New Build - £700

[Aboringaccountant]

Hello everyone.

I have rejoined the forum (couldn't remember my previous logins) having first used overclockers probably 18 years ago now! Back then I was into flight simulators and built a machine with the kind help of forum members. Thankyou to those back then. So many happy memories.

I'm now a boring accountant with a wife and kids, and I haven't played any gaming for 10+ years.

Need a work from home PC, good WIFI connectivity essential, use two monitors (one for work and the other for streaming the cricket...). In my current job I use a remote desktop login too.

I wanted to spend £700. I struggled to get my budget with having to buy windows software. I am not geeky enough for Linux and need to rely on security etc. I don't need 10% performance for £150 more, but I would quite like to still be happily using the PC in 6 or 7 years time. I spent £600 in PC world on my current machine 5 years ago and I have hated using it for at least the last 1-2, it's so slow.

I barely know what I am doing (I'm not even sure on compatibility of parts here), but I have done it quite a few years ago and I would have an IT friend who'd probably help me put it together. My thoughts on this list are as follows and please add your wisdom:

CPU - I'm a bit spooked by Intel 13/14th generation news and would be more than happy to get the 12th and get the i7. I probably can't afford anything more in my budget anyway. Should I be looking at i5?
Memory - Corsair I feel is good value and I don't think DDR5 is probably worth the extra $$ for my needs?? so opting for DDR4 to keep price down
SSD - I want 1TB and picked this because I hope using a similar make helps cohesion!
Motherboard - I have two old monitors (8 years old) and so I need two display ports. Can I get a splitter if your motherboard suggestion only has one? If so please help me here! I need good WIFI - so I picked one with WIFI in title!
Case - the gaming side of me grumbles and if I'm building my machine it needs to look pretty. For the sake of £30 extra on some basic case let's make it look cool with pretty lights


1 CP-69Z-IN Intel Core i7-12700K 3.60GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail £220.99
1 MB-6HK-AS Asus Prime B660M-A WIFI D4 - Intel B660 DDR4 Micro ATX Motherboard £129.00
1 MY-4CE-CS Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB (2x32GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit (Black) £119.99
1 SW-18K-MS Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 64-Bit DVD - OEM (FQC-10528) £149.99
1 CAS-KLK-01626 Kolink Observatory HF Plus Glass ARGB Midi Tower Case - Black £54.95
1 STO-CRS-01681 Corsair Force MP600 ELITE 1TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 M.2 Solid State Drive £92.98
1 CA-27S-CS Corsair RMe Series RM750e Fully Modular Low-Noise ATX Power Supply v2 (CP-9020262-UK) £99.95
Total £867.86 or £717.87 without OS

Can you help improve this or reduce costs for a better price/reward efficiency?

Thank-you in advance

 

[ben1987]

If someone can help you out with a laptop or a pc, you can download Windows to a USB stick and buy a Windows key online for <£20 giving you an extra £130

 

[Rob_B]

So to be clear, no gpu needed?
Any production, editing etc? If not pretty much anything from the last few years will run basic PC "stuff" and something like citrix.
For the prices you've got there you could go AM5 if you could scrape by with 32GB

 

[Aboringaccountant]

If someone can help you out with a laptop or a pc, you can download Windows to a USB stick and buy a Windows key online for <£20 giving you an extra £130

Ahh thanks! I just did some googling. I see I can download MS windows 11 Pro and then no questions asked get a key for a few quid.

So to be clear, no gpu needed?
Any production, editing etc? If not pretty much anything from the last few years will run basic PC "stuff" and something like citrix.
For the prices you've got there you could go AM5 if you could scrape by with 32GB

AMD normally the gamers choice? Deffo won't need a graphics card - value my marriage. No editing either.

 

[Tetras]

I probably can't afford anything more in my budget anyway. Should I be looking at i5?

For your usage the 12600K should be fine, yes, though the 12700K is priced pretty well. The main difference is that the 12700K has 2 extra P-Cores (8 versus 6).

I'd suggest a freezer 36 for the cooler (K CPUs don't have one in the box).

Motherboard - I have two old monitors (8 years old) and so I need two display ports. Can I get a splitter if your motherboard suggestion only has one?

DP to HDMI you can do with a cable or a passive adapter. Gigabyte's B760M DS3H has 2x DP, I believe.

SSD - I want 1TB and picked this because I hope using a similar make helps cohesion!

Not important to have the same brand, bit pricey for 1TB too.

I don't think DDR5 is probably worth the extra $$ for my needs?? so opting for DDR4 to keep price down

How much memory are you likely to need? I don't think performance will matter, but DDR5 does have much higher max capacity.

 

[mickyflinn]

AM5 alternative with 7600.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 7600 Six Core 5.10GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DW-AM) = £179.99
• 1 x Asus TUF Gaming B650-E WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASU-02136) = £154.99
• 1 x TeamGroup Vulcan EXPO 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C38 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (FLABD532G6000HC38ADC01) (SKU: MY-0B2-TG) = £89.99
• 1 x CORSAIR RM Series RM650 Fully Modular 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply (SKU: POW-CRS-01425) = £79.99
• 1 x WD Black SN770 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS100T3X0E) (SKU: HD-58F-WD) = £59.99
• 1 x Kolink Observatory HF Plus Glass ARGB Midi Tower Case - Black (SKU: CAS-KLK-01626) = £54.95

Total: £619.90 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[Aboringaccountant]

For your usage the 12600K should be fine, yes, though the 12700K is priced pretty well. The main difference is that the 12700K has 2 extra P-Cores (8 versus 6).

I'd suggest a freezer 36 for the cooler (K CPUs don't have one in the box).


DP to HDMI you can do with a cable or a passive adapter. Gigabyte's B760M DS3H has 2x DP, I believe.


Not important to have the same brand, bit pricey for 1TB too.


How much memory are you likely to need? I don't think performance will matter, but DDR5 does have much higher max capacity.

I can't stand slow computers. When I click it must open instantly. Running Windows 11, I can't think I want to start out below 16. Windows requires 4 as a minimum I understand. Is 32 and overkill and unnecessary?

For the sake of a few pounds I'd rather have a better quality SSD piece?

AM5 alternative with 7600.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 7600 Six Core 5.10GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DW-AM) = £179.99
• 1 x Asus TUF Gaming B650-E WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASU-02136) = £154.99
• 1 x TeamGroup Vulcan EXPO 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C38 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (FLABD532G6000HC38ADC01) (SKU: MY-0B2-TG) = £89.99
• 1 x CORSAIR RM Series RM650 Fully Modular 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply (SKU: POW-CRS-01425) = £79.99
• 1 x WD Black SN770 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS100T3X0E) (SKU: HD-58F-WD) = £59.99
• 1 x Kolink Observatory HF Plus Glass ARGB Midi Tower Case - Black (SKU: CAS-KLK-01626) = £54.95

Total: £619.90 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

Wow. That's quite an incredible spec for the money. There's a DDR5 in there, too. I note that this processor has half the core and nearly half the threads for £40 less. Is that irrelevant for me and my needs?

 

[Rob_B]

I'd absolutely go AM5 for the same price (32GB is plenty if you're not gaming or editing etc) as it gives you a decent upgrade path. The 7700 has 8 cores for a bit of future proofing if that's important to you.
The mobo above has HDMI & DP so just check you have the two monitor inputs.

To be fair you could build a cheap AM4 based system for peanuts which has its drawbacks but for just general desktop usage would still be overkill.

 

[mickyflinn]

I can't stand slow computers. When I click it must open instantly. Running Windows 11, I can't think I want to start out below 16. Windows requires 4 as a minimum I understand. Is 32 and overkill and unnecessary?

For the sake of a few pounds I'd rather have a better quality SSD piece?



Wow. That's quite an incredible spec for the money. There's a DDR5 in there, too. I note that this processor has half the core and nearly half the threads for £40 less. Is that irrelevant for me and my needs?

Core count is only relevant if your going to use them and as your is mainly an office pc your probably not going to stress the CPU and cores

Theres no denying the 12700k is a decent option and would last you well don't forget you will need a CPU cooler for that.

AmD will offer you upgrade paths so that's something to consider but there's no bad choice with either option .

I've done a resuffle intel build with 12600k and Rx 6600 so you can happily play games and 1080p as your never to old

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x CORSAIR RM Series RM650 Fully Modular 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply (SKU: POW-CRS-01425) = £79.99
• 1 x WD Black SN770 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS100T3X0E) (SKU: HD-58F-WD) = £59.99
• 1 x Kolink Observatory HF Plus Glass ARGB Midi Tower Case - Black (SKU: CAS-KLK-01626) = £54.95
• 1 x Intel Core i5-12600K 3.70GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-69X-IN) = £179.99
• 1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (SKU: MY-0AJ-TG) = £55.99
• 1 x MSI Pro B760-P WIFI DDR4 (LGA 1700) DDR4 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-37J-MS) = £129.99
• 1 x PowerColor Radeon RX 6600 Fighter 8GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-1AD-PC) = £179.99

Total: £740.89 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[Joxeon]

Intel are launching a new platform with arrow lake next month so maybe worth waiting to see what those are like before pulling the trigger.

 

[Tetras]

I can't stand slow computers. When I click it must open instantly. Running Windows 11, I can't think I want to start out below 16. Windows requires 4 as a minimum I understand. Is 32 and overkill and unnecessary?

It is really hard to say without monitoring your usage and knowing how you use your PC.

For someone who just opens up a few Office apps, 32GB is more than enough and 64GB is in silly season territory. I just wouldn't want to assume, because you never know what someone is actually doing with their PC.

If you have encountered running out of memory often enough to know what happens when you do, then your usage is more demanding than normal already.

For the sake of a few pounds I'd rather have a better quality SSD piece?

I would generally stay away from budget SSDs even for office PCs, but a high-end SSD is overkill. I'm not against doing it, but when the price of a 1TB drive approaches a decent 2TB drive like WD's SN770, I start to question the value for money.

 

[Aboringaccountant]

Thanks so much. My wife actually works evenings to midnight 3 days a week. If I sneaked a graphics card after the initial build (so keep the budget and get card later on) would either my original Intel or @mickyflinn Amd non gaming bundle work or would i need to be honest and get Mickys second gaming bundle right off the bat, with say a graphics card like radeon rx6600 or better?

If I did sneakily fancy some gaming would these pc specs cope with a standard car racing game/Microsoft flight simulator (the most recent 2020 windows 10 deluxe edition)? maybe thats a question too far!

Many thanks for your input so far

 

[Tetras]

would i need to be honest and get Mickys second gaming bundle right off the bat

If you buy a KF instead of the K, you save a bit of money on the cost and you now need a graphics card in the PC *wink wink*

 

[Gray2233]

Thanks so much. My wife actually works evenings to midnight 3 days a week. If I sneaked a graphics card after the initial build (so keep the budget and get card later on) would either my original Intel or @mickyflinn Amd non gaming bundle work or would i need to be honest and get Mickys second gaming bundle right off the bat, with say a graphics card like radeon rx6600 or better?

The 6600 with the specs suggested should work fine with the game types you've mentioned, as long as you don't want to crank the details up to max at a ridiculous resolution anyway.

If you can stretch to £300 for the GPU you can get a substantially faster 6750XT for £300 which would help your "gaming" a lot, but might not be worth it if you only dabble.

 

[Aboringaccountant]

If I went with the AMD bundle and switched out Micky's Corsair 650 PSU for my 750e for just an extra £20, am I hedging my bets for upgrading/getting a better graphics card in the future? I had a look, and it seems that more of the newer cards all say 700W minimum.

Would I be also ok to switch the RAM to Corsair Vengeance RGB 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel ?

 

[Rob_B]

That RAM will likely be fine (no expo but will still work) , but for £20 extra they are (for your usage) barely faster, you'd likely never notice unless you want the bling!

What's the 750e? More wattage is better, allows some headroom, just don't buy a worse higher wattage psu.

 

[Aboringaccountant]

Corsair RMe Series RM750e Fully Modular Low-Noise ATX Power Supply v2 (CP-9020262-UK)

Order Corsair RMe Series RM750e Fully Modular Low-Noise ATX Power Supply v2 (CP-9020262-UK) now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

V

CORSAIR RM Series RM650 Fully Modular 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply

Order CORSAIR RM Series RM650 Fully Modular 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

 

[Quartz]

Need a work from home PC, good WIFI connectivity essential, use two monitors

To what extent do you use Excel? Do you have huge multi-tab worksheets? Excel can make use of many cores.

Rather than a huge PC box, if you're really not going to game, you might look at NUC style PCs. Take a gander at ETA Prime and Servethehome on YouTube.

 

[ben1987]

Love this. Man asks for office PC and gets talked into gaming pc.

If I went with the AMD bundle and switched out Micky's Corsair 650 PSU for my 750e for just an extra £20, am I hedging my bets for upgrading/getting a better graphics card in the future? I had a look, and it seems that more of the newer cards all say 700W minimum.

Would I be also ok to switch the RAM to Corsair Vengeance RGB 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel ?

You would want the AMD Expo version of the ram if going down the AM5 route. Same price. Would work fine then if you want to pay the extra

Bit more headroom on the PSU again if you want to pay a little extra isn’t going to hurt

 

[Tetras]

Love this. Man asks for office PC and gets talked into gaming pc.

All part of the service!