New computer

[ThunderGuts]

Hi all,

Frustratingly my barely-used (and flipping expensive) Acer V17 Nitro seems to have completely eaten it's own motherboard (sadly well out of warranty); it literally went "pop" and took a load of components with it. I have a tame computer repair man trying to fix it, but without success so far (he's been at it for weeks) and a new motherboard is apparently big money and the suggestion is that it might be better to just buy a new computer instead.

The main purpose for a computer is for things I can't easily do on my iPad, so things like photoshop, video editing (GoPro footage) etc. - hence why I got a gaming-spec laptop last time around to deal with pretty heavy video editing. My circumstances have changed slightly though in that I now have more space available and don't have the need for portability, so a desktop/tower unit would be perfectly OK for my needs now. For what I'm doing, am I looking at anything beyond processor, RAM, graphics card and HDD capacity? Can anyone recommend a good place to look for such machines beyond the "big names"?

Many years ago I used to buy tower units from Msquared although they seem to have long since bitten the dust!

The spec of the outgoing machine was;

Processor: Intel Skylake Core i7-6700HQ CPU, quad-core 2.6 GHz (3.5 GHz TBoost)
Memory: 16 GB DDR4 2133Mhz (2xDIMMs)
Graphics: Intel HD 530 + Nvidia GTX 960M 4GB
HDD: 256 GB SSD (M.2 SATA, NVMe supported) + 1 TB 2.5″ HDD

Cheers
____________________
TG.

[doggone]

For video editing most programs can make use of your video card so don't skimp on that.
I bought a decent one from Chillblast still going strong after ten years, but having got more into 4K editing I bought another from them about three years back more or less top spec (at the time ...)
All that does is edit photo and video it barely goes online.
I am editing HD and 4K material almost daily it has been worthwhile really.

Chillblast know their stuff and build to order you can add or remove bits as you like.
Get a nice new monitor preferably Dell and you ought to be OK for ten years or so.
A monitor you can properly calibrate is almost indispensable in this field.

https://www.chillblast.com/production-hobby-pcs/video-editing
Or use that as a guide to what's a good deal elsewhere.
It's not something to be trying to save a few £ but end up with some frustration for years.
Their cheaper examples on that page I'd double the SSD mind.

[ThunderGuts]

Cheers. I tend to use 1080p rather than 4k though . . . does this mean I can get away with a lesser spec? The pricing of even the cheapest on the page is slightly scary! My old laptop was sufficient in terms of performance, but I don't really understand processors etc. these days, in the "olden days" of Pentium 2s etc. it was just a case of what clock speed it had! Seems more complex now with thread count / cores etc.! I was hoping to get something around the £800 ideally . . .
____________________
TG.

[doggone]

[ThunderGuts]

Thanks for the input. Trying to get my head around processors; so comparing the one in my old laptop with some offerings in some gaming tower computers; in my head, an i7 should be better than an i5 which in turn is better than an i3 . . . but judging by the below this isn't necessarily the case? Or am I being daft.

https://cdn.bcf.44bytes.net/files/cpu.jpg
____________________
TG.

[colink98]

the i7 you list is 6th generation.
the i3 and i5 are both 9th generation.
the latest is 10th generation.

Hence you can get a lot of different results when comparing different generations.

if its any help i tend to default to Tomshardware for these types of things.

https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/reviews/best-cpus,3986.html

they get into the details as to why one CPU at a given price point is better than another.

So once you decide on your budget you can find what is the best for you at that price.
you can also see what would happen if you adjust your budget up or down a little.
____________________
PCX125 (stolen) - CBF600 (current)
Ride it like you stole it.
ride sensible and not like an idiot and you wont get 6 points in one week.

[P.]

How much you wanna spend... is £800 the whole build?

To build something that is actually useful and not going to be a pile of doo doo in 6 months/1 year... you need to spend more. If its all graphic based, the card alone is 500 minimum for a useful RTX.

I would 100% be using more cores, if you aren't all on gaming and want to have things running nicely, just look away from Intel to a Ryzen 7/9

That has PLENTY of cores to do stuff. Otherwise, i7/i9 is all I would look at, specifically the K series LGA 1151 processors.

That i7 is an old 6th gen non K version, the i5 is 9th gen F which is alright. It is also 4 years ahead in tech, lower nm, smaller silicon, going to dominate, its like lowest Pentium 2 vs top end Pentium 4 HT at that point.

But I wouldn't be touching an i5 if you want to process audio or video, just personally. I offload all processing of video to my graphics card.

This is what I would consider.

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/MGgnRk

That is as cheap as I would ever consider going. That is with an older HDD for mass storage of photos/videos, a decent M2 for Windows and applications, a good card for processing everything and is pretty balanced with the CPU.

I kinda build machines for fun... from your description, thats what you want. Anything less would be a bit shitty, trying to spoon an i7 and decent board into that could be done but I bet the price goes up.

[ThunderGuts]

[ThunderGuts]

Just as a follow up, had a bit of a look around, this seems reasonably specified (I think, although I'm still reeling with all the information) and with that spec it's £870 which is just about within budget;

https://cdn.bcf.44bytes.net/files/5541.jpg
____________________
TG.

[Nobby the Bastard]

I've got a ryzen 7 1700 in my admittedly poor main gaming rig along with a GTX 1060.
____________________
trevor saxe-coburg-gotha:"Remember this simple rule - scooters are for men who like to feel the breeze on their huge, flapping cunt lips."
Sprint ST 1050

[P.]

Firstly, don't buy Windows. You dont need to, its available for £3.

The 1660 is turd, I'd rather buy a used 1070Ti, especially if you are considering doing any form of rendering, even our web dev and photoshop guys have a basic 2070, non-Super.

You are trying to 'get by' but in reality its throwing money away. Honestly, its why I do what I do. I'd rather people get their monies worth and not have something sub par. I see it every day, and not one personn has beenn happy with what they've bought and they then go and rectify it.

At best, change the card in my recommendation to a 2060 and the processor to a step down Ryzen 7, that is going to be as budget as you would want for what you want to do...

[colink98]

Are you going to put all the kit together yourself ?
i suspect that a lot of people on here will do nowadays, but it worth noting that its not in everyone's skill set.
____________________
PCX125 (stolen) - CBF600 (current)
Ride it like you stole it.
ride sensible and not like an idiot and you wont get 6 points in one week.

[ThunderGuts]

Thanks for the continued advice. I probably wouldn't build it myself, hence looking at off-the-shelf options (albeit with possible upgrades). I'll keep looking and might post back my ideas here.

I need to convince myself that I should be spending four figures on a computer; it seems like massive expenditure, but if it works out being better value in the long run then it'd be worth it. I think I'm a bit scarred with the experience of my laptop; don't want to be spending over a grand for the machine to pop within a few years.
____________________
TG.

[P.]

[Lord Percy]

4 figures on a monitor is unreal!!! (And also explains why you'd say the 1660 is shit when really it's quite fine enough for the absolute majority of users)

I used https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/ , it has an excellent custom building section, then they build it and deliver the complete PC to your door. Only costs about 20 quid more than buying all the bits separately and doing it yourself.

[P.]

[panrider_uk]

[Im-a-Ridah]

[UncleFester]

Another vote for Ryzen 7 - runs rock stable and nice and cool. 32Gb ram / M2 SSD on the board and 2 x GTX1070.

The cards aren't current top spec but do all i need for PS and Vid editing plus play Fallout4 @4k without crying.

I would never spend daft money on a laptop for the reason you have just run into, at least with a PC if something goes tits you can just replace that one item. Never mind a laptop where the CPU is hard soldered to the board - that's just asking for issues.
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Module 1 and 2 passed - October 2014. Happy owner of a 2017 Z1000SX, ex owner of a YBR125 / CB500 / VFR800.

[colink98]

[UncleFester]

No but you could watch other people playing God beautifully
____________________
Module 1 and 2 passed - October 2014. Happy owner of a 2017 Z1000SX, ex owner of a YBR125 / CB500 / VFR800.

[P.]

[Im-a-Ridah]

GTX 1070 and GTX 1660 super are similar performance and price, but GTX 1660 has the newer nvidia video encoder and a warranty, whereas the GTX 1070 has 2GB more RAM. The 1660 is probably a better choice. RTX1060 is better card but it's also a £300 class card rather than a £200 class card, and its still got the same amount of RAM as the 1660 (6GB). At the £200 point I'd get the 1660 unless you want to spend about double on something else. If you can't see £100 of solid value in spending £100 more than its not good value for you.

[ThunderGuts]

OK apologies for the delay on following up on this. OK, so had a mooch around and this is what I've come up with . . . don't tell the Mrs. What do we think? Sufficient to keep me going for a good few years? I presume things like additional HDD can be added if necessary (even external if absolutely essential) and the basic premise of a tower is there's potential for upgrades over time? I realise the monitor is probably a bit bargain basement by some people's estimations, but I'm not gaming! This is from PC Specialist.

Processor (CPU) AMD Ryzen 7 3800X Eight Core CPU (3.9GHz-4.5GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard ASUS® PRIME B450-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM) 32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card 8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2060 SUPER - HDMI, DP - VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive 256GB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (500MB/R, 400MB/W)
1st Storage Drive 4TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
Memory Card Reader USB 3.0 EXTERNAL SD/MICRO SD CARD READER
Power Supply CORSAIR 450W CV SERIES™ CV-450 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling PCS FrostFlow 100 V2 Series High Performance CPU Cooler (AMD)
Thermal Paste STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
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]

Monitor Samsung LS24D330HSX/EN 24" LED monitor

Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 20 to 22 working days
Price: £1,436.00 including VAT and Delivery

Cheers.
____________________
TG.

[P.]

That 5400rpm drive is fine for storage but fuck rendering onto it.

450w seems a little low for a Ryzen and 2060 Super but I always overspec mine a little, they seem to want 408W for all of those at 100%, so you are near peak.

The monitor is probably not going to be mega, but if you aren't reliant on higher Hz its sound, HDMI will be the limiting factor there.

Get it without Windows 10 for cheapness.

Otherwise thats ace.