Please spec me a quiet, future-proof desktop PC

Associate
Joined
31 Oct 2004
Posts
287
Hi, it's been years since I last built a system from scratch, so I'm looking for some advice from you fine people. My wife's PC is getting long in the tooth, so I'm going to put something new together (or buy pre-built, if I can get what she needs that way). Budget is £2000, but rather do it for half that if possible!

Here's the requirements:
  • Quiet! (this is the main thing - doesn't have to be totally silent, but she's fed up with the noisy fans on her current PC)
  • Zippy (should boot into Windows in seconds, be able to run multiple apps at once without complaining: Internet (Chrome, with loads of tabs open including BBC iPlayer); Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint; Endnote; RevMan; SPSS/Stata/Mplus; SQL; R and R Studio (juggling a very large database, with 500k rows and 200+ columns); Spotify; Photoshop; simple games like Hearthstone, Civilization V, windowed on a 1080p monitor). Not necessarily all at once, but you get the idea
  • Future-proof (be good if no upgrades required for 5 years or so)
  • Storage - at least 2TB, 500MB of which on an SSD
  • Stable. No overclocking needed, unless required for value for money / future headroom. Generally prefer to keep it cool, quiet and no fuss.
No need for peripherals.

Hopefully that gives enough to go on! Many thanks in advance for any ideas (even if just individual low-noise components like PSU etc).
 
Associate
OP
Joined
31 Oct 2004
Posts
287
Wow - thanks all! A lot of food for thought here. ATX vs mini ITX, passive or semi-passive PSU, 16 vs 32 GB, Coffee Lake vs Ryzen Threadripper...

On the last point, it looks like the performance of the i7 8700 and Ryzen 1900X is similar, with the Ryzen edging it with heavy multi-threaded apps/multitasking. The Ryzen also has a higher wattage though, so I'm guessing it runs hotter?
 
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