Advice on cooling and particulars - new desktop for work/multitasking + gaming

M

madriss

Member
Hello,

Buying a new PC for web development work, multitasking across 3 monitors – very heavy web browsing, VS Code/IDE, Adobe Photoshop, Excel, Slack/Teams/Zoom + other background applications & multimedia.

Secondarily I want it to be capable of playing all the latest games throughout its lifetime. My current PC lasted me 8 years so would like it to last that long again. I don't need it for highly competitive online gaming or extremely high settings, as long as it comfortably runs whatever I want it to for the lifetime of the PC and looks decent. My current monitors are 1440p and I'll be happy to get 60fps.

Budget:
£1800 is the upper end of what I wanted to spend, but I could stretch to £2000 if there was a really good reason to.

Current Monitors:
1 x Acer Nitro XV271UM3 24" 1440p (IPS, HDR, DP or HDMI, FreeSync, 180Hz)
1 x Acer CB270HU 27" 1440p (IPS, DP or HDMI, 60Hz)
1 x Acer GF246 24" 1080p (TN, DP or HDMI, FreeSync, 75Hz)

Questions:
  1. Is the CPU cooler adequate and the 2 extra case fans a good choice? I'm not planning to overclock or tinker and want it to last, prefer not to have liquid cooling.
  2. I want to plug in a SATA SSD with minimal effort - should I put this in the order notes or is it standard that they would leave cables etc in place for that?
  3. Slightly confused by USB options but am I right in thinking I get 10 slots on the back (per motherboard spec), or if I choose the +2 or +4 options it uses up a PCIe slot to give me 12 or 14? (+ the 3 on the front of the case)
  4. The tool said I only need 650W power supply but for £12 difference I figured 750W would be more efficient - is that just wasting money though as the tool suggests? The only hardware changes I'm ever likely to make are RAM and SSD drives.
  5. Motherboard comes with external WiFi antenna you plug into the back? This worked well on my current z270e and I do need WiFi.
  6. Added thoughts on graphics card below.
Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 205 MESH C GAMING CASE (includes 2 x Front 140mm PWM Fans and 1 x 120mm Rear)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 7900 12 Core CPU (4.0GHz-5.4GHz/76MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B850-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 7)
Memory (RAM)
96GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5200MHz CL38 (2 x 48GB) KIT
Graphics Card
12GB ZOTAC GEFORCE RTX 5070 SOLID - HDMI, 3 x DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB CORSAIR CORE XT MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 5000 MB/R, 4400 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 V3 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND APPLICATION
Extra Case Fans
2 x 120mm Thermaltake TOUGHFAN 12 Case Fans
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED (will be using Windows 11)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

Price: £1,792 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/8GXYMdnuPa/

I went for the RTX 5070 over the Radeon RX 9070 as I thought having the best driver & software support + CUDA with Nvidia would be make it the best all-rounder, good for things Photoshop and potentially for running local AI tools / LLMs in the future (very hypothetical); but I may be putting too much weight on that vs having the 16GB VRAM with AMD and could be convinced to swap. I'm sure either would be suitable. My monitors support FreeSync (not Gsync) but I think Nvidia supports this? Likely not a dealbreaker for my usage.
 
Last edited:
Ekans2011

Ekans2011

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
madriss said:
Bumping as I've now adjusted my chosen spec + edited my post/questions to be more digestable, thanks.
Click to expand...
What's your max budget? What monitor will you pair with it? Can you add the reconfigurable link in the specs?

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Ekans2011

Ekans2011

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
madriss said:
Sorry I've added this information now, thank you.
Click to expand...
Because I am not an expert on this type of workstation, I strongly advise you to wait for the comments of users who are more knowledgeable about the subject; nonetheless, I will provide you with a starting point based on the 1440p gaming aspect and the requirement for NVIDIA GPUs for content creation.

Case
CORSAIR FRAME 4000D RS ARGB MODULAR
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-5.3GHz/40MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B850-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 7)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz CL30 (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
16GB MSI GEFORCE RTX 5070 Ti SHADOW 3X OC - HDMI, 3 x DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB CORSAIR ELITE MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 7000 MB/R, 6200 MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB CORSAIR CORE XT MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 5000 MB/R, 4400 MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR, 1625MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ ATX 3.1, MODULAR, CYBENETICS GOLD
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 200 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Price: £2,002.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/sHvtWWhRtf/
 
M

madriss

Member
Thanks a lot for your suggestions - I see that upping the graphics to a Ti would be better in the long run for gaming and gets me 16GB VRAM, but not sure I'm willing to make the compromises elsewhere as the gaming aspect really is secondary. I have 64GB ram right now so 32 would feel like a downgrade. If I simply up it to the Ti on my original spec without changing anything else it's £2,046 which is not so far over £2K so I could be persuaded to do that as I can afford it, just not sure whether I can justify it + the price is probably quite inflated on those cards at the moment?

I think it's mainly the cooling aspects I'm unsure about. I noticed you removed the 2 x Thermalake extra case fans - was that just a cost-saving thing / because of going down to Ryzen 7? With my original spec would you still include them? I had a bit of a preference for the LIAN LI LANCOOL 205 case for space-saving reasons as it's the smallest option with 3x front USB slots.
 
M

madriss

Member
Good question - it's using 38 GB right now and I've no games running 😁 though it's DDR4 3000 Mhz of course, and I did run this machine with 32GB until 2022 - it would do the job, but I want it to more-than do the job for another 8 years.
 
Ekans2011

Ekans2011

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
madriss said:
Good question - it's using 38 GB right now
Click to expand...
If you need more than 32GB, simply put a 2x32GB 6000Mhz kit (+£130).

madriss said:
If I simply up it to the Ti on my original spec without changing anything else it's £2,046 which is not so far over £2K so I could be persuaded to do that as I can afford it, just not sure whether I can justify it + the price is probably quite inflated on those cards at the moment?
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, your original spec was pretty unbalanced, with various subpar components such as a budget case, a single M.2, an insufficient cooler, and a PSU.

It's not well designed and will drastically limit your future upgrading capabilities.
If you don't mind the cost/performance ratio, go with a 5070.

madriss said:
I think it's mainly the cooling aspects I'm unsure about. I noticed you removed the 2 x Thermalake extra case fans - was that just a cost-saving thing / because of going down to Ryzen 7?
Click to expand...
Too many fans are ineffective; they must be properly setup or you will achieve the opposite effect.

The Ryzen 9 is useful for multicore workloads, but not necessary for gaming or photoshop.
If the other tasks would benefit from it, replace the Ryzen 7 with it. :)
 
Nursemorph

Nursemorph

Gold Level Poster
Dropping the GPU down to the 5070 would free up budget for elsewhere. Taking Ekan's spec and tweaking it for an upgrade to the Ryzen 7 7900, the 64GB RAM and a better quality of motherboard (have left everything else as it was):

Case
CORSAIR FRAME 4000D RS ARGB MODULAR
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 7900 12 Core CPU (4.0GHz-5.4GHz/76MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
GIGABYTE X870 EAGLE WIFI7 (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 7)
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR5 6000MHz CL40 (2 x 32GB)
Graphics Card
12GB ZOTAC GEFORCE RTX 5070 SOLID - HDMI, 3 x DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB CORSAIR ELITE MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 7000 MB/R, 6200 MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB CORSAIR CORE XT MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 5000 MB/R, 4400 MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR, 1625MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ ATX 3.1, MODULAR, CYBENETICS GOLD
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR ICUE LINK TITAN 280 RX RGB HIGH PERFORMANCE CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Price: £2,050.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/ryM7CeRKQz/
 
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