Help me build a fast PC for general long term use

[RS2OOO]

Hi all,

I hope you have all been well since my last post around 9 years ago!

Back in 2011 with some help from this forum, I purchased the 3rd gen PC spec pasted below. The machine is in use for around 10 hours per day, averaging 6 days per week, and has been every day for the last 11 years with zero issues whatsoever.

It has been an absolute joy to use, with the only change in that time being an upgrade to larger SSDs. In short, it is perfect, and has been ultra reliable.

The only things I think I got wrong with this build, despite rarely using the machine for gaming, is that after a couple of years I almost certainly felt I'd under-specced the GPU. Possibly I over-specced the Motherboard, so maybe I should have used a cheaper Motherboard and a better GPU.

Here is that original spec:

Case
COOLERMASTER SILENCIO 550 QUIET MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-3770 (3.4GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z77-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPERX BEAST DUAL-DDR3 1866MHz X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
1GB AMD RADEON™ HD7770 - DVI,HDMI,DP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 3 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON V300 SSD, SATA 6 Gb (450MB/R, 450MB/W)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW
Power Supply
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
Extra Case Fans
1 x 12CM Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof) (£5)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)
USB Options
2 PORT USB 3.0 INTERNAL PCI-EX CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)


Time has come to think about a replacement, budget around the £1500 mark. All I want is an updated version of what I have, and something that will see me through the next 10+ years. It needs to be fast for general use (Over 100 internet tabs open at a time, various work programs running, and good for editing video from time to time, but also usable if I decide to play a game.

I've come up with the following spec, which is a bit over budget so any advice on unnecessary spec would be greatly appreciated, but at the same time, a fast reasonably future proof PC that isn't drawing unnecessary levels of power consumption needs to be prioritised over and above the final price.

Case
Send In Your Own Case
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 12-Core Processor i7-12700KF (3.6GHz) 25MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z790-P (DDR5, LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 4800MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR, 1625MB/sW)
1st Storage Drive
4TB SEAGATE IRONWOLF PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 128MB CACHE
1st Storage Drive
4TB SEAGATE IRONWOLF PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 128MB CACHE
RAID
RAID 1 (MIRRORED VOLUME - 2 x same size & model HDD / SSD)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
USB 3.0 EXTERNAL SD/MICRO SD CARD READER
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CX-M Series™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® BRONZE
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 RGB V3 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
2 x 120mm Thermaltake TOUGHFAN 12 Case Fans
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy™ FX
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
2 PORT (1 x TYPE A, 1 x TYPE C) USB 3.1 PCI-E CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Keyboard & Mouse
PCS BK110 USB KEYBOARD
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 - Subject to stock availability on pre-order products
Price: £1,686.00 including VAT and Delivery


I would be very grateful on any pointers as to where I might be spending money unnecessarily, or where a performance advantage can be obtained for little extra cash, and also for things like the PSU, would a Gold rated 80+ pay for itself in energy savings compared to the bronze?
Finally to note, I will be adding 2 or more additional hard drives so these need accounting for with the power consumption.

 

[RS2OOO]

Having slept on this I've made a few changes to bring costs down.

Amended spec and highlighted reasoning listed below, would appreciate any thoughts. SD card reader removed as my case already has one. Total cost reduced by over £100 to £1581

Case
Send In Your Own Case
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 12-Core Processor i7-12700KF (3.6GHz) 25MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z790-P (DDR5, LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready - Is this worth the extra £15 over a Gigabyte Z690 UD, I assume yes, but interested in thoughts.
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 4800MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
3TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE - As I'm using Raid my thinking is that cheaper generic discs will be adequate instead of the Seagate Iron Wolfs. Not sure if this is a good idea or a false economy. It knocks off circa £90.
1st Storage Drive
3TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
RAID
RAID 1 (MIRRORED VOLUME - 2 x same size & model HDD / SSD)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CX-M Series™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® BRONZE
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 RGB V3 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
1x 120mm Thermaltake TOUGHFAN 12 Case Fan
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
2 PORT (1 x TYPE A, 1 x TYPE C) USB 3.1 PCI-E CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS - Could someone advise if I need this in order to obtain a front USB C port?
Operating System
Windows 11 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Keyboard & Mouse
PCS BK110 USB KEYBOARD
Mouse Pad
PCS Mouse Mat
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 5 to 8 working days
Price: £0.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z790-ddr5-pc/v2DtsSbe7p/

 

[TonyCarter]

What monitors/resolution are you expecting to game at? What games? The GTX1660 Super is a 1080p GPU.

What's the reasoning for the RAID? Just redundancy, or speed? Ironwolfs are reliable, if a little noisy, and are the only option here if you want the 7200rpm above 3TB.

 

[RS2OOO]

RAID = just redundancy. I can be a little lazy backing stuff up. Currently photos, videos, documents etc auto download into D drive, then I manually copy them into E drive (manual RAID if you like) as extra back up, then 6 Monthly I copy E drive onto an external disc. Whilst I understand RAID should never be used as a form of back-up, it saves me doing what I already do manually whilst protecting up to 6 months worth of data if one drive failed. I do video editing etc from the D drive, where I assume, 7200rpm is an advantage, or at least feels like it to me.

Currently use 2x Dell S2421H 24" 1920x1080 75Hz monitors. This is bound to change (be upgraded) at some point during the PC ownership.

How often will I be gaming - rarely, maybe get into something for 1 month a year.

The HD7770 was a mistake from day one on the existing build, I wish I specced it higher. It even struggles when having 2xHD movies/videos playing at the same time, don't want to make the same mistake again, but happy to be told if I've gone overkill for my needs with the suggestion of an alternative. I think if I had originally specced the HD7970 (R9 280x??) it would have been adequate for my needs, so a modern Nvidia equivalent would likely be adequate.

​

 

[TonyCarter]

What case is this going into, as the 12th gen Intel chips get quite hot and need decent cooling. Normally I'd suggest a Corsair AIO (non-conductive liquid cooler, with radiator & fans), but I don't know if your case has a solid or vented top to expel the warm air. The PCS Frostflow 100 will not be enough.

I'd also suggest changing the CPU a 13th Gen chip...the 13600KF is probably the equivalent to the 12th Gen 12700KF.

Even if you keep the 2 internal HDDs, I'd run automated daily back-ups (using Acronis TrueImage, R-Drive Image, or similar) to an external drive(s), alternating between them (or even keeping one for daily, and one for weekly) instead of the RAID and manual backups. The only manual bit you may need is the optical disc backups, but I'm sure there's a way to get the back-up software to prompt for those too! Don't forget about cloud backups too!

I'd also consider going up a level on the PSU (e.g. TXm models), as they use higher spec components and better fans (and the fan can turn off when it's not needed, so they're quieter and more efficient (plus they're semi/fully-modular so that unused cables can be removed, rather than stuffed out of the way in the case). A '80-Plus Gold' is rated to be about 5% more efficient than an '80-Plus Bronze'...but I've no idea how much actual cash saving that works out to, as it will depend on your actual energy consumption and cost per KW.

If you don't have a need for the extra 'enterprise' features of W11 Pro, then you can save £25 by using W11 Home...this would cancel out the extra £24 of the better PSU.

Assuming the same case as you currently have, and ruling out the option of fitting an AIO cooler, then this is where I'd be at...

Case
Send In Your Own Case
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 14-Core Processor i5-13600KF (3.5GHz) 24MB Cache - newest generation, broadly equivalent performance to the older 12700KF
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z790-P (DDR5, LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready - Prime Z690 version would also be suitable, but can't see on the configurator
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5600MHz (2 x 16GB) - much faster RAM for not a lot more cash
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
3TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
2nd Storage Drive
3TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
RAID
RAID 1 (MIRRORED VOLUME - 2 x same size & model HDD / SSD)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CX-M Series™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® BRONZE - would suggest the TX-M model, but not currently in stock
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 200 Series High Performance CPU Cooler - largest air cooler in stock, but would prefer an AIO on the 12/13th Gen Intel
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
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 - extra ports shouldn't be needed, but will depend on your case as to where they are
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003] - fine unless you have a specific need for any of the 'Pro' features
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Keyboard & Mouse
PCS BK110 USB KEYBOARD
Mouse Pad
PCS Mouse Mat
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 - Subject to stock availability on pre-order products
Price: £1,554.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z790-ddr5-pc/xgzFurQYFx/

 

[RS2OOO]

Thank you @TonyCarter for your efforts.

Really interesting what you've done there with the switch to the later i5. Not going to have time to fully absorb your suggested specs until I log on again this evening or tomorrow, but a quick google backs up what you've said about the i5, even though multi-tasking and running programs is my main PC use, the i5 seems to perform slightly better in most scenarios from what I read. This is something I wouldn't have considered checking out because back when I specced my current PC the i7s were always miles ahead.

My case is the same Silencio 550 (see my old posts for pics), agree this is dated, but it still looks nice, is very quiet and plenty of room inside, and I happen to have a brand new spare one that I picked up for a tenner. It takes 3 case fans, but cooling is definitely not one of its strengths by design.

I've always struggled with Arconis True Image. I do still use it, but when I go into folders with a view to restoring one it can take 5+ minutes for the folder to open, then again for the next folder etc. It has taken an hour or more before to restore a single photo that was accidentally deleted.

I'll come back on the other points you've made once I've mulled it over.

 

[RS2OOO]

Having thought about this a bit more, I've decided to go with the spec @TonyCarter suggested but also including the 650w TX-M PSU which is currently out of stock and not due in till 30th December. Had to put a different PSU on in order to save the quote so final price not accurate.

I also looked at getting the latest version of Acronis but sadly they are now a subscription only service and no longer offer perpetual licenses, so I won't be buying from them. However since my case has a hot bay, I have no excuse not to carry out at least weekly back-ups, so I may scrap the raid idea after all and go for a single 4TB Ironwolf which drops price down to £1544, OR go for a single generic 3TB drive which drops price to a much nicer £1501 and then I can just pop in my 6 year old 2TB WD Black and use it just for storing internal windows backups.

Any further thoughts welcome.

Case
Send In Your Own Case
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 14-Core Processor i5-13600KF (3.5GHz) 24MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z790-P (DDR5, LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
3TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st Storage Drive
3TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
RAID
RAID 1 (MIRRORED VOLUME - 2 x same size & model HDD / SSD)
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 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
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
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
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 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Keyboard & Mouse
PCS BK110 USB KEYBOARD
Mouse Pad
PCS Mouse Mat
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z790-ddr5-pc/QBGn3sxYyY/

 

[TonyCarter]

Your other option would be to put another SSD (m.2 or SATA) into the case. In the latest Black Friday sales, I bought a couple of 2TB Crucial P3 m.2 SSDs for £120 each.

 

[RS2OOO]

Your other option would be to put another SSD (m.2 or SATA) into the case. In the latest Black Friday sales, I bought a couple of 2TB Crucial P3 m.2 SSDs for £120 each.

There's a couple on eBay now for the same price.
It is also the same price as the PCS generic 2TB m.2 offering - which obviously includes installation and testing as part of the overall rig.

 

[RS2OOO]

Just another question, do I actually need a separate wireless network card if I'm going for the PRIME Z790-P motherboard as I was reading some specs that said it had wifi-6?

 

[TonyCarter]

There are version with and without wifi.

If it is the version with wifi, it will say 'wifi' in the description, but the one in the configurator doesn't mention it, so I'd assume it doesn't have it.

The only way to be 100% sure is to call PCS in the morning and ask.

 

[RS2OOO]

I didn't call PCS as looking at the price differences there's no way it is the Wifi version, and as you say, Asus site confirms the wifi version is actually called PRIME Z790-P_WIFI

One other thing I wondered about the build is that my case has 154mm CPU Cooler height clearance and I wondered if the "200" in the PCS FrostFlow 200 Cooler mean that its 200mm and therefore may not fit?

I did contact PCS technical team to ask but they didn't know and couldn't find the dimensions anywhere.

 

[TonyCarter]

What case is it? Is it a very narrow one? Mine is an iCUE 220T and is only 210mm wide, with a max 160mm tower cooler height.

It's definitely not 200mm on any edge...more like 120mm...but because it's an 'own-brand' model there's no website to check this on.

If you look at the fan shown on the product page, it looks like a 120mm one...and none of the sides of the 'cube' of the tower cooler look any larger than the fan...and the longest edge will be the one with the fan on...so 154mm cooler clearance should be plenty...and even if it's 5mm away from the side of the case it won't make much difference as the fan is mounted on the side of the cooler.

But the size of tower coolers needed to cool some of the hotter Intel CPUs is why we tend to recommend one of the Corsair AIO solutions.

 

[RS2OOO]

Ah thanks, that sounds like it will fit then.
Wasn't sure if the '200' was a reference to its height in view of the double radiators.

My case, a Cooler Master Silencio 550, is actually quite big (maybe 503mm x 480mm x ??mm), and is a reasonable design for airflow, but the 3x 800rpm silent fans supplied with it are useless so the rear one has been upgraded and my temps for typical daily use are ok, just gets a bit hot if doing heavy work on 30C + summer days. It has never overheated mind.

Here's some pics of the same case I currently use (I have 2):

Desktop PC Photos and Full Review

To Be Continued......

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

 

[TonyCarter]

210mm wide according to Coolermaster

https://www.coolermaster.com/catalog/legacy-products/cases/silencio-550/#specifications

Looks like the cooler will be about the same size as the original one you had.

Unfortunately being a 'quiet' case design, it means it's never going to be as good at cooling as an 'airflow' case design...and the CPUs are only getting hotter & hotter. Even if it had a more open front for airflow, it would be stifled by the HDD cage - even if there were no HDDs in it.

 

[sck451]

RAID = just redundancy. I can be a little lazy backing stuff up. Currently photos, videos, documents etc auto download into D drive, then I manually copy them into E drive (manual RAID if you like) as extra back up, then 6 Monthly I copy E drive onto an external disc. Whilst I understand RAID should never be used as a form of back-up, it saves me doing what I already do manually whilst protecting up to 6 months worth of data if one drive failed. I do video editing etc from the D drive, where I assume, 7200rpm is an advantage, or at least feels like it to me.

I'd get a proper backup system then, rather than using RAID as a makeshift solution.

The biggest benefit of RAID 1 is keeping a system up when you have a drive failure. That's pretty pointless when you aren't booting off the drive! The problem is that it's quite possible for more than one drive to fail: first because they'll presumably be running for pretty much precisely the same period of time, making correlated failures very possible; second because you can easily cause the non-failed disk to fail by trying to copy the whole drive's contents onto the new drive.

(Oh, and personally I'd want to do video editing off an SSD, not a hard drive. It's a hugely better experience.)

 

[RS2OOO]

The HDD cage can be removed which does open it up nicely.... But obviously I'll need it to hold the HDD, unless I stump up for a 2nd big volume m.2.

Interesting about the case specs on that link, I got the 154mm cooler height dimension from another site selling the same case.

@sck451 , you are right, I've changed my mind about the RAID option now. Thing is these companies offering back up solutions are trending towards subscription services which I don't like.
I bought a lifetime back up service from a US website (stack exchange) for a UK based cloud back up provider called Zools who were trying to make a name for themselves in the U.S. 1TB of storage for life. Worked great for 18 months until they gave 14 days notice to retrieve all data or it would be deleted as they were changing their business model to business storage only. I was on holiday and came home to find all my backups gone.

Home back ups is the only way as far as I'm concerned. The HDD hot bay on my case is perfect for this, I just need to make sure I use it lol.

Btw, PCS said not to rely on their ETA dates for out of stock components, and when they do arrive the price may change, so I'll likely pay the extra for the Corsair 750w gold PSU.

Just waiting on a case component I've ordered to come through the post before I submit the PCS order and send off the case.

 

[RS2OOO]

The final order.

Went back to a K processor - Have had GPU failure before and for the sake of £10 the ability to still use the PC if this happened again is well worth it.

No 650w PSU options are available, 550w would probably have been sufficient and 750w is definitely overkill but I went with it.

The only aspect I'm not sure about is the i5 processor. Haven't previously used any i5 machine (much lower generations) and found it good enough for my needs, but on paper this 13th gen i5 looks more than adequate and I just hope it lives up to that. From everywhere I've researched online the i7 looks expensive for the small improvements it will add for my typical use.

Case
Cooler Master Silencio 550
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 14-Core Processor i5-13600K (3.5GHz) 24MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z790-P (DDR5, LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
4TB SEAGATE IRONWOLF PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 128MB CACHE
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
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
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
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 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z790-ddr5-pc/!z5y4x7SHE/



As my old 3rd Gen i7 machine still works perfectly in every way except for a failing GPU I may look to turn it into a NAS and do away with all these photo cloud subscriptions the rest of my family currently pays for, or change the GPU and give it to my son to replace his tired 2nd gen i5-2550 PC.

I have another question. I assume these modular PSU's must come with a load of cables included and if that's correct will PCS supply any cables they didn't need with the PC?
I have an SSD and a HDD to add into the machine and was hoping I'd not need to go out and buy extra cables.

 

[sck451]

The final order.

Went back to a K processor - Have had GPU failure before and for the sake of £10 the ability to still use the PC if this happened again is well worth it.

No 650w PSU options are available, 550w would probably have been sufficient and 750w is definitely overkill but I went with it.

The only aspect I'm not sure about is the i5 processor. Haven't previously used any i5 machine (much lower generations) and found it good enough for my needs, but on paper this 13th gen i5 looks more than adequate and I just hope it lives up to that. From everywhere I've researched online the i7 looks expensive for the small improvements it will add for my typical use.

Case
Cooler Master Silencio 550
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 14-Core Processor i5-13600K (3.5GHz) 24MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z790-P (DDR5, LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
4TB SEAGATE IRONWOLF PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 128MB CACHE
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
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
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
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 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z790-ddr5-pc/!z5y4x7SHE/



As my old 3rd Gen i7 machine still works perfectly in every way except for a failing GPU I may look to turn it into a NAS and do away with all these photo cloud subscriptions the rest of my family currently pays for, or change the GPU and give it to my son to replace his tired 2nd gen i5-2550 PC.

I have another question. I assume these modular PSU's must come with a load of cables included and if that's correct will PCS supply any cables they didn't need with the PC?
I have an SSD and a HDD to add into the machine and was hoping I'd not need to go out and buy extra cables.

I agree with all the decisions you've made. What "i5" means has changed hugely. It's only a marketing label and tells you nothing about performance.

Yes, your machine will come with all the unused PSU cables included. If you message PCS and ask them, they may run the cables (both power and data) for you.

 

[RS2OOO]

After submitting my order I was notified that the Asus Z-790-p motherboard is not in stock with no confirmed delivery date.

Comparing online and the Gigabyte Z790 Gaming x ax motherboard is quite a lot more feature rich. Some for sale listings indicate this motherboard comes with WiFi and BT5, although others don't mention it.

Does anyone know if it does have integrated WiFi and Bluetooth?

If it does I could swap the Asus for it and delete the WiFi card meaning it only works out a few pounds more to have a seemingly higher spec board with a fair amount of extra connectivity options.

Not sure what to do as I definitely need WiFi 6 and Bluetooth connectivity but upgrading the board and keeping the WiFi card would make the change more than I can spend.

Thanks in advance.