Build me a desktop for work

[NinJake]

I'd like to see what everyone comes up with under these constraints.

 

I already have peripherals, this is strictly for the desktop and components within the desktop. (Already have an OS as well)

 

Use case: Day to day help desk work. Spinning up virtualbox for testing. (Normally only 1 VM at a time.) GIMP for editing photos, Adobe Premier for editing videos. I also RDP into our various servers and use VNC to remote into desktops. These are the more "resource intensive" tasks I figure would be worth mentioning.

 

I'd like a Mid-tower without a window so it doesn't stick out much compared to the generic computers we purchase for employees.

 

Budget: ~$1000.00 USD, however I might be able to squeeze a little extra.

 

It may also be worth mentioning that we have 0 AMD machines, so while I'm all for Ryzen, if I'm troubleshooting programs on my own pc it might not hurt to stick with Intel for compatibility among our other systems, however I am still open to trying Ryzen, I just need reliability for work. I'd also like some sort of dedicated GPU.

 

Looking forward to your responses.  Thanks!

 

[jerubedo]

49 minutes ago, NinJake said:

I'd like to see what everyone comes up with under these constraints.

 

I already have peripherals, this is strictly for the desktop and components within the desktop. (Already have an OS as well)

 

Use case: Day to day help desk work. Spinning up virtualbox for testing. (Normally only 1 VM at a time.) GIMP for editing photos, Adobe Premier for editing videos. I also RDP into our various servers and use VNC to remote into desktops. These are the more "resource intensive" tasks I figure would be worth mentioning.

 

I'd like a Mid-tower without a window so it doesn't stick out much compared to the generic computers we purchase for employees.

 

Budget: ~$1000.00 USD, however I might be able to squeeze a little extra.

 

It may also be worth mentioning that we have 0 AMD machines, so while I'm all for Ryzen, if I'm troubleshooting programs on my own pc it might not hurt to stick with Intel for compatibility among our other systems, however I am still open to trying Ryzen, I just need reliability for work. I'd also like some sort of dedicated GPU.

 

Looking forward to your responses.  Thanks!

 

This should be perfect with the parameters you set. If you need me to trim back that extra $22.51 I can make a few changes, but you did say that you might be able to squeeze a little extra:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel - Core i7-8700 3.2 GHz 6-Core Processor	$309.99 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler	CRYORIG - H7 49 CFM CPU Cooler	$69.89 @ OutletPC
Motherboard	Gigabyte - B360 HD3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	$89.99 @ Amazon
Memory	G.Skill - Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$159.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Samsung - 860 Evo 250 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive	$67.89 @ Amazon
Storage	Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$44.89 @ OutletPC
Video Card	ASRock - Radeon RX 570 8 GB Phantom Gaming X Video Card	$139.99 @ Newegg
Case	Corsair - 270R ATX Mid Tower Case	$59.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply	$79.89 @ OutletPC
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1042.51
	Mail-in rebates	-$20.00
	Total	$1022.51
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-03-05 14:42 EST-0500

 

If you wanted to game a little on the side at work, it would do that, too

[NinJake]

This is actually very close to the pcpp I set up myself. I could remove the HDD and reuse some of our older 500gb-1tb 5400 rpm drives that I've salvaged from other computers.  I also have a 5tb external drive and a 2 drive dock for sata SSD's or HDD's. (Used for cloning disks or plug and play storage)

Of course I have access to our network storage.

 

I haven't seen that case but the port layout works perfect as my current pc is to the left of me on my desk. Thanks for your input, @jerubedo!

 

For the past 2 years my work computer is some generic HP rig with an i5 processor and 4gb of ram... I salvaged another 4gb stick to at least get 8gb but it's been a pain to say the least. I'm looking forward to building a pc and showing my boss how easy it is to build a decent workstation for the cost compared to buying them from retailers. (Only for specialized builds, wholesale is still the winner for rolling out 20 machines at once lol)

[brob]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700 3.2 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($309.99 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG - M9i 48.4 CFM CPU Cooler  ($49.89 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: ASRock - H370 Pro4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($85.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-2666 Memory  ($94.89 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Crucial - MX500 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($139.99 @ B&H) 
Video Card: MSI - Radeon RX 570 8 GB ARMOR OC Video Card  ($169.00 @ Amazon) 
Case: Corsair - 100R Silent ATX Mid Tower Case  ($59.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($43.88 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $953.62
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-03-05 15:57 EST-0500

[NinJake]

Thanks @brob! I'll have to look further into both of the recommended builds so far more tomorrow and compare between them. I'm kind of sad I haven't seen any EVGA graphics cards yet

[jerubedo]

2 hours ago, brob said:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700 3.2 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($309.99 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG - M9i 48.4 CFM CPU Cooler  ($49.89 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: ASRock - H370 Pro4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($85.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-2666 Memory  ($94.89 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Crucial - MX500 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($139.99 @ B&H) 
Video Card: MSI - Radeon RX 570 8 GB ARMOR OC Video Card  ($169.00 @ Amazon) 
Case: Corsair - 100R Silent ATX Mid Tower Case  ($59.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($43.88 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $953.62
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-03-05 15:57 EST-0500

I was also thinking about using the M9i as the cooler, but at max load on the 8700 it's just too hot for comfort. I also wouldn't drop below 32GB of RAM for professional use in Premiere Pro video editing. Even for VMs, if you want to make a test VM for a client running 16GB of RAM in order to test apples to apples, then you'll want 32GB to spin up that 16GB VM. The MX500 is a solid choice for a 1TB SSD but its endurance rating is not as good as the 860 Evo (plus M.2 for the win). While the CX 450 watt is an okay choice (tier 2 PSU), the G2 is tier 1 and the 550 watts will give more breathing room for upgrades (more HDDs, better GPU, etc).

 

Pros, though: that tower looks more like it'd blend in with the office

 

@NinJake

[NinJake]

@jerubedo @brob

Cooling: I'm not one to skimp out on coolers. The larger the heat sink the better. I'm also biased towards a tower cooler over water cooling.

 

RAM: I might be able to get away with 16GB of ram to start and add an additional 16GB later on. I do have access to virtual machines on the network as well. We have a drone at work which I pilot the flights and capture media with, which is 4k. If editing/rendering 4k video greatly benefits from more RAM then I may consider this more. (as I said, I'm currently dealing with a 4th gen i5 and 8GB of RAM.)

 

Storage: I'm also biased towards Samsung SSD's. We haven't ordered any for work yet, so far just ADATA and Kingston SSD's where I've repurposed older machines. I do have 3 Samsung SSD's for personal use at home and they have been flawless, and of course if I can utilize a m.2 slot I definitely will. I may even go for something like I have on my home desktop, and get a 250GBish m.2 boot drive and then get a sata SSD for all software installs and mass storage.

 

Power Supply: I'm also biased towards EVGA power supplies (and graphics cards), but I have had to deal with EVGA for an RMA once and they provided me with some of the best customer service I've ever experienced.

 

Tower/Case: Maybe @TVwazhere can chip in for a good office mid-tower case. All I really care about is no window (no need to be flashy in the office) and compatibility for air coolers and maintaining a quiet DB level. However as I stated earlier, this will be sitting to the left of me on my desk.

 

Thanks for the replies so far, I'm not in a huge rush to get these parts ordered but the sooner the better as it's one more thing I can check off my list once it's complete. (Lots of upcoming events this year in terms of projects. Time is great to have while I still have it!)

[jerubedo]

3 hours ago, NinJake said:

If editing/rendering 4k video greatly benefits from more RAM then I may consider this more.

Specifically for 4k video editing on Premiere CC Pro, 32 GB is the RECOMMENDED amount of RAM from Adobe themselves. See here: https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/system-requirements.html

Minimum specifications

Recommended specifications

RAM

8 GB of RAM

16 GB of RAM for HD media 32 GB for 4K media or higher

 

Yes, having 32 GB will make a large difference for sure since you won't run into a bottleneck where RAM is full and your disk gets written to instead (this is a huge performance hit). You'll definitely run out of RAM at 8GB (as you likely know already), and you will most likely still run out at 16GB depending on the size of the video and that codec you are using to render.

 

 

[brob]

4 hours ago, NinJake said:

@jerubedo @brob

Cooling: I'm not one to skimp out on coolers. The larger the heat sink the better. I'm also biased towards a tower cooler over water cooling.

 

RAM: I might be able to get away with 16GB of ram to start and add an additional 16GB later on. I do have access to virtual machines on the network as well. We have a drone at work which I pilot the flights and capture media with, which is 4k. If editing/rendering 4k video greatly benefits from more RAM then I may consider this more. (as I said, I'm currently dealing with a 4th gen i5 and 8GB of RAM.)

 

Storage: I'm also biased towards Samsung SSD's. We haven't ordered any for work yet, so far just ADATA and Kingston SSD's where I've repurposed older machines. I do have 3 Samsung SSD's for personal use at home and they have been flawless, and of course if I can utilize a m.2 slot I definitely will. I may even go for something like I have on my home desktop, and get a 250GBish m.2 boot drive and then get a sata SSD for all software installs and mass storage.

 

Power Supply: I'm also biased towards EVGA power supplies (and graphics cards), but I have had to deal with EVGA for an RMA once and they provided me with some of the best customer service I've ever experienced.

 

Tower/Case: Maybe @TVwazhere can chip in for a good office mid-tower case. All I really care about is no window (no need to be flashy in the office) and compatibility for air coolers and maintaining a quiet DB level. However as I stated earlier, this will be sitting to the left of me on my desk.

 

Thanks for the replies so far, I'm not in a huge rush to get these parts ordered but the sooner the better as it's one more thing I can check off my list once it's complete. (Lots of upcoming events this year in terms of projects. Time is great to have while I still have it!)

 

Raise the budget.

 

Unless you need more than 1TB of local storage, I suggest a single Samsung Pro drive.

 

Evga only makes Nvidia based gpu. Slightly more expensive than comparable AMD offerings.

 

Evga does not make very good psu under 550W. The system doesn't need more than 300W.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700 3.2 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($309.99 @ B&H) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-U12S 55 CFM CPU Cooler  ($57.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: ASRock - H370 Pro4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($85.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($159.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Samsung - 970 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($347.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6 GB SC GAMING Video Card  ($299.99 @ B&H) 
Case: Fractal Design - Define C ATX Mid Tower Case  ($97.57 @ Newegg Business) 
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($43.88 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $1403.39
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-03-06 01:14 EST-0500

[TVwazhere]

11 hours ago, NinJake said:

Tower/Case: Maybe @TVwazhere can chip in for a good office mid-tower case. All I really care about is no window (no need to be flashy in the office) and compatibility for air coolers and maintaining a quiet DB level. However as I stated earlier, this will be sitting to the left of me on my desk.

The suggested Corsair 270R and Define C's are good choices for Office space systems. I'd even add Corsair 400Q since that and the Define C come with sound dampening foam (assuming your office space is a quiet environment) while still offering good ventilation. [Note the 460x is based of the 400 series of cases, so that should give you an idea of build quality and overall popularity of the internal layout] The Define C and 400Q's CPU max height is 170mm+ so you can easily fit any NH-D15 or DRP4 equivalent tower in them with no worries (I see most of them are H7's and M9i's but hey, maybe you'll upgrade to ThreadRipper in a few years who knows?) 

[NinJake]

8 hours ago, brob said:

Total: $1403.39

No way this is happening. Budget is tight around here. I'm just lucky to even have the opportunity to build my own work PC as is. Unless you guys can recommend me a pre-built that would more or less outperform any of these recommended builds for ~1k USD, I'm still determined that building from scratch will be more cost effective. @jerubedo

[Herman Mcpootis]

another option:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700 3.2 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($309.99 @ B&H) 
CPU Cooler: RAIJINTEK - AIDOS 48.6 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($21.34 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: MSI - B360-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($76.00 @ Amazon) 
Memory: G.Skill - Aegis 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($165.98 @ Newegg) 
Storage: HP - EX920 512 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($76.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($54.99 @ Newegg) 
Video Card: XFX - Radeon RX 580 8 GB GTS XXX ED Video Card  ($179.99 @ Amazon) 
Case: Antec - P7 Silent ATX Mid Tower Case  ($55.52 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Gold 450 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($39.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $980.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-03-06 11:00 EST-0500

 

[jerubedo]

6 hours ago, NinJake said:

No way this is happening. Budget is tight around here. I'm just lucky to even have the opportunity to build my own work PC as is. Unless you guys can recommend me a pre-built that would more or less outperform any of these recommended builds for ~1k USD, I'm still determined that building from scratch will be more cost effective. @jerubedo

Nope, the pre-built at that price range are lacking in either RAM, CPU horsepower, and/or GPU.

[NinJake]

I've built this pc. If anyone is interested here it is.

 

 

@brob @jerubedo  @Herman Mcpootis @TVwazhere

[jerubedo]

17 minutes ago, NinJake said:

I've built this pc. If anyone is interested here it is.

 

 

@brob @jerubedo  @Herman Mcpootis @TVwazhere

Nice, solid! Enjoy your new rig! Also pics, once it's built!  

[Bearmann]

4 hours ago, jerubedo said:

Nice, solid! Enjoy your new rig! Also pics, once it's built!  

Click on the photo and then click on all the "Reveal Hidden Contents" to see photos of the completed build.

[NinJake]

Yep, I think it looks a little nicer with everything hidden in spoilers so the pictures don't take up a whole page.