Which custom build?

Rococo

Rococo

Rococo

Associate
Joined
20 Feb 2020
Posts
28
Hi all,

hoping for a little help here, I decided against building myself as i am clumsy and my tech skills only extend as far as changing the PSU. My budget is £700-800 and there are a few OCUK custom builds that fit, but im becoming overwhelmed with the various spec options they all have and how that relates to what i need it for. Also which is the best bang for my buck as some components are on special offer.

I have tried to do some research and it seems AMD is probably the better choice for me, I will be doing research work with lots of tabs, using programs such as Affinity software ( like Photoshop/Illustrator) and possibly music software later, also some gaming ( only older games currently) then the usual home PC stuff.

If anyone could give a little guidance on which general system is best for me and which spec variations to boost up from the generic choice, that would really help! I know im going for 16 RAM just not sure which type, and adding a SSD probably 500/480. Ive been told many graphics orientated programs and games dont need a really good Graphics card, so im assuming a decent processor is more important.

Also if im totally wrong on going AMD let me know and i will start again from scratch.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk...-5-2600-geforce-gtx-1660-super-fs-1dv-og.html
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk...zen-5-2600-rx-590-8gb-graphics-fs-1aq-og.html
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk...en-5-2600-geforce-gtx-1660-6gb-fs-1df-og.html
 
Rococo said:
Hi all,
Click to expand...

Hi, welcome.


Rococo said:
hoping for a little help here, I decided against building myself as i am clumsy and my tech skills only extend as far as changing the PSU.
Click to expand...

That's arguably the "hardest" part. Though some CPU coolers may argue differently... even then all it takes is a bit of reading, thinking and patience.


Rococo said:
My budget is £700-800 and there are a few OCUK custom builds that fit, but im becoming overwhelmed with the various spec options they all have and how that relates to what i need it for. Also which is the best bang for my buck as some components are on special offer.

I have tried to do some research and it seems AMD is probably the better choice for me, I will be doing research work with lots of tabs, using programs such as Affinity software ( like Photoshop/Illustrator) and possibly music software later, also some gaming ( only older games currently) then the usual home PC stuff.

If anyone could give a little guidance on which general system is best for me and which spec variations to boost up from the generic choice, that would really help! I know im going for 16 RAM just not sure which type, and adding a SSD probably 500/480. Ive been told many graphics orientated programs and games dont need a really good Graphics card, so im assuming a decent processor is more important.

Also if im totally wrong on going AMD let me know and i will start again from scratch.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk...-5-2600-geforce-gtx-1660-super-fs-1dv-og.html
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk...zen-5-2600-rx-590-8gb-graphics-fs-1aq-og.html
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk...en-5-2600-geforce-gtx-1660-6gb-fs-1df-og.html
Click to expand...


My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £703.54 (includes shipping: £11.70)
​

RX 570 will be fine to begin with, especially with older games.

Better to increase the SSD size to 1TB. An NVME can also be of use (faster) with Photoshop etc in some of the tasks.

Ryzen 3600 is faster than the 2600.

Better cooler included as you mentioned music work. Not sure if the precise type of work will benefit from more silence, usually does. If you don't mind noise one bit, you can ditch the cooler.

Do you need Wifi?

Estimate about £100 for OcUK to build. Inquire in Customer Service Pre-Sales forum once you decide on what you want. Spec above doesn't have Windows as you can save £100 installing it yourself (ask how if unsure).
 
Rococo said:
Also if im totally wrong on going AMD let me know and i will start again from scratch.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk...-5-2600-geforce-gtx-1660-super-fs-1dv-og.html
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk...zen-5-2600-rx-590-8gb-graphics-fs-1aq-og.html
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk...en-5-2600-geforce-gtx-1660-6gb-fs-1df-og.html
Click to expand...
PSU is cheapo in all of them.
And anything without SSD should be big no unless you just like waiting for Windows and programs to load.

And unless use is just web browsing/word processing without need for storage, at current prices half TB SSD is sensible minimum.



Danny75 said:
Click to expand...
That can be changed to £21 non-esports version to trim price down without really losing anything.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/arctic-freezer-34-cpu-cooler-120mm-hs-077-ar.html
 
Danny75 said:
Yes, not much loss I'd imagine. I wonder what differences it has other than the fan, the weight (very slightly) and quoted "TDP rating" but it'd be fine for a 3600 regardless if wanting to save some pennies.
Click to expand...
Heatsink dimensions are exactly same, so weight difference is likely from coating.
Coating that much surface area with anything actually opaque surely weights more than few grams.
And while cheap, P12 PWM fan is definitely in better end of the fans.
It runs smoothly without any vibration and sound profile is very smooth.
Bionix version just goes to 2100RPM instead of 1800, so there's little more cooling power (+noise) from that.
 
hello, sorry for the massive delay in response, i had no Internet for over 2 weeks which didn't help! Sgarrista this looks great, my preference though is for a hybrid HHD SSD, is this not considered a good way to go anymore? I also want a full size case, not micros because if i do need to upgrade or replace power later for eg, a micro will be too fiddly for me, if all of your components are based on using a micro box, it's ok as it will be a pain for you to re configure? But as the price difference for the cases arnt too different I would still prefer to go that way ( i also will be getting a dedicated sound card at some point and assume a regular size case allows more options) Also not sure if I should i get wifi, i guess i may need it, for passing music files?

Thanks:)
 
SSHDs were hardly ever any good in most scenarios.
They cost huge extra for that minimal 8GB pipsqueak NAND cache.
That extra was basically enough to get like same size standard HDD and 64GB SSD.

Only area where they made some sense were laptops with limited room.
But SSD prices dropped enough already many years ago to make SSD better choise also for laptops.
Besides SSDs being superior for laptops with lower power consumption for drive itself and faster speed meaning also other parts got their job done faster and with less power consumed.
And not forgetting SSD being lot less fragile for bumps than old "spinning rust".


Because of way smaller production and sales volumes, smaller cases aren't actually any cheaper than normal ATX "midi" towers.
In fact small ITX cases are mostly lot more expensive.

Wifi makes sense only if you actually need it.
Otherwise it's just useless price extra either in motherboard price, or as separate adapter.
 
Rococo said:
hello, sorry for the massive delay in response, i had no Internet for over 2 weeks which didn't help! Sgarrista this looks great, my preference though is for a hybrid HHD SSD, is this not considered a good way to go anymore?
Click to expand...

Already answered by EsaT. Not a fan of hybrids either.


Rococo said:
I also want a full size case, not micros because if i do need to upgrade or replace power later for eg, a micro will be too fiddly for me, if all of your components are based on using a micro box, it's ok
Click to expand...

Just so you know, there's only a few cm height difference in general between micro-ATX and ATX. It's not a smaller mini-ITX or even SFF (small form factor) so building/replacing isn't usually an issue.


Rococo said:
as it will be a pain for you to re configure? But as the price difference for the cases arnt too different I would still prefer to go that way ( i also will be getting a dedicated sound card at some point and assume a regular size case allows more options)
Click to expand...

No pain to configure an ATX spec for you. Although you can still save a few pounds on the micro-ATX motherboard as it will fit up to a triple slot GPU and a soundcard no problem.


Rococo said:
Also not sure if I should i get wifi, i guess i may need it, for passing music files?

Thanks:)
Click to expand...

If you were to add a PCIe wireless card and a PCIe soundcard then yes you'd want ATX. There are good external USB soundcard options as well.

Before speccing an ATX setup... can you confirm you can install Windows 10 yourself to save £100? Otherwise you'll get even less hardware quality as it'll be about £200 for Windows + build fee, and prices for some things have also gone up.
 
Sorry i didn't mean an actual 'hybrid' i didn't know they existed, i meant having both HHD and SSD in the same build - i will have fairly large 2D graphic files, photography and eventually if i ever get around to it, working music files, i also want to store some old images, music and films - so do i really need a 1TB SSD shouldn't i get a decent size HHD and then a 500 SSD?
 
Danny75 said:
Already answered by EsaT. Not a fan of hybrids either.




Just so you know, there's only a few cm height difference in general between micro-ATX and ATX. It's not a smaller mini-ITX or even SFF (small form factor) so building/replacing isn't usually an issue.




No pain to configure an ATX spec for you. Although you can still save a few pounds on the micro-ATX motherboard as it will fit up to a triple slot GPU and a soundcard no problem.




If you were to add a PCIe wireless card and a PCIe soundcard then yes you'd want ATX. There are good external USB soundcard options as well.

Before speccing an ATX setup... can you confirm you can install Windows 10 yourself to save £100? Otherwise you'll get even less hardware quality as it'll be about £200 for Windows + build fee, and prices for some things have also gone up.
Click to expand...

Thanks, my thinking is - how hard can it be to install Windows 10? plus i price checked a month or so ago and there seemed to be cheaper places to buy it. I am torn now on if i should go full size case or not - you seem to think its cheaper and i am assuming these days there is as much choice component wise, if so i don't want to waste your time!
 
Rococo said:
Thanks, my thinking is - how hard can it be to install Windows 10? plus i price checked a month or so ago and there seemed to be cheaper places to buy it. I am torn now on if i should go full size case or not - you seem to think its cheaper and i am assuming these days there is as much choice component wise, if so i don't want to waste your time!
Click to expand...

It's only the motherboard that's a little cheaper. Case cost can be around the same. And I've had my fill of Doom Eternal for the day so don't mind speccing. :P

The storage setup is totally up to the user... in most cases it's better to go for a large size SSD and then add more storage later as and when you need it (and more funds come in), so that the storage cost doesn't impact on the quality of the base spec. However, if you know you'll use more than 1TB rightaway, then HDD + SSD.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £699.21 (includes shipping: £12.30)​
​

So £700 leaving £100 for build fee. No wifi, just add that later on if you actually come across the need for it. Gigabyte GC-WB1733D-I PCIe expansion card tends to be a good choice, usually below £30.

Don't worry about the B-Grade graphics as the system will be guaranteed for 3 years anyway.
 
P.S. To keep Windows cost low, you need an 8GB minimum USB flash drive to download Windows 10 Pro onto (from Microsoft) and you can use it for free. I like Pro as it has a few perks and a grey key costs about the same as the Home version. £5 or less. Once the watermark appears, you can still use it free but if you want to get rid of it and/or have more control of some features that are disabled till activation, then buy a key and activate. You'll have to read up on where to buy keys, elsewhere.

You can always pay more if you wish for a "legit" version, but at least buying it later on won't impact on the initial cost of the system and affect hardware quality.
 
Hey, you need to eek out your Doom sessions you know, what with Corona, so happy to help ;)

Thanks for this, i am going to send it to the custom build guy for a final quote, the previous one you gave me came up slightly cheaper, is there nothing in it specification wise? ( the micro build and the full size one) I am too scared to be mucking about with grey keys, i am not adverse to sailing the seas for content but feel like i want my OS to be rock solid!
 
Rococo said:
Hey, you need to eek out your Doom sessions you know, what with Corona, so happy to help ;)
Click to expand...

ikr? :p


Rococo said:
Thanks for this, i am going to send it to the custom build guy for a final quote, the previous one you gave me came up slightly cheaper, is there nothing in it specification wise? ( the micro build and the full size one) I am too scared to be mucking about with grey keys, i am not adverse to sailing the seas for content but feel like i want my OS to be rock solid!
Click to expand...

Well, as for the OS, unless you find "white" key elsewhere for much less, you may want to just pay the OcUK price for Windows seeing as they'll install the drivers and all.

As for micro v ATX, either board will handle 8 or 12 core upgrade. Just make sure they have enough USB etc for your needs. I've re-specced you a micro-ATX build as prices have changed, and have included a 550W PSU (had to drop to 450W for the last one to get it in budget):

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £699.83 (includes shipping: £0.00)
​

450W is enough for even some RTX 2070s that use a single PCIe power connector but you'll have slightly more GPU options in future with 550W and two connectors.

One thing the Mortar micro-ATX does have over the Tomahawk ATX is 2 x M.2 slots. The second slot runs at slower speed however for a "medium-speed" NVME like the WD SN550 Blue, it wouldn't slow it down unless you were reading and writing from/to it heavily at the same time. In other words, if you ever add a faster NVME, use it in the primary slot, and transfer the WD SN550 Blue to the secondary slot.

With all the disruption at present, maybe give a thought to posting in Customer Service Pre-Sales forum and then actually ring them up to let them know. Not sure how promptly they are answering through forum just now.
 
Was hoping to get back to you sooner to say what i went with and say a final thanks but things got a little messed up from lockdown! I have sent all 3 specs to OCUK just to get a final updated quote but i think they are either short staffed or really busy, have chased. I think i am going with the larger case set up though because...as well as lockdown and then getting possible Covid my PC decided to play up and then get very unstable very quickly, I now can't get into it atall through BIOS but it reminded me i would be better off with more space inside for when things go wrong.

Had a look but there doesnt appear to be a 'my PC has died' sub here and with my technical level being low I am struggling to work out my options for checks, at this point i just want to narrow down if it is defintely a hardware issue. Have i missed an area in the forum that deals with this sort of thing?
 
Hi,

have heard back from then and just looking at the full size case spec you gave the price has risen a fair bit - i recall you saying i am better with a 550 PSU, the quote uses a 450, would it be a bad idea to go up to 550 but go with a lower quality PSU silver/bronze? I am also considering adding wifi cabability because of your comments on music and sound cards ( i trust an internal set up more than external) Even without these small changes the price is ( not including the build price) £100 more than your quote so any corner cutting suggestions appreciated! If you think i should bite the bullet, and consider external sound card should i get the music stuff set up and go with a micro please let me know.

Sorry this is dragging on, if you don't have time to comment its fine :D
 
Hi,

no problem, i felt bad asking for more advice tbh! I could do with some clarification on going down in PSU quality to go up in power amount, as i suspect this may be a way to cut corners, any other advice on tweaking the full size case spec would be helpful. Any idea why the costs have gone up by £80, availability(covid)?

These are the current specs they have ( which allow some tweaking) around my price range, the spec you created for me they wont include grey goods so it's a little higher than you anticipated, i guess it would help if you can tell me the cost for your spec, now almost £900 is worth it compared to the specs available in their current offers?


https://www.overclockers.co.uk/expr...ryzen-5-2600-amd-radeon-rx-590-fs-1c5-ep.html

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk-tech-labs-inte 2tbl-9th-gen-coffee-lake-midi-tower-gaming-pc-configurator-fs-01m-tl.html

Thank you :)

sorry i keep adding to this as things occur to me, do i really need a 2TB HDD plus 500GB SSD? is that the usual amount of space for desktops being used for various tasks? I do have a 2.5TB on a external hard drive currently but its a couple of years old and wasnt a very good one as far as i remember! I have an alert you have responded but can't see anything.

Tried adding extra but it went missing - was asking if the non modular PSU would be an issue in a mid size case? ( currently have a non modular in a full size case which is fine) Also currently the case you suggested has gone up in price and this one is almost the same cost, which is better?

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/aerocool-rift-rgb-midi-tower-case-black-window-ca-213-ae.html
 
Last edited:
Hi everyone,

I just wanted to thank everyone who contributed to this thread, there have been availability issues for components and price hikes, and build time is longer than usual but I have managed to order from OCUK with a slightly tweaked version of Danny75's midi spec!

If anyone has any thoughts on any major differences between:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-b450m-mortar-max-socket-am4-ddr4-matx-motherboard-mb-348-ms.html

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-b450-tomahawk-max-socket-am4-ddr4-atx-motherboard-mb-33t-ms.html

I would appreciate, i ended up having to decide on the phone and went with the more expensive option just to be on the safe side.
 
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