Looking at buying a new editing PC

[Mart1nH]

I am looking at buying a new editing PC. Basically to edit my photos and possibly some videos. I would like it to be unobtrusive (so not RGB) and quite enough to sit in my lounge. Please can yo advise as to whether the below specced PC is overboard for this purpose.

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE 7 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 16-Core Processor i9-12900K (3.2GHz) 30MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX Z690-F GAMING WIFI (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 3000MB/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 200 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Extra Case Fans
2 x 120mm Thermaltake TOUGHFAN 12 Case Fans
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
Norton 360 inc. Game Optimizer - Free 90 Day License
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 12 to 15 working days
Price: £1,832.00 including VAT and Delivery

 

[David689]

I expect others will chip in later. I suspect that they may advise a higher spec of GPU. Creative software is making increasing use of the GPU these days. Will it be Adobe (Lightroom?, Premiere?) software that you will be using? I specced a similar machine for similar usage, about 18 months ago and it was suggested that I change the GPU to a 3060 model. There has been a lot of advances in hardware since then.
And if memory serves me correctly I think they may say that you don't need the Arctic thermal paste as the cooler or CPU (I can't remember which) already comes with high quality paste.

 

[David689]

I think, also, you will be directed to this:
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/foru...osting-collaboration-of-helpful-hints.88726/I think it describes a way yoou can post your specs in a way that can be easily modified by people replying

 

[TonyCarter]

This is the link I think @David689 was looking sharing (it also has instruction on how to include the configurable link into your post - which lets us modify it without having to go back to square one):

Please read before posting:- Collaboration of Helpful Hints

If you have been referred to this hyperlink then it is because your request for spec advice is missing some vital pieces of information to enable us to provide appropriate advice around your proposed machine. Please read below and then amend your original request accordingly. Thank you. We all...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

However, I'd suggest not bothering with the 12th gen at all, and go for the 13th gen...and drop down from the i9 12900K to the i7 13700K as the 13th gen i7 is faster than the old 12th gen i9 (upto 25% in Photoshop and GPU doesn't seem to make much difference, but Lightroom/PremierPro can make use of the GPU more)...and will run cooler than the 13900K which means less noise in most cases (although on full pelt, everything has to work harder/be louder to cool the CPU.

13700K

PugetBench List

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benchmarks.pugetsystems.com

12900K

PugetBench List

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benchmarks.pugetsystems.com

Seems RAM speed (i.e. 3600MHz DDR4 or 6000MHz DDR5 make more difference than GPU).

For comparison, my AMD build in my signature returns a 1192 score running natively...

PugetBench Results

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benchmarks.pugetsystems.com

...and my M1 Mac Studio returns 940, which isn't great until you take into account that it's running via Rosetta 2 (i.e. in Intel emulation mode) as the Puget Systems PS Benchmark extension is not AppleSilicon native yet...

PugetBench Results

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benchmarks.pugetsystems.com

...and neither system made any noise during the 15 minute benchmark.

I don't know how loud/quiet the PCS air coolers are (even the big one you've selected), but I'd expect them to be louder than an AIO cooler in everything other than very low workloads.

Norton AV trial can be removed as it's a waste of space/bloatware when the built-in protections in W11 are better/safer/less obtrusive.

You may want to upgrade the warranty (for £5) to give you collect & return for a whole year.

 

[David689]

Also, if you no longer need Windows on your old machine (you say this is a new editing one) then you will probably be able to transfer the licence, to save some pennies.

 

[Mart1nH]

Many thanks David689. I am going to upgrade my win10 machine that isn't able to upgrade to Win11 so will need a license. All the other info is much appreciated.