New PC for W11

GDB2222

My present PC has a i7-4790K processor, 24 GB of RAM, and MSI H97M motherboard. It's about ten years old, and I built it to run huge spreadsheets. It's rather overkill for what I do these days, but I like it that things run very quickly.

The game plan is to keep it, and run linux on it. I'll then use that for a particular hobby.

So, I want to set up a new PC to run W11, before W10 runs out of support. I'd rather do that pretty soon, rather than in a panic next autumn. I can build my own, or buy ready-made. I'm not into overclocking.

I will mainly just be browsing the web, emailing, etc. No heavy duty gaming or video processing.

I'd like it to last say 10+ years, although we can't foretell what will happen in future. I may have an old case or PSU lying around (although reusing the PSU is probably a false economy), but I'll definitely need to buy a motherboard, cpu, and RAM.  

At present I run a 1920 x 1200 screen, but I will probably go QHD one of these days. So, the PC needs to be able to drive that.

What should I do?

tacpot12

Why not just buy a Windows 11 laptop? With a core i7 processor it will outperform your current PC for everything except gaming, plus you get the benefits of portability and an integrated UPS. 

GDB2222

tacpot12 said:

Why not just buy a Windows 11 laptop? With a core i7 processor it will outperform your current PC for everything except gaming, plus you get the benefits of portability and an integrated UPS. 

I have just bought a laptop, as it happens. One like this:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256686848847

It's fine to take with me when travelling, but I want a desktop setup at home for the ergonomics.  Plus, it's rather slow. I guess that's the i5-1230U processor. Another advantage of a desktop PC is you get a desktop processor.

EssexExile

GDB2222 said:

tacpot12 said:

Why not just buy a Windows 11 laptop? With a core i7 processor it will outperform your current PC for everything except gaming, plus you get the benefits of portability and an integrated UPS. 

I have just bought a laptop, as it happens. One like this:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256686848847

It's fine to take with me when travelling, but I want a desktop setup at home for the ergonomics.  Plus, it's rather slow. I guess that's the i5-1230U processor. Another advantage of a desktop PC is you get a desktop processor.

I use a laptop at home connected to a big screen, separate keyboard and mouse, then just unplug all the ancillaries when I'm going away. Have to remember to take the power supply though!

facade

It depends on how much you want to spend.

For a fast PC you are looking at around £700-£1000 for a quality motherboard, power supply, 32GB of DDR5 ram, a 1TB nvme SSD, a decent aircooler and windows 11 pro (PCPro shop sells it for £60 or so) you won't need a graphics card as the integrated Intel HD graphics are pretty good unless your applications need a GPU.

Processor, if you like Intel, go for I7-12700K - avoid anything with F as they don't have graphics. Avoid the 13th & 14th generation as they have a fault that Intel keep trying to mitigate (they can't fix it!).

You could try the latest Core Ultra 7 265K  which needs a brand new motherboard LGA1851, I've not heard anything about them though.

Don't put a liquid cooler on a build you expect to get 10 years out of- they will leak and scrap the motherboard and possibly CPU as well. (They are sometimes called AIO All In One coolers)

If you look at places like scan, they do bundled deals of motherboard, CPU & ram, but they tend to be a bit restricted and they don't seem any cheaper than pouring over the listings and picking your own.

tacpot12

GDB2222 said:

tacpot12 said:

Why not just buy a Windows 11 laptop? With a core i7 processor it will outperform your current PC for everything except gaming, plus you get the benefits of portability and an integrated UPS. 

I have just bought a laptop, as it happens. One like this:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256686848847

It's fine to take with me when travelling, but I want a desktop setup at home for the ergonomics.  Plus, it's rather slow. I guess that's the i5-1230U processor. Another advantage of a desktop PC is you get a desktop processor.

That's a good laptop for portability. I have one with more or less the same specification, and find it meet all of my needs. 

I also have a laptop that is loaned to me by an organisation I volunteer with. For their purposes, I need to use it more like a desktop machine, so I bought a cheap laptop stand, and they provided me with a full-size keyboard, and I had a spare wireless mouse, so I have set it up like a desktop machine. With a superb office chair bought third-hand off eBay, I have excellent ergonomics and find it more comfortable than I did my desk at my last ermployer. 

Afull desktop machine might be necessary to get the ergonomics with a large screen, but if you can work on a smaller screen perhaps your existing laptop could be used to in a more ergonomic set-up.  
  

SimplyBetter

GDB2222 said:

My present PC has a i7-4790K processor, 24 GB of RAM, and MSI H97M motherboard. It's about ten years old, and I built it to run huge spreadsheets. It's rather overkill for what I do these days, but I like it that things run very quickly.

The game plan is to keep it, and run linux on it. I'll then use that for a particular hobby.

So, I want to set up a new PC to run W11, before W10 runs out of support. I'd rather do that pretty soon, rather than in a panic next autumn. I can build my own, or buy ready-made. I'm not into overclocking.

I will mainly just be browsing the web, emailing, etc. No heavy duty gaming or video processing.

I'd like it to last say 10+ years, although we can't foretell what will happen in future. I may have an old case or PSU lying around (although reusing the PSU is probably a false economy), but I'll definitely need to buy a motherboard, cpu, and RAM.  

At present I run a 1920 x 1200 screen, but I will probably go QHD one of these days. So, the PC needs to be able to drive that.

What should I do?

Dual Boot Windows 11 on the same device. If you have a Digital Licence it should activate both in turn.
Use Rufus to create your Windows 11 installation media. https://rufus.ie/en/ It can create media that will bypass the artificial restrictions on your device. All legit.

SimplyBetter

...and bear in mind that Microsoft will offer a year of extended support for £30 or less. So you have until October 2026 with Windows 10. Windows 11 24H2 will install and run normally until Oct 13, 2026. 
So you can run both without issue until then. Don't panic    

GDB2222

SimplyBetter said:

...and bear in mind that Microsoft will offer a year of extended support for £30 or less. So you have until October 2026 with Windows 10. Windows 11 24H2 will install and run normally until Oct 13, 2026. 
So you can run both without issue until then. Don't panic    

This had occurred to me, too.

GDB2222

facade said:

It depends on how much you want to spend.

For a fast PC you are looking at around £700-£1000 for a quality motherboard, power supply, 32GB of DDR5 ram, a 1TB nvme SSD, a decent aircooler and windows 11 pro (PCPro shop sells it for £60 or so) you won't need a graphics card as the integrated Intel HD graphics are pretty good unless your applications need a GPU.

Processor, if you like Intel, go for I7-12700K - avoid anything with F as they don't have graphics. Avoid the 13th & 14th generation as they have a fault that Intel keep trying to mitigate (they can't fix it!).

You could try the latest Core Ultra 7 265K  which needs a brand new motherboard LGA1851, I've not heard anything about them though.

Don't put a liquid cooler on a build you expect to get 10 years out of- they will leak and scrap the motherboard and possibly CPU as well. (They are sometimes called AIO All In One coolers)

If you look at places like scan, they do bundled deals of motherboard, CPU & ram, but they tend to be a bit restricted and they don't seem any cheaper than pouring over the listings and picking your own.

Thanks. I was aware of the issues with the later Intel chips, and I was wondering whether to go for a Ryzen?