New Desktop - Check my Spec (Please)

[Allan]

It's a desktop configuration mainly for Office / documents / photos / music / video and some browsing. This will be my 3rd from PC Specialist in 10 years and tech has changed, along with my receding hairline. I would welcome any feedback before I press the pay button.

Case
PCS ELEMENT CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-12500 (Up to 4.6GHz) 18MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME H610M-A-CSM D4 (mATX, LGA1700, DDR4, PCIe 4.0)
Memory (RAM)
16GB PCS PRO DDR4 3200MHz (1 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE 710 - DVI, HDMI, VGA
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti / RX 7700 XT AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR, 1625MB/sW)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW)
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Memory Card Reader
USB 3.0 EXTERNAL SD/MICRO SD CARD READER
Power Supply
PCS 250W 80+ BRONZE POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD CPU COOLER LGA1700
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NOT REQUIRED
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
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
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Monitor
IIYAMA ProLite XU2793HS-B5 27", 1920 x 1080, 75Hz
Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH® MK540 WIRELESS KEYBOARD & MOUSE COMBO
Speakers
LOGITECH S150 2.0 BLACK SPEAKER SYSTEM

 

[sck451]

Hi Allan. I reckon you can do better than this! What's the budget? Are you not able to re-use an existing monitor?

 

[Allan]

Thanks sck451. I do have an existing 21.5" IIyama Prolite but was planning to go slightly bigger though I could make do. I have a budget of £1000 inc VAT. What were your thoughts?

 

[Allan]

Bump...

 

[Scott]

This presumes you can transfer your license over from your current system and also make use of the monitor. Your initial build is very poor and definitely not something we would recommend to anyone. I cannot get you inside £1k without making compromises on the OS and the monitor while still attempting to get you the storage aspirations.

Case
CORSAIR 3000D AIRFLOW MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 8600G Six Core CPU (4.35GHz-5.0GHz/22MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti / RX 7700 XT AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW)
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
DeepCool AK620 ZERO DARK High-Performance Dual Tower CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
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 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
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
Price: £1,004.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/0WKzREVt3!/

 

[Allan]

Thanks Scott. I've had a good look.
Three questions if I may.
1. I've been out of IT for many years so modern specs are a bit lost on me. Where did my spec go so badly wrong?
2. If I were to compromise on storage what would be your recommendation? I have a number of external HDDs if that helps.
3. Is there a gaming element to this? Would it work fine for Flight Sim for example? I'm not an online gamer but quick fancy the idea of the odd sortie on the Vulcan FS.......

 

[Scott]

Thanks Scott. I've had a good look.
Three questions if I may.
1. I've been out of IT for many years so modern specs are a bit lost on me. Where did my spec go so badly wrong?
2. If I were to compromise on storage what would be your recommendation? I have a number of external HDDs if that helps.
3. Is there a gaming element to this? Would it work fine for Flight Sim for example? I'm not an online gamer but quick fancy the idea of the odd sortie on the Vulcan FS.......

1. Poor case, 2 generation old CPU, poor level motherboard, single dimm of RAM (And previous generation DDR4), ancient GPU that isn't even as powerful even modern iGPUs, slow primary drive by modern standards, abysmal power supply.

2. I would just drop the 2TB Seagate drive. No need if you already have other conventional storage.

3. No, no real gaming prowess. It would play lesser games at lesser settings at 1080p (the 8600G does OK at 1080p gaming) but it's not going to touch the likes of MSFS, you would need a proper GPU for that.

 

[Allan]

Scott, Many thanks for your comprehensive responses and for your very much appreciated help. If I were able to stretch to a GPU that could run Flight Sim, what would you recommend?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Scott, Many thanks for your comprehensive responses and for your very much appreciated help. If I were able to stretch to a GPU that could run Flight Sim, what would you recommend?

You’d need a budget to be able to do that, a gpu even for a basic entry level 1080p card is a few hundred £

What’s your new budget?

 

[Scott]

Taking out the HDD, boosting the build a little for gaming runs around £200. I would like the XT GPU, but it's not available.

Again note that this presumes you are re-using the current windows license and monitor etc. This is just for the PC/Tower.

Case
CORSAIR 3000D AIRFLOW MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600 Six Core CPU (4.0GHz-5.2GHz/38MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 7600 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti / RX 7700 XT AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
DeepCool AK620 ZERO DARK High-Performance Dual Tower CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
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 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
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 5 to 7 working days
Price: £1,209.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/cHgE!79sfv/

 

[Allan]

Scott, Many thanks for your speedy response. I note that there is a CPU change from AMD Ryzen 5 8600G to 7600. Is that significant in processor power?
I wish there was a place you could try these out to see how they perform.
Now putting on my thinking cap.

 

[Scott]

8600G has a pretty good iGPU. The 7600 has more processing power but nowhere near the same graphics power. If you're running the rig without a GPU you will want the 8600G, if you use a discrete GPU then the 7600 is a better choice.

What performance comparison would you want to see? There are numerous benchmarks that will show how they perform but for gaming they are all going to be shown with a decent GPU in place. A gaming PC is ITRO £1500-£2000 nowadays to get something decent. Top end is £3k and you can hit almost £4k without even getting overly crazy.

The key is targeting what you want the system for, being realistic with the budget and saving to get exactly what you want/need. You can get a working PC for just about any budget but getting an all rounder to tick many boxes and game on is going to take more than your initial assumptions.

If you want the best of both worlds you could get a £1000 PC and a £400 Xbox. An Xbox will give a level of gaming equivalent to a £1500 PC.

 

[Allan]

Scott, many thanks for your sage advice together with your recommendations. I'll take these on board for when I'm brave enough to press "Proceed".