New PC yet again...

[stevewestern]

I've just got this as a basic quote for a new pc for me.
I NEED a small case, not sure I need (as in I've no idea what the benefit is ) an M.2 SSD so would be tempted to swap that out for a 1tb SSD with a 6tb storage HD assuming it'll fit. I don't play games just a bit of light photo editing using ACDSee, otherwise it's very basic use. I'd also swap out the 8gb RAM for 16 or maybe 32.
Does this sound good, any changes you'd make to it?
What difference would a bigger and better graphics card make - the first quote I had included a £500 card and I don't understand why..
Can you clever folks please let me know what you think - I'd be very grateful !

Case FRACTAL DESIGN NODE 202 Mini ITX Case

Processor (CPU) AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4) Motherboard GIGABYTE B550I AORUS PRO AX: DDR4, USB 3.2 - ARGB Ready Memory (RAM) 8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (1 x 8GB)

Graphics Card 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GT 1030

1st M.2 SSD Drive 128GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (1100 MB/R, 600 MB/W)

1st Storage Drive 1TB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 470MB/W)

DVD/BLU-RAY Drive NOT REQUIRED

Power Supply Corsair SF450 450W 80 PLUS® Gold Certified High Performance SFX PSU Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)

Processor Cooling STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER

Thermal Paste STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD) Wireless Network Card GIGABIT LAN PORT + Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi

 

[troutfisher]

Initial thoughts,
What is the main use of the PC?
1st SSD is not big enough-256 at least
8gb RAM really need 16 and 2400 is a bit slow these days
As far as the graphics card is concerned are you into gaming-if not does the MOBO have on board graphics
How many memory slots are on the MOBO

 

[4wd]

A 512GB SSD for Windows and programs is probably enough, you could drop from 6TB storage to 2TB which is still a lot for photos and buy external drives to transfer older stuff to regularly.
Editing programs increasingly make use of your video card especially for video rendering, but it helps with other stuff too by not overloading CPU

 

[Nostromo]

The Ryzen 5 3600 doesn't have on-board graphics, so you would need a graphics card. The graphics card wouldn't need to be anything fancy as you're not gaming. I'm using a Nvidia 970, it's a few years old now and has been superseded by many newer versions.

 

[Faldrax]

The M.2 SSD is different physically from a 'traditional' SSD, so you cannot just swap them - they are also usually faster, so your best option is to go with a larger M2 primary drive (I'd go with 512 or 1Tb personally).

 

[stevewestern]

Initial thoughts,
What is the main use of the PC?
1st SSD is not big enough-256 at least
8gb RAM really need 16 and 2400 is a bit slow these days
As far as the graphics card is concerned are you into gaming-if not does the MOBO have on board graphics
How many memory slots are on the MOBO

Like I thought, a bigger system drive, and the MOBO has 2 slots so 2 x 16 I guess
ACDSee, my editing software seems to need a some sort of graphics card.

A 512GB SSD for Windows and programs is probably enough, you could drop from 6TB storage to 2TB which is still a lot for photos and buy external drives to transfer older stuff to regularly.
Editing programs increasingly make use of your video card especially for video rendering, but it helps with other stuff too by not overloading CPU

My current 512gb system drive is well over full already and to avoid filling it too far I'll get a 1tb, and my storage drives are both 6tb (one is a copy kept remotely) so I'll be using that.

The Ryzen 5 3600 doesn't have on-board graphics, so you would need a graphics card. The graphics card wouldn't need to be anything fancy as you're not gaming. I'm using a Nvidia 970, it's a few years old now and has been superseded by many newer versions.

That's the same as what I've currently got I think, so a small upgrade won't hurt.

The M.2 SSD is different physically from a 'traditional' SSD, so you cannot just swap them - they are also usually faster, so your best option is to go with a larger M2 primary drive (I'd go with 512 or 1Tb personally).

So slightly different to look at and maybe a bit faster - I guess I should look at the price difference if that's all - I'd rather have a slightly slower but bigger SSD than a possibly faster but smaller M2 if it comes down to price.

Thank you all for the help, it's very much appreciated!

 

[wyx087]

I had a search on ACDSee, it does benefit from using nVidia graphics card for GPU acceleration. But I'm not entirely sure how much the 1030 can do, it's such a low-end card. But at the moment with the shortages, it's difficult to buy better cards. The 1030 is NOT an upgrade from 970, 970 is about same speed as 1060 3GB. If 970 is small enough, I would forego buying a low end graphics card on the new computer and simply plug in your 970.

RAM must be dual channel (2 matching sticks) to get most performance from your CPU. Also Ryzen CPU prefers at least 3000 MHz and benefits up to 3600 MHz RAM. 3200 MHz CL 16 RAM seems to be the sweet spot, at the amount of your choice (eg. 2x16GB)

The case does not have space for 3.5inch HDD, so you'll either need to buy 2.5inch HDD or use external for mass storage. In fact, the case website doesn't talk about HDD compatibility so the drive cages probably does not have cooling, not ideal for HDD.

For SSD, you can buy a M.2 1TB SSD pretty cheap these days, £70-80 for a ~2000MB/s drive. Might as well just get a single M.2 drive in this small form factor build.
eg. £75 for a 1TB M.2 SSD with 3000 MB/s speeds

Western Digital Blue SN570 1TB M.2-2280 SSD - WDS100T3B0C

Huge 1TB storage capacity and super Quick 3500Mbps read speed and amazingly Fast 3000Mbps write speed., Mfg Code: WDS100T3B0C

www.cclonline.com

 

[Mark400]

Really all depends how much you want to spend graphics cards at the min are very hard to find and very over priced

 

[stevewestern]

I had a search on ACDSee, it does benefit from using nVidia graphics card for GPU acceleration. But I'm not entirely sure how much the 1030 can do, it's such a low-end card. But at the moment with the shortages, it's difficult to buy better cards. The 1030 is NOT an upgrade from 970, 970 is about same speed as 1060 3GB. If 970 is small enough, I would forego buying a low end graphics card on the new computer and simply plug in your 970.

RAM must be dual channel (2 matching sticks) to get most performance from your CPU. Also Ryzen CPU prefers at least 3000 MHz and benefits up to 3600 MHz RAM. 3200 MHz CL 16 RAM seems to be the sweet spot, at the amount of your choice (eg. 2x16GB)

The case does not have space for 3.5inch HDD, so you'll either need to buy 2.5inch HDD or use external for mass storage. In fact, the case website doesn't talk about HDD compatibility so the drive cages probably does not have cooling, not ideal for HDD.

For SSD, you can buy a M.2 1TB SSD pretty cheap these days, £70-80 for a ~2000MB/s drive. Might as well just get a single M.2 drive in this small form factor build.
eg. £75 for a 1TB M.2 SSD with 3000 MB/s speeds

Western Digital Blue SN570 1TB M.2-2280 SSD - WDS100T3B0C

Huge 1TB storage capacity and super Quick 3500Mbps read speed and amazingly Fast 3000Mbps write speed., Mfg Code: WDS100T3B0C

www.cclonline.com

That's all very helpful - you've clearly grasped that I know very little about all this, and also thought that M2 drives were still way more than SSD's.
I can see that I may go to a local place to get them to do the job as I would ideally like a HD inside the case so maybe a slightly bigger case.
Is there any sort of next-size-up graphics card that might 'future proof' for a little while, at least as far as ACDSee goes ? I could ask the local place or just keep my eyes peeled if I knew what to look for..
Again, thank you all !

 

[Faldrax]

That's all very helpful - you've clearly grasped that I know very little about all this, and also thought that M2 drives were still way more than SSD's.
I can see that I may go to a local place to get them to do the job as I would ideally like a HD inside the case so maybe a slightly bigger case.
Is there any sort of next-size-up graphics card that might 'future proof' for a little while, at least as far as ACDSee goes ? I could ask the local place or just keep my eyes peeled if I knew what to look for..
Again, thank you all !

Looking at the case you have opted for, it has space for 2 x 2.5" HD/SSD, and the motherboard also has 2 M.2 connectors - so you could have 4 separate drives internally - unless you already have lots of data than means 2Tb is not enough, I'd advise getting a 2Tb SSD as a data drive (rather than a 'traditional' HD), then add a second 2 Tb SSD later when you need additional storage (they're easy to fit, and depending on how long before you need it, you may well find a 4 Tb SSD is affordable by the time you do).

 

[stevewestern]

Looking at the case you have opted for, it has space for 2 x 2.5" HD/SSD, and the motherboard also has 2 M.2 connectors - so you could have 4 separate drives internally - unless you already have lots of data than means 2Tb is not enough, I'd advise getting a 2Tb SSD as a data drive (rather than a 'traditional' HD), then add a second 2 Tb SSD later when you need additional storage (they're easy to fit, and depending on how long before you need it, you may well find a 4 Tb SSD is affordable by the time you do).

The case wasn't chosen by me, it's just the smallest that PCSpecialist do.
I have 2 almost new 6tb HD's and I'd like to use one of them - they are both 3/4's full (one is a copy) so a case that will take one HD seems essential.
I need a case that is narrow - 100mm approx ideally. If fitting one into the case is a problem then I can use a caddy which is beginning to seem like a good idea.

 

[petersmart]

If you're only doing light photo editing why buy ACDsee?
you can get PhotoShp CS2 for FREE (just Google it) and there's plenty of other Free editing programs - you also have PhotoPea which runs in your browser.

 

[wyx087]

What graphics card have you got now?
You can use this "GPU database" relative performance table to make sure any you buy is an upgrade: https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/geforce-gtx-970.c2620
nVidia GPU offers best compatibility for general-purpose-GPU computing (eg. speed up photo editing processing)
If you have 970 currently, for next size up, I'd be looking at 1650super or 1660. But they are hard to come by these days and often not worth the hiked asking price.

M.2 SSD are pretty much at price parity with 2.5inch SSD. Just pick one that's cheapest at your time of purchase. If similar price, M.2 NVMe SSD offers vastly quicker speed, so go with that.

If case size is a limitation, unfortunately these days 3.5inch drives are not really seen as important these days. Have you considered separate computing and storage? For example a NAS enclosure to house the HDD, or fall back to caddy if NAS are out of your price range.

Best Low Price NAS - 2020

Choosing the Best Cheap NAS Drive of 2020 2020 has been a big, big year for network-attached storage NAS hardware releases. We have seen a vast improvement from all of the current NAS brands in their respective ranges of hardware available to the average NAS buyer. Also, though it is always easy to

nascompares.com

 

[stevewestern]

If you're only doing light photo editing why buy ACDsee?
you can get PhotoShp CS2 for FREE (just Google it) and there's plenty of other Free editing programs - you also have PhotoPea which runs in your browser.

I've used ACDSee for many years, and have bought most of the upgrades as it has developed and got more capable. It's not a shabby program at all now, and I'm very familiar with it for all I ever want to do. Not bought the last update though..

 

[stevewestern]

What graphics card have you got now?
You can use this "GPU database" relative performance table to make sure any you buy is an upgrade: https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/geforce-gtx-970.c2620
nVidia GPU offers best compatibility for general-purpose-GPU computing (eg. speed up photo editing processing)
If you have 970 currently, for next size up, I'd be looking at 1650super or 1660. But they are hard to come by these days and often not worth the hiked asking price.

M.2 SSD are pretty much at price parity with 2.5inch SSD. Just pick one that's cheapest at your time of purchase. If similar price, M.2 NVMe SSD offers vastly quicker speed, so go with that.

If case size is a limitation, unfortunately these days 3.5inch drives are not really seen as important these days. Have you considered separate computing and storage? For example a NAS enclosure to house the HDD, or fall back to caddy if NAS are out of your price range.

Best Low Price NAS - 2020

Choosing the Best Cheap NAS Drive of 2020 2020 has been a big, big year for network-attached storage NAS hardware releases. We have seen a vast improvement from all of the current NAS brands in their respective ranges of hardware available to the average NAS buyer. Also, though it is always easy to

nascompares.com

Nvidia 970 is my current one.
Why a nas and not a caddy - I do have a small single disc nas for my hifi, my old nas used to seem slow (although it was 10 year old) to access, and I'd assumed that a caddy plugged into the back of the pc would be better (which is why I've said I want to keep a HD inside the case, assuming it to be faster to access). I do have all my pictures on the nas as another back up. What does a nas offer over a caddy bearing in mind that it's just me and my pc using either?

Thank you so much for all this help - it really is helpful!

 

[wyx087]

Looks like you understand the idea behind tiered storage.
What I do is I'd load stuff I'm currently working on into my SSD locally. Everything else is squirrelled away in the NAS.

You are right, NAS are not quick compared to caddy. ~500 MB/s for USB 3 caddy and ~110 MB/s for NAS. However, typical hard disk transfer speed of 6TB is probably ~150 MB/s, so in that sense the difference is not as great as you thought.
I also personally found my Synology NAS to hit max sequential speed more often than local Windows disk because Linux does not seem to have disk fragmentation issue.

I'd personally re-use the 970 if possible, otherwise get something at very least 1650 super or 1660, if buying new. 1650 (standard) or anything slower than 1060 3GB will actually be a downgrade. ACDSee is said to use nVidia GPU for acceleration on its support page, so I'd stick with nVidia graphics cards.

 

[LongLensPhotography]

Processor (CPU) AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4) Motherboard GIGABYTE B550I AORUS PRO AX: DDR4, USB 3.2 - ARGB Ready Memory (RAM) 8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (1 x 8GB)

Graphics Card 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GT 1030

Just get some decent new APU like 5600G or Intel 12th gen with integrated graphics.

1st M.2 SSD Drive 128GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (1100 MB/R, 600 MB/W)

1st Storage Drive 1TB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 470MB/W)

One decent 4th gen 1tb nvme. No point buying a few out of date slow items.

run away from anyone offering to offload you this old junk. Build yourself; it is far easier than you imaging once you have components in your hand.