Advice on parts for a new build

[KBall18]

I came here 2 years ago for advice on a new pc but I ended up not getting one.

My storage drives are starting to fail and it's generally too slow (11 years old!) to put up with much longer. So I plan to finally buy a new one towards the end of the year. I know the tech and availability of products will change by then, but I'd still like advice on the type of parts for it.

Main uses will be photo editing & some video editing. Games are not important to me but I may pick a few up at some point.

I haven't fully decided if I want a 4K monitor or a 38" ultra wide but I am leaning towards the ultra wide. For my uses, would I be better off with a quadro graphics card, rather than an Nvidia/AMD gaming card? As I know I'll still need something decent for the type of monitor I want.

If I were to pick the main drive for Windows and apps now, I'd almost certainly get the Corsair MP510. Does it make any sense to have a secondary M.2 drive as well?

I'd still want 2x 4/6tb storage drives for the bulk of my media. Is it better to have these inside the case attached to the motherboard or maybe better to have these outside in a storage box and connect via USB? I just wondered if it might be better for cooling to have less inside and maybe improve performance to not have them running when I don't really need them.

I'm sure the motherboard will be one that's probably not even out yet. But what things should I look for them to have/not have?

Deciding on Intel or Ryzen is probably something to look at and ask at the time of purchasing. Thanks for any help!

 

[EsaT]

Zen3 CPUs should bring nice single core performance bumb to take over Intel also in that besides already won core war.
Though if PC is falling apart at any moment those could be swapped into AM4 board from discount in two years.
Depending on budget that could be sensible for long term.
Right now 12 core/24 thread costs high end extra compared to 8c/16t.

For photo editing forget flat earth ultra low screens and get 4K.
You'll need screen real estate in every direction for the most efficient working.
As far as I know people don't come born with built in inuit snow goggles:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_goggles#/media/File:Inuit_snow_goggles.jpg
Also video editors benefit from proper vertical resolution to fit more things into view without need to keep turning head around so much.


Corsair's price seems to be going through roof (though general SSD prices are in increase) and there are other Phison E12 based drives at better price like TeamGroup MP34.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/teamgroup-mp34-1tb-nvme-pcie-m.2-solid-state-drive-hd-00b-tg.html

Unlike HDDs SSDs can multitask easily, so there's really no need for x+y number of separate drives for different functions.
And once loaded operating system doesn't need to access drive much.
Unless running out of RAM, whose "won't run out" amount is lot more important for smoot operation than multiple drives.

HDDs run cooler in any decent case than in some random USB box.
Some external USB drives ere literally closed heat insulating plastic boxes.
Also while something like Drobo would give easy to use fault tolerance, those still aren't backup, which needs some separate device kept offline (+disconnected from power at default) most of the time:
For example user error/malware could destroy data on Drobo/NAS.
Also its power supply failing bad could fry drives.
And surge from lightning strike to power line could fry every electrical appliance connected to wall.

 

[KBall18]

I thought a lot of people preferred ultra wide for photo/video editing because of how much you could fit on the screen? I know the resolution won't be quite as much as a 4K screen but at 3840 x 1600, I wouldn't class that as ultra low res. Looking at maybe Dell or Asus 38".

Whichever type I get, I want a big step up in size from the 24" I currently have. I looked at this one 2 years ago and it's still a consideration, although maybe it's just a little too big.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/lg-4...z-widescreen-led-monitor-black-mo-14k-lg.html

Budget for a monitor would be up to £1k. I'm no professional in the use of my pc, purely a hobbyist.

I'll definitely have the storage drives inside the case then, thanks. I still prefer the Fractal Design R6. Definitely no widowed case, I watch films in the same room and don't want lights distracting me!

Not sure if I should have said, the total budget for the pc excluding monitor would be £3k. Need a bit of time to save properly!

Any thoughts on the gpu? Thanks.

 

[KBall18]

Anyone have any opinions on gpu? Or why an ultra wide isn't the way to go when plenty of people swear by them for productivity?

 

[EsaT]

Whichever type I get, I want a big step up in size from the 24" I currently have.

32" 4K is the best upgrade from that by improving also image height good amount while not eating insanely much desk space.
And even that's actually little smaller in height than 16:10 30" I've been looking at six years...
Ultra low screens would simply need insanely much desk space to give decent vertical image size.

Smaller image area per marketing size is reason why marketroids push those so much.
Screen area per marketing size has been going down in every aspect ratio change, while desk space hogging just keeps increasing and increasing.

And because of also gaming use you'll want monitor with FreeSync.
That allows monitor to change its refresh rate basing on frame rate of images coming from PC.
Without that there's either tearing in image, or then stutter when PC can't calculate new frames at fixed refresh rate of monitor.

 

[EsaT]

I still prefer the Fractal Design R6

Not sure if I should have said, the total budget for the pc excluding monitor would be £3k. Need a bit of time to save properly!

Fractal Design's Define serie is good also for keeping noises down.
Though also R6 has been spoiled by marketing fads and R5 is actually more flexible and easier to work with design.

If you'll be waiting for many months to save money Zen3 CPUs might be near at that time.
Assuming AMD wants to follow "number theme" like in last year new product releases are in early July.
(7th day of 7th month and 7nm manufacturing node)
Also release of new graphics cards was at that time in last year.

Or why an ultra wide isn't the way to go when plenty of people swear by them for productivity?

Average consumersbuys what marketing tells them to buy and fails in primary school math.
That scamming machine also replaced 1920x1200 by 1920x1080.
Similarly it should be pretty clear which one is better, 3840x2160 or 3840x1600.

 

[tamzzy]

Not sure if I should have said, the total budget for the pc excluding monitor would be £3k. Need a bit of time to save properly!

When are you actually planning to buy?
No point asking now when you're only planning to buy months down the line...

 

[KBall18]

When are you actually planning to buy?
No point asking now when you're only planning to buy months down the line...

I'm not asking about which specific cpu etc to buy. I wanted to get advice on what type of gpu and whether storage drives are better inside the case or not. I don't see any harm in that?

 

[KBall18]

32" 4K is the best upgrade from that by improving also image height good amount while not eating insanely much desk space.
And even that's actually little smaller in height than 16:10 30" I've been looking at six years...
Ultra low screens would simply need insanely much desk space to give decent vertical image size.

Smaller image area per marketing size is reason why marketroids push those so much.
Screen area per marketing size has been going down in every aspect ratio change, while desk space hogging just keeps increasing and increasing.

And because of also gaming use you'll want monitor with FreeSync.
That allows monitor to change its refresh rate basing on frame rate of images coming from PC.
Without that there's either tearing in image, or then stutter when PC can't calculate new frames at fixed refresh rate of monitor.

Thanks. Although I'd want bigger than 32". I adjust quickly to larger screens and it wasn't long after moving from a 50" TV to 65" that I would have preferred larger.

As I would probably be doing some gaming, no matter how little, a gaming gpu would be better than a quadro? In the nvidia range, a minimum of 2070 would be required to comfortably push the pixels on a 4K monitor?

 

[Quartz]

If your storage drives are failing you should replace them now and not when you buy your next PC. You will be able to transfer them over.

So get yourself something like a 1 TB SSD, a large internal 3.5" drive, and a backup drive. You may need to purchase an add-in USB 3 card too.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Samsung 1TB 860 QVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 64 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-76Q1T0BW)= £98.99
• 1 x Seagate 8TB IronWolf NAS 7200RPM 256MB Cache Internal Hard Drive (ST8000VN004)= £214.99
• 1 x Silverstone ECU05 USB 3.1 and USB 3.0 PCIe Expansion Card= £39.95

Total: £362.63 (includes shipping: £8.70)​

​

The USB backup drive is best purchased elsewhere.

 

[KBall18]

If your storage drives are failing you should replace them now and not when you buy your next PC. You will be able to transfer them over.

So get yourself something like a 1 TB SSD, a large internal 3.5" drive, and a backup drive. You may need to purchase an add-in USB 3 card too.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Samsung 1TB 860 QVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 64 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-76Q1T0BW)= £98.99
• 1 x Seagate 8TB IronWolf NAS 7200RPM 256MB Cache Internal Hard Drive (ST8000VN004)= £214.99
• 1 x Silverstone ECU05 USB 3.1 and USB 3.0 PCIe Expansion Card= £39.95

Total: £362.63 (includes shipping: £8.70)
​

The USB backup drive is best purchased elsewhere.

The storage drives inside my case are what are possibly failing. I do have new external drives with everything backed up should they completely fail. And while the Windows drive is also old, it runs fine, just slow by today's standards.

I'm hoping it'll be OK until the last quarter of this year. But if they do fail before then, I would just suck it up and buy the complete pc.

Thanks for your input though.

 

[EsaT]

As I would probably be doing some gaming, no matter how little, a gaming gpu would be better than a quadro? In the nvidia range, a minimum of 2070 would be required to comfortably push the pixels on a 4K monitor?

Quadro's drivers are indeed optimized for work applications.
While consumer/gamer product drivers are often sabotaged for work applications to push people into those expensive workstation products.

I'm hoping it'll be OK until the last quarter of this year.

By that time we should be having new lot improved graphics cards out.
Along with Zen3 Ryzens.