Help between two pre-built systems please! Advice welcomed

JG1337

JG1337

JG1337

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Joined
21 May 2012
Posts
40
Hi All,

I bought my last PC from Overclockers over 10 years ago now I believe, and it's still doing well! However, I think it's time to upgrade since I work from home on it daily and it's probably the item I interact with the most on a daily basis. Time to invest!

I have built two options:

  1. I think this is my preference
Case
Phanteks Enthoo Evolv X Digital Midi Tower Glass Gaming Case - Gunmetal Grey

CPU
Intel Core i9-11900K 3.5GHz (Rocket Lake) Socket LGA1200 Processor - OEM

Motherboard
Gigabyte Z590 Aorus Elite AX (Socket LGA 1200) DDR4 ATX Motherboard

CPU Cooler
Corsair Hydro Series iCUE H100i PRO XT RGB Performance Liquid Cooler - 240mm (CW-9060043-WW)

Memory
Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB (2x32GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit (Black)

Graphics Card
Gigabyte *Build Stock* GeForce RTX 3060 Eagle OC 12GB GDDR6 Graphics Card

M.2 Solid State Drive 1 (Primary Drive If Selected)
WD Blue SN550 1TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (S100T2B0C)

M.2 Solid State Drive 2 (Secondary Drive If Selected)
You can optionally select an item

2.5" SATA Solid State Drive 1
WD Blue 1TB 3D NAND SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps Solid State Drive *SI STOCK* (S100T2B0A)

Power Supply
Corsair RMx Series RM850x 80 PLUS Gold Fully Modular ATX Power Supply

Soundcard
You can optionally select an item

Case Lighting
You can optionally select an item

Operating System
Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-Bit DVD - OEM (KW9-00632)
Click to expand...

2. This I think is the latter option?
Case
Phanteks Enthoo Evolv Micro-ATX Glass Case - Gunmetal Grey

CPU
Intel Core i9-11900K 3.5GHz (Rocket Lake) Socket LGA1200 Processor - OEM

Motherboard
Intel B560 (Socket 1200) DDR4 Motherboard

CPU Cooler
Cooler Master 240mm AIO Liquid CPU Cooler

Memory
Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB (2x32GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit (Black)

Graphics Card
Asus *Build Stock* GeForce RTX 3070 TUF Gaming OC 8GB GDDR6 Graphics Card

Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (Primary if selected)
WD Black SN750 SE 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (S100T1B0E)

Gen3 M.2 Solid State Drive
You can optionally select an item

2.5" Solid State Storage Drive
WD Blue 1TB 3D NAND SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps Solid State Drive *SI STOCK* (S100T2B0A)

Operating System
Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-Bit DVD - OEM (KW9-00632)
Click to expand...

Questions:
1) What I need help with is identifying where option 2 wins against option 1? (I think just GPU?)
2) Should I just buy a 2TB SSD and put both my OS and storage file? Or is it best splitting the two?
3) If best option is to split the two, what's better between M.2 SSD's and 2.5" SATA SSD's?
4) If option 1, do I need to buy a soundcard, or does my mobo support 7.1?
5) What's better between Corsair RMx Series RM850x 80 PLUS Gold Fully Modular ATX PSU
and Kolink Continuum 850W 80 Plus Platinum Modular PSU (same price)?
6) If I bought two of these (£2250 systems - do OC do any discount or incentives)?
7) Case Lighting option - will OC install these for me and sync it to the case lighting?

I don't really play many games on my PC - RuneScape at a push. However, I need a high performance PC for my work usage. Thanks in advance!
 
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Whats the usage and intended usage life?


If purpose is to keep new PC for anything as long as old, only eight core is mediocre from the start for that.
Especially if workloads are such that 64GB of RAM is justified.
Nowadays high end starts from 12 cores.

And with true full load TDPs of Intel's being usually double the advertised, such slim smallish radiator lacks the surface area for dissipating continuous load heat into air without fans ramping up.
In fact top heatpipe coolers are capable to better continuous cooling performance per noise with their big fin stacks providing lots of surface area.
Also if you want PC that just keeps working with no/minimal maintenance, waterpipe coolers are basically doomed at some point.
They have multiple degradation/wear mechanisms all leading to complete loss of cooling power after enough time.


Also for just some light occasional playing of some very old/low requirements games, prices of current higher graphics cards aren't reasonable.
So if there's no GPGPU workloads, would look for more affordable priced graphics cards.
Though CES is in few days and there might be some releases there causing changes to prices.


Little sense in getting two drives from the start.
Partitioning is for keeping OS logically separate from the rest in case of needing to nuke OS installation.
And backups of important stuff are needed anway, because malware or data corrupting hardware failure (or PC frying lightning strike to power line) could destroy all data on PC.

Neither are SATA SSDs cheaper than competent for home use NVMes.
So only possible advantage in SATA SSD is ability to connect it to standard SATA port of any motherboard/commonly available HDD docks.


From those two would rather take Corsair.
Kolink is garbage brand with literally fraudulently model named PSUs.
So while some reviews found that Continuum model OK, there's no reason to trust that insides are same now without "cost downs".
Also warranty is short five years.
 
The 11900K is a terrible cpu. I would suggest looking at the i7 12700K and a Z690 DDR4 board instead, or a Ryzen 5800X/5900X and B550 board.

Also CES starts tomorrow and the Intel non 'K' 12th gen along with the Ryzen refresh cpu's should be announced. If you are not overclocking then an i7 12700 and B660 board will be a cheaper alternative.
 
Totally agree, leave the 11 gen well alone... If you need it sooner rather than later and want a prebuild look at the sabre.. Stick a 12700 in, comes with tomahawk z690 mobo and rtx 3070..change case to anything you want and swap out the psu for a decent one such as the corsair RM850x.. Think option is a 500gb sn750se as os and then 1tb 2nd ssd, though you can pretty much alter it to whatever you want
 
Have a look at this instead which is priced the same. You need to buy and install Windows which is about £10 elsewhere.

12600k and an RTX 3080.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk...b40Y-cdMc40Z7cdMd40Z+cdMe40#0cdMf40#6cdMg40#8



My basket at Overclockers UK:
  • 1 x OcUK Tech Labs Intel 12th Gen "Alder Lake" DDR4 Gaming PC Configurator = £2,158.84
    • Processor:Intel Core i5-12600KF 3.70GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - OEM
    • Motherboard:MSI MAG Z690 Tomahawk WIFI DDR4 - Intel Z690 DDR4 ATX Motherboard
    • Memory:Crucial Ballistix 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C16 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit
    • Graphics Card:*Build Stock* GIGABYTE GEFORCE RTX 3080 VISION OC 10GB GDDR6X GRAPHICS CARD
    • Power Supply:Seasonic Focus GX-750 750W 80+ Gold Modular Power Supply
    • Case:Corsair 4000D Airflow Mid-Tower Case - Black Tempered Glass (CC-9011200-WW)
    • M.2 Solid State Drive (SSD) 1 - Primary:WD Black SN750 SE 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS100T1B0E)
    • M.2 Solid State Drive (SSD) 2 - Secondary:Unwanted
    • Cooler:MSI MAG CORELIQUID 240R ARGB Performance Liquid CPU Cooler - 240mm
Total: £2,172.94 (includes shipping: £14.10)



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Edit:
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Just seen you need more of a workstation build, here you go.

12900k and 64GB RAM with a decent 360 AIO.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk...b40Y-cdMc40Z7cdMd40Z+cdMe40#0cdMf40#6cdMg40#8

My basket at Overclockers UK:
  • 1 x OcUK Tech Labs Intel 12th Gen "Alder Lake" DDR4 Gaming PC Configurator = £2,083.88
    • Processor:Intel Core i9-12900K 3.20GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - OEM
    • Motherboard:MSI MAG Z690 Tomahawk WIFI DDR4 - Intel Z690 DDR4 ATX Motherboard
    • Memory:Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB (2x32GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit (Black)
    • Graphics Card:*Build Stock* Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3060 Eagle OC 12GB GDDR6 Graphics Card
    • Power Supply:Seasonic Focus GX-750 750W 80+ Gold Modular Power Supply
    • Case:Corsair 4000D Airflow Mid-Tower Case - Black Tempered Glass (CC-9011200-WW)
    • M.2 Solid State Drive (SSD) 1 - Primary:WD Black SN750 SE 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS100T1B0E)
    • M.2 Solid State Drive (SSD) 2 - Secondary:Unwanted
    • Cooler:EK Water Blocks EK-AIO 360 Basic All In One CPU Water Cooler - 360mm
Total: £2,097.98 (includes shipping: £14.10)
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