Hi all.hope I'm in the right part of the forum,its my first post.I'm thinking of buying this PC but apart from the sales pages I can't actually find any reviews of it.My present set-up is an 2015 HP Pavilion and its starting to show its age.I'm a hobbyist and will be using it mainly for programs like Photoshop,Lightroom,Affinity series and Luminar series.Occasionally I have a go at video editing and I'm thinking of having a go at 3D rendering so I'm wondering if it will cover it all.If not what would you recommend at a similar price-point?I prefer Desktop rather than laptop,I'm old and have a hard time seeing all them sliders they use.Thanks.
HP Z1 G9 Tower Desktop PC Intel Core i7-12700 16GB RAM 512GB SSD
- Thread starter taxineil
- Start date
We can't recommend anyone except OCUK because this is... OCUK. But, is a 12700 a good CPU for workstation use? Yes, it is, I'd check out the productivity/12th gen reviews at puget and hardware unboxed (on youtube) have a review of the 12700 non-K (it is primarily a review for gaming, but it includes some workstation apps).
My biggest concern would be that for this type of usage, you only have 16GB of memory. I'd want at least 32GB, but it is usually not hard to upgrade if you're getting a good price.
My biggest concern would be that for this type of usage, you only have 16GB of memory. I'd want at least 32GB, but it is usually not hard to upgrade if you're getting a good price.
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Soldato
If it's the one I found you can throw in the gpu too... an nvidia t400 with 4GB of memory is just really bad for anything graphically intensive.
Hi,thanks for that,looks like I misunderstood what the forums about.Yes I noticed the one stick of ram,but it is 'one stick' rather than 2*8 making it a lot cheaper to get the other 16Gb and I plan on waiting till Novembers Black Friday deals to see if its reduced in price.I've watched the reviews for the 12700 its just 7 years since I purchased a new PC that I wasnt sure what to go for.
We can give you specs for a self-build, or a pre-build from OCUK, but can't compare competitors
Understood,I'll be reading the posts about building my own.I don't mind working on second hand ones,but the thought of making a mess of a brand new motherboard,processor etc...well I think me hands shake to much.I've been taking apart a sff dell optimex today,the previous owner said it wont do anything,as soon as I opened it up I saw the ram was only partially pushed in along with a few cables and the difficulty I had just getting me hands in,makes me think twice about building me own though.
One possibility is to buy a pre-assembled bundle (usually they will install the memory, the CPU and the cooler), but I don't know if that would help enough. I'm also not sure if OCUK bundles come pre-assembled.
Here are some example self-builds (FYI: the AM4 build would need a graphics card):
(Intel 12th gen)
Lian Li Lancool 205 Midi-Tower Case - White Window - £65.00
Lian-Li GALAHAD AIO 240mm High Performance RGB CPU Water Cooler - White - £129.94
WD Blue SN570 1TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS100T3B0C) - £74.99
Phanteks AMP 650W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply - £74.98
Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey - £99.95
Intel Core i7-12700K 3.60GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail - £416.00
MSI Pro B660-A DDR4 - Intel B660 DDR4 ATX Motherboard - £159.94
Grand Total: £1,034.00
I'd suggest getting a 12700 non-K instead (not the -F) for about £350, but I don't think OCUK stock those.
(AMD AM4)
Lian Li Lancool 205 Midi-Tower Case - Black Window - £65.00
Arctic Liquid Freezer II High Performance CPU Water Cooler - 240mm - £89.98
WD Blue SN570 1TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS100T3B0C) - £74.99
Phanteks AMP 650W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply - £74.99
Corsair Vengeance LPX Black 32GB (2x16GB) 3600 MHz AMD Ryzen Tuned DDR4 Memory Dual Kit (CMK32GX4M2Z3600C18) - £119.99
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X Twelve Core 4.8GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail - £449.98
Asus TUF Gaming B550-Plus WIFI II (AMD AM4) B550 ATX Motherboard - £178.99
Grand Total: £1,067.12
The 5900X was £400 not long ago and motherboard stock is a bit weird at OCUK, at the moment, but the 5900X has 12 cores and performs well for your type of usage.
(AMD AM5)
(case, cooler, SSD and PSU as AM4)
Kingston FURY Beast 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C40 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - £199.99
AMD Ryzen 7 7700X Eight Core 5.40GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail - £428.98
Asus Prime X670-P (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard - £267.95
Grand Total: £1,215.08
According to puget, the 7700X performs very well, sometimes faster than the 12900, but it is inconsistent, since it can even be slower than the 5900X. You're also on a new platform (so hopefully will have more upgrades in the future, than AM4 or LGA1700) and unlike with AM4, don't need a graphics card.
From what I've read so far about intel 13th gen, it is supposed to be very efficient at lower power modes, so that might be worth looking into. You can also run AMD CPUs at low power modes and the AM4 CPUs are generally more efficient for workstation use (at least, at stock).
Thanks for that-the Intel 13th GEN looks like it will be out before Black Friday deals,so with a bit of look a lot of gear may individually drop in price.I tend to watch out for paypals interest free payments,if I can find one 24-36 months that would be great.I know they have deals with more tech these days.I guess they have to the way energy prices have gone up,no one will be able to splash out otherwise.