First PC build - suggestions needed

[tr.hewitt01]

Before getting into the standard format for this type of post, I thought a bit of background might help. I currently have a laptop which is reaching the end of its life and needs replacing. I haven’t made use of its (limited) portability and so I’m looking to upgrade to a PC. I'm an engineering student and I'd like to be able to run CAD and computing software like MATLAB on my PC, and I'd also like to be able to run Ableton Live. However, I’ve never built a PC before and, even after reading various guides, I’m not confident in my ability to pick between all the slightly varying components on the market. Therefore, I thought it best to seek advice from those more in-the-know: hopefully you lovely people on this forum.
Other than that, if there’s anything I’ve not specified please let me know!


Approximate Purchase Date: ASAP, preferably within a month.

Budget Range: £700-800 (not including parts already purchased).

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Software usage (e.g. CAD using AutoDesk, MATLAB), music composition, possible future gaming.

Are you buying a monitor: No.

Parts to Upgrade: Case, mobo, cpu, gpu, psu, ram, storage, cooling… The works essentially, except I have already bought a Samsung]https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B078WQT6S6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1]Samsung MZ-76E500B/EU 500 GB 860 EVO Sata III 64L V NAND Solid State Drive [/url] which I’ll be using in the build.

Do you need to buy OS: Yes, Windows.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: No specific preference but ideally cheap and reliable.

Location: Bristol, UK.

Parts Preferences: I’ve had in mind going for an AMD build but that isn’t based on any real knowledge so I’m open to having my mind changed.

Overclocking: Maybe but would prefer not to.

SLI or Crossfire: Can’t see myself using two graphics cards.

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: I currently have a laptop which is reaching the end of its life. Need a new machine capable of running the mentioned pieces of software pretty quickly and smoothly.

 

[julienruc]

Here is the build I recommend for your needs.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor (£198.00 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock - B450 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard (£85.98 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill - Sniper X 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£229.17 @ Technextday)
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£50.34 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: PNY - Quadro K620 2GB Video Card (£157.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Fractal Design - Core 2300 ATX Mid Tower Case (£46.94 @ More Computers)
Power Supply: Cooler Master - MasterWatt 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£54.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £823.41
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-04 09:19 BST+0100


I chose AMD Ryzen over Intel's i-Core CPUs as they provide a superior multithreaded performance, which is what all your programs are relying on. The R5 2600X comes with an included cooler and a 3-year warranty instead of 1-year with Intel and will provide you with one of the best experiences for your work.

I chose a full-ATX sized motherboard to provide you with some space to upgrade in the future. You will have 4 RAM slots instead of 2 eith Micro-ATX form factors, as well as several PCIE slots should you eventually need to add other peripherals such as sound cards, capture cards, powerful network cards, fast PCIE storage, and many more.

I chose 32Gb of RAM at 3000Mhz because the high 3000Mhz speed will provide better performance, which couples well with your high-end CPU, allowing it to fully utilise its capacity while you work and render. Also, having this many Gigabytes will also allow you to run multiple programs simultaneously, without having to close them or even closing the dozens of Chrome Tabs, which tend to pile up dueing research.
--> Note that if the budget restricts you, you may downgrade to a 2x8Gb at 3200Mhz.

I chose the NVIDIA Quadro as the GPU over the usual GTX models everybody choses as they are specifically built for workstations. The K620 allows you to output in 4k and is rated as one of the ideal GPUs for the softwares your running, despite it being in more of the "budget" side. You may be experiencing slower a performance in 4K video rendering but as I understand this doesn't apply to you.

I went with a pretty big case, but this model comss with four 3.5" cadies, which should give you space for additional storages as the years go by and won't need to worry about discarding your previous works. It also allows you to install an optical drive (CD Drive/Reader/Disk reader) as often in your line of work, CDs can come along with some software installations, updates, etc...

I would finally recommend buying some additional case fans to minimise temperatures during the renderring process as it may get quite hot. However, most of the time (when no project is renderring) your temperatures will be fine. Consequently, you can go for any cheap case fan you can find (just check first how many come pre-installed in the case already).
Note: The sizes you're looking for is 120mm or 140mm depending on what/where in the case.

For Windows. Ebay sells Genuine 100% legit Windows 10 Pro OEM License Keys for 5£.

I hope this helps.

P.S: Didn't chose and SSD as you can use your current Samsung storage to install Windows and all of your programs so they'll open/close faster.

What is the bad part about this build?
Gaming. That GPU is a bit weak for gaming. You will even have trouble getting good graphics on Fortnite. If you must include this, you can drop the RAM as I suggested to 16Gb as you can always get more in the future in order to uograde to a NVIDIA Quadro K1200, which will allow you to game as well and would still be optimized for what you do.

Let me know what you think.

 

[Lucky_SLS]

^ power supply missing.

Another alternative :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor (£149.98 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock - B450 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard (£85.98 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill - Sniper X 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£229.17 @ Technextday)
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£50.34 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: AMD - Radeon Pro WX 3100 4GB Video Card (£151.50 @ More Computers)
Case: RIOTORO - CR500 ATX Mid Tower Case (£46.98 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair - TXM Gold 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£66.47 @ Ebuyer)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (£82.97 @ Laptops Direct)
Total: £863.39
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-04 07:08 BST+0100

 

[julienruc]

Thanks for noticing that. I've updated my previous thread.

Didn't add a high-end PSU because I don't think it'll be necessary since it's not meant for gaming.

Also dropped it down to an R5 2600X as price was starting to pile up.

 

[tr.hewitt01]

Here is the build I recommend for your needs.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor (£198.00 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock - B450 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard (£85.98 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill - Sniper X 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£229.17 @ Technextday)
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£50.34 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: PNY - Quadro K620 2GB Video Card (£157.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Fractal Design - Core 2300 ATX Mid Tower Case (£46.94 @ More Computers)
Power Supply: Cooler Master - MasterWatt 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£54.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £823.41
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-04 09:19 BST+0100


I chose AMD Ryzen over Intel's i-Core CPUs as they provide a superior multithreaded performance, which is what all your programs are relying on. The R5 2600X comes with an included cooler and a 3-year warranty instead of 1-year with Intel and will provide you with one of the best experiences for your work.

I chose a full-ATX sized motherboard to provide you with some space to upgrade in the future. You will have 4 RAM slots instead of 2 eith Micro-ATX form factors, as well as several PCIE slots should you eventually need to add other peripherals such as sound cards, capture cards, powerful network cards, fast PCIE storage, and many more.

I chose 32Gb of RAM at 3000Mhz because the high 3000Mhz speed will provide better performance, which couples well with your high-end CPU, allowing it to fully utilise its capacity while you work and render. Also, having this many Gigabytes will also allow you to run multiple programs simultaneously, without having to close them or even closing the dozens of Chrome Tabs, which tend to pile up dueing research.
--> Note that if the budget restricts you, you may downgrade to a 2x8Gb at 3200Mhz.

I chose the NVIDIA Quadro as the GPU over the usual GTX models everybody choses as they are specifically built for workstations. The K620 allows you to output in 4k and is rated as one of the ideal GPUs for the softwares your running, despite it being in more of the "budget" side. You may be experiencing slower a performance in 4K video rendering but as I understand this doesn't apply to you.

I went with a pretty big case, but this model comss with four 3.5" cadies, which should give you space for additional storages as the years go by and won't need to worry about discarding your previous works. It also allows you to install an optical drive (CD Drive/Reader/Disk reader) as often in your line of work, CDs can come along with some software installations, updates, etc...

I would finally recommend buying some additional case fans to minimise temperatures during the renderring process as it may get quite hot. However, most of the time (when no project is renderring) your temperatures will be fine. Consequently, you can go for any cheap case fan you can find (just check first how many come pre-installed in the case already).
Note: The sizes you're looking for is 120mm or 140mm depending on what/where in the case.

For Windows. Ebay sells Genuine 100% legit Windows 10 Pro OEM License Keys for 5£.

I hope this helps.

P.S: Didn't chose and SSD as you can use your current Samsung storage to install Windows and all of your programs so they'll open/close faster.

What is the bad part about this build?
Gaming. That GPU is a bit weak for gaming. You will even have trouble getting good graphics on Fortnite. If you must include this, you can drop the RAM as I suggested to 16Gb as you can always get more in the future in order to uograde to a NVIDIA Quadro K1200, which will allow you to game as well and would still be optimized for what you do.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks for noticing that. I've updated my previous thread.

Didn't add a high-end PSU because I don't think it'll be necessary since it's not meant for gaming.

Also dropped it down to an R5 2600X as price was starting to pile up.

Thank you both for your answers! I've looked at all the suggestions you have made and after doing a bit more research, I have a few more questions/comments:
1) What's the benefit of getting a 2600X vs. a 2600? How will this impact the performance of my build and is it worth the price increase?
2) In regards to RAM, I think I will only start off with 16GB as this is one of the pricier features and as a student, I don't know whether I will be completing tasks that require 32GB RAM.
3) The Quadro K620 is from the previous generation of Nvidia GPUs - would it be better to get the P620 instead? Is the P620 compatible with my build?

Again, thanks for your help!

 

[julienruc]

Yes, the P620 is also a good option. I didn't notice it and thought it only starts at the P1000 but that would be quite nice.

The difference between the 2600 and the 2600X is simply the frequency. The 2600X has a higher frequency for just a few more pounds and is quite worth it in my opinion.

Up to you whether this is worth it for you.

 

[wozotife]

if you go with the stock cooler 2600X is wasted
same goes for K620 (waste of money, get normal gtx instead or the wx3100 if you must)
and I wouldn't cheap out on PSU for peace of mind

 

[tr.hewitt01]

if you go with the stock cooler 2600X is wasted
same goes for K620 (waste of money, get normal gtx instead or the wx3100 if you must)
and I wouldn't cheap out on PSU for peace of mind

Hi there, a couple of questions with regards to your answer! Are you saying I would need to buy an aftermarket cooler for the P620? And what do you mean by "normal gtx"? After looking at the WX 3100, the only benefit it seems to have over the P620 is RAM amount, whereas the P620 out-performs the WX 3100 in many areas so is it actually better? And finally, does your comment about PSUs mean you think the suggested PSU isn't suitable?

Cheers!

 

[tr.hewitt01]

Thanks for noticing that. I've updated my previous thread.

Didn't add a high-end PSU because I don't think it'll be necessary since it's not meant for gaming.

Also dropped it down to an R5 2600X as price was starting to pile up.

Yes, the P620 is also a good option. I didn't notice it and thought it only starts at the P1000 but that would be quite nice.

The difference between the 2600 and the 2600X is simply the frequency. The 2600X has a higher frequency for just a few more pounds and is quite worth it in my opinion.

Up to you whether this is worth it for you.

Hi again! The price difference between the 2600 and 2600X is £50 currently which is a considerable increase for only a 0.2MHz gain - surely this won't greatly improve performance?

 

[wozotife]

Hi there, a couple of questions with regards to your answer! Are you saying I would need to buy an aftermarket cooler for the P620? And what do you mean by "normal gtx"? After looking at the WX 3100, the only benefit it seems to have over the P620 is RAM amount, whereas the P620 out-performs the WX 3100 in many areas so is it actually better? And finally, does your comment about PSUs mean you think the suggested PSU isn't suitable?
Cheers!

aftermarket cooler for the cpu, not gpu (amd wraith coolers are decent but you can do better, and although 2600x comes with spire vs stealh of 2600, at stock clock speeds X is not worth the price difference/perforance difference imho and is 95 vs 65W)

there are plenty of post on 2600 vs 2600X if you're interested

normal gtx - meaning gtx and not quadro >> better performance for £
4GB vs 2GB is possibly significant (depends on your CAD work), unless you need CUDA

PSU would be suitable but personally I'd opt for something 'better'
if you're an engineering student you may be interested to read on on psu differences
there are also some good indepth psu reviews on johnnyguru

 

[julienruc]

He's got a point between the 2600 vs 2600X.

For the GPU tho, even a 1080Ti will give you blurry lines on CAD.