Any PC guru's out there, looking for advice for new desktop

What are you looking to acomplish with this build? Recently built my home media and storage server running server 2012 

I fear you’ve made a serious error, the last thing you want is advice from a PC Guru. They’ll just use the thread to waffle on about FSB, cache size, read rates, write rates, WD red drives, northbridges and southbridges.

 You need advice from a PC amateur. I’ll dig out the list of components I used to put together a PC nine months ago.

I've built about 6 PCs in the last four years for several people.  The spec you need depends on for what you want to use the computer.

Second hand computers are a lottery unless you know how to completely clean a computer.  If not you won't know that it's free of malware

fatcat posted:

I fear you’ve made a serious error, the last thing you want is advice from a PC Guru. They’ll just use the thread to waffle on about FSB, cache size, read rates, write rates, WD red drives, northbridges and southbridges.

 You need advice from a PC amateur. I’ll dig out the list of components I used to put together a PC nine months ago.

Too right! .   There are way too many ex-spurts out there for my liking.

So what do you want to do with it? Give us your specification. A good place to start might be "how much do you really want to spend"?

Yes, Huge and Suzy are correct; you need to advise how you intend to use the PC.

 I upgraded my computer because I needed a 64 bit OS/processor. I needed a 64 bit processor because I wanted to use DXO 10 photo processing software, which will not run on a 32 bit CPU/operating system.

 I used.

ASUS A88XM-Plus FM2+ motherboard                     £60

AMD A10 7850K Black 3.7ghz (onboard RadR7 Video)                    £100

8Gb (2x4) DDR3 Corsair Memory Vengence Racing 2133Mhz          £45

Kingston 120Gb SSD (for operating system etc)          £35

Power Supply          £20

Existing case, nice and large with 4 No. HD bays.          £00

Existing 2TB HD        (for music, photos etc).          £00

Existing 320Gb HD          £00

Existing DVD drive          £00

Loaded existing W7 pro 32bit (upgraded free to W10 pro 64 bit)          £00

 Total cost £260.

Putting it together was a doddle, plug and played, although upgrading W7 to W10 took a while, but on the plus side W10 installed and everything just worked, no need to install drivers.

It’s very quick, (compared to my old PC). From power on to accessing the Naim forum in less than a minute. Most documents open instantly, apart from office 2003, which is very slow.

Thanks for the replies, to expand a bit on what's what......

I have been browsing for ages, saving quotes, chatting to pcspecialists while trying to figure, or configure, this new desktop pc.....
I say desktop, but the pc will actually be installed in a cupboard, so I have quite specific requirements.
The cupboard is roughly 1m wide, by 1m tall, 330mm deep.
On the bottom shelf are a power mains block, router, two NAS drives, ethernet switch.
To prevent any heat issues (knowing what was going to go into the cupboard while we were redecorating) the bottom rear of the cupboard has several 100mm holes drilled out with soffit vent grills, to the under floor void space. The top of the cupboard has an oval hole through the worktop for cable access/ventilation.
Over the summer I checked the NAS drives operating temperatures and all was well.
But, the existing gear in the cupboard means I am relatively limited for space when it comes to the 'desktop' pc.
I will be doing HD video and high res photo editing - shoot with a Nikon D810 and fast glass.

The following specs are what I've come up with:

Case
CORSAIR SPEC-03 COMPACT GAMING CASE - RED LED
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-6700k (4.0GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® Z170-P: ATX, LG1151, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
64GB HyperX PREDATOR QUAD-DDR4 3000MHz X.M.P (4 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
3GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1060 - DVI, HDMI, 3 x DP
1st Hard Disk
480GB HyperX SAVAGE 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
16x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW & SOFTWARE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling
Corsair H60 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Extra Case Fans
1x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)

The case dimensions are 426 / 215 / 493 and it will sit side on in the shelf. This was the only case I could find on the pcspecialist website that was suitable, but would prefer a smaller case if I can.....

What I'm looking for I guess, is reassurance this pc spec will fulfill my needs/expectations, any advice from those that have bought from pcspecialist before as to whether they are any good for after sales or warranty issues, but also - will this machine be any better than what I could buy in the high street.....

I had been thinking of an HP Omen desktop, i7 with 16 GB RAM, for £1300, and I could add more RAM, but don't think it has much expand ability.....
I would like 2 x ODD, 3 x 3.5" HDD, only need single graphics card, and I have a monitor still to budget for. (am liking the 28" 4k samsung display https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...A3IRU7Q642HWMA).

I am by no means a tech guru, we used to have a shuttle pc home build (by a friend) but the motherboard died after about a year or so, have been using laptops ever since, but am looking for a reliable desktop that should last for years, which was why I was leaning towards a HP or Dell XPS etc as opposed to a pcspecialist build.......

Budget for the box is around £1000 - 1500

Any thoughts on the above please.

Cheers,
Ali

If you’re processing photos shot with fast glass, you’re definitely going to require some form of forced ventilation for the cupboard.

 I’d recommend a fast fan.

I was hoping liquid cooling for CPU and extra fan for case would be enough - I'm in Scotland, so even in the summer the void space under the floor is single figures......

fatcat posted:

If you’re processing photos shot with fast glass, you’re definitely going to require some form of forced ventilation for the cupboard.

 I’d recommend a fast fan.

 

The lenses have no effect on what the computer needs to do as they don't affect the number of pixels, framerate or ultimate filesize, which are the things that affect what the computer has to do - but hi def  at good framerate and long movies will indeed use processing power and memory, with much transferr, so heat generation.

fans these days can be temperature controlled.

arf005 posted:

I was hoping liquid cooling for CPU and extra fan for case would be enough - I'm in Scotland, so even in the summer the void space under the floor is single figures......

Best implementation of water cooling is if you can put the heat exchanger and fan outside the computer case (ideal in your subfloor area, but may not be practical?

that then frees up the case for adequate fan cooling for ram and video card etc

fatcat posted:

If you’re processing photos shot with fast glass, you’re definitely going to require some form of forced ventilation for the cupboard.

 I’d recommend a fast fan.

 

Really? I process high megapixel raw photo images  all the time using Adobe software on PC and Mac and there is no noticeable or minimal  rise in temp or increase in fan speed. I assume you mean by 'fast glass' a  wider aperture lenses like f2.8 or greater - yes these are better for a better depth of field and working in a given light to drive higher shutter speed / lower ISO sensitivity - but I can't see or have ever experienced increased PC load in processing  images from such lenses - in fact its possibly the opposite - images from wider apertures often means lower sensitivity can be used so there is less noise in the image. For modern PCs however in my experience this just is not a serious load - even using smart noise filtering software and smart sharpening software ... Now if the OP was processing video - then I totally agree - that is CPU and memory intensive by most modern PC standards  - and without proper ventilation things will get rather too warm... my Mac and PC fans certainly pickup speed and give out heat when doing video processing.

In my experience modern PCs and Macs are a lot more efficient than from even a few years ago - and as efficiency has improved  heat output has dropped significantly... so yes in a cupboard i would use ventilation or if no real air flow a fan - but I wouldn't suggest that specifically for processing photos - I would suggest that for what ever despite the increased efficiency.

I think FATCAT was being facetious regarding the fast fan, I just chose it ignore that bit.....

Putting the exchanger under floor isn't going to happen, we had zero insulation prior to the redecorating, just plasterboard/sticks/then breeze blocks - the room was baltic in the winter! We now have 500m kingspan insulation under the floor, and 100mm behind the plaster, the bottom of the cupboard was drilled out through the floor boards and insulation......if anything I could maybe install some ducting to pc vents from the soffit vents to draw in cold air directly from under the house.....

Any thoughts on the dell xps / hp omen VS. pcsecialist build ????

I have mostly scratch built my PCs over the years  - but I have been pleased with HP machines I have purchased... and there is nearly always a good support model with a prebuilt from a reputable manufacturer - you need to take things into your own hands a bit more with a scratch built machine - unless a specialist builder has given you a good support warranty.

Agree with HP, first laptop was a dell castoff from a mate, then toshiba from costco, since then I'm on my third HP, 17" Envy model, am very happy with it!

I don't mind tinkering, I would be looking to install an existing ODD and additional HDD's into the new desktop, but am hoping the specs I've listed above re the processor and RAM will last a few years.......

arf005 posted:

I think FATCAT was being facetious regarding the fast fan, I just chose it ignore that bit.....

Putting the exchanger under floor isn't going to happen, we had zero insulation prior to the redecorating, just plasterboard/sticks/then breeze blocks - the room was baltic in the winter! We now have 500m kingspan insulation under the floor, and 100mm behind the plaster, the bottom of the cupboard was drilled out through the floor boards and insulation......if anything I could maybe install some ducting to pc vents from the soffit vents to draw in cold air directly from under the house.....

Any thoughts on the dell xps / hp omen VS. pcsecialist build ????

 

Wow, 500m Kingspan! Are you sited over permafreeze at absolute zero (1/2 km below you that is)?

As another who lives in Scotland, I can verify arf005's graphic description of the weather temperature on the East coast of Scotland in the winter.

I too build my own PCs along with those of some family members, and although my research into PC components is now around 9 months out of date. In my experience liquid cooling is the way to go and much more effective, robust, and easier to install that any air cooling fan equivalent. 

My only suggestion would be to possibly go for a slightly more powerful power supply than the 550w Corsair.  The 550w Corsair might be fine, but I think I would play safe by upping it a little bit.   

500m lol   missed an m (obviously)

Now a series wow:  500mm kingspan is extremely high level of insulation above a floor void assuming that is one of the foil faced expanded foam products I think of against that brand name, as opposed to Kingspan brand mineral wool or similar.

Thanks for the power supply tip.

Think the biggest hurdle I'm going to have is whether or not the case will fit in the cupboard, and whether I can squeeze everything into the case!

Go Mac, you will never look back.

I have a 4 year old iMac and its as good now as it was new...

Off

ARF005, you still haven't said what you are using it for.
- Processing photos - Max Ram, + you'd need to budget for a Screen calibration tool - like i1 Display Pro

- Multi Media - Music / Film streaming - RAM max, unless thats from the NAS.
- Game playing - increase the graphics

i7, 16+GB ram, 500GB+ SSD, 2GB+ Graphics and a decent motherboard, should set you up for a while. If you are doing audio maybe separate audio card and 1 Gig network card - wireless might not work as well in a cupboard. Then depending on location, maybe wireless Keyboard/mouse ?

FATCAT, not sure why w7 -> W10 took a while, if you had activated the W7 to W10 update (at least prior to July), you should have been able to download the latest W10 ISO file and do a clean install in 30mins, unless you did an in place upgrade ?  (They fixed an issue where if you changed any hardware, you had to reinstall W7 + all the patches (very long time) then do the W10 upgrade )

As an aside, the Microsoft preferred deployment is x64 W7/W10 OS, but then x32 of Office - this is due to plugins et al from other programs not working so well with x64 Office - this is more in the corporate space, but also semi relevant in the home depending on what other software you use with office.

Joff posted:

Go Mac, you will never look back.

I have a 4 year old iMac and its as good now as it was new...

Off

A professional photographer friend of mine used to use PCs, biput a couple of years ago switched to Mac - and wishes he had long before. But he is working on 21Mp RAW files with photoshop and with montage software. In particular he was very impressed with the monitor quality, far better than anything he'd used before (but I don't know what they had been), its instant boot up, and stability. 

But building yourself you can get a PC equivalent to any spec of Mac much cheaper, and with the option of tweaking things like cooling to meetdemand if that's whatbyou need.

Guy007 posted:

FATCAT, not sure why w7 -> W10 took a while, if you had activated the W7 to W10 update (at least prior to July), you should have been able to download the latest W10 ISO file and do a clean install in 30mins, unless you did an in place upgrade ?  (They fixed an issue where if you changed any hardware, you had to reinstall W7 + all the patches (very long time) then do the W10 upgrade )

 

Guy,

 Going from W7 32 bit to W10 64 bit isn’t that simple.

 To obtain a W10 licence you have to upgrade W7 32 bit to W10 32 bit, you can’t go straight to 64 bit. Once you have the licence, it is then possible to upgrade W10 32 bit to 64 bit. This involves downloading W10 64 bit, (which isn’t that straightforward), copying to DVD and performing a clean install from the DVD.

 Plus, on top of that, I also had to install and register the W7 software on the new computer.

FATCAT, mmm, downloading the ISO from Microsoft was pretty easy - https://www.microsoft.com/en-c...e-download/windows10 - the time it took was just the internet speed.

I was already using W7x64, but changed the HD to SSD, but at the point they hadn't implemented the 'fix' mentioned above and hence I had a slow 'patching' process until I could 'activate' - given the time it could have been cheaper to just buy a 'full' W10 license !

But yes, installing the software after the fact takes time... even with SSD and then SW patching...   Even on my Mac laptop, I've notice more SW patches and iOS updates than there use to be, it's 'just the norm' nowadays.

Guy007 posted:

FATCAT, mmm, downloading the ISO from Microsoft was pretty easy - https://www.microsoft.com/en-c...e-download/windows10 - the time it took was just the internet speed.

Opening the link gives you a few options, I took the obvious option “use this tool to upgrade this PC” as I was upgrading this PC.

Unfortunately this was the wrong option. After a bit of head scratching and searching the interweb, I discovered, I should have took the option to create an ISO file to install W10 on a different PC, even though I wasn’t installing on a different PC.

 Go Figure.

Yes, MS were clear as mud. Burning the ISO to DVD is the easy route, even as you point out, it's for the same PC. I tried the USB, but my PC wouldn't read it for some reason...