help a novice spec a PC uild

paulmapp8306

paulmapp8306

paulmapp8306

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OK - Im 52.... I havent spec'd a PC for 20 years (I ran my last tower for 10 years, then bout a first gen i5 and console when kids were young - that was 10 years ago).

This build is primarily for general household stuff and music recording/processing. However as I intend to get 10 years out of the build (with some mid life upgrades if possible/appropriate) is will be quite high level so makes sense to have it gaming capable and ditch the console.

I want a balanced system, and have one in mind - however some components Im really not up on - not the benefits of slightly upgrading parts v cost. The system I have in mind is £100 under my max budget - so theres room to improve it where possible (value) or change a few bits here and there. As its primary "work" role is music - having a quiet system is a priority for me. Also Im restricted in size - I cant go over 445mm tall or 225mm wide. Depth isnt an issue.

As a side - Id like Wifi support (as a backup to Ethernet in case my switch goes down) and Bluetooth enabled (so I can use my PS4 controlers and the like). I also need a DVD drive, as a lot of my music drivers/software are still disc based.

I need a 32" monitor (for the music production - yes I know its not the best for gaming) and intend to use QHD resolution.

As a guide to games I intend to/like to play: Total War 3 Kingdoms, Divinity Original Sin 2, Crusader Kings 2, Anno 1800, A Plague Tale, Cyberpunk (wen released), Elite Dangerous - and the like.

So:

Case - Corsair R100 Silent
CPU - AMD Raxon 3700x
Motherboard MSI - X570 Gaming Edge Wifi (wireless and Bluetooth built in)
CPU Cooler - Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro 4
GPU - Nidia RTX 2070 super
Memory - 2 x 8gb 3200 Corsair LPX
1 x M2 drive (OS/gaming/general) - 1TB ADATA SX8200 NVMe (3500/300)
1 x M2 500 GB (Music recording/production only) Samsung 970 Evo Plus (3500/3200)
PSU - Corsair RM650x 80 plus Gold
generic DVD RW drive
1 x extra intake fan - Be Quiet Silent wings 3 120mm
Keyboard - Logitech G512
Mouse - Logitech G903 hero
Moitor AOC CQ321G1

So - some of the choices/concerns on this.

1. The GPU. I could save a little with the Radeon 5700XT which Im guessing will play nicer with an AMD CPU, and also the monitor as its Freesync not G-Sync (yes Im aware the GPU will work with Freesync kind of). The downside is it runs hotter - and key is a lot more noise. How much will that be noticeable in a quiet case and with the other fans etc??

2. CPU. I could JUST stretch to the 3900x chip. A little over (or on budget with the GPU swap) but is it worth it? thinking more future proofing that actual usage at present. Is this where the extra money should be spent or not.

3. Motherboard. No idea at all here. Its a "mid tier" board apparently but most other things are more top tier. Am I better off spending a little more here - if so on what. I do want X570 (despite the cooling fans) as I Intend to make use of PCIe 4 in future.

4. Memory. Is it worth a little more on 3600 over the 3200 - and is it worth pumping the spare £100 into 32GB at the start (rather than having that as an upgrade route). Im guessing no to the latter as dropping another couple of memory sticks in a coupe of years down the line is the easiest/cheapest upgrade route.

5. SSDs. Should I get 2 x 1TB at build - or a better quality main drive? should I save a it and get a lower speed drive for the OS/General drive? (I do want the 3500/3200 speeds for the music drive).

6. The Monitor. Ive spent a lot of time agonising over this. I want 32", 144hz, QHD - not bothered about HR400 (its useless anyway). Not bothered if its curved or not (in fact I think Id prefer it based on distance and location I will use it). I think Id prefer VA over the other options as well. G-Syncs are more expensive and no idea if there worth it. As for brands.... Not used AOC, or Ben-Q, or MSI all of which have options. Ive used Acer in the past, LG/Samsung are what they are but you tend to pay a premium. Asus again, I know there great but expensive. Maybe this is where I spend the extra £ ??

ANYWAY - Lots of thoughts and questions as you can see. I THINK its fairly balanced as is - but advice on where to pump the extra £100 (or indeed dont bother if theres no value in it) or what to change (if there are cheaper but just as good or better options) is most welcome.

Thanks on advance.
 
What's your actual budget?

1. 5700 XT prob be a good purchase

2. 3900X complete waste of money, 3700X would be more than adequate for audio production work.

3. Fine.

4. I think 16GB would be more than enough still for audio work, but if you want it to last a decade then may as well go 32GB if you're happy to afford it.

5. Get a 1TB NVMe for your OS, apps and games + a larger 3 or 4TB HDD for audio work I presume would be useful?

6. Your choice, 1440p 144Hz would be a safe balance if you want to game as well - 4K would be good for audio work I imagine, but not for 100% smooth gaming at high settings.
 
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Im not building myself - I SHOULD as an electronics Tech - but Im no IT man, setting up windows, drivers etc is not for me - so my budget includes the build.

Budget is a max of £2600 for the lot. Im kind of looking at £2k for the tower build, then £500-£600 for mouse/keyboard/monitor.

The thing about audio work - it works better fast drive access. The software constantly writes to the drive ndonce you et more then a dozen tracks with plugins a standard HD is just NOT good. A fast NVMe drive would work a lot better. The music drive only needs work on one project though. Once rendered files are saved on external drives along with the original stems (both so they can be transported around, and also I keep backups) so loads of space isnt needed. 500MB is enough to work on one project.
 
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I'd remove competitor names from your post, OcUK rules mate.

Not an issue if anyone specs you a rig here, if you like it, you can paste it in OcUK pre-sales forum area - they will give you a quote for the cost £ to build it all for you.

If 500Mb is enough for a project before you shift it to a HDD, that's nothing, you may as well just work of the 1TB NVMe for it all still - along with the OS, apps and games. Do you need a large 2-4TB HDD at all or is it un-necessary?

I'll spec something shortly to start you off, I'm sure others will follow soon with their own ideas.
 
Dont need a big HD. I currenty run 3 external HDs. 2 x 2TB ones for music (mirrored for backup) and a 1TB one for household stuff (CVs, Letter, Photos, Music etc) - so theres no real DATA held on the PC. Its just the OS/Programs and projects. I guess onboard storage wouldnt hurt (I could then use the onboard drive as primary storage, and use the externals as backup and transport discs) - but its not really necessary as I have the externals already. Im guessing dropping the second NVMe drive would free up cash for that data drive and some.

Im happy with one main work drive, but not sure if 1TB is enough for that. I guess it should be, and Im future proofing BUT I can always add another NVMe drive at a later date if I need to - and make use of the PCIe 4 slot for it. No idea how much space games take up these days. If I keep 500MB for the music then is 500MB enough for W10, all the usual apps/programs (word, XL, drivers etc) and games? NO idea. The last Pc I had built had a huge 40MB hard drive.......
 
One thing I forgot to mention (cant see it). I am restricted on size of the tower..... Depth isnt an issue. Width should ideally be 200mm or less - but definately 225mm max. Height however is the biggest restriction and has to be 450mm absolute max.

The 2 cases Ive considered are both silent models, and do come in within that size. They are the Corsair R100 silent, and the Coolmaster Silencio 452 Quiet. The only real problem with either for my particular needs could be CPU cooling. The R100 is 150mm and for the Coolmaster 158mm. Both the corsair H100 and Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro 4 do fit though. The Noctua NH-U14S however is too tall at 165mm.
 
Hang on a minute, are you getting yor Megabytes (Mb) and Gigabytes (Gb) mixed up? Do you mean your audio projects are ~500Gb ?

In which case then yes, you'll probably make better use of a separate 2nd 500Gb-1Tb NVMe drive
 
Hum - Had a quick look. If I ditch the idea of 1.5 TB on NVMe drives - and just run a single 1TB rive I could go for a PCI4 Corsair MP600 at 4950/4250 at pretty much the same price as the 500GB Evo Pro and 1TB Adata combined. Certainly better performance if 1TB is enough - thats tempting.
 
Sparx said:
Hang on a minute, are you getting yor Megabytes (Mb) and Gigabytes (Gb) mixed up? Do you mean your audio projects are ~500Gb ?

In which case then yes, you'll probably make better use of a separate 2nd 500Gb-1Tb NVMe drive
Click to expand...

The projects arnt 500GB - BUT the music recording software, all the plugin softwares, all the drivers etc will all go on that one drive. 500GB is what Im going to need for that I think. My current laptop has a 500GB drive, and runs my music and W7 and Word/XL only. Its pretty full when I run a project, but a 500GB should be fine as a music only drive, as no OS or admin type stuff.

A Ttypical big project might run to 50 GB - an theres about 300GB of software and virtual instruments.
 
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I highly doubt your laptop has a 500MB drive... You are still mixing up your MB and GB :D

From what I can gather, either way it seems safe to assume, you should run your audio/projects of another 1TB drive to be safe and future-proof.
 
No point going for a 1TB and 500GB M2 drive though, if you want it to last you a while.

You may as well get 2x 1TB drives at the very least... and partition the 2nd drive to 500GB for audio and other 500GB for more games/apps if necessary.
 
£43 Scythe Mugen 5 would be enough for TDP of 3700X.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/scythe-scmg-5100-mugen-5-rev.b-cpu-cooler-hs-046-sy.html
And would fit to that Coolermaster case.
That 158mm CPU cooler height limit cuts most heatsinks out from choise.

For case to be able to muffle noises of components it should have mass damping.
Thin light foams are cosmetics and simply don't do much anything for any noise.
Though from Fractal Design's Define serie only Micro-ATX model would fit to that height and width limit.


As for motherboard that MSI is one of the wimpiest VRM X570 boards, because of copypasta components from B450/X470:
B450 Carbon Pro's VRM would be actually better, because it lacks VRM cooling sabotaging plastic garbage.
 
Base spec to play with... Add in your preferred monitor, keyb and mouse.

  • You can get Windows 10 a lot cheaper if you look about, but if you want it built for you, then you can't. :p
  • That particular GPU is very quiet under load, see review here. It's also one of the most raved about edition 5700 XT cards, along with Sapphire's Pulse one.
  • The CPU cooler is also one of the best reviewed for performance/noise etc all round.
  • PSU runs @ zero RPM until under load, even then it's very quiet
  • Case is noise dampened, they aren't perfect but they do help
  • Mobo has better VRMs than MSI if I recall, also comes with built-in WiFi and Bluetooth
  • 32GB RAM for future proofing

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,936.05 (includes shipping: £13.20)
​
 
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That looks decent.

Im contemplating changing a few small details.

1. Reduce RAM to 16 GB. Its the easiest thing to drop 2 more strips in down the line and that should give me an extra £110 in the budget - enough for a second 500gb drive for the music.

Change the Mother board to the Asus Rog STRYX X570-F. Not sure if thats a jump worth taking or not. No wifi/BT but presumably a better board/match for the other components? Comes with a +£50 price, which may be possible depending on build cost and other peripherals. Adding a BT Dongle is easy/cheap enough and I could get the Wifi if I actually get a problem with my switch.

Im Currently coming in at a total of £580 for all the peripherals, so with all those changes Im at approx £2560, with the build cost on to. Close to that £2600 budget.

Thoughts?
 
Had a play on a build page. Taking some of your suggestions, how does this look:

Coolmaster Silencio 600
AMD Ryzen 3700x
Corsair RMX 650 80+ Gold PSU
ASUS TUF X570 gaming
Asus RTX 2070 super * Note, Ill quite happily swap this for the red devil RX5700 XT If I can get one for when I want the build. Saves a bit of cash, but there not readily available yet.
16GB Corsair Vengence 3200 LPX
1 x 1TB Corsair MP600 Gen 4 PCIe NVMe (4950R/4250W)
1 x 500GB Samsung Evo Plus NVMe (3500R/3200W)
Noctua NH-U12S * to be in budget, will UG to the mentioned U12A If I change the GPU as above.
ASUS 24 DVD Drive
Windows 10 home

Those drives look quick - and makes use of the PCIe 4 capability of the board. Ram is the easiest UG down the line to add another 16GB. Its only the availability of the Red Devil RX5700 XT thats the sticking point, but Id be happy with that build I think.
Comes in at £2020 including the build, and shipping. Add the Logitech G513 keybaord, G903 hero mouse, AODCQ321G1 32" 144hz, QHD monitor and (as the stand isnt adjustable) a desk mounted Visa arm (actually will work really well for production) that come in at £582 for the lot - thats a grand total of £2602. A whopping £2 over budget.

Changing the PSU will add £33 BUT swoping the 2070 super for the red devil (if I can get one) will save about £102 - meaning about £70 under budget. That could almost get me the 32GB RAM.
 
You know I already had 2x of the Corsair 960GB NVMe drives in my spec? :p PCIe 4 drives are well over priced for the new novelty, they aren't worth it and don't think you would notice any real world difference.

Especially if you're trying to save the budget in places to get more performance in places you will notice it. You're literally paying double to get synthetic benchmark improvements.

Also the U12A cooler I spec'd is better at keeping the chip cooler than the U12S you dropped too. See here

According to OcUK product page, the 5700 XT Red Devil is due Fri 23/8 of course no idea if accurate, but if it's only ~1 week it's a lot of saving for similar performance. But either way, go for the 2070S if you really want it - I personally did the same just 2 weeks ago when I did my full upgrade, as I was tired of buggy AMD drivers. :D
 
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