Replacing laptop with a desktop. Recommendations please - now getting quotes for the spec

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Nigel
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It's time to replace my aging laptop with a desktop workstation.

I would be mainly running the following on it

LR Classic
PS
Occasional Premier Pro
Microsoft Office 365

It would be connected to my pair of Dell Ultrasharp monitors

I'm not confident in being able to build my own, so would either be looking for an off the shelf solution or for a company to build it for me

I'd like it to be quiet as it will be sat on my desk

Budget wise, I'd be looking for around £1,500 ex VAT, to hopefully get a pretty decent solution

Your suggestions would be much appreciated. TIA
 
Any desktop computers will do fine, just as long as...

You have a minimum of 8GB of RAM, and aim for as much RAM as you can afford as well as what the motherboard can support. If you start with 8GB, that's good, but if you decided to double it and go for 16GB, then great. If you decided to go for 32GB, ever better, and so on.

Just make sure it is 8GB or more, and as much more RAM as you can afford.

Also make sure that you have at least a minimum of 4TB of disc space in whatever form, either HDD or SSD.

If possible, consider 1TB SSD for Windows and all other application software such as Adobe and Office. With a 4TB HDD for your own personal files such as your JPEG and DOCX files, etc.

But if not going for this, then consider something like a 5TB SSD or HDD for everything (Windows, applications, and user files.)

And most important of all, check your Dell monitors for what kind of connections they use, find out if they use HMDI, DisplayPort, or whatever, and make sure the desktop computer you're thinking of buying, must have ports that matches your Dell monitors.

But apart from the above, that's all there is, really. Any computer will do fine, just focus on RAM, SSD/HDD, and ports.

Remember that: A computer is only as fast as the user who use the computer.
 
£1500 is way over the top to be honest for your needs
you really just need a decent PC with 32gb of Ram with a decent graphics card for the multiple monitors and an SSD with maybe a standard HDD for slower storage.

something like this but add a bit more Ram and maybe a bigger SSD

i upped the below to 32gb and changed the SSD to a Samsung 1 TB and with W10 it came to £859.99p


 
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One of those companies who build it for you.

But they are quite easy to build these days and very satisfying to do it yourself.

And once you have done it once you will know how to add / remove / upgrade parts yourself.

Its certainly easier than photography or using photoshop
 
I'll second what fujilover says. I really enjoyed building my PC and oddly it was actually figuring out the best airflow which grabbed most of my attention. But if not then I would definitely have someone build it where you can spec the components to ensure quality.

I would recommend a minimum of 16GB RAM but if video editing then perhaps worth increasing to 32GB. A good i5 processor would probably be ok, but with your budget then a good i7 would be better. I'm still running an i7 3770k from over 8 years ago and it takes on everything including Premiere Pro.

Graphics card may not be so important but the GeForce GTX 1660 Super is excellent value for money and it's also VR capable. Whilst this may not be of interest, it's handy to have and for all the extra cost over a lesser card I would say it's worth it.
 
Its certainly easier than photography or using photoshop

Hmmmmm.......snapping it all together is easy, working out what you need is frying my little brain. About to pop up a post asking for advice for a budget choice!
 
£1500 is way over the top to be honest for your needs
you really just need a decent PC with 32gb of Ram with a decent graphics card for the multiple monitors and an SSD with maybe a standard HDD for slower storage.

something like this but add a bit more Ram and maybe a bigger SSD

i upped the below to 32gb and changed the SSD to a Samsung 1 TB and with W10 it came to £859.99p



Hi Paul. That looks a good place. I can't see any reference to an all important SD card slot though. Would this have to be a reader via USB?
 
Hi Paul. That looks a good place. I can't see any reference to an all important SD card slot though. Would this have to be a reader via USB?

You simply ask CCL to fit one , they are quite flexible on the build
 
I'm currently getting quotes to build and supply this rig

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8GHz 12-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite Wifi ATX AM4
GPU: Nvidia RTX 2060 SUPER 8GB - MSI Gaming X
Memory: 32GB (2 x 16GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 C16
Storage PCIe-SSD: Samsung 970 EVO PLUS 500Gb M.2 Solid State Drive
Storage Seagate BarraCuda 4TB 3.5" HDD
Power Supply: Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 650W ATX 2.4 Power Supply
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 275Q ATX Mid Tower Case
 
I'm currently getting quotes to build and supply this rig

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8GHz 12-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite Wifi ATX AM4
GPU: Nvidia RTX 2060 SUPER 8GB - MSI Gaming X
Memory: 32GB (2 x 16GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 C16
Storage PCIe-SSD: Samsung 970 EVO PLUS 500Gb M.2 Solid State Drive
Storage Seagate BarraCuda 4TB 3.5" HDD
Power Supply: Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 650W ATX 2.4 Power Supply
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 275Q ATX Mid Tower Case

I'm not sure if that will be able to handle LR Classic, PS, Occasional Premier Pro and Microsoft Office 365...
 
I'm currently getting quotes to build and supply this rig

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8GHz 12-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite Wifi ATX AM4
GPU: Nvidia RTX 2060 SUPER 8GB - MSI Gaming X
Memory: 32GB (2 x 16GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 C16
Storage PCIe-SSD: Samsung 970 EVO PLUS 500Gb M.2 Solid State Drive
Storage Seagate BarraCuda 4TB 3.5" HDD
Power Supply: Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 650W ATX 2.4 Power Supply
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 275Q ATX Mid Tower Case

That's almost exactly what I have. It is more or less equipped for planetary assault.

I can only assume @gman is being somewhat ironic. Let me know if you want stats as this is close enough to your build to benchmark.
 
From CCL
Hi there, Thank you for your interest in a quotation for a CCL built PC. We appreciate the time you've taken to compile your components list and choose us as your system builder. Unfortunately however, the consequences of the current UK affairs is placing a high demand on our PC sales team that is causing unwanted delays within the department. In lieu of this, we have made the difficult choice to temporarily decline all incoming PC quotation requests in an attempt to protect the integrity of our high customer service standards. Instead, we can only suggest you browse our website range or attempt to use the custom PC section. https://www.cclonline.com/pc/custom-pcs/ Thank you for your patience and understanding during this time. Regards,
Adam Harley

(Please note, the CCL PC Sales team are currently extremely busy and are struggling to keep up with customer service requests, as such it may take up to three business days for us to respond to your query)

PC Sales and Support
CCL Computers
www.cclonline.com - 01274 471200
Or I could just go with Scan.co.uk :)
 
Don`t need that CPU cooler. It comes with its own decent cooler already ( Wraith Prism Cooler included ) So i would call them out on that.

You only need to upgrade it if your into overclocking which voids your warranty immediately i would imagine.
 
Don`t need that CPU cooler. It comes with its own decent cooler already ( Wraith Prism Cooler included ) So i would call them out on that.

You only need to upgrade it if your into overclocking which voids your warranty immediately i would imagine.

You may be right but the beQuiet cooler mentioned, in comparison to the included cooler is more efficient at heat transfer, has much less fan noise, and more importantly is a feast for the eyes.
 
I'm currently getting quotes to build and supply this rig

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8GHz 12-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite Wifi ATX AM4
GPU: Nvidia RTX 2060 SUPER 8GB - MSI Gaming X
Memory: 32GB (2 x 16GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 C16
Storage PCIe-SSD: Samsung 970 EVO PLUS 500Gb M.2 Solid State Drive
Storage Seagate BarraCuda 4TB 3.5" HDD
Power Supply: Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 650W ATX 2.4 Power Supply
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 275Q ATX Mid Tower Case
Just be aware that AMD are literally days away from their new chips and the Ryzen 5900 will replace the 3900. The new chips look to be a worthwhile speed bump over the old. I’d recommend waiting and either getting the new chip or getting the old chip at a lower price.
 
Just be aware that AMD are literally days away from their new chips and the Ryzen 5900 will replace the 3900. The new chips look to be a worthwhile speed bump over the old. I’d recommend waiting and either getting the new chip or getting the old chip at a lower price.
Good info, thanks @Brazo. Just wondering, though if I put in the Ryzen 5900, would that require thinking about the rest of the components with the increased speed of the new chip ie to keep things balanced?
Excuse the layman thinking here
 
Good info, thanks @Brazo. Just wondering, though if I put in the Ryzen 5900, would that require thinking about the rest of the components with the increased speed of the new chip ie to keep things balanced?
Excuse the layman thinking here
Not at all. It will only be about 15% faster in single core speed, which is well worth having mind but the rest of the system will more than cope.
I have an x470 motherboard which won’t take the new chips but you can bet the 3XXX series chips will drop in price and that’s when I’ll pick up a 3950x!

NB: If you can get 3600mhz ram for Ryzen that’s it’s sweet spot on any chip.
 
I don't think it has been mentioned pre this post but I would specify a solid state Hard Drive, they are so much quicker on start up than the older type. It runs cooler and the response to a mouse click is obviously quicker. You don't need a huge capacity, I think my SS drive is about 60Gig, but it is hooked up to a 2 terabyte SS remote drive where everything to be stored permanently.
 
My current PC is a Palicomp i9 (16 core) with 32 gb ram purchased on a certain jungle forest named web site for £830. But I ordered it without a hard drive and graphics card as I wanted to transfer the Nvidia GTX1060 card and 250 gb SSD drive from my old PC into the new one, it was done with little fuss and thus helped to keep costs down.

It goes like the brown stuff from a shovel.
 
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Whilst the new 5000 series AMD processors are only about a week away from being released, there is likely to be huge initial demand and stock shortages. Perhaps not quite as bad as the recent Nvidia 3080/3090 fiasco, but some suppliers are expected to sell out of their stock almost immediately.
 
I don't think it has been mentioned pre this post but I would specify a solid state Hard Drive, they are so much quicker on start up than the older type. It runs cooler and the response to a mouse click is obviously quicker. You don't need a huge capacity, I think my SS drive is about 60Gig, but it is hooked up to a 2 terabyte SS remote drive where everything to be stored permanently.
@darkroom12 I'm going for a 500Gb SSD for programs and a 4Tb HDD for storing photos, vids and data
 
Make sure that the SSD is partitioned say 200 for windows and 300 for programs.
If for any reason Windows goes t**s up and needs to be reinstalled if your programs are on the same drive they will all be wiped if everything is on the same drive.
 
Make sure that the SSD is partitioned say 200 for windows and 300 for programs.
If for any reason Windows goes t**s up and needs to be reinstalled if your programs are on the same drive they will all be wiped if everything is on the same drive.
Not sure of your logic here, if you re-install Windows you will have to re-install your programs anyway !
 
Nigel,

Regardless of the Intel/AMD debate, I would suggest you get a motherboard that supports M.2 NVMe SSD Disks. Look at the read/write speeds of the options as they varying wildly with price !

Personally I went for :-

Western Digital 500GB Black SN750 With Heatsink 3430MB/s Read,2600MB/s Write for Windows and Programs
Seagate BarraCuda 1Tb , 2.5" SSD, SATA 3.0 (6Gb/s), Read 560MB/s Write 540MB/s Write, for my working RAW files
Seagate BarraCuda 4Tb 3.5" HDD, SATA III - 6Gb/s, 5400rpm, 256MB Cache for my stored pictures
Plus a number of 1Tb USb drives for backup
 
Nigel,

Regardless of the Intel/AMD debate, I would suggest you get a motherboard that supports M.2 NVMe SSD Disks. Look at the read/write speeds of the options as they varying wildly with price !

Personally I went for :-

Western Digital 500GB Black SN750 With Heatsink 3430MB/s Read,2600MB/s Write for Windows and Programs
Seagate BarraCuda 1Tb , 2.5" SSD, SATA 3.0 (6Gb/s), Read 560MB/s Write 540MB/s Write, for my working RAW files
Seagate BarraCuda 4Tb 3.5" HDD, SATA III - 6Gb/s, 5400rpm, 256MB Cache for my stored pictures
Plus a number of 1Tb USb drives for backup
@Compuwight thanks for the info, Steve, much appreciated. I'm going to take a day or two to re-assess, before I take the plunge
 
Nigel,
www.pcspecialist.co.uk allow you to fully configure a system, its a good place to experiment with specs and prices even if you purchase elsewhere

For example only and by no means a recommendation as there are many other suppliers

CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 200R COMPACT CASE
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-10600 (3.3GHz) 12MB Cache with Corsair H60 2018 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
ASUS® H410M-A: Micro-ATX, DDR4, USB 3.2, SATA 6GBs
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 16GB)
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1650 SUPER - HDMI
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
500GB SEAGATE BARRACUDA 120 2.5" SSD, (up to 560MB/sR | 540MB/sW)
4TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
USB 3.0 EXTERNAL SD/MICRO SD CARD READER
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit
LOGITECH® MK270 WIRELESS KEYBOARD & MOUSE COMBO
LOGITECH S150 2.0 BLACK SPEAKER SYSTEM

3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
£1200
 
Nigel,
www.pcspecialist.co.uk allow you to fully configure a system, its a good place to experiment with specs and prices even if you purchase elsewhere

For example only and by no means a recommendation as there are many other suppliers

CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 200R COMPACT CASE
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-10600 (3.3GHz) 12MB Cache with Corsair H60 2018 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
ASUS® H410M-A: Micro-ATX, DDR4, USB 3.2, SATA 6GBs
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 16GB)
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1650 SUPER - HDMI
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
500GB SEAGATE BARRACUDA 120 2.5" SSD, (up to 560MB/sR | 540MB/sW)
4TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
USB 3.0 EXTERNAL SD/MICRO SD CARD READER
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit
LOGITECH® MK270 WIRELESS KEYBOARD & MOUSE COMBO
LOGITECH S150 2.0 BLACK SPEAKER SYSTEM

3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
£1200
@Compuwight superb info, Steve. Thanks for taking the time to provide these details, it's very much appreciated. Initial thoughts are they are much cheaper than Scan.
 
If you were to consider a self-build, https://uk.pcpartpicker.com is quite useful as it tries to source each part at the cheapest price from many suppliers. It’s quite a user-friendly way to chop & change the configuration and whilst I don’t think the prices it shows are 100% accurate, it’s not far out in my case.
 
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