Advice and recommendations on a new spec please

[MuayJudo]

Hi,

I'm looking to order a new pc in the coming days but I'm pretty clueless about a lot of things and would like some opinions and recommendations. I don't really have a budget in mind but top amount id say is probably £2400 ish, I just don't know if i really need to spend that right now especially how expensive the graphics cards seem. I'd like it to last 5 or so years without need for upgrading if possible (except maybe graphics card, as it's the only thing I've ever changed on a pc). Or possibly even shave a few quid off somehow if it's better to go that way, maybe from the case, motherboard or cooler? I've done a little research through this forum and google and I've tried to put a couple specs together with my limited knowledge.

The pc will be used primarily for gaming and music production using maschine,kontakt, massive,sonar and reaper and things like that, with a little streaming of both of those on twitch and a little use of something like gimp. Right now my monitor is the asus vg248qe 1080p 144hz but I'm wanting to pick up a 1440p 144hz soon too.

Anything wrong/bad about these specs or anything you would recommend?

First spec would be something like

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE R6 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE I like this case but if something like the Fractal Define S would be just as suitable I'd be fine with that to save a few pound
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™ i7-9700K Eight Core (3.60GHz @ up to 5.0GHz)
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO: ATX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready Would the Z390 UD be good enough or stick with this?
Get £10 Costa Coffee Voucher w/ select GIGABYTE Motherboards!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1070 Ti - DVI, HDMI, 3 x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready! Up this to any 20xx card? They seem really expensive, is it worth it?
1st Storage Drive
3TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3400MB/R, 2300MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Noctua NH-U14S Ultra Quiet Performance CPU Cooler Good enough?
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
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
Genuine 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 - Supplied on USB Drive
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
TIMED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND - MON-FRI, PRE-NOON
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
QTY
1
£1,536.67
£1,844.00
inc VAT and Delivery


or maybe


Case
FRACTAL DEFINE R6 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked AMD Ryzen 7 2700X Eight Core (3.7GHz @ up to 4.1GHz) How would this compare to 9700k? I won't be streaming too much
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X470-F GAMING (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready! I am clueless with motherboards
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2933MHz ~ (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX VEGA 64 - HDMI, 3 x DP - DX® 12 This or 1070ti? Can up this to any 20xx card if worth it
FREE Division 2, DMC5 & RE2 w/ select RADEON RX GPUs!
1st Storage Drive
3TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3400MB/R, 2300MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Noctua NH-U14S Ultra Quiet Performance CPU Cooler Good enough for this too?
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
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
Genuine 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® Office® 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
TIMED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND - MON-FRI, PRE-NOON
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
QTY
1
£1,522.50
£1,827.00
inc VAT and Delivery


Any reason the vega 56 is quite a bit more expensive than the vega 64?

I can spend more on anything in the spec if recommended to pay for that next level, or to balance things out etc. As I say I'm pretty clueless about most of it. So any help or recommendations is very much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Oussebon]

You might like to check out these 2 discounted specs:

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/configure-review/284/
£1500 for a 9700k, 16gb RAM, 256gb SSD, 1 TB HDD, RTX 2070 GPU

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/configure-review/277/
£2100 for an R7 2700x, 16gb RAM, 512gb SSD, 2T HDD, RTX 2080 ti

I think the non-discounted prices are around £1700 and £2400 respectively, or they were when I last checked.

Either of which would pair well with a 144hz 1440p gsync monitor like a Dell S2716DG, which can be had for ~£450.

 

[MuayJudo]

Hey thanks for the reply. Both look very interesting to me.

Will the slower 2666 ram be noticeable do you think? I was looking mostly at the 9700k but the 2700x and 2080ti is very tempting at that price. How is the intel 760p compared to the samsung 970? And one last thing I think, is that a water cooler it comes with? Never had one before is there anything I need to know about them, maintenance etc?

Thanks again, I'd be lost without the help.

 

[Oussebon]

Will the slower 2666 ram be noticeable do you think?

Probably not much, and not relative to the discount anyway.

The 760p is not as fast as a 960 Evo but still outpaces even good Sata SSDs and would make no performance difference for gaming.

The water cooler is All In One / closed loop / sealed unit. It only needs the same maintenance as an air cooler, i.e. dusting periodically.

And no worries, hope it's helpful

 

[MuayJudo]

Thanks! That definitely seems quite a deal. I just had a quick look and put this together, I think I probably already know the answer but better safe than sorry! Would it be silly to drop down the graphics card to 2080 but up the other things mentioned? Case to Fractal Define S, SSD to 970 EVO and RAM to 2933? Also dropped the cooler back down to the Noctua NH-U14S. But again if it's silly and not worth the savings or dropping the 2080ti for those parts then I'll just grab the one you posted. It's just a saving of around £155 and I'm not sure how much better the ti version is compared to the non-ti.


Case
FRACTAL DEFINE S BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X Eight Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.35GHz/20MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
Gigabyte X470 AORUS Ultra Gaming: ATX, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready
Get £10 Costa Coffee Voucher w/ select GIGABYTE Motherboards!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2933MHz ~ (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
Get Battlefield V with select NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs!
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3400MB/R, 2300MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
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
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
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
Genuine 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 - Supplied on USB Drive
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
TIMED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND - MON-FRI, PRE-NOON
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
QTY
1
£1,635.83
£1,963.00
inc VAT and Delivery

Thanks so much.

 

[Oussebon]

Tough one actually. The review spec will perform better as the 2080 ti will outweigh the faster RAM by a long way.

But whichever you buy, ultimately you'll want to upgrade the GPU in the future, and your spec offers a ~£140 saving to go towards the monitor, faster RAM, and a larger, better SSD. Also Fractal Define and Noctua are a nice pairing.

The performance difference will vary, but maybe 20-30% between titles:

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_RTX_2080_Ti_Founders_Edition/21.html
But the 2080 non-ti is far from inadequate at 1440p.

Your spec is a good spec, and I would be at least strongly tempted by it.

 

[MuayJudo]

Thanks! I think I'll go with the last spec I posted the 2080non-ti seems very capable itself. Would there be any little changes that you would make to it? Do I need the Coolermaster thermal paste for this and do pcspecialists apply it or do I have to?

 

[Oussebon]

If you ordered it PCS would apply it. I don't think you need it, if they use the std paste that comes with the Noctua it's good, and you'd only need to think about thermal paste quality if overclocking.

3TB HDD maybe as it's a relatively cheap increase and space does get gobbled up faster than you'd think.

The spec looks fine to me.

 

[MuayJudo]

Thanks mate. I'll probably be ordering later tonight or tomorrow!