new build New build help

[andyGstl]

I am considering building a computer for work. I've never built one before, and I'm excited to do it. I am looking for any help, advice, suggestions or anything. Since computers aren't exactly my forte, I am here seeking advice and suggestions! 

 

What I do: I am basically a project manager at this point. I am working to open a music venue, and I live out of excel documents. The current excel monster that I formatted uses 3 separate files to do all of my calculations. At full load, I have between 5 & 7 documents open, youtube streaming, and another internet window for research. 

 

To be fully productive, I will need to have 4 monitors (5 would actually be nice, but I can utilize my laptop for the fifth), and a system that will be able to keep up with my daily workload (I put in about 10 - 15 hours a day average). I am trying to keep this to the lowest amount possible, but I also want to be able to upgrade the system later on if I need to.

 

Stay safe, and thanks in advance.

[svmlegacy]

3 minutes ago, andyGstl said:

I am considering building a computer for work. I've never built one before, and I'm excited to do it. I am looking for any help, advice, suggestions or anything. Since computers aren't exactly my forte, I am here seeking advice and suggestions! 

 

What I do: I am basically a project manager at this point. I am working to open a music venue, and I live out of excel documents. The current excel monster that I formatted uses 3 separate files to do all of my calculations. At full load, I have between 5 & 7 documents open, youtube streaming, and another internet window for research. 

 

To be fully productive, I will need to have 4 monitors (5 would actually be nice, but I can utilize my laptop for the fifth), and a system that will be able to keep up with my daily workload (I put in about 10 - 15 hours a day average). I am trying to keep this to the lowest amount possible, but I also want to be able to upgrade the system later on if I need to.

 

Stay safe, and thanks in advance.

What kind of calculations are you doing in Excel? Macro's? For the most part, Excel only uses a single core, so clockspeed is much more important than core count, to you.

8 GB of RAM is really the minimum nowadays for smooth operation, try to swing 16 if possible, Chrome/Firefox will thank you.

For high monitor counts, you will want a dedicated GPU.

AMD's AM4 platform will offer the best upgradability for future upgrades, and generally offers good value, particularly for higher core count chips.

And don't cheap out on the PSU. Prefer a lower wattage unit from a high quality line, rather than high wattage of lower quality.

[Daniel Z.]

You might need a BIOS update

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$174.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	ASRock B450M Pro4-F Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$71.00 @ Amazon
Memory	G.Skill Aegis 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$117.99 @ Newegg
Storage	ADATA XPG SX8100 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$239.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	XFX Radeon RX 570 4 GB RS XXX Video Card	$121.98 @ Newegg
Case	Thermaltake Versa H17 MicroATX Mini Tower Case	$44.99 @ Best Buy
Power Supply	Silverstone Strider Plus 600 W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$79.81 @ Amazon
Monitor	Asus VE278Q 27.0" 1920x1080 Monitor	$169.00 @ Amazon
Monitor	Asus VE278Q 27.0" 1920x1080 Monitor	$169.00 @ Amazon
Monitor	Asus VE278Q 27.0" 1920x1080 Monitor	$169.00 @ Amazon
Monitor	Asus VE278Q 27.0" 1920x1080 Monitor	$169.00 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1526.75
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-14 15:44 EDT-0400

 

[andyGstl]

17 minutes ago, svmlegacy said:

What kind of calculations are you doing in Excel? Macro's? For the most part, Excel only uses a single core, so clockspeed is much more important than core count, to you.

8 GB of RAM is really the minimum nowadays for smooth operation, try to swing 16 if possible

 For this project, my calculations are based around basic math (=sum), countif, and pivot tables, but I mainly reference other cells. The majority of the excel work I do isn't anything past basics, it's just such a huge set of workbooks I need to use at once. I have another software program that is used to calculate taxes and equipment depreciation. I agree about 16 for ram. I can always add more later on if I need to. 

[andyGstl]

I'm currently using microcenter's custom pc builder page, and these are the components I have in the config right now:

AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6GHz 6 Core

ASRock - B450 Fatal1ty Gaming K4 AMD AM4 ATX Motherboard

G. Skill - Trident Z RGB 16GB Kit

EVGA - 600 Watt 80 Plus Bronze ATX Semi-Modular Power Supply

Gigabyte - Radeon RX 570 Dual-Fan 4GB GDDR5

 

What I'm not exactly sure about is the hard drives. I know SSD is the best option, and if I need to get a HD for the time being to cut down on the initial costs, I'm happy with that. I plan on getting a dock later on, so I'll switch the HD for a SSD and throw the other one in the dock. Is M.2 SSD necessary if I use a regular 2.5" SSD?

[svmlegacy]

2 hours ago, andyGstl said:

M.2 SSD necessary if I use a regular 2.5" SSD?

M.2 and 2.5" are two different form factors. The 2.5" will always be SATA, while the M.2 could be NVMe (Which has certain benefits for accessing many small files).

 

Another thing to note, as this is a work computer, is that if, for any reason, the HDD/SSD would fail, the SSD may not be recoverable, while HDD's typically give warning, and can usually be recovered. If the data is mission critical, consider a RAID 1 array to protect it, unless you use a cloud backing.

[andyGstl]

11 hours ago, svmlegacy said:

Another thing to note, as this is a work computer, is that if, for any reason, the HDD/SSD would fail, the SSD may not be recoverable, while HDD's typically give warning, and can usually be recovered. If the data is mission critical, consider a RAID 1 array to protect it, unless you use a cloud backing.

I didn't know that about SSD's. Thank you for that. I'm definitely looking into a RAID 1 array now. I don't feel comfortable using the cloud....just doesn't sit well with me.