Help Me Choose My Next PC

[Agent Smith]

Morning All,

It has been sometime (15 Years) since I have last built my own PC, back in those days I was up to date with all the latest terms, technologies and trends.

However, 15 years on I simply know very little now and have limited understanding of terms, technologies and what goes with what. 15 years of not following or engaging in PC hardware has caused this, yes my fault.

Therefore, can you help me spec a PC up please with all the bits I would require.

Before you help me, allow me to tell you what I am not and what I don't like.

1. I am not a gamer and don't own any games.
2. I don't like flashing led lights on my PC

Now what I do like

1. Quietness is paramount in a new system.
2. Quality, reliability and stability is very important to me.
3. Professional looking system.

I currently own a surface pro 3 and love it, this system would be used for those more cpu intensive tasks.

I plan to use the PC for

1. Video Encoding (1080p and 4K)
2. Audio Encoding
3. Skype etc..
4. General office applications like (Excel, Word, Powerpoint and outlook)
5. Stream content from PC to TV

I would like not spend another £ on pc equipment for another 4-5 years so I am looking for a PC that will last that long and therefore when specifying some of the components please consider allowing some headroom in the components. For example a 550w PSU would probably do but buying a 750w PSU for £20 more will give me that extra headroom.

Now for what I have selected so far and the rest of the components I get stuck on like RAM, Motherboard, CPU Cooler and everything else.

Items selected so far.

1. be quiet! Silent Base 800 Midi Tower Case - Silver Window

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-098-BQ&groupid=2362&catid=2911

2. Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-581-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=3069

3. Samsung 512GB SSD 850 PRO SATA 6Gbps 3D NAND Solid State Drive

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-183-SA&groupid=1657&catid=2101&subcat=2393

Sorry for the long post, but if you could help me then I would appreciate it. Budget circa £1800 including monitor + vat

Regards
Shaun

 

[ExRayTed]

I'll be back with a meatier recommendation in a while but I have some initial thoughts..

Case - Have you looked at Phantek's or Fractal's offerings? Although the be quiet! looks like a good case the noise it does or doesn't generate is entirely dependant on the components inside it (to a large degree). I'm just wondering if you've limited your case choice because of your expectations of the 'be quiet' brand. You could get a quiet system with any top case really.

SSD - Utterly no point in going for the Pro - Whilst the Pro benches slightly quicker than the Evo the differences in the real world are minimal - pretty much the only thing the Pro offers over the Evo is more read/write cycles. The Evo has more than enough for a consumer level drive.

 

[ExRayTed]

Here's a quick build

I've chosen the Kraken AIO cooler as I have personal experience of it. With after-market fans it is a prodigious cooler and very quiet. The LED function within the CPU block can be switched off if you like.

The PSU comes very highly rated and has a 10 year warranty. Although as you've said the 550w version would do. To be honest, unless you're planning to add a GPU you won't need the extra headroom over a 550w unit even with incremental upgrades over the next few years, 550w is already way more than you'd need in a system without a GPU.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus Z170 Maximus VII Hero - Skylake Core i7 6700K CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£30 Saving** £439.98
1 x Samsung 500GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E500B/EU) £139.99
1 x NZXT KRAKEN X61 280mm AIO Water Cooling Unit £119.99
1 x Kingston Fury Black 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-21300C15 2666MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (HX426C15FBK2/16) £99.95
1 x EVGA SuperNova G2 750W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £94.99
2 x Noiseblocker NB-eLoop Fan B14-3 - 140mm £17.99 (£35.98)
Total : £930.88 (includes shipping : Ex.VAT).