New Build Advice for a .NET C# developer machine

Soldato
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Hi,

I'm coming from an iMac (I love MacOS, but it's not going to work for me going forward), and need a Windows machine that'll last.

I do a lot of C# .NET development which will involve running lots of websites in IIS and hosting a SQL Server instance or 3, fairly big Visual Studio solutions with 30 or so projects within.

I want code to compile nice and fast, sites to spring up as quick as they can.

I'm coming from:

Intel i7 3.5ghz quad core
32gb ram
3TB fusion drive (software driven combination of an SSD and 7200rpm HDD)
Geforce GTX 780M 4GB

and I've had that machine since end of 2013.

My budget is around £1,500 for the PC, and I'll need a new screen on top, which won't be doing any gaming, but will need to be as sharp as it can be for reading code. I'm coming from a 27" iMac screen, so anywhere between 27" and 32" would be doable.

I've got a separate 24" screen already that is currently driven by display port, but could be HDMI if necessary.

I don't care if it's AMD or Intel.

I'd quite like a white case, as I've got enough stuff that shows up dust in the office, and quite like the look of something like this:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/phan...pered-glass-drgb-glacier-white-ca-0ae-pt.html
or this:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/frac...ower-case-white-tempered-glass-ca-088-fd.html

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer guys.

Cheers,

K
 
Soldato
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https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk...I3,X(bHsm3+V+bHsn3+VubKDh3!7XbNrf3@):bTjL3U*-

My basket at Overclockers UK:
  • 1 x OcUK Tech Labs Intel 9th Gen "Coffee Lake" Midi Tower Gaming PC Configurator = £1,521.91
    • Memory **non-Z370/Z390 motherboards limited to 2666MHz**:Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C15 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2B30
    • Power Supply:Kolink Modular Power 500W 80 Plus Bronze Modular Power Supply
    • CPU Cooler:Alpenfohn Brocken ECO Advanced CPU Cooler - 120 mm
    • M.2 Solid State Drive **For Operating System If Selected**:Samsung 970 PRO 1TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive
    • Motherboard:Asus Prime B365-Plus Intel B365 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard
    • Processor:Intel Core i7-9700 3.00GHz (Coffee Lake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail
    • Graphics:*Build Stock* MSI GeForce RTX 3060 VENTUS 3X 12GB OC Graphics Card
    • Case:Fractal Design Meshify C Midi Tower Case - White Tempered Glass
Total: £1,521.91 (includes shipping: £0.00)

?
 
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Soldato
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Thanks for the reply mate.

I’d really like to power a very high res monitor akin to a 5k iMac as well.

Is that a particular graphics Card’s job, or do most graphics cards power good monitors these days for the purposes of Operating system work and 4k video, but more expensive cards reserved for gaming in those resolutions?
 
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Is that a particular graphics Card’s job, or do most graphics cards power good monitors these days for the purposes of Operating system work and 4k video, but more expensive cards reserved for gaming in those resolutions?

My work machine as an AMD card form 2012. Unless you're doing something like GPU driven AI then all the matters is the number of GPU ports on the back and it's ability to drive them.

My previous work machine had an Nvidia Quadro P1000, which was a "high end" work machine. The Quadro P1000 is a modified 1050ti with some more ports on it - it's arguably much worse than almost any gaming GPU you can buy, except for the ports. You don't need much of a GPU.
 
Soldato
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Onboard gpu can support 4k 60hz display do you need a poweful gpu for your work ?

Can you build a pc ?
I don't need a powerful GPU for my work, but I'd like a comparable screen and resolution to the iMac 5k screens if possible, which is a resolution of 5,120 x 2,880 pixels, and the ability to drive another monitor with similar specs alongside. Does that mean i'd need a card with 2 HDMI 2.0 / 2.1 outputs / a DisplayPort? Is that even a thing?!

I built PCs back in the early noughties, will be able to do it again I'd imagine, if someone would be able to match the parts up for me so that I know CPU fans fit in cases, CPUs work with MOBOs, so on. That's what I'm largely out of touch with.

If someone builds a system for me that has a bog standard CPU, RAM, GPU and a top spec SSD because that's where the bottleneck'd be, then all the better! Probably half the cost! :D

Thanks for your help thus far guys.
 
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Displayport 1.4 and hdmi 2 1 support 5k resoloution so depending on monitor inputs then a gpu with correct amount. Im slightly confused with hdmi 2.0 b as some websites says it supports 5k but others saying 4k maybe someone can clear that up.

Ive opened a thread to try to clear this up

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.cnet.com/google-amp/news/what-is-hdmi-2-0b/

https://www.tomshardware.com/amp/features/displayport-vs-hdmi-better-for-gaming

Is your monitor 5k if yes check what hdmi revision it is and can you ourput 5k.
 
Soldato
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Displayport 1.4 and hdmi 2 1 support 5k resoloution so depending on monitor inputs then a gpu with correct amount. Im slightly confused with hdmi 2.0 b as some websites says it supports 5k but others saying 4k maybe someone can clear that up.

Ive opened a thread to try to clear this up

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.cnet.com/google-amp/news/what-is-hdmi-2-0b/

https://www.tomshardware.com/amp/features/displayport-vs-hdmi-better-for-gaming

Is your monitor 5k if yes check what hdmi revision it is and can you ourput 5k.
Thanks mate, appreciate you trying to help clear that up.
I don’t have a monitor yet, so looking to find one or two with the correct inputs.
 
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Thanks mate, appreciate you trying to help clear that up.
I don’t have a monitor yet, so looking to find one or two with the correct inputs.
Open a thread in the monitor section of the forum for recomendations could also ask about 2.0b 5k support , let me know if you find out any info.
 
Soldato
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I’ll do just that, cheers. From what I've read on those pages you linked (thanks for that!) There are 5k monitors around like https://www.techradar.com/uk/reviews/msi-prestige-ps341wu but even this one is a grand and still comes up short compared to the apple 5k screens. May end up compromising in the end and getting 4k if it's that difficult a requirement to satisfy.

So a summary seems to be :

Intel i5 / i7 processor of some sort
16GB RAM, DDR 4 would be nice
Mobo - ?
On board GPUs are unlikely to have HDMI 2.1 and Display Port 1.4 / 2.0 ports, but not sure, need to investigate
GPU isn't that important it seems, although it will need to have the necessary HDMI / Display Ports to support 5k. No idea what card does this yet
PSU - ?
SSD - NVMe would be good, probably the bottle neck for what I do day-to-day
 
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The gt 1030 should dual 4k it has hdmi 2.0b and dp1.4, psu is overkill but allowing plenty of room to upgrade.

M2 drive offers good value but if you want the fastest then a pcie4 could be added.

Cases a few to choose from.

Motherboard doesnt have WiFi wasn't sure if needed and 6 core cpu with igpu as back up but do you need a stronger cpu ?

CODE My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,075.86 (includes shipping: £39.06)
[/INDENT​
 
Soldato
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Legend @mickyflinn thank you very much!

This all makes sense. With regard to Mobo, Wifi would be good to have, but not essential, and I've been reading that the number of cores on a CPU is more important than the clock speed when it comes to compilation of code, which would mean the more cores the better. I only have a quad core CPU in my current i7, so I'd imagine 6 cores and 12 threads would be a significant improvement. Would I be able to put any rocket lake era chip in to that board, like an i7 or an i9? Would be tempted to go i9 if so: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/inte...ocket-lga1200-processor-retail-cp-694-in.html perhaps?
 
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Legend @mickyflinn thank you very much!

This all makes sense. With regard to Mobo, Wifi would be good to have, but not essential, and I've been reading that the number of cores on a CPU is more important than the clock speed when it comes to compilation of code, which would mean the more cores the better. I only have a quad core CPU in my current i7, so I'd imagine 6 cores and 12 threads would be a significant improvement. Would I be able to put any rocket lake era chip in to that board, like an i7 or an i9? Would be tempted to go i9 if so: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/inte...ocket-lga1200-processor-retail-cp-694-in.html perhaps?
Yes you coulx use the 11900 but the power draw on theese chips is insane and need decent cooloing.

You could go amd you can get a 12 core 3900x for £410 i would probablly chuck in 32gb of ram as well.

Are you sure the gpu wont be utilised ?

What apps will you be using so i can look into best hardware .

@Cooler running are you net c developer any further input would be appreciated ?
 
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Soldato
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Thanks @mickyflinn - My day to day life is Windows usage and with 2 little ones, I don't get much time for gaming unless they're holding a controller too, so if I did do any of that, it would be a bit of a novelty, and not worth spending massive £ on. I get the impression that 1080p games would be within reach on this hardware, so that'd be fine for me. However, I would like to drive a really nice resolution 4k monitor (minimum) at 27" -> 32", as I'm coming from an iMac screen which is lovely. I get that I can't seem to reach 5k on PC because of a multitude of reasons, but as long as the card is able to comfortably drive this stuff, I'd be happy I think.

I've been reading this: https://linustechtips.com/topic/115...run-tests-for-dotnet-c-docker-containers-etc/

The upshot of which is more cores, plenty of ram (16gb - 32gb), a strong NVMe SSD with plenty of space on it and decent cooling are the main factors in compilation of lots of projects at once.

Happy to entertain AMD, not overly bothered over that or Intel as long as it gets the job done really! :)

I'm coming from something that has plenty of RAM, but a slower HDD (Fusion drive) and a quad core cpu, so there's plenty of room for improvement there.

Appreciate your help so far mate.
 
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Man of Honour
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Thanks @mickyflinn - My day to day life is Windows usage and with 2 little ones, I don't get much time for gaming unless they're holding a controller too, so if I did do any of that, it would be a bit of a novelty, and not worth spending massive £ on. I get the impression that 1080p games would be within reach on this hardware, so that'd be fine for me. However, I would like to drive a really nice resolution 4k monitor (minimum) at 27" -> 32", as I'm coming from an iMac screen which is lovely. I get that I can't seem to reach 5k on PC because of a multitude of reasons, but as long as the card is able to comfortably drive this stuff, I'd be happy I think.

I've been reading this: https://linustechtips.com/topic/115...run-tests-for-dotnet-c-docker-containers-etc/

The upshot of which is more cores, plenty of ram (16gb - 32gb), a strong NVMe SSD with plenty of space on it and decent cooling are the main factors in compilation of lots of projects at once.

Happy to entertain AMD, not overly bothered over that or Intel as long as it gets the job done really! :)

I'm coming from something that has plenty of RAM, but a slower HDD (Fusion drive) and a quad core cpu, so there's plenty of room for improvement there.

Appreciate your help so far mate.
The gt 1030 will be able to play some games but modern games like cyberpunk i doubt.

Ok

Done an amd build with wifi as a comparison remember overspecced the psu so if yph gaming need rise have the ability to upgrade the 1030.

Case i picked but choose one you like.

DE My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,114.04 (includes shipping: £13.20)​
 
Soldato
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This is terrific stuff, thanks mate! More cores, more RAM, ability to swap out graphics card if needed later on down the line, all looks great!

Pardon my out of date questions, but when I order all this, apart from some arctic silver which I'll get on top, will I need to buy anything additional accessory wise to build this? Any internal cabling or anything, or is it all supplied? I guess no cables for NVMe and it slots in to the mobo, and PSU cabling's all attached to the PSU!

Cheers mate, brilliant. Really appreciate it.
 
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Shouldn't need anything extra, motherboard should come with at least a couple of SATA cables if you have more hard drives.

I use a Ryzen 3900X for dev work(similar software stack to your use case) and it runs really well so the 5800X should fly.
 
Soldato
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Thanks guys, really appreciate your input on this. My requirements weren't just 'gaming pc plz' so thank you for putting the thought and effort in to tailoring something for me! :D

Just got to find the unicorn that is my monitor now...
 
Man of Honour
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This is terrific stuff, thanks mate! More cores, more RAM, ability to swap out graphics card if needed later on down the line, all looks great!

Pardon my out of date questions, but when I order all this, apart from some arctic silver which I'll get on top, will I need to buy anything additional accessory wise to build this? Any internal cabling or anything, or is it all supplied? I guess no cables for NVMe and it slots in to the mobo, and PSU cabling's all attached to the PSU!

Cheers mate, brilliant. Really appreciate it.

Wont need any more cables but get some thernal paste just in case. Could throw another fan in the front for extra cooling if you want.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/arctic-cooling-p12-silent-black-fan-120mm-fg-04l-ar.html

The bios on the motherboard may need updating for the cpu to work this can be done with the bios flashback feature on the motherboard .

Tutorial

 
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