Suggestions on improvements

[PaulTaylor919]

Hi,
My current PC Specialist PC is spec'd as follows.... It's working fine and my daughter will inherit it when I've bought a replacement that is more suited to my needs......
I made the fatal mistake of too small a solid state main drive and need to up the RAM as I'm now doing a lot more Photoshop and Lightroom work. I've got a budget of around £1000 inc VAT..... How do I best spend my money ?

Case	Antec VSK-4000B BLACK CASE
Processor (CPU)	AMD Ryzen 5 3500X Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.1GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard	ASUS® PRIME A320M-K: Micro-ATX, AM4, USB 3.0, 6GB/s
Memory (RAM)	8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card	4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1050 Ti - DVI, HDMI, DP
1st Storage Drive	256GB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (500MB/R, 400MB/W)
2nd Storage Drive	1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive	24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply	CORSAIR 350W VS SERIES™ VS-350 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable	1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling	STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
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 (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Network Card	WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB/Thunderbolt Options	MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System	Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language	United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media	Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account

It's

 

[sck451]

I think, @JustARandomPerson, @PaulTaylor919 is talking about spending £1k on a whole new system, not on upgrades.

Here's the best I can manage for "around £1000". It's fairly weak in the graphics department: another £100 or so would make a huge difference because you could go for the much superior AMD Radeon 6600 rather than the old, weak 1650.

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600 Six Core CPU (3.5GHz-4.4GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1650 - HDMI
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW)
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
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
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
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 [KUK-00003]
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
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 7 working days
Price: £1,073.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/P7e6K6rMGh/

 

[Aza]

I would suggest scraping the original system and then taking the windows licence and SSD drive.
You can use the 250GB SSD as a scratch drive for your work and drop the windows licence from the above spec freeing up about £120 which would allow you to go for the 6600 GPU.

Its still not going to be a great machine, a video editing build on approx £1000 is going to be limited.
Any additon budget you can throw at it I would look at maybe stepping up the RAM to 32GB

 

[SpyderTracks]

I would suggest scraping the original system and then taking the windows licence and SSD drive.
You can use the 250GB SSD as a scratch drive for your work and drop the windows licence from the above spec freeing up about £120 which would allow you to go for the 6600 GPU.

Its still not going to be a great machine, a video editing build on approx £1000 is going to be limited.
Any additon budget you can throw at it I would look at maybe stepping up the RAM to 32GB

OP already said it's going to his daughter so will need the license and the drives.

 

[Aza]

OP already said it's going to his daughter so will need the license and the drives.

I know.... but the original system is (if im being brutally honest) a trash spec that you'd throwaway after a couple of years.
The licence is the only thing of any value really left in the build, and the SSD is not a good idea as a OS drive...but would be of use as a minor scratch drivce.

Trying to build a video editing machine on £1K is also a -very- tight ask... and will mean replacing it again in a few years time, this is possibly the most expensive way there is of doing it rather than a solid initial investment and then having a machine that will go 10 years with a few (much cheaper) upgrades. I know it meant sacrificing one machine here but at least the end product would have a reasonable performance/be better geared for its use.

Ideally the budget would be another £500 and something could be spec'd that was actually focused on editing properly.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I know.... but the original system is (if im being brutally honest) a trash spec that you'd throwaway after a couple of years.
The licence is the only thing of any value really left in teh build, and the DSSD is not a good idea as a OS drive...but would be of use as a minor scratch drivce.

Trying to build a video editing machine on £1K is also a -very- tight ask... and will mean replacing it again in a few years time, this is possibly the most expensive way there is of doing it rather than a solid initial investment and then having a machine that will go 10 years with a few (much cheaper) upgrades. I know it meant sacrificing one machine here but at least the end product would have a reasonable performance/be better geared for its use.

Ideally the budget would be another £500 and something could be spec'd that was actually focused on editing properly.

I agree, the budget isn't there to build something suitable, it's just not possible.

@PaulTaylor919 it's just not possible to build something suitable for 1k for the uses you require, prices are still sky high for most components. You'd be looking nearere £1200 for a basic spec

 

[sck451]

I would suggest scraping the original system and then taking the windows licence and SSD drive.
You can use the 250GB SSD as a scratch drive for your work and drop the windows licence from the above spec freeing up about £120 which would allow you to go for the 6600 GPU.

Its still not going to be a great machine, a video editing build on approx £1000 is going to be limited.
Any additon budget you can throw at it I would look at maybe stepping up the RAM to 32GB

OP makes no mention of video editing, only of Photoshop and Lightroom.

 

[Aza]

OP makes no mention of video editing, only of Photoshop and Lightroom.

I understand, but where he has said he is doing a lot more photoshop/lightroom, i've read that as it being a main use/need for the system

 

[PaulTaylor919]

Thanks for the feedback and answers....
Shame some of you think my current set-up is only fit for the skip.... It does everything I want and as I don't intend doing any video editing and am only a beginner starting to edit the odd photo I don't think I need an incredibly sophisticated graphics package....
As I said in my original post, I regret not getting a bigger SSD as my primary drive and could do with more and maybe faster RAM if I were to buy a new system.
It's a shame @JustARandomPerson deleted his post as his suggestions were very valid and got me thinking.....
If I install an M.2 SSD onto my current motherboard and clone my current SSD onto it, is a good enough drive to run my operating system and programs ?.... As @JustARandomPerson said I can easily buy new RAM and get my machine to a reasonable spec (for me) for a fraction of the cost of a new PC.

 

[sck451]

I fully agree with the idea of a RAM and SSD upgrade. It would transform that system.

I think we ought to apologise to your daughter, though, if she turns out not to be getting the old system...

 

[Aza]

Sorry about that...I have a habit of removing posts if I am told I am wrong or I have misunderstood something.

I would just look in the upgrade section of your account and see what options are listed for RAM and M.2 SSDs.....there should be an option for 16GB of 3200MHz RAM (I believe that is the highest frequency your motherboard will allow). M.2 SSD options should be a few to select...the Intel 670p would be around what I'd get as anything higher level may not benefit from the extra speeds due to your motherboard (not 100% sure on what speeds it will support)

You can then either order the upgrades from PCS and they will send them to you or you can source them from elsewhere if they can be found cheaper (though PCS are pretty good on pricing). PCS do have an option to send the machine back for them to upgrade for you but swapping out RAM is easy and fitting an M.2 drive is straightforward too. We can always help you through the process

Im reasonably sure it will support gen 3, the motherboard rings a bell (partners desktop) and I remember sticking a 500GB samsung 970 in it.
My concern with upgrading it is the current PSU being 350W.... its going to severely restrict upgrading the GPU (if at all) and swapping it out is going to be a handful unless the OP has experience with it.

I didnt mean to offend with the comment of it being a throwaway system, I dont dispute it will work, but its been put together in a way that its not expected to be upgraded and would be out of date/getting slow within a few years. Cheap (although they arent cheap, i'm talking in relative terms) builds arent meant for use for as long as a properly spec'd custom build but are ironically the most expensive way of doing it longterm.

 

[PaulTaylor919]

Thank you @JustARandomPerson......
New M.2 SSD and RAM installed, Original C drive cloned and boot priority changed..... Couldn't have been easier.... Hardest thing was finding a bolt with a small enough thread to secure the M.2 drive in place !

 

[Aza]

Thank you @JustARandomPerson......
New M.2 SSD and RAM installed, Original C drive cloned and boot priority changed..... Couldn't have been easier.... Hardest thing was finding a bolt with a small enough thread to secure the M.2 drive in place !

Thats a bit odd... fixing screw should of come with the board, did you check your welcome pack to see what was in the spares?