Thoughts & Advice for my new PC build

[mefys]

Hello everyone I would appreciate your input on this build as it's the first time I'm looking into a high end PC.
I work in IT and also do video editing on the side (not a professional more of a passionate hobby). I'm going to be working from home at my new job a few days a month and would like to upgrade from my intel i5 rig that's nearly 5 years old now and slowing down. I don't intend to game on it much (more of a console gamer). Just a lot of multitasking required. My budget is ideally less than £1500. This build costs £1,380.00 (if I read the correct pricing).

Oh yeah do I need to order extra fans or is that provided by PCS for my build? I want this machine to be as quiet as possible.

Interested to hear your thoughts on this:

Case
NZXT H511 MID-TOWER GAMING CASE (WHITE)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.4GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
500GB Samsung 860 EVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W CV SERIES™ CV-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Noctua NH-U14S Ultra Quiet 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 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
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 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 18 to 20 working days

 

[Scott]

Do you have the link from the bottom of that list? When you click "Post to forum" it includes the URL at the bottom that allows us to easily go in and propose edits without having to start from scratch

 

[Scott]

This will be a bit more powerful, way faster in the storage and as near silent as you are likely to see.

The sacrifice was a slight drop with the GPU but with the lack of gaming use won't make much odds to you. The difference in cash here is mostly silence, with a bit of money on performance.

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE 7 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 3800X Eight Core CPU (3.9GHz-4.5GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1650 SUPER - HDMI
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
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
Corsair H115i RGB PLATINUM Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
1x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
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
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
TIMED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND - MON-FRI (BEFORE 10.30AM)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 18 to 20 working days
Price: £1,523.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/Vx75xgHcHU/

 

[mefys]

Do you have the link from the bottom of that list? When you click "Post to forum" it includes the URL at the bottom that allows us to easily go in and propose edits without having to start from scratch

Sorry I haven't been able to find this link but I'll use your list you kindly linked and go on from there.

Just a few questions:

1. The motherboard you suggested is cheaper than the ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING I went for but is there a big difference in their features/capabilities.
2. How much of an improvement is the wireless card you've chosen?
3. Can the 4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1650 SUPER play 4K media (youtube videos, netflix etc)?

Thanks.

 

[Scott]

Sorry I haven't been able to find this link but I'll use your list you kindly linked and go on from there.

Just a few questions:

1. The motherboard you suggested is cheaper than the ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING I went for but is there a big difference in their features/capabilities.
2. How much of an improvement is the wireless card you've chosen?
3. Can the 4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1650 SUPER play 4K media (youtube videos, netflix etc)?

Thanks.

No worries, it's easily missed but makes a big difference to us time wise.

The X570 is technically a better board. It's aimed at high end though, rather than gaming/general use systems. The B550 is the newest chipset (newer than the X570) and has most aspects covered. The only reason to consider the X570 is very high end CPUs (3900X+) and potentially upgrading to such levels. If it's for gaming, streaming and general use..... you're not going to need anything more than the excellent B550.

Night and day. The AX200 supports the latest connectivity protocols. 5Ghz band is the obvious difference, but there's more to it as it has wideband 5ghz too.

The 1650 Super is more than fine for general 4k use. Any non-gaming aspect it will fare fine in. The only slight drawback would be video editing as it's not going to offer much in the encoding aspect.

 

[mefys]

No worries, it's easily missed but makes a big difference to us time wise.

The X570 is technically a better board. It's aimed at high end though, rather than gaming/general use systems. The B550 is the newest chipset (newer than the X570) and has most aspects covered. The only reason to consider the X570 is very high end CPUs (3900X+) and potentially upgrading to such levels. If it's for gaming, streaming and general use..... you're not going to need anything more than the excellent B550.

Night and day. The AX200 supports the latest connectivity protocols. 5Ghz band is the obvious difference, but there's more to it as it has wideband 5ghz too.

The 1650 Super is more than fine for general 4k use. Any non-gaming aspect it will fare fine in. The only slight drawback would be video editing as it's not going to offer much in the encoding aspect.

Is there a cheaper alternative for the case? Aside from that I'm pretty satisfied with the changes you've made to the build, thanks.

 

[Scott]

Is there a cheaper alternative for the case? Aside from that I'm pretty satisfied with the changes you've made to the build, thanks.

For silence... no. There are many options that will offer the same cooling/airflow performance, but none that will do it while being quiet(ish). There are silent cases on offer as well, none that I would ever back though as they massively sacrifice cooling/airflow. The Define 7 is one of the few that has a balance that just about any system can make use of.

If you are happy to tolerate more cooling noise then there are a good few other options down the pecking order.

 

[mefys]

For silence... no. There are many options that will offer the same cooling/airflow performance, but none that will do it while being quiet(ish). There are silent cases on offer as well, none that I would ever back though as they massively sacrifice cooling/airflow. The Define 7 is one of the few that has a balance that just about any system can make use of.

If you are happy to tolerate more cooling noise then there are a good few other options down the pecking order.

You also think liquid cooling is the way to go for this case over air cooling? Just a bit apprehensive about leaks and how long lasting liquid coolers can be. The other case I was looking at is the
BE QUIET! BASE 601 TOWER GAMING CASE - is it a decent alternative?

 

[mefys]

Liquid cooling is better in pretty much every circumstance where an aftermarket cooler is being used....they are just much more efficient at cooling.

As to the apprehension...coolers are extremely robust and reliable and leaks are rare. They will last for a long time.....my last system bought in 2012 had a cheap liquid cooler in it and it ran 15-18 hours a day, 7 days a week without any issues whatsoever until I replaced the system earlier this year. Others on this forum have run AIO coolers 24/7 for years without any problem.

Regarding the case, whilst that one is a good case for quietness, I believe it sacrifices airflow and cooling (judging purely on the number of fans in each)...if the case was like £50 cheaper or something, maybe worth it but not worth it to save £12 imo. But I am only going by what I see rather than any in-depth knowledge of the Be-Quiet case. Personally, I'd go with the Fractal as it is designed for quiet without the usual sacrificing of airflow

Thanks for your input!

 

[Scott]

As above, the Define 7 is the only one that offers a decent balance in my opinion.