Please Check my New Build Spec :)

[GREENWOODTREE]

Hello I would very much appreciate it if you could check my spec for a new custom built desktop for me. I have “built” this using the forum’s Desktop Builder guide and other helpful threads on here, so thank you for those!

I don’t want to pay more than about £1,500-£1,800 really, but will max out at £2k *IF* I can’t make savings anywhere.

I use my PC for live streaming/camming, occasionally to more than one site simultaneously, as well as basic photo manipulation (contrast etc) and basic video editing and rendering. I often upload large media files to the internet. I usually have multiple tabs open, sometimes across 2 or more browsers.

I also use my PC for YouTube, TV catchup, listening to music, social media, admin, etc.

I am not a gamer. I don’t need mouse/keyboard/monitor etc.

I want this to be QUIET. My old PC - despite buying case and components that promised to be almost silent - always (from new!) sounded like a helicopter preparing to take off. I could hear it rooms away. It also had an annoying, regular “squickk…squickk...squickk” noise when upright which couldn’t be found or fixed by myself or the engineers where I bought it from. So this build I would love it if it was as close to silent as possible.

Thanks everyone!


Some specific questions I have:

1) What do you think of the overall build, in terms of performance for my needs?
2) Can I make any savings anywhere? Any areas of overkill when a lower/cheaper spec would be just as good or better?
3) GPUs always confuse me, because some are seemingly lower spec yet higher priced. Is my choice too low in specs? Overkill? Spot on?
4) I don’t know anyone who currently uses M.2 storage, wondered if this is a better option (and why?) or should I stick with SSD?
5) Does the liquid cooler system chosen run silent/very quiet? Is this one a good choice or should I upgrade or downgrade?
6) Should I upgrade the standard sound card?
7) The USB/Thunderbolt options: I’m not sure what I am supposed to be doing in this bit. Am I supposed to be changing anything?

I will be using an ASUS VC279H monitor.

NB: I originally chose a 12GB GPU but it said it was out of stock and would cause a delay in the build.

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL II GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12 Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.8GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 Ti - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
1TB Samsung 870 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
1st Storage Drive
2TB Samsung 870 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H100x Hydro 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
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
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
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 14 to 17 working days
Price: £1,770.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/5Rsyp0s3BS/

 

[Steveyg]

Yeah this is where I would be swinging for your requirements

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE 7 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 Ti - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2700MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i RGB PRO XT Hydro 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
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
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
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 14 to 17 working days
Price: £1,990.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/!yveXvCUmb/

 

[GREENWOODTREE]

Yeah this is where I would be swinging for your requirements

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE 7 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 8GB)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2700MB/sW)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i RGB PRO XT Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler

Thank you for this - but of course it's created more questions, mainly surrounding the reasons for the changes lol


CASE: why the different case? Better cooling? Better sound insulation?

CPU: why the drop in spec?

Motherboard: why the raise in spec?

Memory: everything I have read, on here and other places, say that 16GB should be perfectly enough if you aren't using RAM heavy programs such as Photoshop etc or heavy gaming. Indeed, my old PC lasted 6 years on 16GB and was quite happy doing all the tasks I pushed at it (as listed in my OP). So why 32GB for a camming/light media editing (and non-gaming) machine?

Drives: why M.2 drives rather than standard SSDs?

Cooling: why the change?


Thanks so much for your help.

 

[Steveyg]

Thank you for this - but of course it's created more questions, mainly surrounding the reasons for the changes lol


CASE: why the different case? Better cooling? Better sound insulation?

CPU: why the drop in spec?

Motherboard: why the raise in spec?

Memory: everything I have read, on here and other places, say that 16GB should be perfectly enough if you aren't using RAM heavy programs such as Photoshop etc or heavy gaming. Indeed, my old PC lasted 6 years on 16GB and was quite happy doing all the tasks I pushed at it (as listed in my OP). So why 32GB for a camming/light media editing (and non-gaming) machine?

Drives: why M.2 drives rather than standard SSDs?

Cooling: why the change?


Thanks so much for your help.

Yeah no problem

Case - this is the go to silent case. If you want quiet this is one to go for

CPU - To keep in budget, the 5900x is great but the motherboard you matched it with wouldn't pair great

Motherboard - Specced to match the CPU. This is the minimum I would want a 5800x on, a STIXX model B550 would also do the job as they would be comparable but it would be more expensive

Memory - Camming and streaming generally comes with a tonne of extra programs a long side. 32GB is to accommodate that but if you feel 16 is enough then stick with 16GB

Drives - M.2 SSD's are not only exponentially faster at everything they do they are also completely silent. This is the new standard of storage drives

Cooling - The 5800x is a very hot running chip so I always spec high end cooling to keep temps down, it's also very quiet

 

[GREENWOODTREE]

Yeah no problem

Case - this is the go to silent case. If you want quiet this is one to go for

CPU - To keep in budget, the 5900x is great but the motherboard you matched it with wouldn't pair great

Motherboard - Specced to match the CPU. This is the minimum I would want a 5800x on, a STIXX model B550 would also do the job as they would be comparable but it would be more expensive

Memory - Camming and streaming generally comes with a tonne of extra programs a long side. 32GB is to accommodate that but if you feel 16 is enough then stick with 16GB

Drives - M.2 SSD's are not only exponentially faster at everything they do they are also completely silent. This is the new standard of storage drives

Cooling - The 5800x is a very hot running chip so I always spec high end cooling to keep temps down, it's also very quiet

Thank you! All makes sense. It's the matching components together that I generally have an issue with, so thanks for the explanation and help.

 

[sck451]

I'd offer this as an alternative at a slightly lower budget point. It's more than fine for the purposes you're going to be using it for. Indeed, in some ways it could be slight overkill (the 3060 Ti and the 32GB of RAM), but I'd personally go for the extras there, as someone who uses a PC for much the same purposes.

If you're doing RTMP streaming, this will be better than the build @Steveyg posted. If you're doing something CPU-bound instead (like Zoom is) then it will be a little weaker.

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL II GAMING CASE - fine, but not silent - go for the Fractal Define 7 if you want absolute silence
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4) - perfectly adequate for your needs
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS WiFi (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready! - the ideal board for the 5600X
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 8GB) - 32GB is ideal for video editing
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR - video editing is very GPU-focused these days and this is a really good card for the purpose
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE - bulk storage: silent when not in use, but will make some noise when in use
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W) - ultra-fast boot drive
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW) - main drive for your work
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET - quiet, efficient power supply
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H100i RGB PRO XT Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler - excellent, quiet cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
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
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
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 14 to 17 working days
Price: £1,803.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/QkAHYTZhk3/

 

[GREENWOODTREE]

I'd offer this as an alternative at a slightly lower budget point. It's more than fine for the purposes you're going to be using it for. Indeed, in some ways it could be slight overkill (the 3060 Ti and the 32GB of RAM), but I'd personally go for the extras there, as someone who uses a PC for much the same purposes.

If you're doing RTMP streaming, this will be better than the build @Steveyg posted. If you're doing something CPU-bound instead (like Zoom is) then it will be a little weaker.

Thank you so much for this, and all the explanations