Going OTT for future proofing?

A

AnthonyB

Member
I've managed to get my 2013 pcspecialist pc to last this long, with an upgrade in 2016, but it's in need of replacing. It's barely running old stuff like Wolfenstein 2 as it's graphics card isn't best & the HDD is nearly full slowing things down.
Complications include use for business as well as gaming (can't justify 2 separate ones) requiring costly versions of Windows/Office. Often have lots of stuff running at once as well.

I want to try and go as long as possible before next upgrade due to the disruption involved in this, so went for the below (I know little about this stuff!)
When you've finished laughing any advice would be appreciated.

Case
PCS GENESIS G1B CASE + SD CARD READER
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 3900 12 Core CPU (3.1GHz-4.3GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (4 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2070 SUPER - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W CV SERIES™ CV-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
Asus Xonar SE 5.1-Channel Gaming Audio Card
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [MUP-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
Microsoft® Office Professional 2019 (1 Digital License)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 12 to 14 working days

For comparison here is my original 2013 build :
Case STYLISH PIANO BLACK ENIGMA MICRO-ATX CASE + 2 FRONT USB
Processor (CPU) AMD A4-5300 Dual Core APU (3.4GHz) & Radeon™ HD 7480D Graphics
Motherboard ASUS® F2A55-M LK2: FM2 A-SERIES, SATA 3.0GB/s, Windows 8 Ready
Memory (RAM) 4GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 4GB)
Graphics Card Integrated AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series Graphics
1st Storage Drive 1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
External Hard Drive WD 1TB My Book Essential USB 3.0 External HDD WDBACW0010HBK
Memory Card Reader INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply CORSAIR 350W VS SERIES™ VS-350 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Sound Card ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB/Thunderbolt Options 4 PORT USB 2.0 INTERNAL PCI CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
and 2016 upgrade:

Memory (RAM)8GB HyperX FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card2GB AMD RADEON™ RX 460 - HDMI, DP, DVI - DX® 12
Power SupplyCORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
 
G

Grinty

Bronze Level Poster
Some extra information to help make recommendations:
- What's your budget?
- What monitor will you be using this with? (either make/model or resolution/refresh rate)
- (EDIT to add) Could you post the link at the bottom of your configuration page? It makes it much easier to modify the build.

For the ability to upgrade eventually instead of buying a whole new PC I'd be tempted to go for the X570 motherboard and a bigger power supply. Unless your work needs vast amounts of RAM I'd stick with 16 or 32GB but increase the clock speed as slow RAM will bottleneck the performance of your CPU.

I'll leave other suggestions to people better qualified than I am.
 
Last edited:
Dan79

Dan79

Bronze Level Poster
You will also want faster RAM - 3200 at least and the ax200 wifi card is much better.

The case isnt great as far as I know and probably want a decent cooler. But something like this...(depending on work etc a lot could be changed)

edit - I haven't changed the graphics card so some saving / jiggling about can be done when we know what res and refresh.




Case
PCS 6003B BLACK CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 3900 12 Core CPU (3.1GHz-4.3GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2070 SUPER - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
NOT REQUIRED
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 2500MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
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 12 to 14 working days
Price: £1,733.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/hT4mgfjHcq/
 
G

Grinty

Bronze Level Poster
I think this link matches your originally posted configuration: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/b9HwrJVKjm/ (for some reason it reverts the OS to the Home edition - this wasn't what I'd specified so I don't know what's going on there)

Some further points in addition to my earlier post:
- Your build comes to £2000 with VAT, so I assume your £1700 budget is ex. VAT
- I'm also going to assume you've got the 1440p version of the Acer Nitro VGO, in which case your graphics card is a solid choice. If it's the 1080p version then it's overkill and you could use a lower spec GPU and spend that extra money elsewhere.
- Look at whether you really need the Professional licences for Windows 10 and Office. If you drop to the Home OS and Home & Business Office then you save nearly £190.

I've done a fair bit of shuffling things around to get this:
Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window) I've heard this case recommended as one of the best budget cases, with good airflow so your computer stays cool
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 3800X Eight Core CPU (3.9GHz-4.5GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4) I've dropped this back to afford more elsewhere. If you know your workload needs all the cores it can get then change it back, but in most cases I'd have thought 8 cores at a slightly higher clock rate would perform roughly as well.
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - RGB Ready! Latest chipset, so will support the next generation of CPUs if you want to upgrade later.
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB) Unless you know you need more than 32GB of RAM this will save money and perform better than 4x16GB @ 2400MHz.
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2070 SUPER - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE I've halved the disk size to squeeze in a small SSD for the system drive.
1st M.2 SSD Drive
250GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 2300MB/W) You'll get much faster boot and program loading times with a good M.2 drive. The Firecuda is even faster but would push this over your budget.
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET Overkill for this system, but gives you the headroom to upgrade the GPU/monitor in future without having to strip out the PSU as well.
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD) Dropped this to save money. I've heard on-board audio is pretty much on-par with external sound cards these days, and you can always pick one up later if you disagree.
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0 Dual-band so you can avoid the congestion at 2.4GHz where possible. If you don't need Wi-Fi then you can strip the card out entirely to save £18.
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
Microsoft® Office Professional 2019 (1 Digital License)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) £5 to extend the collect & return period is a good deal. If you have it but don't need it you won't care, but vice-versa and you'll be kicking yourself.
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 12 to 14 working days
Price: £2,037.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/ssZXj4GMt0/
 
A

AnthonyB

Member
Being from an era where everything is on the HDD I'm a bit out of date with respect to SSD drives. Are you saying that if I specify a 2nd drive using SSD they will put Windows on that leaving the HDD for storage and other software and that this will be more efficient and speed up the PC?

Very useful input so far everyone - thanks!
 
A

AnthonyB

Member
Now looking at the below, having examined the distribution of data on my existing set up of a 1TB HDD software takes half so am splitting the HDD for files and little used software and the SSD for the OS and other software. Comes at top end of budget (£1750+VAT), using a 750W power supply as they don't have any 650W in and a 550W is too weak

Case
PCS GENESIS G1B CASE + SD CARD READER
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 3800X Eight Core CPU (3.9GHz-4.5GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2070 SUPER - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
Microsoft® Office Professional 2019 (1 Digital License)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
 
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