Please help me complete my mini ITX build...

[nytrip]

Have decided to build a photo/video editing PC in a Cougar QBX (mITX) case - i think I've got half the parts decided, but they need a sanity check and some recommendations to fill gaps - especially around GPU and cooling.

Basically I was originally hoping for something smaller but it seems that Node 202 and the like, were going to be a pretty tight fit and need some pretty active temperature management and construction handiwork which is a it beyond me. Interested in NCase M1 and Dan A4, but cost and lead time off-putting.

Really grateful for build suggestions on the following:

Motherboard: The one selected is one that was put forward in another thread. I'm not really clear what makes that particular motherboard a good or bad choice. It is described as 'gaming' but gaming won't be a primary feature of the machine - but if it means decent sound and graphics card support great.

Case: Couldn't find the QBX case on PC Part Picker - but I'm going for this: https://www.amazon.com/Cougar-gaming-QBX-Case/dp/B00ZV5YKY6

CPU cooler: Not sure what will fit given the case being small-ish, have noted down Pallas 140mm Low Profile CPU Cooler and Noctua NH-D15 in my research but what would you recommend?

RAM: I want 16GB, but how much does the brand (or speed?) matter?

GPU: I think I want a Geforce 1060 with 6GB memory, but which variant. This seems quite important for the machine, some of the other threads on Reddit talk about having a 'blower' model in the QBX case - likewise heard they can be noisy. Thoughts appreciated, but if the case can include any alternative cooling I might consider it. Don't care about aesthetics, do care about noise/heat. Storage: Will the SSD selected happily work with the motherboard slot?

Power supply: Again, going off another recommendation in a QBX thread in that the SFX PSU with adapter fits well and gives more space inside. Happy for other suggestions though.

Monitor: Lots of photographers have recommended the Dell monitor listed. Again, will consider others but would like something that is a well supported recommendation for my price point.

Keyboard/Mouse: Want wireless variants, but don't need anything super special. PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

My Parts So Far (Not Purchased)
CPU Intel - Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor £293.00 @ Amazon UK
Motherboard Asus - STRIX B250I GAMING Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard £110.35 @ BT Shop
Storage Western Digital - Blue 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive £83.38 @ BT Shop
Storage Western Digital - Red 4TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive £123.99 @ Aria PC
Power Supply Corsair - SF 600W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply -
Operating System Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit -
Monitor Dell - U2717D 27.0" 2560x1440 60Hz Monitor £399.98 @ Aria PC

Thanks!

 

[phanbuey]

if you're gonna go intel, wait 7 days for the 8700k and the z370 announcement... especially for a video editing rig. You'll appreciate the 50% increase in cores and cache.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/intel-8th-gen-core-specs-technology-explained-2952599

 

[Toothless]

Ryzen might be better for this use case.

 

[nytrip]

I did think about Ryzen, but on the basis that I'll be 90% photoshop work vs 10% Adobe Premiere, I was favouring the single core performance.

Regarding the new Intel 8700 and z370, realistically, how quickly do you think I'll be able to get hold of one?

 

[silentbogo]

There are few things that can be optimised or improved:

1) It would be nice to have more cores for video editing. The same sum of cash will get you an 8-core Ryzen 7 1700. You can get an itx board for AM4 socket in the same ballpark or cheaper(especially if you go w/ A350).
Photoshop may not see that much benefit, but I doubt you will notice a significant difference in workflow between 7700K and R7-1700 (filters and libraries which use a single thread are not supposed to be heavy in the first place).

2) WD Blue is a SATA SSD. For the same amount of money you can get a 256 GB Intel 600p SSD, which is NVMe.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Internal...TF8&qid=1502737439&sr=1-1&keywords=Intel+600p

3) Why 600W? You don't even have a video card in the list, and even if there was one - your rig consumes less than 100W at full load. E.g. even with upcoming Vega64 on board you won't exceed 450W.
I'd rather drop it to Corsair SF450

With all of the above you can save about £40-£50, which you can put towards GT1030 for extra boost from CUDA-accelerated tools and libraries.

 

[phanbuey]

The rumor is release on the 21st. If that's true maybe 1-2 weeks...

If not then you can just hit order on Monday the 21st as you will know when they release. But honestly would be a bummer to invest in a z270 on the last week of its life.

 

[nytrip]

Thanks for the tips on the SSD and power supply - I'll change those on my list.

Seems like there is still no sign of a firm release date, maybe tomorrow will add some clarity to that. Could wait till mid-September, but really can't wait any longer than that I don't think. Does look like it will be accompanied by new motherboards though.

 

[Caelestis]

If you really want to use the 7700k, I would suggest a board with a Z270 chipset. You won't be able to overclock the 7700K with B250 board. Would be a waste of money. If you don't plan to overclock, buy the non K version.

 

[notb]

If you really want to use the 7700k, I would suggest a board with a Z270 chipset. You won't be able to overclock the 7700K with B250 board. Would be a waste of money. If you don't plan to overclock, buy the non K version.

7700K has higher clocks than 7700 and is quite a bit faster.

1) It would be nice to have more cores for video editing. The same sum of cash will get you an 8-core Ryzen 7 1700. You can get an itx board for AM4 socket in the same ballpark or cheaper(especially if you go w/ A350).
Photoshop may not see that much benefit, but I doubt you will notice a significant difference in workflow between 7700K and R7-1700 (filters and libraries which use a single thread are not supposed to be heavy in the first place).

Actually some tests show that Ryzen is not as great for video editing as you might think. Not every algorithm can use 8 cores and the single-core speed difference becomes visible. It's all down to how your workflow looks. Check the comparisons at PugetSystems:
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/a...2017-AMD-Ryzen-7-1700X-1800X-Performance-909/
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/a...aby-Lake-X-Broadwell-E-Kaby-Lake-Ryzen-7-969/

But OP said that he'll spend most time in Photoshop, not Premiere, and with that in mind he should definitely go for a single-thread performance.

Consider how photo editing workflow looks. You're spending some time editing particular photos one-by-one. You want this to be fluent and fast, so that you won't be wasting time waiting for Photoshop to complete a job. You want powerful cores, because a lot of algorithms will be single-threaded here.
More cores will shine in batch processing. So when you finally edit your 100 photos and hit "export all to JPEG", Ryzen 1700 will complete this quite a bit faster than 7700K. But at this point you're drinking tea already, so it's not that significant.

 

[nytrip]

Seems like the announcement today didn't provide as much detail as we hoped, so looks like I might be hitting purchase before the new processors are out.

I'm a habitual Intel person, just always had Intel so for (some irrational reason) reluctant to go for AMD, but accept that I really don't know a lot about these things. If there is a compelling case, I could be persuaded to rethink, but my Adobe Premiere usage is not going to be that frequent. I'll be doing photos every day, and videos maybe only a couple of times a month. Just for good measure I don't game, but my son will want to play games on the machine. But he is eight so medium settings or not total clarity are fine. The other thing I might be tempted to do is try out some of the artifical intelligence graphics applications e.g.: Google DeepStyle etc, which will probably require me to be dual booting - but presumably leveraging the GPU rather than CPU. Still, that is a 'maybe' and I probablyt shouldn't have mentioned it as I'll likely not get round to setting it up. Wondering if there is more AMD/Intel compatibility though.

i7-7700k vs i7-7700 - I confess I didn't even know the significance of the K. I won't be over clocking - so unless there is an advantage to going with the K variant while running at stock clocks, I may as well go with the cheaper option - and with the B variant motherboard.

Are there any other 'harware enabled' factors in CPU/motherboard I should be thinking about. Does one have some sort of hardware decoding of specific video formats or similar? Or is it much of a muchness these days?

I've updated my part list below. I've somewhat picked the GPU at random. I figure 1060 is about what my needs/budget support but the fact it is the Asus is really only to match the motherboard, which similarly was not a well informed choice. Endorsement or alternative suggestions there would be appreciated.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-7700 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor (£263.00 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus - STRIX B250I GAMING Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard (£110.35 @ BT Shop)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£135.36 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Intel - 600p Series 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£91.80 @ Alza)
Storage: Toshiba - X300 5TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£133.93 @ More Computers)
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB Strix Video Card (£336.54 @ Novatech)
Power Supply: Corsair - SF 450W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit
Monitor: Dell - U2717D 27.0" 2560x1440 60Hz Monitor (£399.98 @ Aria PC)
Total: £1470.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-08-21 16:46 BST+0100

Only other factor is the monitor. I'm looking at whether it is worthwhile to get a monitor that has 99%+ AdobeRGB, like the BenQ SW2700PT. If so I'd have to check compatibility with GPU etc. Notably such monitors tend not to have GSync - which is a bit of a downer for gaming.

Thanks.