PC mostly for Photo Editing and Graphic Design

[fastpat27]

Hi All
Did up a quick spec of a desktop for mostly Photo Editing and Graphic design stuff, maybe some video editing too. What do you think of this spec although I had sort of thought of a £1000 budget so I have gone over a bit. My other thoughts is a Mac (I think around £1500 as they are meant to be good for editing work)

£1,346.00 including VAT and Delivery.

Is this overkill/under power etc? Could I cut back or would I need more anywhere? Be great if I could cut the budget but don't want to regret it either. Last purchase was an Optimus IV i7 laptop when away from office and regretted too much ram and not the best processor.

I'm curious about the cooling and power supply, is this something that is important as I'm not a gamer?

PS. I have a Crucial 256gb SSD to go into it as the first drive to run the OS and programs

Thanks for your help guys.

FP

Case
PCS MAELSTROM T900 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790k (4.0GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® Z97 WS - ATX, USB 3.0, SATA 6 GB/s
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 760 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
1TB 3.5" SEAGATE SSHD, SATA 6Gb/s 7200 RPM (64MB + 8GB SSD CACHE)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling
INTEL STANDARD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
2 x ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORTS
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8.1 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
DVD Recovery Media
Windows 8.1 (64-bit) Professional DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour)
Delivery
SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS & UK OFFSHORE ISLANDS / N IRELAND
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Quantity
1

 

[Edd1e]

What software are you using our planning to use?

 

[fastpat27]

I'm new to video editing so haven't purchased anything for that as yet (open to suggestions too) but usually just use Photoshop, Illustrator. Also dreamweaver and I would tend to have a lot of multitasking and browser windows opened at the same time.

 

[Edd1e]

As a jumping off point for £1K I would be looking at something g like the following though sure other will be able to improve. If you had more budget then case, psu and a few other components could be up-speced but wanted to try and keep within your initial budget. It is a bit over but this is largely due to windows professional and delivery cost. Could loose card reader to away some of this back but figured you put it in as you wanted it. At the time of quoting the hyper x Ram was the same price as the standard but prices change and here is little reason to use it over the other so that might be somewhere else you could get a few £'s back when you come to order if prices change. I also have only put on the silver warranty as it is the best value however if you require the 3 years be aware you would need to change this.


Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 912 PLUS MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790 (3.6GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z97-HD3: ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 760 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET (£69)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler (£19)
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 Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8.1 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£109)
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS & UK OFFSHORE ISLANDS / N IRELAND (£12)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,030.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-haswell-pc/Z9LE76q9_W/

 

[fastpat27]

Thanks for the help Edd1e, appreciate the input from someone who has a good knowledge and interest in this stuff, it's all over my head in knowing the differences in the hardware model numbers.

Couple of queries as I don't mind spending a bit extra if it helps.

ZALMAN Z11 PLUS BLACK MID TOWER CASE (2 x USB3.0 ports on front plus extra fans)
i7 4970k 4GHz (only about £20 extra but will it make any difference at all?)
Is there much difference in Mother Boards? Why is the Asus Sabretooth quite a bit more expensive?
How important is the Graphics Card? Would I be better cutting something else for a better one?
Next to nothing in the price of a Seagate Hybrid hard drive, are these not meant to be more faster for bringing up recent work?
The 52 Card reader is only about £2 difference and I would use an SD card out of a camera a bit.
CPU Cooler, again is the Cooler Master much better for an extra £10?

Always curious about the difference between Windows Professional and standard, is there any features that are really needed from professional that a small office would really use. I have a small network with a NAS, network printer. My only reason for choosing Professional is that I just believe there is less bloatware on the professional one usually but I'm probably wrong??

Silver warranty would probably be enough when I think about it. Generally PC's give a lot of trouble but it usually boils down to malware, viruses or 3rd party software which wouldn't be covered under warranty anyway.

These are just a few thoughts

Thanks
FP

 

[Edd1e]

ZALMAN Z11 PLUS BLACK MID TOWER CASE (2 x USB3.0 ports on front plus extra fans) Don't know this case so can't comment on the performance of the case you have selected but Coolmaster series are well respected as a brand. If you have more money I would definitely upgrade the case as the bigger and better the more cooler your stystem will run and more space you have for future upgrades. I would suggest maybe the Coolmaster Storm Enforcer or if you don't like all the Led's you get on gaming cases then CM90 II is good value for money.

i7 4970k 4GHz (only about £20 extra but will it make any difference at all?) The 'K' variant of processors means they can be overclocked for those that would like to push the performance. This can be great if you know what you are doing but does mean you need to manage temperatures efficiently and of course you can cause damage if you overcook it, metaphorically or literally. If you are planning on doing this then make sure you get a better hydro cooler, I would suggest 80i minimum but I do overclock so someone with more knowledge could probably advise if that is the best for the job.

Is there much difference in Mother Boards? Why is the Asus Sabretooth quite a bit more expensive? Personally I don't think that the more expensive motherboards provide any additional performance, it is more either increased number or variety of connections, and sometime steer sound. If this is important to you then read through and select the one with the functions you want.

How important is the Graphics Card? Would I be better cutting something else for a better one? For your current usage you don't really need a powerful card, even a 750ti would be fine. This will come into play more if you start video editing, and looking at your software usage being Adobe the natural step would be Premiere. For this the GTX 760 is a good value choice and worth the extra over the 750ti, though this would still work well. If you have more money to spend the you could upgrade to the GTX 970 which is a fantastic card, and if you have any intentions of gaming then this is the one for you, or even better the GTX 980 but that more £'. Really it depends on when you think you might do this. If it is a while away then I would not sink a load into a GPU as prices might have dropped or there may well be something better available, hence my middle ground choice of the GTX 760.

Next to nothing in the price of a Seagate Hybrid hard drive, are these not meant to be more faster for bringing up recent work? SSHD drives are great for fast access of small files so good for boot of OS and load of apps/programs. They are slower at the read/write (esp) of large files so it depends on your usage. If you are going to run your OS of your SSD then this would be more efficient as a media storage drive for large files, looking forward it would be much better for video editing. You could improve the speed by getting the 1TB WD VELOCIRAPTOR which is 10,000rpm, or even get a second SSD. If you are going to use your own SSD then unless you are happy moving the OS and changing the boot drive then I would send it to PCS so put in as part of their build and specify that you want to OS on it.

The 52 Card reader is only about £2 difference and I would use an SD card out of a camera a bit. That was on the list and is available on the CM Storm. Do check others as they do not all support this as an inbuilt component but you can always get a USB3 external reader and use that so I would not let it restrict you too much.

CPU Cooler, again is the Cooler Master much better for an extra £10? I don't think the processes you run will be that ine3nstive you will be suffering from heat issues but if you have £10 spare it won't hurt.

Always curious about the difference between Windows Professional and standard, is there any features that are really needed from professional that a small office would really use. The only major difference I general consider is the RAM restrictions. This used to be at 16GB for the Home premium version of windows 7 so if you wanted to run say and edit suite with more than this then you needed the pro. Windows 8 however lets you put in up to 128GB of Ram on the Home Premium versions so I se little reason to be using the professional version.

I have a small network with a NAS, network printer. Don't see either of these being affected by the level of OS.

My only reason for choosing Professional is that I just believe there is less bloatware on the professional one usually but I'm probably wrong?? There might be more bloatware but you can always remove that and PCS is very good at not piling a load of crap onto the computer. Might be worth checking f there are other differences that you might require, but you can always upgrade later if you wish.

Silver warranty would probably be enough when I think about it. Generally PC's give a lot of trouble but it usually boils down to malware, viruses or 3rd party software which wouldn't be covered under warranty anyway. As a rule of thumb with all computers you literally get back what you put in, both in terms of parts (obviously) and software and downloads. A well built, well maintained machine should run without too many hicups. People who moan about their computers have generally just clicked 'yes' to every pop up they get, let software and updates auto install and eventually they create a mess then wonder why things don't work so well.


If you give a new budget - mention if it needs to include screen(s), keyboard mouse etc, then someone can put a build together for you.

 

[fastpat27]

Hi Edd1e, WOW! You certainly have gave me a great insight on how all this stuff works. Thanks so much for your time and effort in this. I guess my idea was just select the best components for what I could afford rather than knowing what is best for the job needed. So I think you're right, we'll just start again and let someone who knows how to spec something to suit me.

If someone would kindly put a spec together for me it would be greatly appreciated. As the title says mostly for Photo/Graphic Editing and probably some video editing in the near future. Don't need any peripherals or screens but I currently have 2 screens to attach to it and if you think it's possible I'd maybe even attach a 3rd screen. Budget of around £1300 but would go to £1450 including vat if it makes a big difference. If any more info is needed to determine the spec please let me know. (No Gaming requirements at all))

Need to have something ordered within the next couple days before the Christmas deadline, so I'll be glad of any quick help on this.

Thanks for any help

Colin

PS. I have a Crucial MX100 256GB new which I will send to PCS to put the operating system on and then other applications.

 

[Edd1e]

Sorry been away. I think the below would be a good jumping off place. Much as has already been suggested with upgraded case, GTX 760 will be fine for most editing needs and it is the 4GB version which will help with adding a third screen. As a card it is cheap enough that if feel you need more later on down the line you can buy something else, or with the selected motherboard you would be able to put a second of the same spec in and run to in an SLI setup - if you do not think you would ever do this you can drop the motherboard to the lower spec'd non SLI version and save a few £'s. 2TB of WD Black storage is good fast cheap storage, you could always add more when needed, or even add a second of the same drives and the mirror for either performance or redundancy. Also plenty of space in the case too add more drives for video editing later on. Card reader as requested, larger PSU to cover upgrade option in the future (calculated based on three additional 2TB WD Black drives and a second GPU), warranty and delivery change as you want.

Last point that has not been mentioned is this is setup with the standard LAN Ethernet ports. If you are not going to hard wire in then you require either wireless or home plugs.

Case
COOLERMASTER CM STORM ENFORCER - GAMING ENTHUSIAST CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790 (3.6GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® Z97-A: ATX, USB3.0, SATA 6GB/S, SLi, XFIRE
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 760 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET (£109)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler (£29)
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 Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS & UK OFFSHORE ISLANDS / N IRELAND (£12)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,183.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-haswell-pc/vt_a5SIHgY/

 

[fastpat27]

Edd1e, once again you have been a great help, I just hope one of the PCS guys read this and realise you have saved their ass in this sale. I was patiently waiting on a response from others instead of you having to waste more time on me, but I guess an office PC isn't that interesting to most on here. I even sent PCS an email yesterday for their advice but still haven't heard back yet. I appreciate they are busy at the moment with Christmas probably so was willing to give them today and tomorrow to get back, although CCL had already replied with a quick spec but not as detailed without more discussion.

Anyhows, you have saved the day for me anyway. You have saved me a good bit of money here somehow compared to my budget and the idea of the 2 drives mirrored is an excellent suggestion and will be well worth investing (Raid 1 I assume). Chance of me upgrading the graphics will be slim I'd say as I originally started with a lower model with only 2GB, and by the time this thing starts to die it'll probably need new components allround anyhow. If you think the less motherboard will do (ASUS® H97M-E) and knowing only 1 graphics card and only 2 x 2TB HDD then should I consider a less PSU and maybe a H55 or H60 Cooler?

 

[BlessedSquirrel]

I was patiently waiting on a response from others instead of you having to waste more time on me, but I guess an office PC isn't that interesting to most on here. I even sent PCS an email yesterday for their advice but still haven't heard back yet.

I wouldn't rely on email at all, best to phone or use the webchat.

 

[fastpat27]

Hi Spyder, had thought of doing that too but didn't get home in time. I might try that tomorrow if I can get home a little earlier as I need to arrange getting an SSD I have sent to them. You got any views on the spec for what I need too? Was also looking at the Beast 2400mhz RAM, would it speed up pulling stuff back up much?

 

[BlessedSquirrel]

Edd1e, once again you have been a great help, I just hope one of the PCS guys read this and realise you have saved their ass in this sale. I was patiently waiting on a response from others instead of you having to waste more time on me, but I guess an office PC isn't that interesting to most on here. I even sent PCS an email yesterday for their advice but still haven't heard back yet. I appreciate they are busy at the moment with Christmas probably so was willing to give them today and tomorrow to get back, although CCL had already replied with a quick spec but not as detailed without more discussion.

Anyhows, you have saved the day for me anyway. You have saved me a good bit of money here somehow compared to my budget and the idea of the 2 drives mirrored is an excellent suggestion and will be well worth investing (Raid 1 I assume). Chance of me upgrading the graphics will be slim I'd say as I originally started with a lower model with only 2GB, and by the time this thing starts to die it'll probably need new components allround anyhow. If you think the less motherboard will do (ASUS® H97M-E) and knowing only 1 graphics card and only 2 x 2TB HDD then should I consider a less PSU and maybe a H55 or H60 Cooler?

Edd1e's given some good advice above, don't really have much to add to it. I wouldn't go less than 500W for the PSU, taking into account you'll be driving multiple screens and hard drives, peripherals. It's best to leave quite a nugget of space above your requirements as the PSU needs to work less hard and retains better voltage regulation.

I know nothing about RAID so can't comment on that, but for redundancy, sounds like a great idea.

If you're planning on overclocking, I would personally go with the H60i over the H55, I've heard the H55 is a little lacking. Overclocking these days is a synch, the motherboard does it all for you.

Regarding RAM speeds, I think for your purposes, go with the fastest you can, you'll notice a difference in processing times.

Regarding motherboards, I wouldn't go for the ASUS® H97M-E as it's a Micro ATX form factor which would be limiting for this build imho. The Gigabyte Z97-HD3 would be a better alternative I think and will support 2400MHz RAM with an XMP (extreme memory profile) applied which PCS will do for you.

 

[Edd1e]

Spyder's spot on with the above. I would stick to a higher psu, 650w modular min or 750 for more head room just so it is running on a lower draw = better as explained.

If you want to overclock then upgrade the cpu to the 'k' variant. If you do this with your budget I would go for the 80i hydro cooler or higher as I believe they run quieter but as previously mentioned I don't over clock so not 100%. PCS might be able to advise or run a new thread just asking about that in the desktop section maybe?

You are correct raid 1 for redundancy. If a drive dies then you just replace the faulty one with another and the raid will rebuild itself thus protecting your data. This is great for protecting storage but if you get into video editing you might see a performance hit as the data has to write twice (once to each drive), but does depend how hard you are pushing things. Case has more than enough space to configure additional drives when the time comes though if you want to dedicate separate storage to this, which is no bad thing.

Motherboard advice is interesting and def agree don't get a small form factor. Lastly I will bow to Spyder's comments in RAM as I am no expert and remember you can't mix and match speeds so if you want to add more later and you want faster later you have to re-buy the lot, but hey its Christmas, treat yourself!

 

[fastpat27]

Guys Guys, you've been exceptional help and really really appreciated. What do you think, it's all going to my head, the waits going to be the worst!! Have I ended up with a Gaming Machine? Made a slight error on the Ram, it's 2133 and not 2400. I like the sound of the mother board stating Thermal Armor, I had a £1800 Sony Vaio for 4 years when it cooked the motherboard or onboard graphics, can't remember, so anything cooling or thermal armor is good.

Spyder, might as well get the most out of it and overclock, will PCS do this? The K is made for overclocking so it should be safe.. right?
Edd1e you're right... it's Christmas!! :santa:

Case
COOLERMASTER CM STORM ENFORCER - GAMING ENTHUSIAST CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790k (4.0GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® SABERTOOTH Z97 MK1: USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, THERMAL ARMOR
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X BEAST DUAL-DDR3 2133MHz X.M.P (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 760 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
RAID
RAID 1 (MIRRORED VOLUME - 2 x same size & model HDD / SSD)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Processor Cooling
Corsair H80i Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
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 Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
DVD Recovery Media
Windows 8.1 (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS & UK OFFSHORE ISLANDS / N IRELAND
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Total Order price (Ex VAT) £1,133.33
Total Order Price £1,360.00

 

[BlessedSquirrel]

Case
COOLERMASTER CM STORM ENFORCER - GAMING ENTHUSIAST CASE Good case, sufficient cooling for an overclocking rig which you'll need
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790k (4.0GHz) 8MB Cache K version for overclocking
Motherboard
ASUS® SABERTOOTH Z97 MK1: USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, THERMAL ARMOR Expensive, but with good overclocking potential. Disable Anti-Surge protection when you get it, causes issues. You can manually set an overclock via the Asus AI suite, you'll see how easy it is
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X BEAST DUAL-DDR3 2133MHz X.M.P (2 x 8GB) Personally I think the higher speeds will suit your needs
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 760 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready The extra VRAM will be handy for multi-screen setup
1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm) Excellent HDD's, especially for a raid setup
2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
RAID
RAID 1 (MIRRORED VOLUME - 2 x same size & model HDD / SSD)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET Loads of headroom for future upgrades should you need them
Processor Cooling
Corsair H80i Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler Very capable cooler, imho it's always worth going overboard on the cooler to maximise potential
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 Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
DVD Recovery Media
Windows 8.1 (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS & UK OFFSHORE ISLANDS / N IRELAND
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

 

[Edd1e]

Think its pretty much bang on. Only question I would ask would be in regard to amount of storage, is 1TB enough? If you are happy with that amount then go for it, if you are not sure then up it to the 2tb drives.

It is not a gaming machine, but should you ever change you mind just chuck a GTX 980 or the equivalent of when the time comes and it will turn its hand to that in a heartbeat!

 

[fastpat27]

Spoke to a guy from PCS tonight on the phone after receiving an email today with a suggested spec but also saying they wouldn't install my own SSD (BNIB) as my OS Drive. He did say they can't do it now due to it maybe causing problems with the OS but I could do it myself ok no probs if I wanted. Although he also said to call back tomorrow and ask one of the other guys to see what they could do, so delayed for another day at least.

Edd1e I made a wrong option choice with the 1TB instead of 2, I do want 2 x 2TB with Raid as Spyder suggested (although I think it's way more than I need), but if PCS can't build this for me with the SSD, I know I won't know how. Hopefully they will sort something.

 

[fastpat27]

Hi Guys
PC has arrived and ended up with the following spec. So far I'm very impressed but haven't pushed it to the limits yet and still some more software to add. Just wanted to thank you both for your help and advice, you were a great help in pointing me in the right direction.

Intel Core™i7-4790k 4th Generation Core

Corsair H80i Water Cooling,

ASUS Sabertooth Z97 Mark 1

Kingston HyperX Savage 16GB 2133MHz (2 x 8)

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 4GB

WD Black 1TB 3.5 SATA (2 x Raid 1)

Dual Layer 24x DVD+/-RW

CORSAIR CS750M 750w 80+ G

Antec Eleven Hundred Gaming Black Full Tower Case

Microsoft Windows 8.1

Samsung 850 Pro SSD

3 year Warranty



Thanks again Guys
FP

:yes:

 

[Edd1e]

Lovely rig, only a little bit jealous, enjoy!