Possible new PC

[Stephen M]

As a result of a little windfall am thinking of having a PC after years of using laptops and could do with some advice. The spec below was thrown together just to have a starting point to work on.
Uses will be audio and video work, plus GIMP and publishing software for newsletters etc, there will also be some gaming, have only just started looking at games but now Steam is getting more and more Linux compatible games it is worth using, that is the reason for a decent GPU. Will also have a lot of VMs running at times, hence the 32GB RAM.

Desk tops are a fairly unknown area to me so things like cases, fans, mobos etc are well outside my comfort zone, so advice would be appreciated. It will need very good cooling case but do not want to go down the liquid route, will be converting my Bluray to high res Matroska files and that produces a lot of heat, the case chosen looks OK but is expensive and other options would be good, although would prefer onboard Bluray to a USB drive. The mobo I know little about, so again advice handy, it will need to have Wifi, not checked if this has. The 10TB of HDDs is needed, I have back up HDDs all over the place and it will be nice to have everything in one place as well as my back ups. I am aware I forget to change to warranty to something better.

The budget is fairly flexible but do not really want to go over 3k and the cheaper the better, screen and mouse will come from separate budget. Any thoughts on this build plus decent monitors appreciated, as well as multiple VMs I will often be working with several windows open and having four or five easily on view would be nice, refresh rate and stuff like that not a worry, my minimal gaming is not that serious (yet?)

Case
CORSAIR GRAPHITE SERIES™ 780T FULL TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 Eight Core Processor i9-9900K (3.6GHz) 16MB Cache
FREE Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 & More w/ select Intel CPUs!
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z370-P II: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Hard Disk
5TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 128MB CACHE
2nd Hard Disk
5TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 128MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 2700MB/W)
FREE Assassin's Creed: Odyssey with select SAMSUNG NVMe SSDs!
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
16x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW & SOFTWARE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W 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
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB 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 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 £2,812.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-pc/zkmMKUv68t/

 

[Oussebon]

It's less the case cooling you need to worry about as much as the CPU cooling, since the 9900k has the potential to set Satan on fire. I wouldn't recommend buying it with any less than the H115 cooler tbh. It's also super expensive.

One tip - currently it's almost £50 cheaper if you buy it pre-overclocked. You'll probably wanna take the overclock off once you get the system, but it's £50 you can spend on stuff like the cooler: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-overclocked/wwAq5tRA33/
(See here for price comparisons: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/foru...e-lake-refresh&p=424800&viewfull=1#post424800)

You probably know that for some uses, the 9900k won't give much of a return on its massive price versus an AMD R7 2700x.

I've not read it (you may well have) but here is the Phoronix review:
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=intel-core-9900k-linux&num=9

If you're happy that it gives you meaningful extra performance for your uses, and as long as you're aware of the need for serious cooling, then obviously your call on whether it's worth it.

Wireless/Wired NetworkingWIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD

Do you need this? If not, drop it, help airflow.

MotherboardASUS® PRIME Z370-P II: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs

I'd suggest the AORUS Pro. It has features like USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type C, optical audio out, bit better onboard sound, and importantly it seems to have very good VRM cooling, which I'd consider fairly high on the priority list for the 9900k.

Graphics Card8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!

This is really expensive. It's like £800 for GTX 1080 ti performance in modern games. You could get the system without a GPU and plug in your own.

What monitor are you gaming on? Could be even a 1080 ti / RTX 2080 is overkill. RTX 2070 may be a better buy.



For a build of this budget I'd suggest the RM850x PSU as it's even better quality.

e.g.

Case
CORSAIR GRAPHITE SERIES™ 780T FULL TOWER CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™ i9-9900K Eight Core (3.60GHz @ up to 4.9GHz)
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO: ATX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
5TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 128MB CACHE
2[SUP]nd[/SUP] Hard Disk
5TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 128MB CACHE
1[SUP]st[/SUP] M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 2700MB/W)
---FREE Assassin's Creed: Odyssey with select SAMSUNG NVMe SSDs!
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
16x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW & SOFTWARE
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
Corsair H115i PRO Hydro Series High 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
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB 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
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 £2,928.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-overclocked/8U6bZbS4m2/

Subject to GPU, and wifi card.
And you may want to un-overclock it when it reaches you. Depending on thermals / whether you're trying to burn your house down for insurance purposes, etc.

 

[Stephen M]

Cheers, looks a better build, I will need Wireless internet but that may be on the mobo, need to check. The purchase is not until end of this month or early December so time to think things over. I had thought about a Ryzen but after years of watching AMD stagnate have got used to Intel and still not over trustworthy of AMD, despite many good reviews. Certainly will have to rethink the CPU as H.265 conversion gets the 17 in my Octane boiling.

Not decided on a monitor yet, that is something I like to see properly so will look round a few stores to see what is about.

Who dreamed up the i9 pre-overclock price drop, the PCS Arsonist?

 

[Oussebon]

The CPU ought to be fine with the H115 cooler, just be careful with the OC and watch temps when doing anything that involves AVX instructions especially or CPU load in general. At stock it ought to be fine. Probably.

The real question is whether it's worth the cost versus an R7 2700x when you take into account the expensive cooling, motherboards, and cases, which is up to you as it's your money so your choice as to what bang you're expecting for your buck.

Cheers, looks a better build, I will need Wireless internet but that may be on the mobo, need to check.

It isn't in almost all cases. The Z390-E motherboard does have fast wifi and BT 5.0 built in though. Couldn't find reviews setting out how the VRM was coping but it looks like it should be fine and the motherboard has a fan for some active cooling.

Not decided on a monitor yet, that is something I like to see properly so will look round a few stores to see what is about.

What sort of price range for the monitor? The price more or less gives away the spec you'd end up with.

Who dreamed up the i9 pre-overclock price drop, the PCS Arsonist?

Lol - perhaps they've taken advice from Tiny Tina:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHMOPbvMvyk

 

[Stephen M]

The Z390-E looks OK, so will probably go with that. As gaming is a new thing for me and will not have a lot of time for it am not going to throw money at a GPU, so the most expensive I will consider now is the 1070ti, especially after reading comments about it. First and foremost I need a machine for running VMs and having several windows open for work, which includes audio, video and general publishing stuff with GIMP, Scribus etc and I cannot see any of them needing that much in the way of a GPU, so max even hold off and add a better GPU later if I can get by with integrated graphics or a very cheap card - no point buying a GPU just to ditch it and waste money on an upgrade. Any thoughts here appreciated.

No real idea about budget for a monitor, if something is good and meets my needs am happy to pay quite a few hundred. Need to measure my desk and office area to see what will fit (My Samsung 65" TV definitely wont ) but something large enough to have several windows/VMs open that can easily be worked on.

Loved the game clip, just got me in the right frame of mind for the five plus hour train trip I am making to Scotland later on.

 

[Oussebon]

In terms of £ vs spec for monitors, very, very roughly:
sub £200 - 1080p 60hz. 24"-27"
~£200-400 - 1080p 144hz / 1440p 60hz or 75hz - 144hz at the upper end / 4k 60hz. 24-27-32"
£400+ is 1440p 144hz / 4k 60hz with variable refresh rate technologies.

The GPU that's the best fit will depend a bit on your software an uses. e.g. Premiere Pro prefers a GTX 1060 to an RX 580 I believe, but I guess you're not using that because Linux.

For general and cheaper gaming than a GTX 1070, the RX 580 is a good choice, as it will run modern games high-ultra at 1080p (in Windows anyway) and supports Freesync which you're more likely to find on monitors in the £450 or less range. I'm not sure what PCS's prices are for the RX 580 but in general on the shelves it can be had for little more than £200 in some places with a trio of free games.

 

[Stephen M]

Thanks again, nothing decided yet but I do like Samsung screens and will want a monitor i can enjoy Blurays on as as well as using it for work, so something like this is likely: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-LU...&sr=1-4&keywords=computer+monitors+4k+32+inch

 

[Stephen M]

Getting near to ordering as would like it by Christmas, this is Oussebon's spec with a few change, would appreciate any thoughts on it.

Case
CORSAIR GRAPHITE SERIES™ 780T FULL TOWER CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™ i9-9900K Eight Core (3.60GHz @ up to 4.9GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX Z390-E GAMING: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs, WIFI - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1070 Ti - DVI, HDMI, 3 x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Hard Disk
5TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 128MB CACHE
2nd Hard Disk
5TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 128MB CACHE
3rd Hard Disk
5TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 128MB CACHE
4th Hard Disk
1TB Samsung 860 EVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
FREE Assassin's Creed: Odyssey with select SAMSUNG SSDs!
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 2700MB/W)
FREE Assassin's Creed: Odyssey with select SAMSUNG NVMe SSDs!
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
16x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW & SOFTWARE
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
Corsair H115i PRO Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
LED Lighting
50cm UV LED Strip
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 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 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price £2,985.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-overclocked/V!yaEhBpGj/

I decided on the 1070ti as it is a decent gaming GPU and will be more than enough for other needs, video editing, high res picture editing, a bit of 3d modelling.

The extra storage is after working out how much space i was already using - I double back up everything and this way can have all my files on the PC plus backed up as well.

Have been offered a deal on this monitor: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-BD...d=1542290970&sr=1-10&keywords=40+inch+monitor

 

[Oussebon]

The spec seems solid.

I would check how exactly PCS do the overclock. The CPU's stock speeds apparently see it go to 5.0GHz on upto 2 cores under lightly threaded workloads, so if PCS were to apply a flat 4.9GHz across all 8 cores then that could see you lose a smidge of performance in some scenarios.

Another, related, question would be what PCS's approach to the BIOS settings for 'multicore enhancement' or similar features: https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3389-intel-tdp-investigation-9900k-violating-turbo-duration-z390 My guess would be that they leave the Asus mobo options at factory settings and don't disable MCE, so at stock the CPU is already kind-of overclocked courtesy of the motherboard. But an actual overclock upto 4.9GHz and which also ignores TDP by running it out of spec would still give more performance with this generation of MCE (unlike some previous iterations which I think just boosted all cores up to the single-core turbo be default?). So that's only a consideration if you don't go OCed.

Still worth asking if the OC is done in such a way that 2 cores still can boost upto 5GHz though. This might be a bit nit-picky but if I were spending £3k, I'd pick every nit I could find.

GTX 1070 ti is fair value. It could handle gaming at 4k on reduced settings, or run very high settings if playing at 1080p.

The 780T is a very large case. It's also a bit old, which doesn't mean it's a poor performer, but does mean that there are newer options maybe with more modern features e.g. a USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type C connector at the front (which the Z390-E can connect to).

 

[Stephen M]

Thanks, I will email or call PCS depending on what time I have. I looked at a few other cases but they did not house Blu Ray players and although not a major thing would prefer one in the case to avoid having too much stuff on the desk.

 

[Oussebon]

The Corsair 540 Air is a little less 'beast' if you don't mind the borg cube aesthetic. It has excellent cooling. But yeah, nothing seems to offer both 5.25" bays and more modern features like USB C. I think there's a version of the Fractal R6 that does but it's not the one PCS sell.

 

[Stephen M]

The spec seems solid.

I would check how exactly PCS do the overclock. The CPU's stock speeds apparently see it go to 5.0GHz on upto 2 cores under lightly threaded workloads, so if PCS were to apply a flat 4.9GHz across all 8 cores then that could see you lose a smidge of performance in some scenarios.

Still worth asking if the OC is done in such a way that 2 cores still can boost upto 5GHz though. This might be a bit nit-picky but if I were spending £3k, I'd pick every nit I could find.

Had an email back from PCS and it is a heat issue, they overclock to 4.9GHz normally, although will go to 5GHz on their liquid cooled series.

Now, who would have thought heat would be an issue with the 19-9900K

 

[Oussebon]

So if they fix the multiplier to 4.9GHz your more lightly threaded workloads would lose 100MHz. Which is probably not the end of the world versus 8 x 200MHz (4.7GHz 8-core boost I think) multithreaded workload gains - plus disregarding turbo boost time limit TDP considerations.

Not one for back of the napkin maths there...

I guess the OC's only a tenner and you can always disable it if it's no good...

 

[jerpers]

But yeah, nothing seems to offer both 5.25" bays and more modern features like USB C. I think there's a version of the Fractal R6 that does but it's not the one PCS sell.

I have been looking at the R6 for my next build. The USB C is a separate module that can be purchased and installed.

https://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/accessories/connect-d1

They have only just started selling it as complete package. With PCS now willing to buy in components (Corsair H150 for another persons build) They may well be able to get the module in for you.

 

[Oussebon]

Great spot

 

[Stephen M]

Six working days and already in testing, this is the quickest so far of any of my PCS machines. Not even had time to become impatient yet as busy with a couple of OU assignments, just hope nothing goes wrong now.