This is my first custom built pc. I currently have a Dell desktop that has survived 11 years until my graphics card failed. I looked at Dell and I really was not impressed with whats on offer, and then I found this site!
This is a baseline spec - very open to modifications/ advice....
Price range: up to £2000 for the PC although clearly if I can get it for less than thats a bonus...I will allow up to another £200 max for a monitor
Purpose.....I do limited if any gaming! My son is a gamer, but he has his own high end laptop for that! However I do work with high resolution images, photoshop.....and I often have 50+tabs open on chrome at a time, with microsoft office running in the background. My current PC with 16GB RAM certainly struggles now.....
I want to have it future proofed...I realise my current PC has lasted an exceptionally long time, but ideally I want at least 6-7 years from it if possible.
I am very mindful of both heat and dust...I thought some case has dust filters but maybe I am wrong with that one......
Before I give my spec a couple of questions:
- when I configured this model I could only find series 10 Intel chip - why is that? Would not the more modern 11 series be better?
- RAM - is that the best arrangement....
- hard drives - is it best these days to stick to SSD? Presumably I would run windows off the smaller drive and keep everything else on the larger one? Or is there a better way to do that?
- power supply - when I tried to configure it I got conflicting messages - is that the best option I have chosen? IT said it was too powerful but then it also said I had to chose an Rmx supply...not sure what that means tbh
Here is the build and really appreciate your advice as I fine tune things.......
Case
CORSAIR iCUE 465X RGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 14 Core Processor i9-10940X (3.3GHz) 19.25MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME X299-A II: ATX, USB 3.2, SATA 6 GB/s, ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2666MHz (4 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GT 1030
1st Storage Drive
256GB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (500MB/R, 400MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
2TB Samsung 870 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
Memory Card Reader
USB 3.0 EXTERNAL SD/MICRO SD CARD READER
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 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 8 CHANNEL (7.1) 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 & 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
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
Firefox™
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 16 to 19 working days
Price: £1,975.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-x299-pc/AGzt5!CBJZ/
This is a baseline spec - very open to modifications/ advice....
Price range: up to £2000 for the PC although clearly if I can get it for less than thats a bonus...I will allow up to another £200 max for a monitor
Purpose.....I do limited if any gaming! My son is a gamer, but he has his own high end laptop for that! However I do work with high resolution images, photoshop.....and I often have 50+tabs open on chrome at a time, with microsoft office running in the background. My current PC with 16GB RAM certainly struggles now.....
I want to have it future proofed...I realise my current PC has lasted an exceptionally long time, but ideally I want at least 6-7 years from it if possible.
I am very mindful of both heat and dust...I thought some case has dust filters but maybe I am wrong with that one......
Before I give my spec a couple of questions:
- when I configured this model I could only find series 10 Intel chip - why is that? Would not the more modern 11 series be better?
- RAM - is that the best arrangement....
- hard drives - is it best these days to stick to SSD? Presumably I would run windows off the smaller drive and keep everything else on the larger one? Or is there a better way to do that?
- power supply - when I tried to configure it I got conflicting messages - is that the best option I have chosen? IT said it was too powerful but then it also said I had to chose an Rmx supply...not sure what that means tbh
Here is the build and really appreciate your advice as I fine tune things.......
Case
CORSAIR iCUE 465X RGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 14 Core Processor i9-10940X (3.3GHz) 19.25MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME X299-A II: ATX, USB 3.2, SATA 6 GB/s, ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2666MHz (4 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GT 1030
1st Storage Drive
256GB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (500MB/R, 400MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
2TB Samsung 870 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
Memory Card Reader
USB 3.0 EXTERNAL SD/MICRO SD CARD READER
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 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 8 CHANNEL (7.1) 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 & 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
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
Firefox™
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 16 to 19 working days
Price: £1,975.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-x299-pc/AGzt5!CBJZ/
