System spec please

[Burnsy2023]

I’m after a new system to replace my faithful workhorse of a machine that has lasted many years.

The main thing I want is reliability; I need something that just works day in day out. I haven’t really had the time to do much gaming over the last few years, but I like the idea of having a machine that could give it a good go.

Budget it £2-£3k. If there’s anything prebuilt that comes close, then that would save effort and time.

CPU – Whatever is good value for money given the budget. I’ve never regretted investing in this though.

CPU Cooler – I’ve always like closed loop watercooling, they seem to last well

Motherboard – Needs to include a WIFI NIC and wired ethernet and latest TPM. Lots of USB, ideally at least 6 x USB A ports minimum.

GPU – I currently have 2 4k displays, but ideally something that could cope with 4x 4K displays for general office duties and occasional gaming (not necessarily at 4k). I’m unsure how much to invest here, so something that is good value is probably the best bet

Memory – 64GB

SSD – Probably something around 2TB

HDD – Another 2TB for archiving photos etc

PSU – Something decent quality

Case – The more boring the better. Ideally no lights, just an anonymous box with accessible USB ports. Quiet is nice.

Case Fans – Do I need any? Do I need additional cooling for anything else?

Win 11 Pro License

 

[Tetras]

GPU – I currently have 2 4k displays, but ideally something that could cope with 4x 4K displays for general office duties and occasional gaming (not necessarily at 4k). I’m unsure how much to invest here, so something that is good value is probably the best bet

I'd advise double checking whatever card you buy can actually support that, since even if you have 4x 4K capable ports, they're not usually independent (shared bandwidth).

This is what nvidia say for the 5060 Ti, in the notes section, so hopefully it would work:

- Multi Monitor:

• 4 independent displays at 4K 165Hz using DP or HDMI
• 2 independent displays at 4K 360Hz or 8K 100Hz with DSC using DP or HDMI
• Other display configurations may be possible based on available bandwidth

Memory – 64GB

DDR5 has very recently gone up in price, so you might want to shop around and consider 96GB kits too, if the price is good.

CPU Cooler – I’ve always like closed loop watercooling, they seem to last well

I've included a highly rated AIO with a long warranty, but I couldn't spec custom watercooling.

Motherboard – Needs to include a WIFI NIC and wired ethernet and latest TPM. Lots of USB, ideally at least 6 x USB A ports minimum.

TPM is provided by the CPU/platform on the latest AMD/Intel CPUs, so you don't normally need a hardware TPM on the board. Is this a definite requirement?

What speed does the ethernet and the USB ports need to be?

GPU – I currently have 2 4k displays, but ideally something that could cope with 4x 4K displays for general office duties and occasional gaming (not necessarily at 4k). I’m unsure how much to invest here, so something that is good value is probably the best bet

The minimum I'd look at is a 9060 XT 16GB (ruled out because only 3 display outputs) or 5060 Ti 16GB. They can do 1440p or 4K/60 no problem, though they do work better with upscaling at higher resolutions.

A 9070 is a stronger card and more what I'd aim for if you're thinking of gaming at 4K.

OCUK have a 9070 XT (Sapphire Pulse) on limited offer at £555, which is a good price.

One thing I'd mention is that multi monitor usage can increase power consumption, due to the memory clocks bumping up and they don't all play nice (e.g. getting displays disconnected, black screens, etc). I don't know if nvidia or AMD's current cards are better at that right now. If you don't game on all of the displays, one option (if you don't like the idle multimonitor power usage) is to use the integrated graphics for some or all of the non-primary displays.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x OcUK Gaming Z87 Bundle - Intel Ultra 7 265K - MSI Z890 (SKU: PRO-INT-05764) = £449.99
• 1 x TeamGroup Vulcan 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-51200C40 6400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (SKU: MEM-TMG-03146) = £209.99
• 1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 5060 Ti Twin Edge 16GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-04916) = £399.94
• 1 x Crucial T500 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-01090) = £131.99
• 1 x Gigabyte Aorus 7300 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-GIG-05732) = £119.99
• 1 x Lian Li Lancool 216 Mid-tower PC case - Black (SKU: CA-7BG-LL) = £85.99
• 1 x Antec HCG 850 Pro Platinum 850W ATX3.1 Full modular Power Supply (SKU: POW-ATC-02745) = £159.95
• 1 x Arctic Liquid Freezer III PRO High Performance All In One CPU Cooler - 360mm (SKU: COO-ARC-04932) = £84.95

Total: £1,654.78 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

 

[Burnsy2023]

Thanks for the reply, I appricate your advice

• The 5060Ti seems good, but I'm not looking to game on all 4 monitors, 2 is enough due to my layout. It's just having enough ports for productivity and software dev. I don't know how much that changes your suggestions.
• I'll have a look at 96GB kits, are there any that you'd recommend?
• Looking into it a bit more, TPM on the MB isn't required
• NIC speed only needs to be 1Gb, nothing fancy
• If I were to invest a bit more in the CPU, what would you suggest?

 

[Tetras]

The 5060Ti seems good, but I'm not looking to game on all 4 monitors, 2 is enough due to my layout. It's just having enough ports for productivity and software dev. I don't know how much that changes your suggestions.

I think the motherboard has 1x HDMI and 1x DP, so if you find there are power consumption or flickering/disconnecting issues, you could connect just the 2x to the graphics card and 2x to the integrated. It is hard to recommend the 5070 because of the 12GB of VRAM, but you could go up to a 5070 Ti. If the Supers come out soon with a lot more VRAM then the 5070 Super (with 18GB) would be a good option for casual gaming up to 4K, if the price is right.

I'll have a look at 96GB kits, are there any that you'd recommend?

If reliability is the most important, I'd probably just try and get a JEDEC kit, which most of the Crucial ones are. Ultimately though, with the price shooting up, anything that looks like a good deal (or predates the increases) is an option. These CPUs do work with very fast memory, but considering you're only looking at some gaming, I wouldn't bother paying a premium for high speed memory.

If I were to invest a bit more in the CPU, what would you suggest?

I wouldn't recommend the 285K, because the price increase doesn't justify it. The main difference is that the 285K has 4 extra E-cores (8P & 16E, versus 8P & 12E). Potentially, your budget is big enough to go HEDT (like a threadripper), but your usage doesn't sound that serious? Maybe better to invest in more storage (like a 4TB drive) or a motherboard with more/higher spec USB ports? A 5070 Ti would be a big upgrade on the 5060 Ti 16GB too.

 

[Quartz]

Lots of USB, ideally at least 6 x USB A ports minimum.

Why not just get a USB hub? I used to be a big fan of onboard USB but hubs make changing things vastly easier and reduce wear on the motherboard.

GPU – I currently have 2 4k displays, but ideally something that could cope with 4x 4K displays for general office duties and occasional gaming (not necessarily at 4k).

Remember that many CPUs have an iGPU so you could run a display or two off that. Failing that the GT710 is available in x1 format.

Memory – 64GB

If you're going AMD then some motherboards can now take 64 GB DIMMs for 128 or 256 GB total.

HDD – Another 2TB for archiving photos etc

Do yourself a favour and make this a SSD.