About to order, looking for opinions on where I can improve

[avone]

My PC is on its last legs unexpectedly, so I didn't budget for a replacement quite this soon. I was originally going to get someting second hand for around £300, but that didn't work out, so I've resigned myself to spending a bit more and getting something nice (but still cheaper than most builds). And then there were some incompatibilities among my choices, so it went from £500-ish to £600-ish. If you think it's worthwhile for me to make some swaps, I can maybe make my budget stretch further, but not too much.

Case
PCS AEGIS WHITE ARGB MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 14-Core Processor i5-14600K (Up to 5.3GHz) 24MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B760-PLUS D4 (LGA1700, DDR4, M.2 PCIe 4.0)
Memory (RAM)
32GB PCS PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2200 MB/R, 1500 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W CX SERIES™ CX-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 150 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND APPLICATION
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
ASUS PCE-AX1800 Wi-Fi 6 (1201Mbps/5GHz, 574Mbps/2.4GHz + Bluetooth 5.2)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Price: £642.00 including VAT and Delivery

I'm not a gamer, so I reckon I don't need a graphics card? I'm a bit of a data hoarder, so I will mostly be downloading media, which my current PC can't handle without overheating. 5 minutes of watching or downloading a video, or an album of HD images, and it's topping 90 degrees. So I just want something that allows me to work fast without interruption, won't get so hot that it slows down/shuts down, and allows me to navigate folders that contain hundreds or even thousands of pieces of media without taking an eternity to wait for it to sort.

 

[Scott]

I think it's very difficult to recommend a throwaway system such as this. A second hand system would definitely be a better value offering but I can understand if you didn't want to take that risk.

The issue is that you're effectively building a throwaway system. What this means is that the budget is limiting you to older parts or parts at the very limit of what they can handle so wouldn't be useful in an upgrade fashion down the line.

There are a couple of things to consider with your current system though. You may find it's just needing a re-paste or an upgrde to the cooling system. If the temperatures are your only concern and the only thing impacting the performance to the point of annoyance then I would look to remedy that for a significant saving.

Without a GPU you can get a system for reasonable money. I would still want to spend around £800 for it to be worthwhile and non-throwaway. If you did want to expand your uses later or keep it going longer (10years or so) with the odd upgrade to keep in line with software requirements) then it's worthwhile. I can have a look at a strict £650 budget (there's corners being cut but always doable), but I would look to the other queries first

 

[avone]

I think it's very difficult to recommend a throwaway system such as this. A second hand system would definitely be a better value offering but I can understand if you didn't want to take that risk.

The issue is that you're effectively building a throwaway system. What this means is that the budget is limiting you to older parts or parts at the very limit of what they can handle so wouldn't be useful in an upgrade fashion down the line.

There are a couple of things to consider with your current system though. You may find it's just needing a re-paste or an upgrde to the cooling system. If the temperatures are your only concern and the only thing impacting the performance to the point of annoyance then I would look to remedy that for a significant saving.

Without a GPU you can get a system for reasonable money. I would still want to spend around £800 for it to be worthwhile and non-throwaway. If you did want to expand your uses later or keep it going longer (10years or so) with the odd upgrade to keep in line with software requirements) then it's worthwhile. I can have a look at a strict £650 budget (there's corners being cut but always doable), but I would look to the other queries first

I'm using a mini PC, so a repaste is definitely overdue. I bought the paste, but I've been putting it off because I'm convinced I'm going to rip out a wire or something. The video tutorials on disassembling it are just like "and now remove the wires" which isn't helpful to a novice with butterfingers. I'll have to cross my fingers and hope for the best. I've been using it for 6 years and it's only just started giving me problems, so I think that's pretty good? I guess I never really buy a computer expecting it to last longer than that. But then again, I've never spent more than £400 before.

Which of the parts I've chosen would you consider throwaway? And which swaps would you recommend if I was going for an £800 build?

Thank you.

 

[Scott]

There wasn't much that wasn't throwaway tbh.

The case is very basic and a generic copy. We wouldn't recommend them as we prefer tried and tested, where there is review comparison data.
Selecting Intel is a bad idea. At the moment any Intel choice (past or present) is likely to be throwaway
The selected Intel chip is a few generations old regardless
The chipset is end of life so no generational upgrades available
Outdated DDR4 platform, previous generation RAM replaced by DDR5 years ago
Very low end M2 drive, higher failure rate on the forum
Very low end PSU, this is what brings clean power to your system. 550w won't be overly stressed but it's very budget and entry level.
The paste isn't required, not throw away but not necesssary
The Wifi card selected seems like a very strange choice. Again, not to do with the throw away element, just a very strange choice.

Below is where I land while being more sensible. It's not compromising and it'll smash your requirements, but it's got that longevity and potential to be whatever you choose. Worth considering a Corsair 1TB drive as a primary as well. The Solid drive selected is a great drive but it's a bit slower than 1tb offerings. Chosen to try and keep the budget down.

Case
CORSAIR 3000D AIRFLOW MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600 Six Core CPU (4.0GHz-5.2GHz/38MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B850-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 7)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz CL40 (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR, 1625MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB CORSAIR ELITE MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 7000 MB/R, 6200 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 150 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
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
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 6 to 8 working days
Price: £843.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/m2AvBW0qZP/

 

[avone]

There wasn't much that wasn't throwaway tbh.

The case is very basic and a generic copy. We wouldn't recommend them as we prefer tried and tested, where there is review comparison data.
Selecting Intel is a bad idea. At the moment any Intel choice (past or present) is likely to be throwaway
The selected Intel chip is a few generations old regardless
The chipset is end of life so no generational upgrades available
Outdated DDR4 platform, previous generation RAM replaced by DDR5 years ago
Very low end M2 drive, higher failure rate on the forum
Very low end PSU, this is what brings clean power to your system. 550w won't be overly stressed but it's very budget and entry level.
The paste isn't required, not throw away but not necesssary
The Wifi card selected seems like a very strange choice. Again, not to do with the throw away element, just a very strange choice.

Below is where I land while being more sensible. It's not compromising and it'll smash your requirements, but it's got that longevity and potential to be whatever you choose. Worth considering a Corsair 1TB drive as a primary as well. The Solid drive selected is a great drive but it's a bit slower than 1tb offerings. Chosen to try and keep the budget down.

Case
CORSAIR 3000D AIRFLOW MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600 Six Core CPU (4.0GHz-5.2GHz/38MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B850-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 7)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz CL40 (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR, 1625MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB CORSAIR ELITE MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 7000 MB/R, 6200 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 150 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
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
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 6 to 8 working days
Price: £843.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/m2AvBW0qZP/

Thank you for taking the time, I appreciate it. Most of my choices were just the default cheapest tbh. I focused on the CPU and worked around that, but I had no idea Intel was a bad idea.

 

[Scott]

Thank you for taking the time, I appreciate it. Most of my choices were just the default cheapest tbh. I focused on the CPU and worked around that, but I had no idea Intel was a bad idea.

Unfortunately Intel have fallen off a cliff. There last decent offering was the 10 series IMO (Such as the 10700k). Even at that it was a regurgitated architecture with no real progress throughout the many iterations.

Even worse, that's what was the issue. In recent years/months they have had catastrophic failure of chips due to pushing the limits of voltage too far, throwing partners under the bus by allowing them to overclock past sensible limits without properly defining any limits, etc, etc, etc. They completely went from the frying pan into the unstable nuclear core IMO.

So AMD have been the choice for me for a number of years and in more recent years they have been the choice of everyone in the know.

Other than that, the age old saying comes into play. Buy cheap..... buy twice. That's exactly what happens with throw away.

 

[avone]

Unfortunately Intel have fallen off a cliff. There last decent offering was the 10 series IMO (Such as the 10700k). Even at that it was a regurgitated architecture with no real progress throughout the many iterations.

Even worse, that's what was the issue. In recent years/months they have had catastrophic failure of chips due to pushing the limits of voltage too far, throwing partners under the bus by allowing them to overclock past sensible limits without properly defining any limits, etc, etc, etc. They completely went from the frying pan into the unstable nuclear core IMO.

So AMD have been the choice for me for a number of years and in more recent years they have been the choice of everyone in the know.

Other than that, the age old saying comes into play. Buy cheap..... buy twice. That's exactly what happens with throw away.

Hi, I have a couple more question if you don't mind answering.

1) I think I want to go for the Corsair 4000D white case. I've read good things and I don't mind spending a little bit more since I'm already pushing the boat out by my standards. Do you think it's worth it, or am I not going to see much of a difference?

2) If I wanted to do some light (very light) gaming at some point down the road, is it worth getting the cheapest graphics card, just to have something? I used to play a voxel MMO with a really low-end laptop ages ago (i3, god know what gen), and I figure if that machine could handle it, even a cheap graphics card should be an improvement. Or would the integrated GPU be ok if I'm on the lowest settings? I only ask because one day Hytale might actually get released

EDIT: And a third, sorry. Do I really need 2 drives? I have external hard drives that I use for storage, so I'm wondering if there's another reason it might be smart to have 2 installed here.

 

[Scott]

Hi, I have a couple more question if you don't mind answering.

1) I think I want to go for the Corsair 4000D white case. I've read good things and I don't mind spending a little bit more since I'm already pushing the boat out by my standards. Do you think it's worth it, or am I not going to see much of a difference?

2) If I wanted to do some light (very light) gaming at some point down the road, is it worth getting the cheapest graphics card, just to have something? I used to play a voxel MMO with a really low-end laptop ages ago (i3, god know what gen), and I figure if that machine could handle it, even a cheap graphics card should be an improvement. Or would the integrated GPU be ok if I'm on the lowest settings? I only ask because one day Hytale might actually get released

EDIT: And a third, sorry. Do I really need 2 drives? I have external hard drives that I use for storage, so I'm wondering if there's another reason it might be smart to have 2 installed here.

4000D case is a fine choice. I guess you mean the FRAME RS? Either of the white corsair offerings are really good cases so you won't go wrong there.

I wouldn't bother with even a low end GPU. The bottom tier ones are very old and likely only comparable to on-board graphics anyway. You will be able to do really low end gaming on the system as it is. If you wanted to look at anything past that you're wanting to buy an actual graphics card. There are no good value entry level options unfortunately so it's a bit of a rock and a hard place. The second hand market can see you OK here though.

You want to keep the OS and any programs you use completely free and clear of anything else you use the system for. The second drive is for all other uses, such as any game installs if you went down that route.

I wrote a blurb on it here.

 

[avone]

4000D case is a fine choice. I guess you mean the FRAME RS? Either of the white corsair offerings are really good cases so you won't go wrong there.

I wouldn't bother with even a low end GPU. The bottom tier ones are very old and likely only comparable to on-board graphics anyway. You will be able to do really low end gaming on the system as it is. If you wanted to look at anything past that you're wanting to buy an actual graphics card. There are no good value entry level options unfortunately so it's a bit of a rock and a hard place. The second hand market can see you OK here though.

You want to keep the OS and any programs you use completely free and clear of anything else you use the system for. The second drive is for all other uses, such as any game installs if you went down that route.

I wrote a blurb on it here.

Thank you again! I think I'm ready to order