New Build Advice

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Hey Chaps

So, I want to build a new machine - I've been a long time laptop user but it spends all of its life on a dock, and I want something with more grunt and less noise, but will get more for my money by going down the desktop route, I guess.

I'm a developer and I don't really game (casual gaming might be nice), so I just need a lot of RAM (probably 32GB), and top CPU. I do need to support a 4K display, though.

What I'm unsure of is, if I go the AMD 2700x route, I'll need a discrete GPU, something decent enough to run 4K. If I went with an Intel chip, maybe the 9700k or 9900k, I can get on-board graphics (I think), which should sufficiently run my display (again, I think). So with Intel, I could spend more on the CPU because I'd have the on-board GPU, and would save money. Although, I'd have the option to add a GPU at some point in the future, if required.

Anyone got any thoughts on the best route? Any advice for me?

Any help would be appreciated. :)
 
Soldato
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Right, I've gone with something a little more extreme than normal which will give you much better options in future, and kept it in budget. The graphics card is a place holder and you could replace that for something that costs £50 instead of £160.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,229.52 (includes shipping: £12.60)


If you wanted more cores/threads you can still buy the 1920X for about £370 (only £80 more) which is 12c/24t CPU, and as the TR4 socket has at least two more iterations to come, dropping in a 32c CPU in 2020 would not be impossible, and it can take up to 128GB of RAM. :)

EDIT: Case is also a place holder.
 
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Cheers mate, appreciate you putting that together.

Hardware really isn't my thing, so I'm going to ask a really dumb question - what is the benefit of that particular motherboard over some of the AM4 ones that I've seen around the 150 quid mark (obviously paired with a Ryzen chip)?
 
Soldato
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Cheers mate, appreciate you putting that together.

Hardware really isn't my thing, so I'm going to ask a really dumb question - what is the benefit of that particular motherboard over some of the AM4 ones that I've seen around the 150 quid mark (obviously paired with a Ryzen chip)?

Threadripper on the TR4 platform is equivalent to the Xeon/HEDT Skylake-X CPU's from Intel, so the motherboards are more expensive for many reasons. You get quad channel RAM, 64 PCI-E lanes, and the option to install CPU's from 8-32 cores presently, and increasing in future, also the 128GB RAM support as previously mentioned. Due to the extra complexities the boards are therefore more expensive, but worth while if you would be keeping the system for a significant amount of time.

The other option as you mentioned would be buying a Ryzen 2700X on an AM4 board for about £150, they too have a decent upgrade path and I'd hope to see at least 12-16 core CPU's available for them by 2020, in this instance the saving would be around £130, over the Threadripper option, but like I said, I'd be looking at the TR 1920X CPU which can be found for £370, which is 50% of a 2700X again being 12 cores with SMT so 24 threads.

If you use the platform for a hobby, maybe sticking with the AM4 platform is your best bet, if you use it for work/earning money I'd go with the TR4 system personally.
 
Soldato
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That mother board isn't going to fit in that case as it supports atx not e-atx.

As a developer what software are you using, as dependent on that you may need more threads or more single thread performance to get the most bang for your buck.
 
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To be honest, I don't foresee my requirements going that far beyond what they are now. The 2700X with a good chunk of RAM would see me right for a pretty long time, and should be more than enough for me to do a bit of work on. Looking at the TR4 boards, and the 1920X, they're all out of stock or pre-orders - and I might actually pop over to OC at some point today. I don't think that it's meant to be. :p

Saying that though, the more I look into the 1920X, the more appealing it is. And you make a very good case for going that route. So I'm kinda in two minds now. I may take some more time to do a bit more research.

As a developer what software are you using, as dependent on that you may need more threads or more single thread performance to get the most bang for your buck.

I work on distributed systems, in Linux. Main thing for me is having a decent amount of resource for spinning up VMs for testing.

What monitor do you have op?

I've got a 43" inch 4k Acer display. I normally work on a couple of vertical screens at work, so I wanted a single screen that gave me the same space, but without having 2 displays - it's nice to use a single terminal with multiple splits in vim and tmux, without bezels. It works rather well.
 
Soldato
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To be honest, I don't foresee my requirements going that far beyond what they are now. The 2700X with a good chunk of RAM would see me right for a pretty long time, and should be more than enough for me to do a bit of work on. Looking at the TR4 boards, and the 1920X, they're all out of stock or pre-orders - and I might actually pop over to OC at some point today. I don't think that it's meant to be. :p

Saying that though, the more I look into the 1920X, the more appealing it is. And you make a very good case for going that route. So I'm kinda in two minds now. I may take some more time to do a bit more research.

Well if you are buying today, and only have OCUK to chose from then your options are somewhat limited.

I would heed your gut feeling and do some further research, then make the right decision rather than a hasty one and end up with something you'll be doubting. :)
 
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