Office Workstation - Looking for advice

[BPollock]

I've been given a task to update an executive pc and have been given a budget of $2500-3000 CAD before tax.  The workstation already will reuse the existing Keyboard\Mouse setup as well as 3x Dell 24" 1200P monitors that connect via DisplayPort.  They will be running many apps simultaneously, with an expected ram load of 6-10GB regularly.  This machine will not be used for gaming, I picked the graphics card mainly for having 3x DP.  I'm planning on using the included cooler as I'm not planning on OC, but wouldn't be averse to using something better.

 

I prefer to source all my parts from a single vendor, and I am currently planning on purchasing everything from NewEgg Canada. 

 

I've been looking at Ryzen 9 builds a bit, and have come up with this parts list.  I'm not locked into any particular part, but I do have preferred brands like ASUS, Samsung, Seasonic. 

I have built 3 other machines with the Meshify S2 case and I am happy with it.

 

Here is the pcpartpicker link.  

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor	$669.75 @ shopRBC
Motherboard	Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Hero (WI-FI) ATX AM4 Motherboard	$499.00 @ Canada Computers
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$219.00 @ Amazon Canada
Storage	Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive	$295.70 @ Amazon Canada
Video Card	Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB OC Video Card	$479.99 @ Memory Express
Case	Fractal Design Meshify S2 ATX Mid Tower Case	$149.99 @ Canada Computers
Power Supply	SeaSonic PRIME Ultra Titanium 750 W 80+ Titanium Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$279.99 @ Amazon Canada
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$2593.42
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-08-01 16:33 EDT-0400

 

Thanks!

[BPollock]

It will be primarily for office work.  I would expect a normal load to be 2-5 excel sheets, 1-2 Sage 50 companies, 3-5 Caseware (Accounting LOB app) company files, chrome with 8-30 tabs (including music\video), Tax software for the company(s) being reviewed, Outlook and probably a couple of word files.  Nothing that requires a lot of power, but I am trying to optimize for file open.  All files client files reside on a local server, I think network speed will be my largest bottleneck.

 

It does not have to look amazing, it should fade into the background.  I do get regular Dell towers for general staff, just for the warranty support.

[BPollock]

Looks interesting, i'll go start looking into the parts.  Why the Radeon card over the 2060?  I don't expect i'll neeed the performance.

 

nm, you answered already.

[BPollock]

I'll have a closer look at the WX 5100.  

 

Why the 3000MHz ram rather than 3200MHz?  I thought Ryzen 3 parts did better at the slightly higher clock?

[BPollock]

Yeah, i'll look at my final pricing and decide on one or two sets.

 

Any benefits for the WS board over the Gaming one aside from price?

[BPollock]

I was looking at the specs on pcpartbuilder and it indicated it didn't support ecc.  Must be a typo.  I'm going to go check out the ASUS site for better info.

 

I was looking up some reviews for the wx 5100 on newegg and several mentioned it was noisy and ran hot.  I'm concerned the noise might be an issue, any ideas or just go with one of the other cards?

[BPollock]

Thanks for the advice.  Going to think about it and do more research tonight.

[ultra99]

2 hours ago, BPollock said:

I've been given a task to update an executive pc and have been given a budget of $2500-3000 CAD before tax.  The workstation already will reuse the existing Keyboard\Mouse setup as well as 3x Dell 24" 1200P monitors that connect via DisplayPort.  They will be running many apps simultaneously, with an expected ram load of 6-10GB regularly.  This machine will not be used for gaming, I picked the graphics card mainly for having 3x DP.  I'm planning on using the included cooler as I'm not planning on OC, but wouldn't be averse to using something better.

 

I prefer to source all my parts from a single vendor, and I am currently planning on purchasing everything from NewEgg Canada. 

 

I've been looking at Ryzen 9 builds a bit, and have come up with this parts list.  I'm not locked into any particular part, but I do have preferred brands like ASUS, Samsung, Seasonic. 

I have built 3 other machines with the Meshify S2 case and I am happy with it.

 

Here is the pcpartpicker link.  

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor	$669.75 @ shopRBC
Motherboard	Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Hero (WI-FI) ATX AM4 Motherboard	$499.00 @ Canada Computers
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$219.00 @ Amazon Canada
Storage	Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive	$295.70 @ Amazon Canada
Video Card	Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB OC Video Card	$479.99 @ Memory Express
Case	Fractal Design Meshify S2 ATX Mid Tower Case	$149.99 @ Canada Computers
Power Supply	SeaSonic PRIME Ultra Titanium 750 W 80+ Titanium Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$279.99 @ Amazon Canada
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$2593.42
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-08-01 16:33 EDT-0400

 

Thanks!

how reliable is shopRBC for the 3900x? all on backorder, though...

[Thirdgen89GTA]

I think that spec is way overboard for what your exec is going to be doing.  My opinion may be unpopular, but its coming from experience.

 

Time and time again, I have learned. Execs cannot be trusted with having massive hard drives.  Ditch the 1TB drive, and drop down to a 256GB SSD, or, if somehow your programs fill that up, go 480-512GB.  If anything, drop the 1TB dive, and run dual 256's in a mirrored Raid configuration for redundancy.

 

Why?  Your exec will inexplicably store valuable, sensitive, costly data on the SSD instead of the Network Share, and the SSD will go belly up leaving the company with a hot foot to recover possibly invaluable data from an SSD, which is not an easy feat.

 

In an enterprise environment, ESPECIALLY with a desktop, you do not want or need large hard drives. A desktop never leaves the network and as such does not need storage.  Unless they are doing video or some other workflow that has massive files, its just bad practice.  You want your data on secure, redundant network accessible storage.  if its windows based, turn on ShadowCopy for easy fast restores.

 

The Ryzen 9 is overkill.  Unless they are dealing with spreadsheets containing 10s of thousands of rows/columns its not required.  3700x would be extremely fine, of not even still overkill.

 

Ram, this is the only area where over-kill might be just enough kill.  16-32GB depending on work-load.

 

It would honestly be better to knock about $700 off the bill, and opt to get a 50" ultra-wide screen for them to use.   Multiple displays are great, but when you can have the same desktop area in a single package, its so much more usable.

 

Or get a ultra-book with Thunderbolt output so you can connect a Thunderbolt dock to take care of the multiple display issue.

 

Execs are usually the people least in need of a powerful machine, but the ones most likely to get it.

[brob]

The budget allows for a good cpu cooler so I'd suggest getting one. It will lead to quieter operation and longer component life.

 

I'm not sure Asus is worth the premium price anymore. Gigabyte builds excellent motherboards with above average power distribution. Better VRM means more stable operation and longer component life.

 

Given the budget a PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive makes sense.

 

You might consider the Define R6 USB-C. I'm not a big fan of using cases with open tops, or sides for that matter, in office environments.

 

The only reason I've included an 850W psu is because it is actually less expensive at the moment than the 750W version.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor  ($699.99) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler  ($109.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 AORUS PRO WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($354.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($220.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: Corsair MP600 Force Series Gen4 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($339.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 580 4 GB AORUS 4G Video Card  ($224.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Case: Fractal Design Define R6 USB-C ATX Mid Tower Case  ($199.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Power Supply: Corsair HX Platinum 850 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($204.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Total: $2355.92
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-08-01 19:11 EDT-0400