and having long Word documents load up without any problems.

My problem is, not knowing what case/case price to have because there are so many. How many fans should I have and general things like that to sustain a fairly, robust system that will cope with the points I've mentioned above. If possible, I would also like at least 4 USB connections so long as it does not push the price up too much.

I'm guessing that this price will get me somewhere in the middle as opposed to a top end spec? There again, I don't know, that's why I need your expertise. On top of that, all the necessary cables / miscellaneous. I would also like to be able to add or upgrade parts further on down the line to this spec.

Hope that's enough information for now.

Cheers

 

[keynes]

For your intended use £1500 will be the budget for a high end machine. You mention i7 and 16gb ram, is it heavy video editing? A desktop i5 will be faster than your laptop i7. You can get a decent system for £900 with an i5, ssd, gtx 960 and ssd.

 

[GeorgeHillier]

To give you an idea of what you could get here are two builds. The first one is a lot cheaper than your budget but will perform better than your laptop, the second one is faster but costs closer to your budget:

Case CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 200R COMPACT GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4690 (3.5GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard ASUS® Z97-E: ATX, USB3.0, SATA 6GB/S, SLi, XFIRE
Memory (RAM) 16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card 4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 960 - DVI, HDMI, 3 x DP - 3D Vision Ready
2nd Graphics Card NONE
1st Hard Disk 250GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk 1TB WD BLACK WD1003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
3rd Hard Disk NONE
4th Hard Disk NONE
M.2 SSD Drive NONE
1st PCI-E SSD Drive NONE
2nd PCI-E SSD Drive NONE
RAID NONE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive NONE
Memory Card Reader NONE
Power Supply CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling Super Quiet Titan DragonFly Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Fan Controller NONE
Extra Case Fans 2x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
LED Lighting NONE
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)
Wireless Router/HomePlugs NONE
USB Options MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Firewire NONE
TV Card NONE
Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
DVD Recovery Media Windows 10 (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Monitor NONE
2nd Monitor NONE
3rd Monitor NONE
4th Monitor NONE
Monitor Cables NONE
Eyefinity Adapter / GeForce 3D Vision NONE
Keyboard & Mouse NONE
Mouse NONE
Game Streaming NONE
Gaming Mouse Pad NONE
Games Controller NONE
Speakers NONE
Webcam NONE
Headsets NONE
Surge Protection NONE
Cable Tidy NONE
Printer NONE
External Hard Drive 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 8 to 10 working days
Promotional Item FREE HOS: KAIJO DIABLO BUNDLE with GTX 950 & 960 GPUs!
Pricing Information
Price (excluding VAT) £765.83
Price £919.00


Case CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 200R COMPACT GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-6700k (4.0GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard Gigabyte Z170XP-SLI: ATX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM) 16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card 6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 980 Ti - DVI, HDMI, 3 DP
2nd Graphics Card NONE
3rd Graphics Card NONE
1st Hard Disk 250GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk 1TB WD BLACK WD1003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
3rd Hard Disk NONE
4th Hard Disk NONE
M.2 SSD Drive NONE
1st PCI-E SSD Drive NONE
2nd PCI-E SSD Drive NONE
RAID NONE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive NONE
Memory Card Reader NONE
Power Supply CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Fan Controller NONE
Extra Case Fans 2x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
LED Lighting NONE
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)
Wireless Router/HomePlugs NONE
USB Options MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Firewire NONE
TV Card NONE
Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
DVD Recovery Media NO DVD RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor NONE
2nd Monitor NONE
3rd Monitor NONE
4th Monitor NONE
Monitor Cables NONE
Eyefinity Adapter / GeForce 3D Vision NONE
Keyboard & Mouse NONE
Mouse NONE
Game Streaming NONE
Gaming Mouse Pad NONE
Games Controller NONE
Speakers NONE
Webcam NONE
Headsets NONE
Surge Protection NONE
Cable Tidy NONE
Printer NONE
External Hard Drive NONE
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year 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 8 to 10 working days
Pricing Information
Price (excluding VAT) £1,150.83
Price £1,381.00

 

[Tiger Feet]

@ Keynes - No, it is not really, heavy video editing that I do but I do some video editing occasionally. I would prefer an i7 because this is the preferred processor for use with Dragon NaturallySpeaking, plus it's faster than an i5 and if it's within that budget, then why not?

@ George - Your second spec looks good but does this exclude a monitor, mouse and keyboard? In other words, is this the norm and these items are always excluded and classed as extras?

@ Antcol - Why a 650W power supply over a 450W? For what reason do you say this and what advantages are there in having the larger?

Can I also add and upgrade at later dates with this spec?

Thanks Guys

 

[GeorgeHillier]

@ George - Your second spec looks good but does this exclude a monitor, mouse and keyboard? In other words, is this the norm and these items are always excluded and classed as extras?

@ Antcol - Why a 650W power supply over a 450W? For what reason do you say this and what advantages are there in having the larger?

Can I also add and upgrade at later dates with this spec?

Thanks Guys

I excluded the monitor, keyboard and mouse as I wasn't 100% sure what you'd want, but left room in the budget for them

As for the PSU, a modular one is just more tidy, since excess cables can be removed, however having a PSU larger than needed also decreases the efficiency at a certain point (although not by much, think about 10%)

 

[keynes]

I excluded the monitor, keyboard and mouse as I wasn't 100% sure what you'd want, but left room in the budget for them

As for the PSU, a modular one is just more tidy, since excess cables can be removed, however having a PSU larger than needed also decreases the efficiency at a certain point (although not by much, think about 10%)

for light gaming the gtx 980 ti is overkill

 

[GeorgeHillier]

for light gaming the gtx 980 ti is overkill

That's why i made two builds

 

[Tiger Feet]

@ Antcol - Good point. That is something I do wish to do is future proof the setup.

Why is a GTX 980 overkill? Does it produce more vibrant colours and more suitable for extreme gaming? What's the difference between the two graphics card compared in the two specs George posted?

What monitor should I go for bearing in mind I would like at least 24"? What advantages does one monitor have over another apart from size?

Although I use speech recognition and therefore would not really need a keyboard and mouse, I would still need these items because of other people using the computer. Because of this and bearing that in mind, I would only need a cheap keyboard and mouse for this purpose (but not crap) so what should I go for here?

Cheers

 

[GeorgeHillier]

1) Why is a GTX 980 overkill? Does it produce more vibrant colours and more suitable for extreme gaming? What's the difference between the two graphics card compared in the two specs George posted?

2) What monitor should I go for bearing in mind I would like at least 24"? What advantages does one monitor have over another apart from size?

Although I use speech recognition and therefore would not really need a keyboard and mouse, I would still need these items because of other people using the computer. Because of this and bearing that in mind, I would only need a cheap keyboard and mouse for this purpose (but not crap) so what should I go for here?

Cheers

1) It may be overkill depending what game you'd play, mind giving us a few games you had in mind?

2) As long as it's 1080p, has a good colour contrast and a response time of at least 5ms (preferably 2ms) then it should be fine

 

[Tiger Feet]

@ George - I don't know what games I am going to play yet. What I don't want to do is buy a set up and then realise if and when I do buy a game, I won't get the true effect of that game. Thanks for the advice about the monitor.

@ Antcol - that's exactly what I thought!

Thanks, that's given me something to chew on.

 

[GeorgeHillier]

@ George - I don't know what games I am going to play yet. What I don't want to do is buy a set up and then realise if and when I do buy a game, I won't get the true effect of that game. Thanks for the advice about the monitor.

@ Antcol - that's exactly what I thought!

Thanks, that's given me something to chew on.

Well the 980ti will be able to run any game you throw at it, it's one of the best single graphics cards out there at the moment

 

[Tiger Feet]

Well the 980ti will be able to run any game you throw at it, it's one of the best single graphics cards out there at the moment

Great! I will bear that in mind