Build Advice New Build for Photoshop / Blender / Video editing / Gaming ?

[Doornail1837]

Hello,

I'm in need of a new build for working from home. I'm familiar with building a PC and don't mind tinkering with tech.

Looking for some advice on what build would suit the requirements below.

Thank you

Approximate Purchase Date: within the next 7 days

Budget Range: £1500-1700

System Usage from Most to Least Important:
40% Photoshop - Digital painting / photo editing 2K+ resolution
20% Blender - Vehicle + hard surface modelling and rendering
15% Video recording (OBS) and processing (DaVinci)
10% Gaming - Currently playing Outer Worlds
15% Web browsing, Microsoft Office


Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: New build - I have these parts from previous builds/devices that I will be using:

1TB Samsung 970 Evo Plus NVMe.M2 (3years old - will use to store reference images for work)


2TB WD WD2002FAEX Caviar Black (from a old pc build but still going - will probably use with a docking station as a backup drive)
Keyboard + mouse

Do you need to buy OS: Yes

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Overclockers UK
Amazon
Scan

Location: Manchester, UK

Parts Preferences: Not really any. Just those with a good reputation.

Overclocking: No

Multiple GPUs: No

Your Monitor Resolution:
2x Monitors:
HP Z27 27-inch 4K UHD,
Dell UltraSharp U2312HM 23'' Led HD

Additional Comments:
Software: Photoshop, Blender, Substance Painter, OBS, DaVinci Resolve, Microsoft Office, Steam, Epic Games Store.

Games: Currently playing the Outer Worlds and Borderlands 3

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Laptop died.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

This should serve as a template;
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D 4.7 GHz 8-Core Processor (£411.16 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III Pro 360 77 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£84.95 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Motherboard: MSI MAG B850 TOMAHAWK MAX WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard (£219.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo RGB 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36 Memory (£156.26 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI SHADOW 3X OC GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16 GB Video Card (£729.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Corsair FRAME 4000D ATX Mid Tower Case (£72.98 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: MSI MAG A850GL PCIE5 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£99.95 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1775.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-06-26 13:28 BST+0100
though I'm sure there's a lot of room for fine tuning.

 

[Why_Me]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *Intel Core Ultra 7 265K 3.9 GHz 20-Core Processor (£265.97 @ Currys PC World)
CPU Cooler: *Deepcool LS720S ZERO DARK 85.85 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£78.14 @ NeoComputers)
Motherboard: *Asus TUF GAMING Z890-PLUS WIFI ATX LGA1851 Motherboard (£226.92 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: *Patriot Viper Venom 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 Memory (£149.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: *MSI SHADOW 3X OC GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16 GB Video Card (£729.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: *Montech AIR 903 BASE ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Power Supply: *MSI MAG A850GL PCIE5 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£99.95 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1600.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-06-26 13:54 BST+0100

https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/windows-11-free-or-cheap

 

[LOGAN54321]

PCPartPicker Part List
CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 265K 3.9 GHz 20-Core Processor (£265.97 @ Currys PC World)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 140 77.8 CFM CPU Cooler (£35.00 @ Computer Orbit)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z890 AORUS ELITE WIFI7 ICE ATX LGA1851 Motherboard (£183.94 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 Memory (£151.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial T500 4 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (£239.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Asus TUF GAMING OC GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB Video Card (£399.95 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Lian Li LANCOOL 216 ATX Mid Tower Case (£85.00 @ Computer Orbit)
Power Supply: NZXT C1200 (2024) 1200 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£139.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1501.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-06-26 14:20 BST+0100

 

[Doornail1837]

Thank you for the welcome and quick suggestions so far. 🙂

Is there much difference between Intel and AMD CPUs for Blender, Photoshop and video editing?

In terms of cooling, I noticed a few liquid cooling options suggested. What's the general consensus from you folks of liquid vs air cooling for this build? I'm more familiar with air cooling but open to liquid if it's better for my purposes long term.

 

[logainofhades]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D 4.7 GHz 8-Core Processor (£410.00 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Royal Pretor 130 BLACK 81.88 CFM CPU Cooler (£42.00 @ Computer Orbit)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B850 AORUS ELITE WIFI7 ATX AM5 Motherboard (£202.99 @ MoreCoCo)
Memory: G.Skill Flare X5 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory (£190.91 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gainward Phoenix-S GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16 GB Video Card (£689.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Case: Montech AIR 903 MAX ATX Mid Tower Case (£59.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Power Supply: Corsair RM850e (2025) 850 W Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£98.97 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1694.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-06-26 16:57 BST+0100

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Content Creation Review

We examine the performance of AMD's new Ryzen 7 9800X3D in content creation applications.

www.pugetsystems.com

 

[Misgar]

Is there much difference between Intel and AMD CPUs for Blender, Photoshop and video editing?

Photoshop does not require huge numbers of CPU cores:
https://www.pugetsystems.com/soluti...adobe-photoshop/hardware-recommendations/#cpu

DaVinci Resolve and other video editing apps love CPU cores and really powerful GPUs:
https://www.pugetsystems.com/soluti...davinci-resolve/hardware-recommendations/#cpu

Some video editing apps perform better with Intel CPUs, but I chose AMD (7950X) in 2022 because it consumed less power than the Intel i9-13900K.

Probably best to stick with NVidia GPUs for video editing apps if they need CUDA support.

What's the general consensus from you folks of liquid vs air cooling for this build?

I chose a "big air" (Noctua NH-D15) cooler but if you want to squeeze a few more MHz out of a modern CPU during automatic boosting, a 360mm/420mm AIO would probably be better.

A ThermalRight Phantom Spirit 120SE is only £32.59 and probably beats my £110 NH-D15.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thermalright-Phantom-TL-C12B-Heatsink-Computer/dp/B0D97JHQ6H/ref=sr_1_4

Opinions vary, but if you're keeping the rig longer than 5 years, the AIO might need replacing if the pump eventually wears out.

 

[Why_Me]

Thank you for the welcome and quick suggestions so far. 🙂

Is there much difference between Intel and AMD CPUs for Blender, Photoshop and video editing?

In terms of cooling, I noticed a few liquid cooling options suggested. What's the general consensus from you folks of liquid vs air cooling for this build? I'm more familiar with air cooling but open to liquid if it's better for my purposes long term.

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/air-cooling/thermalright-royal-pretor-130-review

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU Cooler: *Thermalright Royal Pretor 130 BLACK 81.88 CFM CPU Cooler (£42.00 @ Computer Orbit)
Total: £42.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-06-26 20:38 BST+0100

 

[Doornail1837]

Many thanks for the explanation @Misgar I aim to keep this rig for as long as possible, upgrading parts as I go. The last build I had suggested by the folks on this forum, lasted me 8 years before I had to switch things over to a laptop. One of my Dell monitors is still going strong!

Great to have so many suggestions which is making this much easier! Thanks

 

[helper800]

Many thanks for the explanation @Misgar I aim to keep this rig for as long as possible, upgrading parts as I go. The last build I had suggested by the folks on this forum, lasted me 8 years before I had to switch things over to a laptop. One of my Dell monitors is still going strong!

Great to have so many suggestions which is making this much easier! Thanks

Ever done an all white build? It's a bit over budget, but here's the opportunity. Any of the builds above that are based on a 265k, 5070 ti, 64gb+ RAM, and at least 2TB of a DRAM cache NVMe drive for the OS is good in my book.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 265K 3.9 GHz 20-Core Processor (£265.97 @ Currys PC World)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 140 77.8 CFM CPU Cooler (£35.00 @ Computer Orbit)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z890 AORUS ELITE WIFI7 ICE ATX LGA1851 Motherboard (£183.94 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Patriot Viper Venom 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 Memory (£149.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial T500 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (£118.07 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Zotac Solid Core OC GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16 GB Video Card (£825.46 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Montech AIR 903 BASE ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Power Supply: NZXT C850 (2024) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£136.49 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £1764.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-06-26 22:25 BST+0100

 

[Doornail1837]

Decision time! Thanks everyone. I'll let you know which one I go for.

 

[Doornail1837]

I ended up going with @helper800 's build above. It had the parts that were most available without pre-ordering. Plus I thought a white build would cool to try out! I managed to get it slightly cheaper too due to some discounts so everything worked out great. Thanks everyone for the help and education. I learnt a lot and I'm looking forward to building this rig on Wednesday! 😁

 

[helper800]

I ended up going with @helper800 's build above. It had the parts that were most available without pre-ordering. Plus I thought a white build would cool to try out! I managed to get it slightly cheaper too due to some discounts so everything worked out great. Thanks everyone for the help and education. I learnt a lot and I'm looking forward to building this rig on Wednesday! 😁

I am sure you will like the aesthetic!

 

[helper800]

I ended up going with @helper800 's build above. It had the parts that were most available without pre-ordering. Plus I thought a white build would cool to try out! I managed to get it slightly cheaper too due to some discounts so everything worked out great. Thanks everyone for the help and education. I learnt a lot and I'm looking forward to building this rig on Wednesday! 😁

Post back with pictures if you'd like.

 

[Doornail1837]

Update:
The CPU and motherboard took the longest to arrive but finally build complete! I'm very pleased with it and it's running very smoothly. The only go well with the Philips Hue lights in the office.

It was fun to build and notice how much things have improved technology and function wise since my build.

Looking forward to jumping into Photoshop and Blender again in the next few days.

Thanks again for the help folks!

 

[helper800]

Update:
The CPU and motherboard took the longest to arrive but finally build complete! I'm very pleased with it and it's running very smoothly. The only go well with the Philips Hue lights in the office.

It was fun to build and notice how much things have improved technology and function wise since my build.

Looking forward to jumping into Photoshop and Blender again in the next few days.

Thanks again for the help folks!

Looks great! The PSU should have come with a white 12VHPWR connector. You should not have to use the provided black adapter!

 

[Doornail1837]

Oh haha somehow I missed that! Thanks. Looks much better now!

 

[helper800]

Oh haha somehow I missed that! Thanks. Looks much better now!

Looking good! Let us know how it performs compared to the last PC if you'd like!