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Departmental machines for PhD students
The department will provide a stock PC for each new PhD student. The student's supervisor should request a machine shortly before they are due to start their PhD, by creating a ticket via the Topdesk system (see https://sites.google.com/sheffield.ac.uk/comstaffhandbook/technical-services/ticketing-system). Unless a particular OS is requested, the ITS Windows 10 YoYo image will be installed by default.
Where possible, the stock PC will be of a similar spec to the new PC recommendation below, but it cannot be guaranteed. Upgrades for stock PCs may be purchased from the student's personal cost centre where suitable (see admin team regarding PhD cost centre information).
If the student prefers to use their personal laptop instead, to comply with departmental display screen equipment rules they should use either an external monitor or a laptop stand, or both. Contact Support to discuss your requirements.
Ordering a new machine
If the student requires a new machine it would need to be purchased from their personal cost centre. If the cost of the new PC is higher than the amount in the student's budget, the shortfall must be met from another funding source such as a grant. The student or their supervisor should create a COM SR ticket to request the purchase.
Standard spec for a new PhD PC
The spec below is the minimum recommended for a new PhD machine.
- Tower Case
- Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen5 CPU
- 8GB RAM
- 256GB SSD
- CD\DVD drive
- x1 24in monitor
Non-standard spec PCs
If the student requires a higher spec machine than our recommendation, they should liaise with Support. Support will then initiate quotations from the University's preferred suppliers to get the best price.
Cases where a higher spec might be required could include: intensive computation or simulation, graphical processing, media encoding, etc. Students who work with large amounts of data should utilise the the University's dedicated research computing and/or HPC facilities as appropriate rather than specifying high-capacity hard drives.
When purchasing a new machine, a 3 year warranty is required. A licence is required for any version of Windows, so the cost of purchasing one should be taken into account where the PC will be running Windows.
Laptops, or Apple Macs, can be requested instead of a desktop PC, but will need to be approved by the department.
