Solved New PC on the horizon, but looking for advice re: my needs

Hello, all. I'll be as brief as possible. I'm in the U.S. I run MS16 presently on an 8-year-old W7 PC w/ a modest i5, a similarly vintage, entry-level Radeon GPU, and 8GB DDR3RAM. With the W10 switch looming, it will be a good time to upgrade soon. I can't build a PC myself, but the suitable offerings I see in my price range from such as HP et al. don't come with cases I can use.
I have two case restrictions: 1) 7" in width and 19" max height, and 2) bays for two full DVD drives (not just slim, drawer-style).
I currently have two internal HDDs. I'd plan to have one SSD, maybe 512GB, along with a 1T HDD (can't afford two SSDs, I don't think), and I'll move up to either an i7 or equivalent AMD, along with a 1060 or 1660 GPU. I don't need 4K, just HD. 16GB of DDR4 RAM will round out the innards.
My price range maxes out around $1100; less would be nice.
I bought my present rig from custom maker Magic Micro, but they don't offer financing. Are others aware of either suitable offerings from major makers, or reliable custom providers offering financing, that might meet my needs?
Thanks!

I don't live in the USA, so have no knowledge of financing in the USA.
Maybe someone else can help you out.

For advice on computer parts, that I can help you.
Now that AMD has released 3rd generation Ryzen CPUs, you should be able to find good deals on CPUs like AMD Ryzen 2700X, which is perfect for video editing.
An Nvidia GTX 1060 will also work very well with Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 16 and give you much faster render times.
OR
An AMD Radeon RX590 would be a good value priced graphics card that also works well in Vegas.

Hi Ulodesk,

Dr. Zen's recommendations are "Solid", per his usual style. I do live in the US, but know that there can be many "Outlets" available, depending on which State/County/City where you live.

I looked briefly at Best Buy, and about the only thing close to what you listed price-wise (approx. $1100), was a couple from Acer, though not sure if your requirement for Two (2) 5 1/4 bays would be for two Blu-Ray/DVD-R/RW drives, or one and a Card Reader (Acer had one of each). Though, based on your other requirement of only 7 inches wide, it did not meet that. I also checked on Corsair's web site, as I have a build in one of the original SPEC-01 cases, and it's dimensions, after conversion, came out to 7 7/8 inches.

That width requirement is really confusing, and if you have to keep to that, you almost have to go with a Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc. Business Style Small Form Factor, which then leaves very little expansion (probably only one 5.25 inch bay), and really no upgrade for a decent video card (AMD or nVidia, doesn't matter - due to typically low wattage "think about 250-300 Watt max" power supplies).

What you could do, is check locally for a "Mom & Pop" shop for local building (since you also said about not building yourself - won't ask why), or possibly someone you know that can build one, should you choose and purchase the parts. You can use "PC Partpicker" for compatibility of the parts, including current pricing at various outlets.

Since no one wants to be considered "Fan-boys" or "Shills", here are two different builds you can check out, at least parts, to get an idea:

1. Paul's Hardware

2. Carey Holzman

Both have great videos on "Building Computers", and you can search Paul's hardware for a variety of different builds on his channel (he typically does "monthly" computer guides). Not saying these are the only two, but at least it can get you started. Some other channels to check out would be: JayzTwoCents, Hardware Canucks, BPS Customs, BitWit, and others. Be leary of the "Gaming Channels", as most of the ones I watched building a computer made me cringe in disbelief. Heck, even the Doc here has a great Build Video, from his old system, that He is still using!

And here's some food for thought: Every time I was asked to build a computer for someone when I worked at a School District (I was the "Hardware" guy for IT), this is what I would ask:
1. What are you planning on using it for? A: E-mail, web browsing, Word, Excel
2. Will you be doing any Video or Photo Editing? A: No, I don't have time for that
3. Do you have any Children who will use the machine? A: Yes. TADA! Now their requirements went up because Children these days are taught at earlier ages to use Technology.
Basically, don't kid yourself you only plan to do some "light" 1080 video. That 4K bug will hit! And if it is a GoPro, DJI Osmo, or some drone, you'll need some good "Horse-Power".

Part-wise, if you can get them and have someone build for you, yep: Ryzen 2700k (or if you can splurge - get the new 3700K), get a Middle-priced X570 board, and either an AMD RX580 or RX590, and should you be able to again splurge a bit, the newer RX 5700/5700XT. Storage, at least a 500GB NVME ssd for OS/Apps, a 500GB to 1 TB regular SSD for your "Source/Original Files", and a larger 2 TB or above Spinning Rust Platter drive for storage/backup. Oh, and Don't Forget A External Back-up Drive! PSU, around 500 to 750 Watts (keep eye out for Deals!). Case, can't beat that Corsair 200R as shown in Carey Holzman's video. Again, that case is also slightly wider than your 7 inch requirement (still curious?). For the Intel side, not much else I can think of that Carey Holzman's video doesn't cover, except he did not use a Video Card, but the PSU/Case/Mobo all supported what I listed above (or if you like nVidia, the 1660Ti or 2060 super are the best budget wise and work with Movie Studio 16).

Hope this helps, a little. Or, I just may have really confused you all to heck?

Good Luck and Happy Editing!

Mike "The Chief" O'Sullivan

Thanks much. My PC is in a floor-standing furniture cabinet. My monitor is 20"wide, leaving a scant 7.7" for the PC, which has no other place to go.
I have received one quote (see attachment) but I'm not sure if it allows the potential for 2 SSDs; I see only one M.2 socket on the Gigabyte site. Also, the Intl 8700 CPU is, I believe, significantly more expensive than the Ryzen 2700X. The quote is $1085, which may be about the best I can do; I don't know. The case looks fine, and power supply plenty adequate.
I have never built a computer and am not very good at such things. I'd rather have someone with experience do it and make sure it's all functional. I'll have my hands full installing the OS and all my other applications, drivers, etc., etc.
I welcome any comments.

Hi.

Looked at what you posted concerning the computer that was quoted for you. Couple of things I noticed:

1. The case is now, no longer manufactured by Cooler Master (older product). Did have the drive bays you needed, though from what pictures I did see of it, it only had USB 2.0 front panel ports. The motherboard listed has an available front panel USB 3.0 (USB 3.1 Gen 1 for any of the "Trolls" reading - same speed though - 5 Gigabits per second).

2. The board only supports One (1) M.2 drive, which can be either of the SATA variety, like the typical SSD; or it supports the faster PCI-e NVME. The motherboard is Micro-ATX, so this is not surprising. It does support an additional Six (6) SATA ports, so you can use the regular 2.5 inch SSD's, or some 3.5 inch Hard Drives, along with your Blu-Ray/DVD/CD reader/writer, or two.

3. The processor, Intel i7-8700, is now Two Years Old, having been released in October 2017.

4. The video card was originally released in October 2016, making it over three years old. Yes, it (video card) and the processor release dates may be old, though the products themselves may not be, but that is how these types of things are viewed for sales purpose.

From what it looks like, this is one of those "Store-bought" type of pc's that you would find in Wal-Mart, B&H Photo/Video, Best Buy, etc. Was your quote provided via one of these types of stores? Or is this something you found, say on E-Bay? If E-Bay, you are not getting your moneys worth at the price you gave.

I may be a bit biased on this since I have been working with computers since retiring from the Navy in 2001, but I have a hard time when people are trying to sell items that are now this old, or like the case no longer manufactured, and asking for way too much for them. Again, go back and watch the video links I previously posted, and possibly re-think your decision. No doubt this quoted pc will work fine, just know what you are getting into, and for that matter, your money!

Mike "The Chief" O'Sullivan

Thanks again; I truly appreciate your expertise. I have watched the videos you linked but am not ready to try it myself. There appear to be too many variables in potential compatibility, and my head spins with discussions about how to jigger with timing speeds on RAM, etc. I can't begin to keep up with whether a component is a year or two old. My system is, as indicated, nearly eight years old and, aside from being strained by HD video editing, works pretty well. My next one will have a similar tour of duty unless I get magically rich. C'est la vie. Ditto for handling 4K; the investment potentially is not justifiable for me; my purposes don't require it.

My case width is constrained by the the floor-standing cabinet which serves as desk. My monitor is 20" wide; an 8"-wide PC would only fit if I blocked side vents tightly against the cabinet wall; even I know not to do that -- especially in the summer, since we have no central air-conditioning. Eventually I'll be able to get a real desk again, but that may be a couple of years off.

However, maybe I can get parts and persuade someone to build me one for something like the markup on parts I would pay otherwise. I'll try to assemble a parts list for $800-900 or so and run it by a few friends.

I ended up going to Dell and getting an XPS 8930 with a couple of modifications. I paid significantly more than I had wanted, but zero-interest financing for a year softened the blow. It features an i7 9700, chip, 16GB DDR4 RAM, a 512GB SSD for C and a 1T HDD general data storage drive, as well as my older 1T HDD (also 7200 rpm) for video storage. Plenty of room for my needs. I did have to get a new, external M-Disc DVD writer, since the 8930 does not have internal bays to accommodate my standard internal one.

My question is this: I had asked about a second SSD instead of the HDD for storage; it wasn't offered. However, watching a YouTube video to make sure I was installing the video HDD correctly, the demonstrator showed, on an 8930, installation of both a secondary HDD and a secondary SSD (the latter in an adapter cage), both attached by SATA (my machine has 4 SATA ports). I had thought the SSD would require a second M2 or similar socket on the motherboard, which wouldn't fit in my case-size constraints.

Now, I have no money to put my video storage on a SATA SSD at present. But if I should in the future be able to do so, would that speed up my video editing/rendering significantly?

Ulodesk wrote: My question is this: I had asked about a second SSD instead of the HDD for storage; it wasn't offered. However, watching a YouTube video to make sure I was installing the video HDD correctly, the demonstrator showed, on an 8930, installation of both a secondary HDD and a secondary SSD (the latter in an adapter cage), both attached by SATA (my machine has 4 SATA ports). I had thought the SSD would require a second M2 or similar socket on the motherboard, which wouldn't fit in my case-size constraints.

Now, I have no money to put my video storage on a SATA SSD at present. But if I should in the future be able to do so, would that speed up my video editing/rendering significantly?

All SSD's and HDD's connect via Sata ports only.
M.2 drives connect directly to special M.2 drive slots which link directly to PCIe lanes into the CPU - this is part of what makes M.2 drives much faster than using Sata connectors. M.2 drives are only supported on certain motherboards. Most off the shelf Desktops would not have M.2 support, to keep costs down.

Using an SSD "scratch drive" for video editing definitely speeds up video editing performance, especially when you have multiple videos playing back at the same time on the same timeline.

Thank you, Derek. My C drive SSD is in an M2 on the board; standard on the 8930, except that I upgraded the size a notch; probably could have saved some money not doing that. Next time I'm feeling flush, perhaps I'll go for an SSD to replace the HDD video drive.