New Build Advice for a .NET C# developer machine

Karl

Karl

Karl

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Hi,

I'm coming from an iMac (I love MacOS, but it's not going to work for me going forward), and need a Windows machine that'll last.

I do a lot of C# .NET development which will involve running lots of websites in IIS and hosting a SQL Server instance or 3, fairly big Visual Studio solutions with 30 or so projects within.

I want code to compile nice and fast, sites to spring up as quick as they can.

I'm coming from:

Intel i7 3.5ghz quad core
32gb ram
3TB fusion drive (software driven combination of an SSD and 7200rpm HDD)
Geforce GTX 780M 4GB

and I've had that machine since end of 2013.

My budget is around £1,500 for the PC, and I'll need a new screen on top, which won't be doing any gaming, but will need to be as sharp as it can be for reading code. I'm coming from a 27" iMac screen, so anywhere between 27" and 32" would be doable.

I've got a separate 24" screen already that is currently driven by display port, but could be HDMI if necessary.

I don't care if it's AMD or Intel.

I'd quite like a white case, as I've got enough stuff that shows up dust in the office, and quite like the look of something like this:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/phan...pered-glass-drgb-glacier-white-ca-0ae-pt.html
or this:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/frac...ower-case-white-tempered-glass-ca-088-fd.html

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer guys.

Cheers,

K
 
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk...I3,X(bHsm3+V+bHsn3+VubKDh3!7XbNrf3@):bTjL3U*-

My basket at Overclockers UK:
  • 1 x OcUK Tech Labs Intel 9th Gen "Coffee Lake" Midi Tower Gaming PC Configurator = £1,521.91
    • Memory **non-Z370/Z390 motherboards limited to 2666MHz**:Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C15 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2B30
    • Power Supply:Kolink Modular Power 500W 80 Plus Bronze Modular Power Supply
    • CPU Cooler:Alpenfohn Brocken ECO Advanced CPU Cooler - 120 mm
    • M.2 Solid State Drive **For Operating System If Selected**:Samsung 970 PRO 1TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive
    • Motherboard:Asus Prime B365-Plus Intel B365 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard
    • Processor:Intel Core i7-9700 3.00GHz (Coffee Lake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail
    • Graphics:*Build Stock* MSI GeForce RTX 3060 VENTUS 3X 12GB OC Graphics Card
    • Case:Fractal Design Meshify C Midi Tower Case - White Tempered Glass
Total: £1,521.91 (includes shipping: £0.00)
​

?
 
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Thanks for the reply mate.

I’d really like to power a very high res monitor akin to a 5k iMac as well.

Is that a particular graphics Card’s job, or do most graphics cards power good monitors these days for the purposes of Operating system work and 4k video, but more expensive cards reserved for gaming in those resolutions?
 
mickyflinn said:
Onboard gpu can support 4k 60hz display do you need a poweful gpu for your work ?

Can you build a pc ?
Click to expand...
I don't need a powerful GPU for my work, but I'd like a comparable screen and resolution to the iMac 5k screens if possible, which is a resolution of 5,120 x 2,880 pixels, and the ability to drive another monitor with similar specs alongside. Does that mean i'd need a card with 2 HDMI 2.0 / 2.1 outputs / a DisplayPort? Is that even a thing?!

I built PCs back in the early noughties, will be able to do it again I'd imagine, if someone would be able to match the parts up for me so that I know CPU fans fit in cases, CPUs work with MOBOs, so on. That's what I'm largely out of touch with.

If someone builds a system for me that has a bog standard CPU, RAM, GPU and a top spec SSD because that's where the bottleneck'd be, then all the better! Probably half the cost! :D

Thanks for your help thus far guys.
 
mickyflinn said:
Displayport 1.4 and hdmi 2 1 support 5k resoloution so depending on monitor inputs then a gpu with correct amount. Im slightly confused with hdmi 2.0 b as some websites says it supports 5k but others saying 4k maybe someone can clear that up.

Ive opened a thread to try to clear this up

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.cnet.com/google-amp/news/what-is-hdmi-2-0b/

https://www.tomshardware.com/amp/features/displayport-vs-hdmi-better-for-gaming

Is your monitor 5k if yes check what hdmi revision it is and can you ourput 5k.
Click to expand...
Thanks mate, appreciate you trying to help clear that up.
I don’t have a monitor yet, so looking to find one or two with the correct inputs.
 
I’ll do just that, cheers. From what I've read on those pages you linked (thanks for that!) There are 5k monitors around like https://www.techradar.com/uk/reviews/msi-prestige-ps341wu but even this one is a grand and still comes up short compared to the apple 5k screens. May end up compromising in the end and getting 4k if it's that difficult a requirement to satisfy.

So a summary seems to be :

Intel i5 / i7 processor of some sort
16GB RAM, DDR 4 would be nice
Mobo - ?
On board GPUs are unlikely to have HDMI 2.1 and Display Port 1.4 / 2.0 ports, but not sure, need to investigate
GPU isn't that important it seems, although it will need to have the necessary HDMI / Display Ports to support 5k. No idea what card does this yet
PSU - ?
SSD - NVMe would be good, probably the bottle neck for what I do day-to-day
 
Legend @mickyflinn thank you very much!

This all makes sense. With regard to Mobo, Wifi would be good to have, but not essential, and I've been reading that the number of cores on a CPU is more important than the clock speed when it comes to compilation of code, which would mean the more cores the better. I only have a quad core CPU in my current i7, so I'd imagine 6 cores and 12 threads would be a significant improvement. Would I be able to put any rocket lake era chip in to that board, like an i7 or an i9? Would be tempted to go i9 if so: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/inte...ocket-lga1200-processor-retail-cp-694-in.html perhaps?
 
Thanks @mickyflinn - My day to day life is Windows usage and with 2 little ones, I don't get much time for gaming unless they're holding a controller too, so if I did do any of that, it would be a bit of a novelty, and not worth spending massive £ on. I get the impression that 1080p games would be within reach on this hardware, so that'd be fine for me. However, I would like to drive a really nice resolution 4k monitor (minimum) at 27" -> 32", as I'm coming from an iMac screen which is lovely. I get that I can't seem to reach 5k on PC because of a multitude of reasons, but as long as the card is able to comfortably drive this stuff, I'd be happy I think.

I've been reading this: https://linustechtips.com/topic/115...run-tests-for-dotnet-c-docker-containers-etc/

The upshot of which is more cores, plenty of ram (16gb - 32gb), a strong NVMe SSD with plenty of space on it and decent cooling are the main factors in compilation of lots of projects at once.

Happy to entertain AMD, not overly bothered over that or Intel as long as it gets the job done really! :)

I'm coming from something that has plenty of RAM, but a slower HDD (Fusion drive) and a quad core cpu, so there's plenty of room for improvement there.

Appreciate your help so far mate.
 
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This is terrific stuff, thanks mate! More cores, more RAM, ability to swap out graphics card if needed later on down the line, all looks great!

Pardon my out of date questions, but when I order all this, apart from some arctic silver which I'll get on top, will I need to buy anything additional accessory wise to build this? Any internal cabling or anything, or is it all supplied? I guess no cables for NVMe and it slots in to the mobo, and PSU cabling's all attached to the PSU!

Cheers mate, brilliant. Really appreciate it.
 
Thanks guys, really appreciate your input on this. My requirements weren't just 'gaming pc plz' so thank you for putting the thought and effort in to tailoring something for me! :D

Just got to find the unicorn that is my monitor now...
 
Ah okay, is it worth flashing the bios first thing then before sticking the chip on or anything else? First job on the list type thing, as soon as it's in the case?
 
mickyflinn said:
Your welcome, use the qoute button or tag me in, will give me an alert if ypu need more.

Enjoy.
Click to expand...

Hi mate, one quick question for you (or whoever may see this) if you have a mo, will I be able to swap that GT 1030 card out for something higher spec later on if the mood takes me? Not likely to be for 6 months or longer, just wondering if there are any restrictions around case size, PSU power, so forth.

Cheers!
 
mickyflinn said:
Yes think we specced a 650w unit so you should be good up to a 3070 or amd 6800.

Case Meshify c
Graphics card length limit: Max 315mm with front fan mounted

Correct me if i got the above wrong.
Click to expand...
I did get that unit, yes.

That's worth knowing, thanks very much mate!
 
simc1978 said:
The arctic freezer will come with perfectly good thermal paste. I would avoid the metal based pastes for fear of shorting if any of it goes where it shouldn't
Click to expand...
Thanks for the advice, appreciate the thought - Ended up getting a tube of arctic silver which has done the job fine, and it's gone quite sticky so is unlikely to go too far, and I didn't apply too much, temps are fine, so it's worked out well.

mickyflinn said:
Hi @Karl see your selling your psu cus you got a new graphics card , what gpu did you get ?
Click to expand...
Ha! Yes mate, my intentions were to leave it for a bit, but then thought I wouldn't mind a 3070, and then just happened to stumble across an 'add to basket' for a 3080TI FE, so ended up getting an RM750 to make sure it was up to the job, which it has been, but am now selling the PSU as a result. Going to lose a few bob on it, but that'll teach me for being indecisive, won't it ;) :D
 
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