Quick spec: £300 office pc

gee3000

gee3000

gee3000

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I need to build a budget but quality office PC for my boss. To be used for basic internet browsing, email, viewing documents, etc. Will be running Windows 7 Ultimate x64 (already purchased). Need it to be future proof so it can be upgraded over the next 5-7 years if and when necessary.

Requirements:
  • Case (want to use an Antec 300) -- £41.99
  • CPU (considering a quad AMD with stock cooler)
  • Mobo (preferably with onboard graphics and wifi too if possible)
  • RAM
  • PSU
  • 1 hard drive (space usage not an issue, must be reliable)
  • DVD-RW
  • Internal card reader
Budget: £300 +postage inc vat. (max stretch £350)

I'd get one of the prebuilt systems from OcUK to save myself the hassle but I enjoy building :p

Cheers!
 
Athlon X4? 4GB RAM. Gigabyte mobo (I'm a fanboy :p but they do make well built reliable boards) a branded but low wattage PSU will be fine.

EDIT: Might have to be a X2 chip. Can only buy RAM in 4GB on OcUK but I would have thought 2GB would be fine possibly?

I got this (£372.73 delivered though)

Patriot G Series 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel (PGS34G1333ELK) - £88.99 - Cheapest RAM. I use Patriot stuff myself and it works well.

Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard - £68.98 - Cheapest motherboard, but its an 8 series instead of 7 as they are not much cheaper.

AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 250 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail - £54.99 - Would have been an X4 but including HDD, card reader and DVD-RW made that too expensive.

Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black - £41.99

Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD502HJ) - £39.99 - There are cheaper drives but Sammys are fast and reliable, and this is only 8 quid more than an 80GB sold on here!

OcUK 450W Dual-Rail High Efficiency Power Supply - £34.99 - Cheapest powersupply without sacrificing quality.

Akasa Internal Smart 8 Port Card Reader (AK-ICR-05) - £14.99 - Cheap and cheerful card reader, haven't had any problem with Akasa stuff before.

Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM - £13.99 - Again cheap and cheerful but Samsung make good quality DVD writers.

Hope this is of some use although it's a tad over budget :)
 
Last edited:
Thanks richb93, I have the following in my basket:



Does anyone have any recommendations to squeeze any more performance/upgradability out of it??

Cheers..



richb93 said:
Athlon X4? 4GB RAM. Gigabyte mobo (I'm a fanboy :p but they do make well built reliable boards) a branded but low wattage PSU will be fine.

EDIT: Might have to be a X2 chip. Can only buy RAM in 4GB on OcUK but I would have thought 2GB would be fine possibly?

I got this (£372.73 delivered though)

Patriot G Series 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel (PGS34G1333ELK) - £88.99 - Cheapest RAM. I use Patriot stuff myself and it works well.

Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard - £68.98 - Cheapest motherboard, but its an 8 series instead of 7 as they are not much cheaper.

AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 250 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail - £54.99 - Would have been an X4 but including HDD, card reader and DVD-RW made that too expensive.

Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black - £41.99

Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD502HJ) - £39.99 - There are cheaper drives but Sammys are fast and reliable, and this is only 8 quid more than an 80GB sold on here!

OcUK 450W Dual-Rail High Efficiency Power Supply - £34.99 - Cheapest powersupply without sacrificing quality.

Akasa Internal Smart 8 Port Card Reader (AK-ICR-05) - £14.99 - Cheap and cheerful card reader, haven't had any problem with Akasa stuff before.

Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM - £13.99 - Again cheap and cheerful but Samsung make good quality DVD writers.

Hope this is of some use although it's a tad over budget :)
Click to expand...
 
Sorry for the bump, but can someone give this a quick check please over as I need to order it now-ish!

gee3000 said:
Thanks richb93, I have the following in my basket:



Does anyone have any recommendations to squeeze any more performance/upgradability out of it??

Cheers..
Click to expand...

Thanks :)
 
capturecbi.jpg


you should get free shipping which beings that lot down to £268.99.

look elsewhere for 2gigs ddr3 (should be in the region of £40-50).

slightly over budget, but it ticks all your boxes (however, i would imagine the IGP on the motherboard may be a bit weak. should be fine for office use though)
 
Update: Got it all setup in an hour or so and seems to be running well. Didn't realise the Antec 300 doesn't have a "floppy" bay so the card reader will have to go into something else ;p
 
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