New build advice -- SSD query

[marvir]

Hey folks,

Been awhile since I've been on here. I'll be moving soon and I was planning on getting a new pc for when I've moved instead of lugging my older one. Side question: What do people generally do with older PC's? Does PCS do any trade-in things or anything like that? Doubt it but hey ho gotta ask I guess.

Anyway the PC will be mostly for gaming, likely 1080p but might go 1440p if the build can sustain decent performance. Also may be doing some photo editing/ Photoshop work but more a hobby thing rather than a work thing. Ideal max budget is £1800 but reducing where I can would be nice if the performance doesn't suffer too much. The price on the build at the moment is closer to £1900 but it's to do with the SSD.. I don't really know much about them, what's the difference between the 870 QVO and the 970 EVO m.2? Is the performance difference worth the difference in price? If it helps my current SSD is a 500gb Samsung 840 EVO.

Edit: Price with the 870 QVO is £1756.00

Also not really too keen on any of the cases under £100, might provide my own but that's roughly what I'm willing to spend on a case.

Case
FRACTAL MESHIFY C BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Six Core Processor i7-8700k (3.7GHz) 12MB Cache
Get Just Cause 4, PUBG & More w/ select Intel CPUs!
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF Z370-PLUS GAMING II: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2070 - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
NOT REQUIRED
2nd Storage Drive
4TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 128MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
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
CoolerMaster Hyper 212X (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler Black Edition
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Extra Case Fans
2x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 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 £1,869.00 including VAT and Delivery

Thanks for any advice!

Martin

 

[Stephen M]

PCS do not do trade in and getting rid of old PCs for money is very difficult, your best bet may be to try to sell the good parts separately.

The 870 QVO is a budget drive and much slower than the 970 EVO, although you could look at the WD Black m2, that is cheaper than the Samsung but about as good.

 

[Oussebon]

The QVO isn't worth getting. The WD Blue (3D NAND version) is faster and a decent performing drive, if you want to save cash versus an M.2 NVMe SSD.

If getting an i7 CPU go for the 9700k as it's little more expensive but is a bit faster, and pinching pennies on an i7 is kind of a contradiction in terms.

The AORUS Pro is probably worth looking at over the TUF, as it has a lot more features and decent VRMs.

The PRO HDDs aren't really worth it. You could buy a pair of 3TB regular HDDs for less than a single 4TB Pro.

There's arguably not much point to getting nan i7 versus an AMD R5 2600 https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/amd-am4-pc/

It's a few hundred guid cheaper or so, and at 1440p the performance difference is negligible.

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Intel/Core_i7_9700K/14.html
But the savings are very noticeable in your pocket and could let you afford a better monitor.

Plus the AM4 motherboards will support at least one more gen of AMD CPUs, with Zen 2 tipped to be better than Intel's current gen offerings. So the i7 route for 1440p where one doesn't have a bigger budget is very open to debate.

 

[marvir]

The QVO isn't worth getting. The WD Blue (3D NAND version) is faster and a decent performing drive, if you want to save cash versus an M.2 NVMe SSD.

If getting an i7 CPU go for the 9700k as it's little more expensive but is a bit faster, and pinching pennies on an i7 is kind of a contradiction in terms.

The AORUS Pro is probably worth looking at over the TUF, as it has a lot more features and decent VRMs.

The PRO HDDs aren't really worth it. You could buy a pair of 3TB regular HDDs for less than a single 4TB Pro.

There's arguably not much point to getting nan i7 versus an AMD R5 2600 https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/amd-am4-pc/

It's a few hundred guid cheaper or so, and at 1440p the performance difference is negligible.
View attachment 12744
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Intel/Core_i7_9700K/14.html
But the savings are very noticeable in your pocket and could let you afford a better monitor.

Plus the AM4 motherboards will support at least one more gen of AMD CPUs, with Zen 2 tipped to be better than Intel's current gen offerings. So the i7 route for 1440p where one doesn't have a bigger budget is very open to debate.

Thanks for the input!

@Stephen I just checked and there is literally just a £6 difference between the WD and the Samsung m2s, unless I'm seeing something wrong. For that price I guess I'd go with Samsung if I did go the m2 route.

@Oussebon Is there a very large noticeable difference between say the WD Blue SSD that you mentioned vs a M.2 NVMe SSD? And would you say it's worth the money? If the performance difference is huge that's something I'm happy to stretch for.

With regards to the i7, I only went with the 8700k coz the 9700k is greyed out for some reason. I guess that means it's out of stock at the moment maybe? Anyway I'll update my spec with the 9700k. I'm not getting it anytime too soon anyway so I got some time to ponder and wiggle.

I actually have no idea about AMD processors. I had one about 15 years ago and it had all sorts of issues before failing completely, taking my motherboard and gpu with it so I've just gone with Intel since and not looked back. Would the R5 be comparable to the i7 if we include things like Photoshop and Maya/Z-Brush (hobby but use it enough to warrant consideration) as well or is the R5 better geared for games? Also, it's a hard thing to drop once I've kinda gone with a "brand" so to speak.

Thanks for the advice about the PRO HDDs, I'll get a bigger standard HDD then, and still save money which is great.

Also with regards to the motherboard -- Is the default option ASUS Prime Z370-P acceptable? If I dropped down to that, I can stay under £1800 which is a kind of soft budget I set for myself but if it makes a big difference, again it's something I am happy to stretch for.


Thanks for the info so far guys, appreciate it.

Edit: Updated spec. £33 cheaper, and theoretically sticking to the m2 SSD, replacing the PRO drive. Also, 9700k is out of stock which is why it was greyed out, but the £33 is if I chose the 9700k and not the 8700k.

Case
FRACTAL MESHIFY C BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Six Core Processor i7-8700k (3.7GHz) 12MB Cache
Get Just Cause 4, PUBG & More w/ select Intel CPUs!
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO: ATX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2070 - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
NOT REQUIRED
2nd Storage Drive
3TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
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
CoolerMaster Hyper 212X (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler Black Edition
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Extra Case Fans
2x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,818.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-pc/d3FJB!378K/

 

[Oussebon]

An i7 will perform better in Photoshop. How much better and whether you'd notice much of a difference might depend on what you're doing.

There's also the question of what that's worth to you. The price difference between an AMD R5 spec and the spec you posted above is, apparently, about £265: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-pc/Cp0!Z7nHUm/

Intel's CPU prices are relatively inflated above any normal premium they might charge due to 14nm supply issues.

You shouldn't necessarily base a purchase decision on rumours, but I will note that AMD are releasing their Ryzen 3000 series CPUs on 7nm this year, and unlike Intel's future offerings these should be compatible with existing AM4 motherboards. At CES in Jan, AMD demoed an engineering sample of an 8 core, 16 thread CPU beating Intel's 9900k (also 8C/16T) in cinebench. That's all pretty solid, the rumour part is that AMD's 8C/16T CPU that squares off versus an i9 will be an R5 part and priced accordingly. i.e. one might be able to buy CPUs matching an i9 for about the price difference of an R5 2600 versus a 9700k. And there will be 12C/24T and 16C/32C parts as well, apparently (I can believe this because of the whole chiplet thing and the general direction AMD has been going).

And even if that rumour is over-hype, that's still £265 in the kitty for a future mobo and CPU upgrade, e.g. when Intel finally get 10nm out at the end of the year, or the next refresh after that.

The brand for CPU doesn't mean a great deal. My i7 3770k in my PC from 2012 had to be replaced within a few months. Also 15 years is a long time in CPUs. And most everything else hardware related. Voodoo GPUs anyone? abit motherboards? OCZ SSDs? (that brand kicked it and got picked up by Toshiba eventually I think). AMD are donig very well right now.

I'm not getting it anytime too soon anyway so I got some time to ponder and wiggle.

When are you getting this? There's not much point planning in detail a spec far in advance of purchase.

Prices can vary daily, and changes in the fortune of the £, or market forces can radically change pricing. Plus PCS's parts list does change. So no point settling on mobos, SSDs, etc if in a month's time the prices are way different and PCS have stopped selling the WD Blue altogether (for example).

But I still wouldn't buy a QVO if I could help it.

 

[marvir]

I'll likely be getting it around early to mid-April maybe, after I move as I can't function without a PC. I'm aware that prices fluctuate a lot, but I think the current spec I have at the moment is a good base for when I am actually about to pull the trigger, it'll just be replacing things here and there. You're right about specifics though, I'll hold off on those until it's nearer the time. I think I just genuinely enjoy the research part, even more than getting the PC part :shifty:

Yeah I definitely get it when it comes to the brand, I guess it's just I've found my brand per se, and it's more a comfort/security thing. I just don't know them the way I know Intel CPUs, but am definitely open to trying AMD again, especially if it'll save a pretty penny.

Anyway many thanks for the help!