Advise on building a pc capable of UHD 4k

n0chex

n0chex

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Hi all , I am going to build a new Pc as my old Lenovo is quite a few years old now. I want to build a Pc to support 4k resolution. I have a Samsung UHD TV and would be nice to run the Pc through it.
I don't play any games so no need for an expensive graphics card or i7 CPU which I would never use.

The PC would be used as a monitor only for browsing the internet and a few you tube vids and editing my photographic pictures.

My initial finding was I needed a motherboard that supports the 4k resolution (preferably on board graphics) the CPU also has to support 4k ( New Intel Haswell's ) also the connection between the PC and the Screen had to support fast HDMI connection 2.0
The company I usually use to get my PC parts from is Scan computers and I have found below what I think would do the job but would appreciate and further information or knowledge please.

Motherboard : http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus...3-pcie-30-(x16)-m2-d-sub-(vga)-dvi-d-hdmi-atx
CPU : http://www.scan.co.uk/products/inte...gt-s-dmi-1150mhz-gpu-36x-ratio-54w-cpu-retail
CPU Heat sink : http://www.scan.co.uk/products/cool...quiet-with-compact-120mm-pwm-radiator-for-int
Memory : http://www.scan.co.uk/products/8gb-...3-14900-(1866)-non-ecc-cas-9-10-9-27-xmp-150v
Power Supply : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/371216130361?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
HDMI Cable : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161751945...49&var=460727934507&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
Case : Not Picked one yet :)

Any further recommendation welcome.
 
Then again if it is purely for consumption it barely had to do anything. Not sure why you'd want just for consumption a PC though.
 
dejongj said:
Then again if it is purely for consumption it barely had to do anything. Not sure why you'd want just for consumption a PC though.
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He wants to edit his photos on it - both LR and PS will use the GPU if possible.

LR only uses the GPU in the Develop module; it's otherwise CPU-bound. That said, there's editing and editing - it's one thing to just tweak curves and quite another to do complex compositing, stitching and multi-layer work in PS.
 
pwhysall said:
He wants to edit his photos on it - both LR and PS will use the GPU if possible.

LR only uses the GPU in the Develop module; it's otherwise CPU-bound. That said, there's editing and editing - it's one thing to just tweak curves and quite another to do complex compositing, stitching and multi-layer work in PS.
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Yes, well spotted I missed that part. Forget about be i3. Actually I find on my surface pro that when you switch off hardware acceleration in Lightroom it is quicker. I would go for an i5 at the very least.
 
Hard drives, or are you reusing your old ones?
 
Thanks for the replies guys and I looked at the i5 and what the difference was in that and the i3 and at single tasking the i3 is around the same only when you start to multi task will the i5 start to take over the i3 but not by much.
If anything I am thinking will I need more memory as I also run 2 CCTV camera's through the pc hence the efficient power supply and the i3 for lower power consumption.

I use an efficient 24/7 Western Digital purple 2TB for 24/7 capture of the CCTV and for my OS I use a Samsung Evo Pro 512gb.

This is a budget conscience pc also and will be on 24/7
 
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So the motherboard and cpu combination above won't give me the 4k output to the tv as it stands is that what you are saying?

According to scan computers and just coming off the phone to them they seam to think the combination would be very much suitable for my needs and no further GPU would be needed as I wouldn't be interested in playing games whatsoever.
 
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Was looking at the NUC Pc System but for the money I decided to configure my own to support 4k@60pHz
 
I'm not saying that it won't output but the perfirmance will be bad for anything but basic stuff, if you want to do any editing you will need more.

The good news is you can add a GPU later but you will need to spec that into your PSU.
 
I run a 4k monitor through a GTX970 but don't use Windows at full res, I go in-between 4k and 1080p. Worth bearing in mind that windows doesn't scale very well as it throws the mouse out of alignment. In PS etc menus are far too small at 4k even when changing their size in app. 4k is good for games and videos though.
 
Basic stuff is ALL I will be doing no 4k video editing just a little adjusting to my pictures in LR in regards to Gman's comment the Free Win 10 upgrade will solve the problems in scaling now in Win 7 I hope.
At the moment I am running it at 1080p but the text on the screen just doesn't look right not as in size but jagged edges and rainbow effect.

What resolution have you got yours set at on the GTX970? and could you not upscale the text size and icons so they look larger and is it a monitor or tv if so does it do the full 60Hz as a lot of 4k stuff only displays 4k @30
 
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Scaling works very well in 8.1 as well, well if except for when you want to switch scaling modes as that requires a sign-out which is just stupid. But hey easily done.

Whilst you are correct that if you perform CPU insensitive stuff the i3 can be fine, heck even a celeron can be good, you will notice the difference in applications like Lightroom. And if you also have 24x7 cameras going through it they will 'eat' some cpu cycles, then there is dealing with multiple hard drives etc....All overheads...

The HD4400 is fine for 4K though, running two screens is not an issue. However what you may want to double check whether it can actually do it at 60hz. In the experience of some systems I know it can't do it about 30Hz. Thus you will get some lag. Considering that if that doesn't work as you expect then you can either add a graphics card which will increase power consumption and heat. Or possibly you should look to avoid that situation and get an i5 with an integrated iris pro or similar improved graphics. Still not good for gaming but more likely to have sufficient bandwidth to support 4K @ 60 Hz....Something you may want to review and think about.
 
At the moment I only have 1 screen running the pc and the cctv which incorporates it's own software ( Hikvision ) CPU usage usually sits around 5% that's on a standard HD2000 i3 .
I have all the hard drives already for the cctv and the OS being a SSD and the new motherboard will use the full potential of that as it does 6gb bandwidth where the pc I have now is no where near that but still runs and starts much faster than a sata HD.

I think the i5 is HD6000 incorporated where the i3 has HD5500 ( I could be wrong! ) I would think the new generation i3 CPU would run at full 60Hz but this is monitor/tv dependant as I have found out recently even some of the newer 4k tvs/monitors don't support the full 60Hz refresh rate so picking one was tricky to say the least especially the prices they want.

Just for reference the screen I have is the Samsung HU7500 series again for its efficiency and future proof connections and features.
 
No the i3 you linked to has an HD4400. I don't think it can drive it at 60hz but aren't certain. If you are happy with 30Hz then that is fine, but I couldn't deal with it.
 
No you are right my mistake and thanks for pointing that out and I see the motherboard only Supports HDMI with max. resolution 4096 x 2160 @ 24 Hz / 2560 x 1600 @ 60 Hz also ......this is complicated !!!
 
I forgot about the 30MHz thing, well remembered and another thing to consider .
 
That is why forums are great :) and yes these things are never straight forward unfortunately.

The iris pro integrated graphics can run at 60hz. So in order to remain power conscious an i5 can still be good. It will only use the turbo multiplier when it requires it.
 
I think it was a 760GTX I initially bought as the lesser ones didn't have dp ports but it couldn't really cope hence getting a 970GTX. On win7 so have scaling issues which is why I keep it just under full 4k. Just can't get to like win8
 
Is your Samsung TV 60Hz compatible? Many TVs aren't, only the 4k monitors.
 
HDMI 2.0 (for 4K@60p/50p support), built-in HEVC decoder so indeed it does support 4K@60p
 
Ok my HDMI 2:0 cable arrived today and a mate fetched his PC down to test my TV's resolution to make sure it would do the full 4k@60Hz and here it is below .

 
Very nice!
 
Oh I forgot to say it is a 55" set
 
Is it the 2015 model? It has an HDR mode that's rather nice (if you have some HDR video to watch).
 
2014 but fully upgradable via the EVO pack so future proof
 
Max. GPU Resolution:3840x2160 mmmm
 
n0chex said:
Max. GPU Resolution:3840x2160 mmmm
Click to expand...
Which is the same as the vast majority of 4K monitors...Very few true 4K monitors about...
 
n0chex said:
Max. GPU Resolution:3840x2160 mmmm
Click to expand...
Which is the same as the vast majority of 4K monitors...Very few true 4K monitors about...
 
n0chex said:
Max. GPU Resolution:3840x2160 mmmm
Click to expand...
Which is the same as the vast majority of 4K monitors...Very few true 4K monitors about...
 
Indeed mate and that's why I stated "mmmmm" ( Interested )
I did get your first post :)

 
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n0chex said:
Max. GPU Resolution:3840x2160 mmmm
Click to expand...
Which is the same as the vast majority of 4K monitors...Very few true 4K monitors about...
 
The hamster has that forgetting illness:rolleyes:
 
That's what happens when using that 4K monster at 30Hz :p
 
n0chex said:
2014 but fully upgradable via the EVO pack so future proof
Click to expand...

Not really. The current DVB discussions are for 100 frames per second with high dynamic range. You'll get a downconvert to 50 fps standard dynamic range.

dejongj said:
Which is the same as the vast majority of 4K monitors...Very few true 4K monitors about...
Click to expand...

4K and 4k have different meanings when related to screen sizes - one is 4096 one is 3840 (I can't remember which is which - thanks to Panasonic and Sony not agreeing). That's why the broadcast industry uses UHD1 (3840x2160) and UHD2 (7680x4320).

See https://tech.ebu.ch/docs/techreports/tr028.pdf for more details.
 
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