Spec Check

[Grumpins]

Monitor - Two monitors both 1080p, one is my main gaming monitor with high refresh rate (up to 240hz) and the other is just a bog standard 1080p monitor that has code or youtube on it .

Uses - Mainly for gaming, game dev, music composing (Cubase). I've gone for a 4TB SSD which might seem like overkill but I want to future proof against big games and potentially large sample libraries that take up a ton of space. Don't want to be in the situation where I have games/apps spread across various drives.

Budget -Around 2k is what I've gone with at the moment. Slightly flexible but don't want to budget creep too much.

Graphics Card - Originally the build was with the 6GB 2060 RTX but it's out of stock. My current machine uses the 6GB 1060 GTX, comparisons looks like it's quite a nice upgrade and I've been looking forward to some ray tracing.

This build below is what I was looking at, almost bought it until I found the forum and the "Check this spec!" section. I've also read a bit about the Intel vs AMD so happy to be pointed towards an AMD build that beats the i9. Thanks for your time.

PCSPECIALIST.CO.UK SPECIFICATION

The specification below has been formatted so you can easily copy and paste this to our forums when discussing your specification. Once you've copied the specification, please click here to continue.
Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX TD500 MESH ARGB GAMING CASE Not overly bothered with a cool RGB case but most with front fans have them anyway.
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 10 Core Processor i9-10900X (3.7GHz) 19.25MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X299-E GAMING II: ATX, USB 3.2, SATA 6 GB/s, Wi-Fi AC - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 - HDMI, DP Might go with 2060 RTX but it's currently out of stock.
1st Storage Drive
4TB Samsung 870 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CV SERIES™ CV-650 POWER SUPPLY Can probably go with lower here, but the difference in price between 550->650 seemed a no brainer.
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H60 2018 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
2x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 6 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
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Surge Protection
6 Socket 2m Surge Protector
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 - Subject to stock availability on pre-order products
Price: £2,182.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-x299-pc/c0w9Adt6cZ/

 

[Citrus_9]

May I ask why Intel when AMD is currently much much much much much much much much much much much much much much better?

P.s. I typed it - not copy - paste.

 

[Grumpins]

May I ask why Intel when AMD is currently much much much much much much much much much much much much much much better?

P.s. I typed it - not copy - paste.

To be honest, I have no idea, it's an old frame of mind. I'm don't know a whole lot about hardware, I guess I'm a victim of "Intel is best" propaganda haha. The selection was simply auto pilot and not knowing what I could get out of an AMD.

Edit: I appreciate the typing instead of copy/paste, that's dedication!

 

[Citrus_9]

This is what I came up with: upped PSU to 850W which will run quiet and cool, also have more room to power your PCU parts in case you'll upgrade in future - especially a big chance of changing a GPU after some years.

I also picked a better cooler - I know this CPU is really nice and very cool to have it, but it also wants to be cool (as for temps) too...

I'd double think about storage: I've added M.2 SSD 500GB - it would be for your OS. A lightning fast drive for OS would gain you a noticeable performance. Also, instead of keeping games and music in one drive you may reconsider lowering Sata SSD (for games) to maybe 2TB and getting a 2TB HDD (for music). Or even getting an M.2 SSD instead of Sata...

I don't know if a PC case you've picked is good. I'm just thinking that a pc with a 5800X CPU could have a more solid case?

I dropped Chrome - please don't tell me you're still using it in 2021. It's soaking all of your browsing data and Google using it for ads to gain profit. And if it isn't enough, it also is sucking your RAM. Just use a Chromium based MS Edge.

P.s. I've also added a Silver Warranty. It's only a fiver for extended warranty - just hard to resist.

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX TD500 MESH ARGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 - HDMI, DP
1st Storage Drive
4TB Samsung 870 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
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
Corsair H100x Hydro 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 (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
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 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
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Surge Protection
6 Socket 2m Surge Protector
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: £2,113.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/cxpVEsa!Q!/

 

[Grumpins]

This is what I came up with: upped PSU to 850W which will run quiet and cool, also have more room to power your PCU parts in case you'll upgrade in future - especially a big chance of changing a GPU after some years.

I also picked a better cooler - I know this CPU is really nice and very cool to have it, but it also wants to be cool (as for temps) too...

I'd double think about storage: I've added M.2 SSD 500GB - it would be for your OS. A lightning fast drive for OS would gain you a noticeable performance. Also, instead of keeping games and music in one drive you may reconsider lowering Sata SSD (for games) to maybe 2TB and getting a 2TB HDD (for music). Or even getting an M.2 SSD instead of Sata...

I don't know if a PC case you've picked is good. I'm just thinking that a pc with a 5800X CPU could have a more solid case?

I dropped Chrome - please don't tell me you're still using it in 2021. It's soaking all of your browsing data and Google using it for ads to gain profit. And if it isn't enough, it also is sucking your RAM. Just use a Chromium based MS Edge.

P.s. I've also added a Silver Warranty. It's only a fiver for extended warranty - just hard to resist.

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/cxpVEsa!Q!/

Thanks Citrus! I'll give this a look over in the morning. The problem I have with an OS drive is certain programs application needs to be installed or are best installed on the main OS drive mainly software SDKs and Cubase, sometimes there's no other option.
So I'm looking to avoid having separate drives and having a nice fast SSD for everything games, software dev and music comp. I know it'll be expensive but not deciding what I should have installed would be a nice luxury.

I was thinking about switching to Edge, everyone has raved about it just haven't made the jump myself. I assumed Microsoft would have been just as bad as Google when it comes to that kind of stuff.

edit: Looking at that M.2 maybe you're right, I can have that as an OS drive and only install rigid programs that wont go anywhere else on there as well, 500GB should be more than enough. Not being familiar with M.2 drives and looking the R/W speeds... my god!

I think the only question I have is what the jump in PSU achieve, is it mainly the temp and loudness. The current calculation by the website puts it at a 418W requirement, but again, I'm not big on hardware so sorry if that's a dumb question.

 

[Citrus_9]

Thanks Citrus! I'll give this a look over in the morning. The problem I have with an OS drive is certain programs application needs to be installed or are best installed on the main OS drive mainly software SDKs and Cubase, sometimes there's no other option.
So I'm looking to avoid having separate drives and having a nice fast SSD for everything games, software dev and music comp. I know it'll be expensive but not deciding what I should have installed would be a nice luxury.

I was thinking about switching to Edge, everyone has raved about it just haven't made the jump myself. I assumed Microsoft would have been just as bad as Google when it comes to that kind of stuff.

No probs

In that case you may up the main drive to 1TB but direct the software library files in to another driver.

Win10 critical updates are recommended to instal as fresh OS reinstallation instead of the usual regular update. In this case a dedicated drive for OS only would be a great help as reinstalling we loose all data, and having all files, software and games in one drive while the OS in another makes life easier in case if OS goes on strike or decides to tease you around.

I've recently moved from Firefox to Edge and really am very happy with. It was much easier than I thought it will be, simple to import saved data from another browser, just takes a bit to review and set the settings (especially privacy settings are great) the way you want for the first time.

 

[JUNI0R]

I think the only question I have is what the jump in PSU achieve, is it mainly the temp and loudness. The current calculation by the website puts it at a 418W requirement, but again, I'm not big on hardware so sorry if that's a dumb question.

Citrus has covered the other questions you had nicely but I thought I'd pick this one up as it seems to have been missed out. For PSU's generally you'll want a big overhead on them. Running a PSU near it's full wattage capacity is bad for the PSU as it's being worked hard it's whole life, and therfore shortens the life on them considerably. If the PSU goes, there's a risk that the rest of the PC will go with it too, and that's not something you want! The RMx 850 that Citrus has specced is a fantastic unit and will likely outlive the rest of the PC.

For some simple maths, lets say your components need 400W of power and you put in a 450W PSU, this means that the PSU will be working at 88% capacity under fill load. Where as if you were to put in a 850W unit, it would be working at 47% of it's total capacity.

Another advantage of going with a more powerful PSU is that it allows more room for upgrades. If you had a 400W system and wanted to upgrade the GPU and it would need another 100W and you had specced a 450W PSU, you'd HAVE to replace the it (which is a pretty major job if you have a non-modular psu may I add). Where as with an 850W one, it would still only be at 62% capacity.

An analogy I like to think of is that it's similar to a car engine, with the revs being the wattage used and the redline being the maximum wattage. If your revs are always close to the redline, it's bad for the engine and could potentially break it, where as if revs are low and redline is high then it's much happier. It's the same with the wattage of PSU's really.

And that's why you pick the better PSU from the outset!

 

[Grumpins]

Citrus has covered the other questions you had nicely but I thought I'd pick this one up as it seems to have been missed out. For PSU's generally you'll want a big overhead on them. Running a PSU near it's full wattage capacity is bad for the PSU as it's being worked hard it's whole life, and therfore shortens the life on them considerably. If the PSU goes, there's a risk that the rest of the PC will go with it too, and that's not something you want! The RMx 850 that Citrus has specced is a fantastic unit and will likely outlive the rest of the PC.

For some simple maths, lets say your components need 400W of power and you put in a 450W PSU, this means that the PSU will be working at 88% capacity under fill load. Where as if you were to put in a 850W unit, it would be working at 47% of it's total capacity.

Another advantage of going with a more powerful PSU is that it allows more room for upgrades. If you had a 400W system and wanted to upgrade the GPU and it would need another 100W and you had specced a 450W PSU, you'd HAVE to replace the it (which is a pretty major job if you have a non-modular psu may I add). Where as with an 850W one, it would still only be at 62% capacity.

An analogy I like to think of is that it's similar to a car engine, with the revs being the wattage used and the redline being the maximum wattage. If your revs are always close to the redline, it's bad for the engine and could potentially break it, where as if revs are low and redline is high then it's much happier. It's the same with the wattage of PSU's really.

And that's why you pick the better PSU from the outset!

Thanks for the 2 cents Juni0r. That makes sense

 

[Grumpins]

I think to finalize I'll be taking Citrus's suggestion of AMD and dropping to a 2TB SSD with a 500GB M2 for an OS drive. Saves a bit of money and I don't think I'll need the space is OS and special annoying programs are on the main drive .

I'm going on the assumption no extra case fans are really needed because of the 2 front and 1 rear that come with the case as the CPU cooling takes up 2 roof slots.

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX K500 ARGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 - HDMI, DP (Pre-Order Only)
1st Storage Drive
2TB Samsung 870 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
Choose from 3 incredible Ubisoft PC titles - Free with select Samsung SSDs
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
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
Corsair H100x Hydro 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 (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
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
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Surge Protection
6 Socket 2m Surge Protector
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
£1,919.00 inc VAT and Delivery

 

[Bigfoot]

As music composing is one of your aims for this build, it would be good to get some input from @SpyderTracks. @Stephen M might offer you some ideas about a dual boot machine for this purpose. I am no expert on this app.ication, so might be barking up the wrong tree.

 

[MrWilson]

Just to add another spanner into the works. As the 6700xt has only just come out it is still pretty much at MSRP, and is actually cheaper than the 3060. If RT is not a concern, and with a 240hz monitor I'm assuming it isn't, a 6700xt is a much better value proposition than a 3060.

 

[Martinr36]

Just to add another spanner into the works. As the 6700xt has only just come out it is still pretty much at MSRP, and is actually cheaper than the 3060. If RT is not a concern, and with a 240hz monitor I'm assuming it isn't, a 6700xt is a much better value proposition than a 3060.

Very good point there, be interesting to see how this pans out in the real world, and wether it will be a good choice to include in builds in the future

 

[Grumpins]

Just to add another spanner into the works. As the 6700xt has only just come out it is still pretty much at MSRP, and is actually cheaper than the 3060. If RT is not a concern, and with a 240hz monitor I'm assuming it isn't, a 6700xt is a much better value proposition than a 3060.

RT is something I'd like to have for some games. Something like rocket league for instance I want the highest framerate possible but a first person game the RT would be more important. So I guess it's a trade off.
I've been put off AMD cards in the past from driver issues / game compatibility but times have changed so that's likely not a valid point anymore.

 

[Stephen M]

Cubase is Windows and Mac only I believe but if you want to try other stuff then a dual-boot with Ubuntu Studio is a good idea, its low latency kernel is much better for Music production.

There is a load of good free and open source software about, Ardour is a professionally used DAW and one of the best about.