New build: Photoshop / Blender / Video editing / Gaming

[Doornail1837]

Hello!

It's time for a new build since my laptop died. I'd be using this build for working from home.

Last time I got advice from here was 12 years ago! (couldn't log into my old account )

Thanks!

Purchase Timeframe: within the next week

Budget: £1500-1700

Usage:
40% Photoshop - Digital painting / photo editing 2K+ resolution
20% Blender - Vehicle + hard surface modelling and rendering
15% Video recording (OBS) and processing (DaVinci)
10% Gaming - Currently playing Outer Worlds
15% Web browsing, Microsoft Office

Preferences: none.

Current Hardware:
- 1TB Samsung 970 Evo Plus NVMe.M2 (3years old - will use to store my reference images for work)

- 2TB WD WD2002FAEX Caviar Black (from a old pc build but still going - will probably use with a docking station as a backup drive)

- Monitors: HP Z27 27-inch 4K UHD,
Dell UltraSharp U2312HM 23'' Led HD (will upgrade when it dies)

- Wacom Cintiq

- Mouse + keyboard

Peripherals: none required

Special Needs/Requirements (inc Wi-Fi):
I'll be using a wired internet connection.

 

[Tetras]

Here's a £1500 budget Intel build.

Do you need SPDIF from the motherboard?

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core Ultra 7 265K (Arrow Lake) Socket LGA 1851 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-03111) = £289.99
• 1 x Gigabyte Z890 EAGLE WIFI7 (LGA1851) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03487) = £199.99
• 1 x Intel Motherboard Master Key - Star Wars Outlaws (SKU: DIG-INT-04686) = £0.00
• 1 x Crucial Pro 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C46 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRU-01085) = £158.99
• 1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 5060 Ti Twin Edge 16GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-04916) = £379.99
• 1 x Crucial T500 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-01090) = £128.99
• 1 x Lian Li Lancool 216 Mid-tower PC case - Black (SKU: CA-7BG-LL) = £85.99
• 1 x Antec HCG 850 Pro Platinum 850W ATX3.1 Full modular Power Supply (SKU: POW-ATC-02745) = £159.95
• 1 x Lian Li Galahad II Lite Performance AIO 360mm All In One CPU Cooler - Black (SKU: COO-LIA-04595) = £83.99

Total: £1,499.87 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

 

[Armageus]

Last time I got advice from here was 12 years ago! (couldn't log into my old account )

If you post in this section: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/community/forum-content-discussion.164/ one of the Admins may be able to help you recover your previous account

 

[Doornail1837]

Here's a £1500 budget Intel build.

Do you need SPDIF from the motherboard?

Thanks for the suggestion. I shouldn't need a SPDIF.

 

[Tetras]

Thanks for the suggestion. I shouldn't need a SPDIF.

For the best then, since the motherboard in my spec doesn't have one

Do you have any thoughts? There's enough room to re-jig the spec and fit a 5070 Ti, for example, or even a 5080 for the £1700 budget.

 

[Doornail1837]

Great! Thanks. What is your opinion on AIO compared to air for the purposes I mentioned?

I'd be interested in a build with a 5070 Ti too, if that's okay.

 

[tamzzy]

What is your opinion on AIO compared to air for the purposes I mentioned?

realistically you'd want the beefiest cooler you can get, especially when the high-end AMD and intel chips throw out 230w of heat at full pelt for hours on end.
for best performance, a 360mm aio is the correct choice here. albeit more failure points in comparison to a bog standard heatsink/fan.

tried to keep it on budget, but i couldn't. for £200 above your budget, you get: the best desktop (not xeon/threadripper) multicore cpu, and a 5070ti
it's £400 more than a intel 265k/506ti build, but if time is money, then i think the extra £400 is worth the outlay

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 9 9950X Sixteen Core 5.70GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-02674) = £569.99
• 1 x Asrock B850 Pro-A WiFi (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-04004) = £167.99
• 1 x Gainward GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Phoenix-S 16GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-GNW-05399) = £689.98
• 1 x Lian Li Edge Gold 850W Black Power Supply (SKU: POW-LIA-03764) = £95.99
• 1 x Kingston FURY Beast 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C40 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KF556C40BBK2-64) (SKU: MY-29W-KS) = £149.99
• 1 x Crucial T500 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-01090) = £128.99
• 1 x Thermalright Aqua Elite 360 Black ARGB V3 All In One CPU Cooler (SKU: COO-TLR-03256) = £49.99
• 1 x Kolink Unity Lateral ARGB Midi Tower Case - Black (SKU: CA-07P-KK) = £49.99

Total: £1,902.91 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[Gray2233]

The Thermalright Aqua Elite is excellent at its price point, but for super heavy use I would at least consider the Arctic Freezer III assuming the case supports it.

It's one of the better AiO's on the market due to having thicker radiators, temps should be better as a result and it has a fan on the HSF mount to help with VRM cooling etc too. Technically it is a little overkill, but as someone who isn't big on AiO's most of the time it's pretty much the only one on the market outside of the Thermalright options (such as recommended by @tamzzy) that I would consider.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x B Grade Arctic Liquid Freezer III ARGB High Performance CPU Water Cooler - 420mm (SKU: BG-COO-ARC-01995) = £64.99
• 1 x Arctic Liquid Freezer III PRO High Performance All In One CPU Cooler - 360mm (SKU: COO-ARC-04932) = £84.95
• 1 x B Grade Arctic Liquid Freezer III High Performance CPU Water Cooler - 420mm (SKU: BG-COO-ARC-01994) = £59.99

Total: £213.92 (includes delivery: £3.99)​

B-Stock can be a bit of a gamble but OCUK are good on returns and do accept offers so you can often get a fair whack knocked off. For the 420mm I'd be wary, the case should support it when mounted at the front but it'll be a faff due to existing fan relocation and frankly probably overkill.

B-Stock offers thread: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/b-grade-clearance-and-forum-deals.18925626/

 

[tamzzy]

The Thermalright Aqua Elite is excellent at its price point, but for super heavy use I would at least consider the Arctic Freezer III assuming the case supports it.

It's one of the better AiO's on the market due to having thicker radiators, temps should be better as a result and it has a fan on the HSF mount to help with VRM cooling etc too. Technically it is a little overkill, but as someone who isn't big on AiO's most of the time it's pretty much the only one on the market outside of the Thermalright options (such as recommended by @tamzzy) that I would consider.

thing is that b-grade only has 6 months warranty, whereas arctic provides 6 years if bought new
also the asrock b850 pro-a has 14x80A VRMs for the vcore, so should be well up to handling a 9950x at full pelt indefinitely with minimal airflow

 

[Gray2233]

thing is that b-grade only has 6 months warranty, whereas arctic provides 6 years if bought new
also the asrock b850 pro-a has 14x80A VRMs for the vcore, so should be well up to handling a 9950x at full pelt indefinitely with minimal airflow

Aye, that's more than fair tbh. (I often forget the lack of real warranty on b-grade, tbh it's "better" than it was in OCUK but it should still match the initial warranty imo).

Still, for a hard running multi-core workstation I'd be inclined toward the Arctic, but it's more of a bias on my end than a real argument admittedly. Although part of that is something you brought up yourself, I don't doubt the Thermalrights but the warranty offered by Arctic speaks volumes imo, I could care less for a media machine but if I was making money?

 

[tamzzy]

Still, for a hard running multi-core workstation I'd be inclined toward the Arctic, but it's more of a bias on my end than a real argument admittedly.

well, my spec is already £200 over budget, what's an extra £35

 

[Gray2233]

well, my spec is already £200 over budget, what's an extra £35

Look, I have a condition in which I hate working but love making money. I'll go out of my way to minimise any chance of my actually needing to do much of anything while doing so, there's apparently a term for it according to an annoyed and not very articulate ex: sorta lazy.

 

[tamzzy]

Look, I have a condition in which I hate working but love making money. I'll go out of my way to minimise any chance of my actually needing to do much of anything while doing so, there's apparently a term for it according to an annoyed and not very articulate ex: sorta lazy.

Just need to find a sugar mamma

 

[Tetras]

What is your opinion on AIO compared to air for the purposes I mentioned?

My opinion depends on the CPU you pick, how much you're loading it and your tolerance for noise.

A 265K is fine with a decent air cooler (e.g. peerless assassin), but a 285K, not so much.

Short-term burst load can still be annoying on air (e.g. applying a filter/effect) if it pushes the power/temps up enough, though that can happen on water too, depending on how the fans/pump are set to ramp up/down.

Generally, I'd say:
- Ryzen 7: air is fine, but might need some fan curve adjustments for comfort with the boost.
- i7/Ultra 7: air is manageable, but needs a bit more tweaking for best results. Gaming no problem.

- i9/Ultra 9: not ideal, you can do it, but into micro-manage territory with power limits and fan curves.
- Ryzen 9: possible, especially with the 12 core CPUs, but much easier if you're willing to run with eco mode. Gaming is fine.

The above does depend on the CPU, since e.g. the Ryzen 7900 has very low power draw and is more comparable to a Ryzen 7 of the latest gen. A 14900K is also more power hungry than a 285K, not that I'd recommend buying either.

Note that the board is a factor too, since they often don't set the same power limits / boost behaviour. A video on the topic:

I'd be interested in a build with a 5070 Ti too, if that's okay.

Made some adjustments to the Intel build, now with air cooling, but a much stronger graphics card:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core Ultra 7 265K (Arrow Lake) Socket LGA 1851 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-03111) = £289.99
• 1 x Gigabyte Z890 EAGLE WIFI7 (LGA1851) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03487) = £199.99
• 1 x Intel Motherboard Master Key - Star Wars Outlaws (SKU: DIG-INT-04686) = £0.00
• 1 x Crucial Pro 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C46 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRU-01085) = £158.99
• 1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Solid Core 16GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-04471) = £728.99
• 1 x Crucial T500 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-01090) = £128.99
• 1 x Montech AIR 903 Base Midi-Tower Tempered Glass - Black (SKU: CAS-MON-01227) = £49.99
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 850W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - Black (SKU: POW-PHK-02519) = £104.99

• 1 x Thermalright Peerless Assassin 140 Black Dual Tower CPU Air Cooler (SKU: COO-TLR-03288) = £39.95

Total: £1,713.86 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

 

[tamzzy]

A 265K is fine with a decent air cooler (e.g. peerless assassin)

265k PL2 is 225w.
Realistically with a z890 board PL1 will also be set at PL2 (225w), so would be better off with an AIO even for a 265k

 

[Tetras]

would be better off with an AIO even for a 265k

Yeah, I do agree for this usage, that's why I included one in my first spec, but going by TPU's review, Adobe apps and blender 'n such only used around 150, with just a small number of apps pushing north of 200. They're fairly cool running CPUs too, which would help.

 

[Doornail1837]

Thanks for the explanation and insight on AIOs. Unfortunately I can't push to £1900 but thanks anyway.


I noticed the Zotac GeForce RTX 5070 Ti is current on pre-order at OCUK. Are there any alternative GPU's you could suggest as there doesn't seem to be an Eta for it.

 

[Tetras]

Are there any alternative GPU's you could suggest as there doesn't seem to be an Eta for it.

The reason we normally suggest Zotac is the long warranty (3yr + 2yr if you register with them) and UK returns. I can't find warranty length on OCUK's listings for the other cards.