Just pulled the trigger on this build

[PauFen]

Hi All,

I hope that everyone is well. I usually self-build but with the market being what it is at the moment I thought I'd give PCS a try. I'm really impressed with the configuration options so far, it kind of represents the best of both worlds and the prices are very good. I may have chosen a different case given more options, but its basically the build that I was looking at putting together myself. The machine is mostly for creative work (video editing, audio production, a lot of GPU heavy real-time graphics, Unreal/VR development, 3D modelling and a bit of gaming on the side). This is what I went with in the end - what do you think?

Case
CORSAIR OBSIDIAN SERIES™ 500D SE CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16 Core CPU (3.4GHz-4.9GHz/72MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® CROSSHAIR VIII HERO WIFI (DDR4, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX/SLI) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 32GB)
Graphics Card
10GB ASUS TUF GAMING GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP
1st Storage Drive
2TB Samsung 870 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
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 RGB PRO XT Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
2 PORT (2 x TYPE A) USB 3.1 PCI-E CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
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

I know that 1000w is massive overkill, but it was only slightly more than an 850w and I'll probably end up putting a high-end 4000 series card in it eventually. I was going to go for a "pot-luck" 3080 Ti, but I've had major issues with fan revving on my Gigabyte 2080 so wanted to be sure to avoid them and the price tag of a Ti felt a little too high anyway. The ASUS 3080 GPU wasn't listed as "pre-order only" and most of the other ASUS cards were greyed out, so hopefully that indicates that they have sufficient stock and that the waiting time will not be too long.

This is going to sound extremely petty, but the only slight bummer for me is their habit of sticking the PCS logo on the case. I don't have any issue acknowledging where it comes from and I respect their work, but it just seems a bit of a shame with these sleek, minimalist high-end cases. Is there any possibility of requesting that it not be added? Just a small thing though - otherwise really looking forward to my machine.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hi All,

I hope that everyone is well. I usually self-build but with the market being what it is at the moment I thought I'd give PCS a try. I'm really impressed with the configuration options so far, it kind of represents the best of both worlds and the prices are very good. I may have chosen a different case given more options, but its basically the build that I was looking at putting together myself. The machine is mostly for creative work (video editing, audio production, a lot of GPU heavy real-time graphics, Unreal/VR development, 3D modelling and a bit of gaming on the side). This is what I went with in the end - what do you think?

Case
CORSAIR OBSIDIAN SERIES™ 500D SE CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16 Core CPU (3.4GHz-4.9GHz/72MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® CROSSHAIR VIII HERO WIFI (DDR4, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX/SLI) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 32GB)
Graphics Card
10GB ASUS TUF GAMING GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP
1st Storage Drive
2TB Samsung 870 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
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 RGB PRO XT Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
2 PORT (2 x TYPE A) USB 3.1 PCI-E CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
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

I know that 1000w is massive overkill, but it was only slightly more than an 850w and I'll probably end up putting a high-end 4000 series card in it eventually. I was going to go for a "pot-luck" 3080 Ti, but I've had major issues with fan revving on my Gigabyte 2080 so wanted to be sure to avoid them and the price tag of a Ti felt a little too high anyway. The ASUS 3080 GPU wasn't listed as "pre-order only" and most of the other ASUS cards were greyed out, so hopefully that indicates that they have sufficient stock and that the waiting time will not be too long.

This is going to sound extremely petty, but the only slight bummer for me is their habit of sticking the PCS logo on the case. I don't have any issue acknowledging where it comes from and I respect their work, but it just seems a bit of a shame with these sleek, minimalist high-end cases. Is there any possibility of requesting that it not be added? Just a small thing though - otherwise really looking forward to my machine.

Couple of things about the build, in the main it's spot on, you obviously know what you're doing, just a couple of tweaks:

Up the RAM to 3200MHz, it's the sweetspot for Ryzen.

I would up the cooler to the H150i if you can, it's marginally better than the H115i, but every bit helps with that CPU.

On the PSU front, the minimum wattage on a 3090 is 850w, but often higher with aftermarket cards, I don't think 1000w is over the top at all, I think it's really sensible to leave yourself some headroom.

Bear in mind, for your uses a basic PBO overclock can add up to about 10% performance on the CPU so may be worth it. You're free to overclock the CPU without affecting warranty. The GPU you can't overclock.

Drop the thermal paste as the cooler comes pre applied with really good paste.

And the Asus card is well worth it again for your uses, even the lower range Tuf card is built of higher end components and VRM's than most other models, for the kinds of loads you'd be putting on it's a worthwhile investment.

And you'll be pleased to hear, the PCS logo can just be peeled off, it's only held on with sticky sided tape kind of stuff, comes right off with a little bit of effort.

 

[PauFen]

Couple of things about the build, in the main it's spot on, you obviously know what you're doing, just a couple of tweaks:

Up the RAM to 3200MHz, it's the sweetspot for Ryzen.

I would up the cooler to the H150i if you can, it's marginally better than the H115i, but every bit helps with that CPU.

On the PSU front, the minimum wattage on a 3090 is 850w, but often higher with aftermarket cards, I don't think 1000w is over the top at all, I think it's really sensible to leave yourself some headroom.

Bear in mind, for your uses a basic PBO overclock can add up to about 10% performance on the CPU so may be worth it. You're free to overclock the CPU without affecting warranty. The GPU you can't overclock.

Drop the thermal paste as the cooler comes pre applied with really good paste.

And the Asus card is well worth it again for your uses, even the lower range Tuf card is built of higher end components and VRM's than most other models, for the kinds of loads you'd be putting on it's a worthwhile investment.

And you'll be pleased to hear, the PCS logo can just be peeled off, it's only held on with sticky sided tape kind of stuff, comes right off with a little bit of effort.

Thank you SpyderTracks, that's really helpful. The main reason that I opted for the 3000hz RAM is that it appeared to be the only x2 32gb option, which would allow me space to add another couple of 32gb sticks in the future, taking me to the 128gb max if needed. I would have to opt for x4 16 gb sticks @3200hz according to the configuration form, limiting me to 64gb. That said, 128gb seems like a huge amount, so maybe I'm better off with 64gb @ 3200hz over 4 sticks? I'll take note of the other points, thank you.

 

[AgentCooper]

This is going to sound extremely petty, but the only slight bummer for me is their habit of sticking the PCS logo on the case. I don't have any issue acknowledging where it comes from and I respect their work, but it just seems a bit of a shame with these sleek, minimalist high-end cases. Is there any possibility of requesting that it not be added?

My cat managed to remove the case logo. I’ve checked and she definitely doesn’t have thumbs, so it was done exclusively via the medium of teeth and there were no marks left behind. We’ve had her since she was a kitten so she’s not been employed by PCS at any point. You should be safe from any glue marks if you get one of these attached 👍

 

[Martinr36]

My cat managed to remove the case logo. I’ve checked and she definitely doesn’t have thumbs, so it was done exclusively via the medium of teeth and there were no marks left behind. We’ve had her since she was a kitten so she’s not been employed by PCS at any point. You should be safe from any glue marks if you get one of these attached 👍

you ought to rent her out to remove the badges, nice little sideline

 

[PauFen]

My cat managed to remove the case logo. I’ve checked and she definitely doesn’t have thumbs, so it was done exclusively via the medium of teeth and there were no marks left behind. We’ve had her since she was a kitten so she’s not been employed by PCS at any point. You should be safe from any glue marks if you get one of these attached 👍

I'm a bit embarrassed, but that's good to hear, thank you! I just have a thing for minimalism. (nice avatar btw - I'm watching Fire Walk With Me as I speak... "the good Dale is in the lodge and he can't leave, write it in your diary." )

 

[PauFen]

I haven't spoke to anyone at PCS since placing my order, but I guess there's the possibility of tweaking the build. I should have run it past you guys beforehand.

 

[Scott]

I would give the RAM and Storage an overhaul personally.

Aim for 3200Mhz or 3600Mhz if available. 4x16GB should be more than enough for your uses.
Pre-overclocked would definitely be a great shout for your uses. You will get a lot more performance.
For the storage I would opt for a 500GB 980 PRO for Windows & your Software. 1-2TB 530 Firecuda for a work/cache/fast storage drive. And then just fill in the gaps with whatever you fancy.

Rest is covered

 

[Scott]

I haven't spoke to anyone at PCS since placing my order, but I guess there's the possibility of tweaking the build. I should have run it past you guys beforehand.

Shouldn't be too much of a problem. Any changes can be made to the build but you will need to call up for the Overclock as it's a different configurator.

With regards to your list, if you send over the link to your actual configuration it makes it far easier for us to go in and provide tweaks to you on here.

 

[PauFen]

I would give the RAM and Storage an overhaul personally.

Aim for 3200Mhz or 3600Mhz if available. 4x16GB should be more than enough for your uses.
Pre-overclocked would definitely be a great shout for your uses. You will get a lot more performance.
For the storage I would opt for a 500GB 980 PRO for Windows & your Software. 1-2TB 530 Firecuda for a work/cache/fast storage drive. And then just fill in the gaps with whatever you fancy.

Rest is covered

Yes, you and SpyderTracks may be right about the Ram. I've been running out baking scenes in Unreal on my current PC, but that's only 16gb. I have a 500gb m.2 for my OS and main work apps currently, and I'm really struggling - I use a tonne of software. Currently sitting at 20gb spare on my C: drive. I'll take a look at the Firecuda though, thank you.

 

[PauFen]

Shouldn't be too much of a problem. Any changes can be made to the build but you will need to call up for the Overclock as it's a different configurator.

With regards to your list, if you send over the link to your actual configuration it makes it far easier for us to go in and provide tweaks to you on here.

Sorry about my ignorance Scott, but how do I share the configuration? A link to my order page? I just followed the "post to forum" link after placing the order and was given instructions to just copy-and-paste my configuration here.

 

[Martinr36]

Sorry about my ignorance Scott, but how do I share the configuration? A link to my order page? I just followed the "post to forum" link after placing the order and was given instructions to just copy-and-paste my configuration here.

right at the bottom of where you copied and pasted from there is a link in green, copy and paste that here

 

[PauFen]

Hi Guys - I went ahead and amended my order according to your advice. It set me back another £156, but if I'm spending this much I may as well get it right. I'll just have to forgo everything else for the next 6 months , which thankfully will be much easier with a machine like this to play with.

The list/link that I'm able to share hasn't updated yet (still showing the old config), but I changed the following:

1) 3000MHz (2 x 32GB) for 3200MHz (4 x 16GB) Ram - makes sense, I'm sure that 64gb will be more than enough going forward.

2) Swapped out the 2TB Samsung 870 QVO for a 2TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 in the 2nd M2 slot as my main secondary drive

3) Ditched the Arctic Silver thermal paste since decent paste is already applied to the cooler

Unfortunately, the 500D case wouldn't fit the H150i radiator apparently (got a config warning), so I stuck with the 2 fan H115i. The only other case that I really liked (aesthetically more to my taste actually) was the Cooler Master sl600m, but I wanted something more compact and wasn't sure about the vertical air-flow thing.

In terms of overclocking, I've had some experience of that myself, so I can always tinker.

Anyway, thank you for your suggestions, they've really helped me to feel more confident about the build. I'll post the link here if it updates to reflect the changes.