Current PC failing. Need advice on new one.

[AlanQ]

I need a new PC quickly. My current one (spec below) is intermittently failing after nearly ten years -- thank you, PC Specialist

I used to build my own but that was a long time ago and I'm now out of touch.



I have read https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/threads/desktop-building-guide-january-2025.67892/ -- Thank you, Scott, it helped much



My screen is a Dell U2412M:
24", 50Hz-61Hz, 1920x1200px

OS: Ubuntu MATE (24.04 LTS)

(Flexible) Budget ceiling: £2000 (plus VAT)
My computer is my main work tool, so an extra few hundred quid is worth it, if it saves a decade of frustration.

Intended Uses:
At a maximum:
I will need to run Lubuntu (low resource Ubuntu) in two virtual machines under Virtual Box (perhaps plus Windows in another VM).
While recording, and then rendering/editing, a screen cast.
With several Firefox and Chrome windows (~ 100 tabs) open.
And probably running other stuff as well.

I'm not a gamer.

I typically give 6 "cores" (= 6 threads = 3 actual cores ?) and 4GB RAM, to one Lubuntu virtual machine.

So I'm guessing a (12 core or) 16 core processor...?
Last time, going for somewhere near the top paid dividends -- 10 year old machine still does what I need (very slow to boot and get the Firefox tabs up notwithstanding).

My usual rule of thumb is to have four times as much RAM each time I get a new machine.
I currently often end up using swap space, and everything grinds to a crawl.
So that's 64GB this time (2 sticks of 32GB ?) ?

I favour AMD based machines.
I don't know how to best match motherboard/processor/RAM.

I have no idea about cases, cooling, and extra fans.
But it must be no taller than 48cm -- at which point there will be almost no exhaust headroom. That said, I won't/can't compromise the machine just to fit my twenty-year-old self-made wooden computer table
I do like to have several easily accessible USB-A ports at the top/front (without having to open the door).
Quiet is good.

My 'disk' plan is:
Two 2TB hard disks (RAID 1) for /home
One 256GB solid state M2 for /swap , /tmp , /var , /boot
One 256GB solid state M2 for the rest of the OS
The configurator doesn't like it when I choose RAID because it thinks I want to RAID the SSDs as well as the HDs and says I can't.


Any help much appreciated.
Thank you.


------------

Current (OLD) spec:
(I can't believe it was August 2015! My second PC Specialist machine.)
PCSpecialist
Case
FRACTAL DEFINE R5 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD FX-8350 Eight Core CPU (4.00-4.20GHz/8MB CACHE/AM3+)
Motherboard
ASUS® SABERTOOTH 990FX R2.0 (DDR3, USB3.0, 6Gb/s, CrossFireX/Sli)
Memory (RAM)
16GB HyperX FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
1GB AMD RADEON™ R5 230 - DVI,HDMI,VGA - DX® 11
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet Titan DragonFly Heatpipe AMD CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND APPLICATION
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED

 

[Nursemorph]

This may possibly be overkill for your uses. Case choice is limited due to the lack of choice on the configurators as well as your height requirement. The drive choice for the primary drive is a difficult one...the smallest drive we would recommend is 512GB (you could partition it to be a dual boot maybe?) as the only 256 ones are PCS ones which have questionable reliability. An alternative is to buy it with the cheapest smallest drive and then source your own 2xdrives for the boot drives

Case
FRACTAL NORTH TG GAMING CASE (WHITE)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X 16 Core CPU (4.3GHz-5.7GHz/80MB 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) AMD
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 3325MB/sW)
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
RAID
RAID 1 (MIRRORED VOLUME - 2 x same size & model HDD / SSD)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR ICUE LINK TITAN 360 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
Google Chrome™
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: £1,724.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/0xGBtW9c42/

 

[AlanQ]

Thank you, Nursemorph, that's brilliant.

Some questions if I may:

1) Why did you go for 2TB for the second SSD (vs 512GB)?

2) Was choosing 'Standard thermal paste' just an oversight?

3) The Spec Check warns about the height of the RGB RAM if I wanted to add a 240mm liquid cooler. Apart from the colours, is there any benefit to having the "...RGB...AMD" memory as opposed to the (apparently identical) "...KIT" memory?

4) The Spec Check says, "We note that you have selected an M.2/PCI-E SSD drive and a mechanical hard drive (HDD) under the primary hard disk drive option. In order to benefit from a fast and responsive computer, your operating system will be installed on the M.2/PCI-E SSD drive and not the mechanical hard drive."
Have we?
Your spec has two SSD for 'SSD' and two HDD for 'storage'.

5) Looks like the Gigabyte 870 motherboards are all sold out -- are people panicking over the trade wars? Have I missed the boat? 🤦‍♂️

 

[Nursemorph]

1) The 2TB drive was for fast storage. You know how much storage you need so can be adjusted if necessary...to be fair, I put a 2TB one in as it's habit from doing gaming specs. The first SSD will be for Windows and programs, the second for anything that needs reasonable speed storage.

2) It wasn't, no. Corsair coolers have high grade paste applied by a machine at the factory so they would need to scrape that off to then apply the Arctic paste...and human application isn't always as good.

3) You can go with the non-RGB option...that was another habitual choice

4) You can ignore that one. They will put Windows on the fastest drive by default..you only need to change it if you wanted it on a slow drive for some reason.

5) For your build and uses, you can go with the Aorus Elite motherboard.

 

[AlanQ]

Many thanks again, Nursemorph

That's very interesting about the thermal paste. I have wondered why anyone would not want the apparently superior option for a mere £7. Would be good if PC Specialist made this clear. The configurator simply refers to Arctic as an 'upgrade'.

Machine ordered

 

[TonyCarter]

Well, it is an upgrade over whatever comes with the included cooler fan that is included with some CPUs.

But PCS also offer budget cases, budget RAM, budget coolers, budget SSDs...because in some cases that's all that's needed for a basic, budget, non-gaming build.