Build Check

[nixtendo]

Hey guys, I used to know computers inside out but have sat on the sidelines since I built a mini tax about 10 years ago and a few things have changed.
Would someone please check over this and let me know if I've gone overboard on anything, and if I'm missing anything from the spec that I'll need to get this system firing.... besides an OS.
tia. J

Edit - I should probably add what I want the system for. Mostly life admin type stuff, less interested in gaming but I am interested in playing with Unreal Engine. I also do a fair bit of video editing and after effects tasks.

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[mickyflinn]

Hi and welcome.

This is your basket so others can see it.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Corsair Vengeance 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-41600C40 5200MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MY-4D9-CS) = £79.99
• 1 x Intel Core i7-12700K 3.60GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-69Z-IN) = £278.99
• 1 x Montech X3 Glass Midi-Tower RGB Tempered Glass - Black (SKU: CA-000-MO) = £49.99
• 1 x Lexar NM710 1TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 M.2 Solid State Drive (LNM710X001T-RNNNG) (SKU: STO-LEX-01671) = £64.99
• 1 x Seagate 2TB Barracuda HDD 7200RPM 256MB Cache Internal Hard Drive (ST2000DM008) (SKU: HD-3A5-SE) = £57.95
• 1 x MSI MAG B760 Tomahawk WIFI (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-37B-MS) = £179.99
• 1 x Kolink Modular Power 700W 80 Plus Bronze Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-04K-KK) = £54.95
• 1 x Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3060 WindForce OC LHR 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-1FH-GI) = £259.99

Total: £1,038.83 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

 

[Tetras]

12700K and a 3060 12GB are not bad choices for your usage, the 3060 is a bit slow nowadays, but was a popular card for creativity and still does the job.

I would recommend getting a better PSU and dumping the hard drive for a 2TB SSD.

If you're not certain about how CPU-intensive your work will be, then I'd strongly recommend you downgrade to a 12600K, since I don't think 2 extra P-Cores on the 12700K justifies it being £100 more expensive @ OCUK.

 

[nixtendo]

12700K and a 3060 12GB are not bad choices for your usage, the 3060 is a bit slow nowadays, but was a popular card for creativity and still does the job.

I would recommend getting a better PSU and dumping the hard drive for a 2TB SSD.

If you're not certain about how CPU-intensive your work will be, then I'd strongly recommend you downgrade to a 12600K, since I don't think 2 extra P-Cores on the 12700K justifies it being £100 more expensive @ OCUK.

Thanks for the advice appreciate that. Could you recommend a PSU? And reckon it's worth using the £100 from the 12600K on an upgrade on the gPU, would you recommend this too please? Thx

 

[mickyflinn]

Thanks for the advice appreciate that. Could you recommend a PSU? And reckon it's worth using the £100 from the 12600K on an upgrade on the gPU, would you recommend this too please? Thx

You will also need a CPU cooler.

 

[Tetras]

would you recommend this too please?

For video editing and after effects, probably not, for Unreal Engine 4: not necessary, for Unreal Engine 5: yes.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core i5-12600K 3.70GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-69X-IN) = £176.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B760 GAMING X AX (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5BU-GI) = £139.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-41600C40 5200MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MY-4D9-CS) = £79.99
• 1 x MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ventus 2X E OC 12GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-MSI-02561) = £458.99
• 1 x NVIDIA - Black Myth: Wukong Standard Edition Game Bundle (SKU: DIG-NVI-02698) = £0.00
• 1 x WD Black SN770 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS200T3X0E) (SKU: HD-58G-WD) = £109.99
• 1 x Montech X3 Glass Midi-Tower RGB Tempered Glass - Black (SKU: CA-000-MO) = £49.99
• 1 x Corsair RMx Series RM750x 80 PLUS Gold Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (CP-9020199-UK) (SKU: CA-266-CS) = £99.95

• 1 x Arctic Freezer 36 120m Black CPU Cooler - 2x 120mm (SKU: COO-ARC-02420) = £24.95

Total: £1,140.84 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[nixtendo]

That's great thanks. The M.2 memory is new to me, I'm presuming it's just a new faster type of hard drive?
In terms of future proofing (which I know isn't really a thing) but trying to get a good 5 years out of it, is it worth stumping up the extra for the i7 or am I unlikely to use the extra cores?

 

[Tetras]

is it worth stumping up the extra for the i7 or am I unlikely to use the extra cores?

It really depends on your usage. If we're talking just hobby usage and learning, then no. But, if you're spending hours and hours waiting for longrun tasks to complete then we're in "time is money" territory and even £100 can seem cheap. I'd also be aware that 13th-14th gen upgrades are currently not appealing and may never appealing (due to their ongoing issues).

The M.2 memory is new to me, I'm presuming it's just a new faster type of hard drive?

SSDs (either M.2 NVME or 2.5" SATA) are waaaaaaaay faster than hard drives, but it depends on what you're doing with them. For archive storage a hard drive is still fine, but I wouldn't want to game on one, or to load very large projects.

 

[nixtendo]

For video editing and after effects, probably not, for Unreal Engine 4: not necessary, for Unreal Engine 5: yes.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core i5-12600K 3.70GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-69X-IN) = £176.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B760 GAMING X AX (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5BU-GI) = £139.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-41600C40 5200MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MY-4D9-CS) = £79.99
• 1 x MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ventus 2X E OC 12GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-MSI-02561) = £458.99
• 1 x NVIDIA - Black Myth: Wukong Standard Edition Game Bundle (SKU: DIG-NVI-02698) = £0.00
• 1 x WD Black SN770 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS200T3X0E) (SKU: HD-58G-WD) = £109.99
• 1 x Montech X3 Glass Midi-Tower RGB Tempered Glass - Black (SKU: CA-000-MO) = £49.99
• 1 x Corsair RMx Series RM750x 80 PLUS Gold Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (CP-9020199-UK) (SKU: CA-266-CS) = £99.95
• 1 x Arctic Freezer 36 120m Black CPU Cooler - 2x 120mm (SKU: COO-ARC-02420) = £24.95

Total: £1,140.84 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

Is there much between the motherboards? Besides one of them being on pre-order only.

 

[nixtendo]

It really depends on your usage. If we're talking just hobby usage and learning, then no. But, if you're spending hours and hours waiting for longrun tasks to complete then we're in "time is money" territory and even £100 can seem cheap. I'd also be aware that 13th-14th gen upgrades are currently not appealing and may never appealing (due to their ongoing issues).


SSDs (either M.2 NVME or 2.5" SATA) are waaaaaaaay faster than hard drives, but it depends on what you're doing with them. For archive storage a hard drive is still fine, but I wouldn't want to game on one, or to load very large projects.

I'm used to the SSD SATA type drives, I use them quite regularly at work especially in caddies on USB3/C they are speedy. I'll stick to the i5 then in that case thx

 

[Tetras]

Is there much between the motherboards? Besides one of them being on pre-order only.

Tomahawk is a higher-spec board, it has PCI-E 5.0 graphics (4.0 on the Gaming X), has rear SPDIF and a stronger VRM.

I'm used to the SSD SATA type drives, I use them quite regularly at work especially in caddies on USB3/C they are speedy.

Yeah, there's not really an issue with SATA SSDs, but I wouldn't buy one if a M.2 slot is available to you.

 

[nixtendo]

Tomahawk is a higher-spec board, it has PCI-E 5.0 graphics (4.0 on the Gaming X), has rear SPDIF and a stronger VRM.


Yeah, there's not really an issue with SATA SSDs, but I wouldn't buy one if a M.2 slot is available to you.

Amazing thanks for your help on all of this

 

[Tetras]

Amazing thanks for your help on all of this

FYI: if you're not aware, AMD are releasing new AM5 CPUs in a week or two, so it might be wise to wait and see if there are any deals on older stuff.

 

[Threepwood]

The M.2 memory is new to me,

it's mainly neater, they slot straight into the motherboard so less work than plugging an ssd into the system, and routing wires to it etc, yes they are fast, but not really any faster than a SSD, they are an SSD on a stick rather than an SSD in a box but much faster than an HDD just like an SSD is , though I would advise watching a youtube video on how to actually fit them, as it's not just totally simple plug and play until you get used to installing them!

 

[mickyflinn]

Oops wrong thread.

 

[Meaker]

it's mainly neater, they slot straight into the motherboard so less work than plugging an ssd into the system, and routing wires to it etc, yes they are fast, but not really any faster than a SSD, they are an SSD on a stick rather than an SSD in a box but much faster than an HDD just like an SSD is , though I would advise watching a youtube video on how to actually fit them, as it's not just totally simple plug and play until you get used to installing them!

I think with the more modern titles you are seeing a difference now between even a raid 0 SATA SSD setup and a decent NVME M.2. But it's not huge.