NOOB looking for advice.

kasedillz

Hey Folks,
I'm done with apple and throw-away systems that I can't upgrade after a few years.
I want a solid desktop / workstation PC for Adobe Illustrator, photoshop editing as well as some general 1080 video editing and light 4k.
Looking for a build with intent to last and upgrade in future.
I'm a total noob when it comes to PC's and although I've already started to go down the graphic card rabbit hole I'm still pretty much clueless. I don't know how you folks are able to keep up with that. My respect goes out to all you GPU
nerds.

One thing to know is I'm not a gamer and will not be using the system for that purpose.
I have a budget of $2000
So here are my questions:
1. Is a Core i9 or Ryzen 9 3900x good value for money compared to latest Gen i7?
2. Given that Im not a gamer, what card would you recommend if any. (I had a budget in mind of $400, maybe a Radeon RX 5700, a Quadro P4000 or even a good version of a GTX 1060
3. I'm a bit concerned about my ability to perform the actual build... not so much the physical aspect of it but more of the fact I lack the knowledge. Should I be attempting to do this myself? If not, can you recommend someone who can perform this build on my behalf.?

Thanks
Mario

PowerSpec_MichaelB

@kasedillz said:
Hey Folks,
I'm done with apple and throw-away systems that I can't upgrade after a few years.
I want a solid desktop / workstation PC for Adobe Illustrator, photoshop editing as well as some general 1080 video editing and light 4k.
Looking for a build with intent to last and upgrade in future.
I'm a total noob when it comes to PC's and although I've already started to go down the graphic card rabbit hole I'm still pretty much clueless. I don't know how you folks are able to keep up with that. My respect goes out to all you GPU
nerds.

One thing to know is I'm not a gamer and will not be using the system for that purpose.
I have a budget of $2000
So here are my questions:
1. Is a Core i9 or Ryzen 9 3900x good value for money compared to latest Gen i7?
2. Given that Im not a gamer, what card would you recommend if any. (I had a budget in mind of $400, maybe a Radeon RX 5700, a Quadro P4000 or even a good version of a GTX 1060
3. I'm a bit concerned about my ability to perform the actual build... not so much the physical aspect of it but more of the fact I lack the knowledge. Should I be attempting to do this myself? If not, can you recommend someone who can perform this build on my behalf.?

Thanks
Mario

Welcome to the forum Mario. These are all very good questions and I can understand the concern, especially with your intended use case being more towards the professional side of things instead of simply gaming. With that in mind, it's important to choose hardware that will cater to your workload. The best way to do this is by looking for benchmarks for your intended use. Here is an example of processor performance in Adobe Photoshop: https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Photoshop-CPU-Roundup-AMD-Ryzen-3rd-Gen-AMD-Threadripper-2-Intel-9th-Gen-Intel-X-series-1529/. With these results in mind, you can see that the Ryzen 7 3800X and Ryzen 9 3900X perform nearly identical to Intel's 9900K. This is impressive once you factor in the 3800X costing only $350, compared to the 9900K's $460 price tag. For GPU performance, you can see that most modern cards perform within a close proximity of each other: https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Photoshop-CC-2019-AMD-Radeon-VII-16GB-Performance-1379/ and https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Premiere-Pro-CC-2019-AMD-Radeon-VII-vs-NVIDIA-GeForce-RTX-1395/. I think for your workflow, an RTX 2060 Super would be fantastic. It performs just as well as the original RTX 2070's and are a great value.

With that factored in, as well as your budget, Here is what I would recommend for you: https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder.aspx?load=07f4d400-27c0-4076-8514-c2bafdfa2008

These specs include the 8 core, 16 thread Ryzen 7 3800X, 32GB of DDR4 3600 C16 memory (2x16GB, meaning you can add another 32GB for 64GB or replace them to upgrade to 128GB), an 8GB RTX 2060 Super with Ray Tracing support, a 1TB NVMe SSD, 4TB HDD for mass storage and a chassis that supports water cooling if you ever wanted to go that route in the future. As far as building goes, the component selection is extremely easy to install, especially in the Cooler Master MasterCase Pro5. It has so much room to work in and everything can be removed for easier access. Should you not feel comfortable with the build process, our service department offers building services: https://www.microcenter.com/site/service/instore-service-complete-build.aspx. Of course, we can always answer any questions you may have here on our forum as well when it comes to the build process.

Hopefully this helps answer some of the questions you had. If you have any additional questions, please let us know!

kasedillz

Hey Michael, just read your response and there is a ton of excellent info on the remaining. I'm book marking it so I can dive deeper into it.
I'm also glad to know you guys offer a building service, I was not aware and will most likely go that route.
I may also visit the Paterson store on Saturday.

Thanks again!

PowerSpec_MichaelB

@kasedillz said:
Hey Michael, just read your response and there is a ton of excellent info on the remaining. I'm book marking it so I can dive deeper into it.
I'm also glad to know you guys offer a building service, I was not aware and will most likely go that route.
I may also visit the Paterson store on Saturday.

Thanks again!

You're very welcome! If you have any questions in the meantime, please let us know.

kasedillz

kasedillz

kasedillz

Hi Mike, just want to say thank you for your comment. Your input was instrumental in choosing the parts for my build.
I ordered everything you suggested with the exception of psu which I upgraded to 750w gold+ and the Fractal care. I also ordered a new LG display for it.
This is my first build ever and although it took me pretty much all Saturday, it went absolutely flawless . The in-store shopping experience was also great and having the list made things quick.
Thanks again!

kasedillz

Here is the link to the actual build.
https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder.aspx

PowerSpec_MichaelB

Mario, I am happy to hear everything went well. I really think you are going to enjoy that system. If you ever have any issues with your system, or just general questions about your components and any features they may have, do not hesitate to let us know.

kasedillz

TSMichaelB said:

Mario, I am happy to hear everything went well. I really think you are going to enjoy that system. If you ever have any issues with your system, or just general questions about your components and any features they may have, do not hesitate to let us know.

Hey Mike, the system was working fine for a couple  days and out of nowhere it just decided to start doing endless power cycle loops. I can't get OS to load, it tries and even got as far as login screen a couple of times but it just keeps powering off and cycling. 
I dropped it off at the same Micro Center in NJ where I bought all the components on Monday but I haven't heard back yet.
Do you think the RAM we picked has anything to do with it? ( I noticed the compatability check is selected in the build you made for me)
I checked ASrock website and the GSKILL model number is not listed as supported. 
Just trying to get your thoughts on it. 
I think it's off that everything was gravy the first two days and suddenly it didn't like something.
Not worried about it, I was prepared for something like this to happen lol

PowerSpec_MichaelB

Hey Mario. A few things to note here. It's possible that the memory could be at fault, though it seems unlikely that the issue would manifest after a few days of working fine. RAM is one of the rarest components to spontaneously fail. By any chance, did you try clearing CMOS before bringing it to the store? I am curious of a BIOS setting is preventing the system from POSTing properly. What you are describing sounds like memory training, but it's weird for memory to retrain itself after working unless there was an unexpected power loss. 

As far as compatibility goes, the RAM is definitely compatible. The QVL lists you are referring to are simply there to show what the motherboard manufacturers have tested themselves. Due to the thousands of available RAM kits on the market and the many different boards out in the wild, it's extremely uncommon for a manufacturer to test every available kit/board combination. Another place to check would be G-Skills website: https://www.gskill.com/qvl/165/184/1562831784/F4-3600C16D-32GVKC-Qvl. While ASRock did not qualify your memory kit on the X570 Taichi, G Skill qualified the kit on that board and confirmed that it's compatible. As for why I disabled the compatibility check, that's to allow a wider selection of components. Sometimes the compatibility checker can be a little wonky and will hide perfectly acceptable components, so I disable it and manually select components.

I do see where you checked your system in to the Paterson Micro Center's service department on the 20th. I'll give them a call as soon as they open and have them reach out to give you a status update on that. I am hopeful that we can get to the bottom of this for you so you can get back to enjoying that system.

kasedillz

Mike, thanks for everything. I wish I could have this level of dialog with the local folks. The tech just texted me today saying it "seems to be the CPU" .
She said it would cost $350 plus $80 but I told her the parts are new, definitely not paying for another CPU (lol!)
Told her all parts are new and I have the original receipt of needed. Let's wait and see.. I just want to use my new computer
Thanks again for all your help and feedback, I appreciate you taking the time!

PowerSpec_MichaelB

No worries Mario, I'll always help in the best way that I can. Looking over the service notes and your transaction history, I see that you were able to exchange the processor for a new one. Please let me know if that processor is working fine, or if it's still giving you an issue. If need be, I can send you a private message and we can troubleshoot further via text or telephone to get to the bottom of this.

kasedillz

@TSMichaelB said:
No worries Mario, I'll always help in the best way that I can. Looking over the service notes and your transaction history, I see that you were able to exchange the processor for a new one. Please let me know if that processor is working fine, or if it's still giving you an issue. If need be, I can send you a private message and we can troubleshoot further via text or telephone to get to the bottom of this.

Mike, it was in fact a defective CPU. Yes, it got replaced and everything is good now.
I'm really happy with the build, I ran a user benchmark and I'm very impressed by the results.
Your recommendations were instrumental so once again, thanks for everything!

PowerSpec_MichaelB

Mario, thank you for keeping me in the loop. I am happy to hear that everything is running perfectly and that you're happy with the results. The component selection should last you years, and the platform itself should offer plenty of upgrade options in the future should you ever need to upgrade. If you need anything at all, please let us know!