Upgrade for the kids..

Generious

Generious

Generious

Associate
Joined
21 Dec 2008
Posts
84
Location
Cambridge
Hello Folks,

I have come for some help on a new build for my kid's PC, they have been badgering me to upgrade/get them a new PC for a couple of months now.
The existing PC is using an I5-750 / 8Gb of Ram and a GT 520 all this was built years ago using leftover parts from when I used to build my own.. as you can see it has been a while since anything was done with it.

Looking at spending around £1500 doesn't need a monitor or keyboard/mouse or speakers.
Not really interested in buying a premade PC bundle as I want to get the 11-year-old and 9-year old involved with building and setting it all up.
They will be using it for doing homework & gaming they play Minecraft / Roblox and the older one ( 17 year old ) does a fair bit on adobe premiere for her art projects.

Not sure whether to go with Intel or an AMD system now.
Looks like the Adobe Premier end Intel system are the ones to go with so leaning slightly towards Intel for a build.

Could go an extra couple of quid on the parts so say a budget of £1500-1700 is what I'm looking to spend.
Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated
 
Parts list

Quantity Stock ID Description Price Total
1 MB-577-GI Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Ultra Intel Z390 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard £239.99
1 CP-65L-IN Intel Core i7-9700K 3.6GHz (Coffee Lake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail £389.99
1 AC-000-AC Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) £6.49
1 MY-4BU-CS Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C16 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2D30 £69.95
1 HS-03N-CS Corsair Hydro Series H100x Performance Liquid CPU Cooler - 240mm (CW-9060040-WW) £89.99
1 CA-239-CS Corsair CX650 650W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply (CP-9020122-UK) £89.99
1 HD-23W-SA Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500GB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive £158.99
1 HD-234-SA Samsung 1TB 860 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 64 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-76E1T0B/EU) £129.95
1 GX-04P-PL Palit GeForce GTX 1660Ti StormX 6144MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card £269.99
1 CA-13R-BQ be quiet! Pure Base 500 Midi Tower Case - Metallic Grey £74.99

Total £1520.32

Swapped the cooler to a
HYDRO SERIES ICUE H100I PRO XT RGB PERFORMANCE LIQUID COOLER - 240MM (CW-9060043-WW) £119.99

And added two more
PURE WINGS 2 140MM HIGH SPEED FAN £9.95

New total: £1,583.42

Unsure about the GPU & still need to add a PSU
Thinking about going with a
RMI SERIES RM650I 650W '80 PLUS GOLD' MODULAR POWER SUPPLY (CP-9020081-UK)
£149.99

Which would bring it up to £1,733.41 so thats £30 over
 
Last edited:
don't get sucked into anything Intel, the build above will be a EOL soon, compared to AMD that is, 3rd gen ryzen is a absolute power house for general tasks, gaming and adobe premiere tasks so it's really the way to go, plus 4th gen ryzen should be a drop in chip so no need to buy another mobo.

I'd have a serious look at AMD tbh, they have some fantastic options available :)
 
I would go for a Ryzen 3700X, MSI Tomahawk Max (or Mortar Max in you want to go MATX rather than full ATX) Motherboard and some 3600Mhz DDR4 over that intel setup.
 
wookiee87 said:
don't get sucked into anything Intel, the build above will be a EOL soon, compared to AMD that is, 3rd gen ryzen is a absolute power house for general tasks, gaming and adobe premiere tasks so it's really the way to go, plus 4th gen ryzen should be a drop in chip so no need to buy another mobo.

I'd have a serious look at AMD tbh, they have some fantastic options available :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion Wookiee87 will defo have to good proper look at the AMD side and do up a similar build

Impy77 said:
I would go for a Ryzen 3700X, MSI Tomahawk Max (or Mortar Max in you want to go MATX rather than full ATX) Motherboard and some 3600Mhz DDR4 over that intel setup.
Click to expand...

Also thanks Impy77 so that's another recommendation for the AMDs will defo have to have a look now so.
 
You say you don't need a monitor, but what exact monitor are you using?

For your budget you could get an excellent rig and a good 1440P/144hz/IPS or VA monitor, huge upgrade if the current is an old 1080p job.

I'd not recommend the build you're looking at, there's a lot of over priced components and I wouldn't recommend Intel right now outside of niche roles which aren't applicable to your needs.
 
just priced up something quick amd wise that is from ocuk :)


AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail
Stock Code CP-3B7-AM


10+ In stock



£299.99*
£299.99*



Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE (AMD AM4) DDR4 X570 Chipset ATX Motherboard
Stock Code MB-57W-GI


10+ In stock



Was: £209.99
£189.95*
£189.95*



Team Group Vulcan TUF Gaming Alliance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C19 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Blac
Stock Code MY-0A3-TG


20+ In stock



Was: £89.99
£79.99*
£79.99*



Samsung 970 EVO Plus 250GB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive
Stock Code HD-23X-SA


20+ In stock



Was: £89.99
£68.99*
£68.99*



Samsung 1TB 860 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 64 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-76E1T0B/EU)
Stock Code HD-234-SA


10+ In stock



£129.95*
£129.95*



be quiet! Pure Base 500 Midi Tower Case - Black
Stock Code CA-13P-BQ


7 In stock



£74.99*
£74.99*



Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER WindForce OC 3X 8G 8192MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Stock Code GX-1B3-GI


10+ In stock



Was: £559.99
£509.99*
£509.99*



Corsair Hydro Series H100x Performance Liquid CPU Cooler - 240mm (CW-9060040-WW)
Stock Code HS-03N-CS


12 In stock



£89.99*
£89.99*



Super Flower Leadex III 650W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply - Black
Stock Code CA-060-SF



GRAND TOTAL £1556.99
 
Here's a build with the consideration of a new monitor:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,216.07 (includes shipping: £13.20)
​

If you don't need WiFi you could drop down to the Tomahawk Max.

Much better GPU than what you specified, it's more in line with a 2070 Super.

No need for over priced Samsung drives, you wont notice the difference between them and the WD drives I've listed.

No need for an over priced AiO, especially given the 3700X isn't exactly a heat generating monster anyway, the Freezer 34 will be more than good enough.

As for the monitor, assuming you're on an older 1080p or TN screen I'd recommend the Pixio PX7 Prime:

https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/pixio/px7-prime

It's a 27" 1440P/165Hz/IPS monitor with FreeSync, it comes in at £400 and uses the same panel as more expensive offerings from the likes of Gigabyte. Would bring your total to just over £1600.

It's overkill for the likes of Roblox, but I imagine with a more capable system they might branch out into other things.
 
Gray2233 & Wookiee87

Thanks a mill both for taking the time and putting those lists together really appreciate the help folks.
Going to have to have a good think about this now, like the option of upgrading the AMD to a 4th Gen by simply dropping one in.

Regarding the monitor, they have an Acer Nitro VC271Pbmiipx
On the M2 side I have always used the 860pro/960pro's and a 970 Evo which is why I was sticking with those they have served me well in my vmware lab kit and my own workstation.
I haven't used the WD Blue's before only a couple of reds in my Synology NAS.

But I have to keep in mind this is for the kids so they probably don't need a 860/970 EVO/Pro's so again good shout!
 
Generious said:
like the option of upgrading the AMD to a 4th Gen by simply dropping one in
Click to expand...

it's speculation at the moment if this will happen but take into account that 3rd gen can run in b450 and some x370 motherboards with a simple bios update, the socket is the same throughout (am4), don't quote me but I'd say this will eventually happen from AMD, I've got fingers crossed that 4th gen will work in my board when they release (i think lisa su said they were supporting the am4 socket for next gen, hence why 3rd gen works with older boards via a bios update)
 
Generious said:
On the M2 side I have always used the 860pro/960pro's and a 970 Evo which is why I was sticking with those they have served me well in my vmware lab kit and my own workstation.
Click to expand...
While good choise early in the last decade, now Samsung pretty much brand scams in prices.
This is the real situation between drives in usual home use related workloads:
https://youtu.be/GlGjd1GZWdo?t=16m41s
Except that queue depth is already unrealistically high!

Actually even SATA SSD isn't much any slower than NVMe for loading of Windows or games:


Also Samsung's marketing is fraudulent/purposely misleading:
Do you know what Flash type drives they sell?
It's no actual MLC, except in Pro models.
Others* are run of the mill TLC drives like 95% of all drives.
(* except 860 QVO using QLC, whose actual buffer full write speed takes curb stomping from old spinning rust)


That Gray2233's listing would be basically my recommendation.
Assuming not wanting full 10 year warranty PSU etc.



heatonpkmassive said:
Intel has nothing to offer.
Click to expand...
Well, isn't brand caber into buyer's butt still something?
 
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