Rendering Desktop PC Budget £700?

[steve.r]

Hello everyone, I recently created a thread for a rendering desktop PC and my budget was quite high. But I am going through some financial problems and my budget has decreased.

Is it possible to build/purchase a desktop rendering PC for around £700?

I want a desktop PC that will allow me to upgrade parts in the near future.

I really hope someone can help me out.

Many thanks

Steve

 

[mantadog]

From your previous post I see you had a budget of up to £2k, bringing that down to £700 is a fair jump. Here is what I would call a bare bones system that you can upgrade as and when the funds become available.

Case
InWIN MANA-136 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4770 (3.4GHz) 8MB Cache I would spend the money here in order to give you the best base to add on to in the future
Motherboard
ASUS® Z87-K: ATX, USB2.0, USB3.0, SATA6GB/S, XFIRE decent board that will allow the addition of a GPU later
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB) Start with 8GB, add 8GB more later
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU) Add a dedicated card if you still want to run multiple monitors but will be fine running off integrated for starters.
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm) Decent HDD, will work fine for you needs, a SSD would be nice in the future but no way to afford it on a £700 budget
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY Plenty of spare power for a dedicated card
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 2 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
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 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £747.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-haswell-pc/C7uMkemEJk/

The above rig will work fine for rendering and has loads of upgraded potential in the future. I see I helped you out last time, shame you cant get that kind of rig now it would have been a beast. not to worry as I think the above will suit you fine for starters with plenty of room to upgrade later.

 

[steve.r]

Hey mantadog how are you doing bud? I really appreciate your help and I seriously mean it bud.
Thanks for your specs. Yes £700 is a huge jump from £2000.

My current desktop PC has 8GB RAM and it runs ok, just the CPU can make everything slow. I don't know much about computer's bud.
Is the CPU at it's best for the budget bud?

Thanks

 

[mantadog]

The CPU is just about the best one available at the moment, certainly the best value for money on a project like yours. The idea behind my spec above was to enable you to have a very steady base to add to in the future when more funds become available. Changing out a CPU is really quite easy, but the bother and extra cost of buying a better CPU make it pointless. So as I said it's a good base for any additions later, be it a dedicated GPU for multiple monitors, more RAM or a SSD for the OS it has plenty of potential for upgrades.

What kind of CPU are you running at the moment? if you know what CPU you are currently using I will be able to give you a better idea of how much faster the i7 will be.

 

[steve.r]

Thanks fantastic bud just what I have been looking for. Upgrades in the future will be vital as I intend to use multiple monitors etc.
Also, if I was to change the CASE would that be a problem in the future bud?

My current CPU bud:- Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 @ 2.66GHz, Conroe 65nm Technology

Hope this helps.

Thanks

 

[mantadog]

Changing the case to what exactly? It will be a problem if it is cheaper, but if you like the specific look of a slightly more expensive case then by all means go for it. You could get away with the £39 case as by the looks of the pictures it has 3 fans in it. The reason the cheaper cases are not ideal is mostly to do with cooling the hardware, plus a little bit to do with how much physical space you have inside the case. When you are video editing you will be pushing the system hard and that generates heat that must be exhausted or you end up with an increase in noise as the internal fans spin up to cool the hardware. So if it is a cheaper case you have your eye on I would say it is not worth the sacrifice, but by all means go for something a bit more upmarket.

The raw performance of the i7 vs your old CPU is about 6 x faster so you will notice a huge speed jump with CPU intensive applications.

 

[steve.r]

Perhaps upgrading to one of the following bud:- The Coolermaster HAF-X Gaming Case or COOLERMASTER CM STORM TROOPER - GAMING ENTHUSIAST CASE

Damn that's awesome bud! Just what I wanted, damn. Finally I can edit large video files without having to worry about the CPU.

Would it be a problem if I was to upgrade the case in the future with a better one as the two noted above bud?

Thanks

 

[vanthus]

Would it be a problem if I was to upgrade the case in the future with a better one as the two noted above bud?Thanks

It can be quite a hassle changing the case and potentially things could go wrong especially if your not all that experienced.
If you want a better case I think your best bet would be to go for one now around the £80 mark,something like the COOLERMASTER CM STORM ENFORCER If you can manage the extra £30 pounds or so.
It would be far more cost effective in the long run and save you a lot of hassle.

 

[steve.r]

Hey vanthus thanks for your response appreciate your help very much bud, I was wondering the same. It's best off to purchase a CASE that I will be happy with for a long period time.
As changing the CASE in the future can be a problem, especially when I don;t know much about PCs.
What if I was to say I am able to add an extra let's say £50 would that give me a better CASE for the future?

Thanks guy's.

steve

 

[vanthus]

What if I was to say I am able to add an extra let's say £50 would that give me a better CASE for the future?

Well,that would take you to about £100 for the case,so any around that price that takes your fancy really,would be fine.
To be honest.I think for your needs one around the £80 mark would be just as good.The case is really down to your own preference when it gets into that price bracket.

 

[steve.r]

As the PC will be used mainly for rendering do I need to purchase a certain CASE to control the fan speed etc?
There will be alot of heat generated so ideally I would want a CASE that perhaps has the ability to adjust the fan speed bud?

Or don't I need to worry as the Specs provided already has a fan or some sort to keep everything cool?

Thanks

steve

 

[vanthus]

The Inwin Mana-136 has 1 x rear 120mm case fan and 1 x front 120mm case fan.
If you don't think that will be enough there is an option to select extra case fans and/or a fan controller,but you would probably need to upgrade from the Inwin mana-136 case for these to fit.
Probably something around the £65 mark would be ok if you want those extra features.
you would need to have a play around on the configurator to check for compatibility.

 

[mantadog]

I think any case will be fine for you in the £50 region to be honest. I run the coolermaster elite 310, which is a cheap case with 1 exhaust fan. Even when gaming the temps are more than acceptable. That's with a GPU that exhausts into the case as well, not a blower design that throws it out the back of the case. I think in your case, even when rendering, 2 cooling fans will be ample and as vanthus said you can easily select an additional fan in the configurator for a little extra cooling if you wish.

Do you need a fan controller? The motherboard has room for 2 case fans to be connected directly to the motherboard allowing it to regulate the fan speed. You can change the way the motherboard ramps up the fans to keep the system cool much like you can with a fan controller except the motherboard controls everything. Any additional fans you add to your order would not be supported by the motherboard and would run at 100% all the time.

Is your concern about noise or temps? If it's temps then you don't have to worry, but if it's noise then you do have to be careful of having too many fans just as well as not enough.

 

[steve.r]

Hey guy's, my main concern is about the temperature. Rndering does create alot of heat expecially when you are working with large files (1080p) so in my case I would be mostly creating 1080p videos. So I think it would be a good idea to have a CASE that is able to have enough fans before purchase or I am able to upgrade in the near future. I prefer having a CASE that already has the maximum nuber of fans already installed, as I have little knowledge. I do have a friend who knows his stuff when it comes to desktop PCs but thats a different story.

In regards with the motherboard. I think I should have one that will allow me to have as many fans as possible. I rather spend that "little" or "extra" to have a motherboard that is able to have maximum number of fans.
I prefer to have a Fan Controller. As it will allow me to control the speed of air as well as direction etc.

Thanks

steve

 

[vanthus]

As I said above to have the option of a fan controller and extra case fans you would need to select a case at least around £65,like the COOLERMASTER HAF 912 Plus.

 

[mantadog]

I have posted this a few times recently but I keep feeling the need to bring it up, so I will again.

I am running the equivalent of the elite 311 ie a pretty rubbishy case, due to budget restrictions when I was forced into getting a new PC I had no other option. I too was a little worried about heat, but it turns out the 1 exhaust fan keeps everything running remarkably well even when i'm gaming and the GPU is pumping out heat too. The only down side I can see is that with better airflow I would have a quieter system because the GPU and CPU fans would not have to spin up so much. Because you are running just the CPU when rendering, I am sure 2 chassis fans will be more than enough, if you are not worried about noise then set the fan profiles to aggressively cool the system.