Build Advice New Build for AAA Gaming, photo editing, approx £1500 to order this weekend

May 18, 2019
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Hi everyone,

I am looking to build a new pc for photo editing and gaming, and any help would be really appreciated

Approximate Purchase Date:
This weekend
Budget Range: Approx £1500 GBP

System Usage from Most to Least Important: AAA Gaming, Photo editing (Photoshop and light room, large 45 mp images with many layers), potentially video editing work in the future.

Are you buying a monitor:
No



Parts to Upgrade: Everything other than monitor, speakers, keyboard, mouse

Do you need to buy OS: No
Please note that if you're using an OEM license of Windows, you will need a new one when buying a new motherboard.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts:
Open to any in the UK

Location: England, United Kingdom

Parts Preferences: I think intel would be preferred but I am open!
Overclocking: no unless very straightforward (I used to do this years ago but am very out the loop)

SLI or Crossfire: no unless much better bang for buck

Your Monitor Resolution:
Dell U2715H 27" QHD HDMI Monitor and a Dell 1920x1080 - i use two monitors for photo editing (I would like to use my 4k HDR tv occasionally for gaming also)

Additional Comments: (e.g.: Need to have a window and lots of bling, I would like a quiet PC. Please also list specific software or games you're using)
I would like a quiet pc or at least as quiet as possible while not being too hot etc.
I use photoshop and lightroom. I am hopeful to start doing some video editing work, and would like to play AAA games.


Thanks for looking
 
Something like this should be pretty good...

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor | £349.99 @ Amazon UK
CPU Cooler | Scythe - Mugen 5 Rev. B 51.17 CFM CPU Cooler | £58.18 @ Amazon UK
Motherboard | MSI - Z390-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard | £99.98 @ Box Limited
Memory | G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory | £74.36 @ Amazon UK
Storage | ADATA - XPG SX8200 480 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive | £64.99 @ CCL Computers
Storage | Seagate - 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive | £78.65 @ Overclockers.co.uk
Video Card | Zotac - GeForce RTX 2080 8 GB Video Card | £634.77 @ CCL Computers
Case | Cooler Master - MasterBox MB511 ATX Mid Tower Case | £49.00 @ AWD-IT
Power Supply | Corsair - TXM Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply | £79.00 @ AWD-IT
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | £1488.92
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-05-18 11:52 BST+0100 |
 
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May 18, 2019
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You can go with the 2070 if you want. But since you wanted to game @4k on your TV, the 2080 should be able to handle that with more ease. 4k gaming is still pretty demanding on the card. Besides, it will last you longer too without the need of an upgrade.

Thanks! Should that case be quiet enough or is there a better/ quieter one?
 
If you want a machine for editing, why would you go with one with less cores and threads? For editing, you always want more cores and threads. Future = more core and threads. Otherwise, if it didn'y we would still be on single core CPU's.

Better CPU for more cores/threads - same performance in any games 1440p or more
Better M2 drive
Better Quality HDD
And cheaper
To overclock - click a button in the BIOS - sorted
Radeon vii - better for editing also Most modern TV's support Freesync - AMD's choice

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7 GHz 8-Core Processor (£261.98 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Scythe - Mugen 5 Rev. B 51.17 CFM CPU Cooler (£58.18 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - X470 AORUS ULTRA GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard (£124.97 @ Box Limited)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£74.68 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£102.98 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Hitachi - Ultrastar 7K3000 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£45.89 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Sapphire - Radeon VII 16 GB Video Card (£635.47 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Cooler Master - MasterBox MB511 ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.00 @ AWD-IT)
Power Supply: Corsair - TXM Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply (£79.00 @ AWD-IT)
Total: £1432.15
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-05-18 23:54 BST+0100
 
Last edited:

spencer.cleaves2

Upstanding
Jan 5, 2019
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I might be the only one here who thinks this, but for an editing/gaming hybrid PC, I would honestly drop a Radeon VII. That 16GB of GDDR6 memory would definitely help out with video and picture editing (especially 4K) and it is a very similar price. I really think this card is good for hybrid purpose PCs. Also if you wait a little bit, you could get a Ryzen 3000 chip with 16 cores/32 threads, which would be better for you editing purposes but the Intel chip would still be ok.
 
I might be the only one here who thinks this, but for an editing/gaming hybrid PC, I would honestly drop a Radeon VII. That 16GB of GDDR6 memory would definitely help out with video and picture editing (especially 4K) and it is a very similar price. I really think this card is good for hybrid purpose PCs. Also if you wait a little bit, you could get a Ryzen 3000 chip with 16 cores/32 threads, which would be better for you editing purposes but the Intel chip would still be ok.

Very true, if you are into real editing and gaming then you can't beat the Radeon 7 - it really is amazing.
 
If you want a machine for editing, why would you go with one with less cores and threads? For editing, you always want more cores and threads. Future = more core and threads. Otherwise, if it didn'y we would still be on single core CPU's.

Better CPU for more cores/threads - same performance in any games 1440p or more
Better M2 drive
Better Quality HDD
And cheaper
To overclock - click a button in the BIOS - sorted
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7 GHz 8-Core Processor (£261.98 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Scythe - Mugen 5 Rev. B 51.17 CFM CPU Cooler (£58.18 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - X470 AORUS ULTRA GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard (£124.97 @ Box Limited)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£74.68 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£102.98 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Hitachi - Ultrastar 7K3000 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£45.89 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce RTX 2080 8 GB Video Card (£634.77 @ CCL Computers)
Case: Cooler Master - MasterBox MB511 ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.00 @ AWD-IT)
Power Supply: Corsair - TXM Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply (£79.00 @ AWD-IT)
Total: £1431.45
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-05-18 23:43 BST+0100

Future is also 16 cores and 32 threads. But is that really necessary???
The AMD cores are still slower at the end of the day... https://www.pcgamesn.com/intel-core-i7-8700k-review-benchmarks
End of the day what matters is what actually gets the job done. That CPU and Case can both get the job done.
 

spencer.cleaves2

Upstanding
Jan 5, 2019
178
25
240
Very true, if you are into real editing and gaming then you can't beat the Radeon 7 - it really is amazing.
Yea there is a lot of people over looking the Radeon VII because the 2080 still out performs it in most games. BUUUUUT if you want a GPU that can play games, and perfrom somewhat high quality editing and still get great FPS in games, then the VII is arguably the best one on the market, especially for the price. It will be the net GPU i buy for sure, but for this build specifically I think the user would see a lot of benefit if they swapped the 2080 for a VII.
 
Future is also 16 cores and 32 threads. But is that really necessary???
The AMD cores are still slower at the end of the day... https://www.pcgamesn.com/intel-core-i7-8700k-review-benchmarks
End of the day what matters is what actually gets the job done. That CPU and Case can both get the job done.
Depends on how far in the future you are talking.
Within 2 years 8/16 will be the norm, right now 8/16 is a bit beyond 2019 software, but because AMD is paving the way, software releases will start to use more and more.
Plus with Intel, you know the chipset will probably be out of date by the end of this year when Intel 10th gen comes about
 
On an older machine I am still using a 3770k for editing and its going plenty strong. If 8 threads can get the job done, 12 threads can go on for a long time in the foreseeable future. When you buys chips like 2700x or 9900k, other than specific software which can utilize all of it, most of the times its unused potential.
In this case, the faster cores of Intel processors will benefit both gaming and editing. If you know anything about photoshop, you will realize that it is optimized for Intel platform...
https://www.punchtechnology.co.uk/what-processor-adobe-photoshop-lightroom-2018/
 
May 18, 2019
12
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Thank you for all the replies!
I'm not sure how the vii compares with the 2080 (I have been out the loop massively) what are the main differences here?

I was also considering an Intel - Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor as a CPU - how is this compared to the suggested?
For Ram I was mulling this over and I'm happy to boost the budget for more, so that photoshop can handle the layers etc.
So i was thinking of adding: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory to the mix

How are these two changes and any info GPU wise would be really helpful!
 
8700k and 9700k are pretty close to each other in terms of performance. You aint gonna find much difference between them, atleast not now. But some apps and games do take advantage of SMT or Hyper Threading which the 9700k does not offer.
The RAM upgrade is a good decision and should benefit your kinda workload.

As for the GPU...
"
In Premiere Pro CC 2019, we saw significantly higher performance with NVIDIA GeForce cards over AMD Radeon. At a similar price-point around the Radeon VII, our testing showed an 8-35% performance gain with NVIDIA over AMD, or a 12-63% performance gain if your budget allows for a higher-end GPU like the RTX 2080 Ti.
Outside of straight performance, the Radeon VII does have 16GB of VRAM which can be useful in some situations. However, for Premiere Pro it is unusual to need more than 8-10GB of VRAM even for 8K workflows. Having more VRAM than you need doesn't give you any better performance, so unless you are using a plug-in or other application that actually needs 16GB of VRAM, the Radeon VII is simply a worse choice for Premiere Pro than an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 or 2080.
Keep in mind that article is only looking at Premiere Pro - if your workflow includes multiple software packages, it is a good idea to get a feel for how these cards compare in those other applications as well. For example, in DaVinci Resolve the Radeon VII is terrific. Not only does it perform on par with the RTX 2080 Ti, the 16GB of VRAM is incredibly useful if you do a significant amount of noise reduction. On the other hand, AMD tends to trail behind NVIDIA in other Adobe apps like After Effects and Photoshop.
In terms of just Premiere Pro, however, using an NVIDIA GeForce GPU is definitely a better choice than using an AMD Radeon Vega or Radeon VII."

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/a...19-AMD-Radeon-VII-vs-NVIDIA-GeForce-RTX-1395/
https://www.pcmag.com/compare/366379/amd-radeon-vii-vs-nvidia-rtx-2080-which-high-end-gaming-ca
 
May 18, 2019
12
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8700k and 9700k are pretty close to each other in terms of performance. You aint gonna find much difference between them, atleast not now. But some apps and games do take advantage of SMT or Hyper Threading which the 9700k does not offer.
The RAM upgrade is a good decision and should benefit your kinda workload.

As for the GPU...
"
In Premiere Pro CC 2019, we saw significantly higher performance with NVIDIA GeForce cards over AMD Radeon. At a similar price-point around the Radeon VII, our testing showed an 8-35% performance gain with NVIDIA over AMD, or a 12-63% performance gain if your budget allows for a higher-end GPU like the RTX 2080 Ti.
Outside of straight performance, the Radeon VII does have 16GB of VRAM which can be useful in some situations. However, for Premiere Pro it is unusual to need more than 8-10GB of VRAM even for 8K workflows. Having more VRAM than you need doesn't give you any better performance, so unless you are using a plug-in or other application that actually needs 16GB of VRAM, the Radeon VII is simply a worse choice for Premiere Pro than an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 or 2080.
Keep in mind that article is only looking at Premiere Pro - if your workflow includes multiple software packages, it is a good idea to get a feel for how these cards compare in those other applications as well. For example, in DaVinci Resolve the Radeon VII is terrific. Not only does it perform on par with the RTX 2080 Ti, the 16GB of VRAM is incredibly useful if you do a significant amount of noise reduction. On the other hand, AMD tends to trail behind NVIDIA in other Adobe apps like After Effects and Photoshop.
In terms of just Premiere Pro, however, using an NVIDIA GeForce GPU is definitely a better choice than using an AMD Radeon Vega or Radeon VII."

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/a...19-AMD-Radeon-VII-vs-NVIDIA-GeForce-RTX-1395/
https://www.pcmag.com/compare/366379/amd-radeon-vii-vs-nvidia-rtx-2080-which-high-end-gaming-ca

Ah excellent, thank you!

I've done an updated part list with a different cpu cooler. (No case as I want to look around a bit to find a quiet one!)

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel - Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor (£371.95 @ AWD-IT)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! - Dark Rock 4 CPU Cooler (£54.42 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: MSI - Z390-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£99.96 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£133.98 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Corsair - MP510 960 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£139.96 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Hitachi - Ultrastar 7K3000 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£45.89 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce RTX 2080 8 GB Video Card (£634.77 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: Corsair - TXM Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply (£79.00 @ AWD-IT)
Total: £1559.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-05-19 12:57 BST+0100


Does this look ok - one note regarding compatibility that PCPartPicker says, is
  • Note:The motherboard M.2 slot #1 shares bandwidth with a SATA 6.0 Gb/s port. When the M.2 slot is populated, one SATA 6.0 Gb/s port is disabled.

This shouldn't cause a problem as there are multiple SATA ports, but is this straightforward to deal with?

Regarding the motherboard, I've seen a 'gaming edge' version, is there any difference here?
 
M2 is not an issue as you have plenty of sata ports to connect.
The Gaming Edge version AFAIK has better power cycles and vrm's for overlocking, along with couple of other features like bluetooth and wifi... https://nl.hardware.info/vergelijkingstabel/producten/491053-489503
The build looks solid. Change the SSD.... https://ssd.userbenchmark.com/Compa...PG-SX8200-NVMe-PCIe-M2-240GB/m213562vsm480586

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
Storage | ADATA - XPG SX8200 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive | £154.96 @ CCL Computers
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | £154.96
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-05-19 14:06 BST+0100 |

Check out the beQuiet cases. They are pretty silent.
 
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May 18, 2019
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Just to update this thread, here was the final build I just purchased:
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel - Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor (£371.95 @ AWD-IT)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! - Dark Rock 4 CPU Cooler (£54.40 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI - MPG Z390 GAMING EDGE AC ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£138.98 @ Box Limited)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£133.98 @ Aria PC)
Storage: ADATA - XPG SX8200 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£149.99 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce RTX 2080 8 GB Video Card (£634.77 @ CCL Computers)
Case: be quiet! - Pure Base 600 ATX Mid Tower Case (£75.97 @ Laptops Direct)
Power Supply: Corsair - TXM Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply (£79.00 @ AWD-IT)
Total: £1639.04
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-05-20 19:11 BST+0100


I will get a larger HDD at some point for extra storage

I just wanted to say thank you for all the help you've all given
 
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