Home PC -- small spec me up

mnm-eater

mnm-eater

mnm-eater

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5 Oct 2011
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3
Hello
This is my first time using a forum, Ive read the rules, but just bare with me.


Me and my OH are building a computer for his parents to do some uni work on as the laptop is slowly falling to bits.
Hes going to use bits from his old computer that he doesnt need since he upgraded to an i5.
Just wondering if theres anything we've missed, it will only be for simple word processing and maybe a film or 2.


- Random cheapy case, probably with a built in PSU
- 500GB-1TB HDD
- DVD-RW

Budget is going to be sub £70, it doesnt need to be a fancy case, just something that will hold itself up and not fall apart when its turned on.

They have a mouse and keyboard and will connecting to the TV in the conservatory.


Another question, with it being in the conservatory, the signal is very weak as its an outside wall. Are there any Wifi cards that are fairly strong?
 
Case: OcUK Bos Midi Tower: http://bit.ly/olyB2u: £24.98
PSU: OcUK Swift 450W: http://bit.ly/ozUSDy: £15.98
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB: http://bit.ly/nclIaB: £31.99
DVD: OcUK DVDRW 22x: http://bit.ly/qpPAdL: £15.98

TOTAL: £88.93

The HDD maybe SATA 3 6gbps but is backwards compatible so it will run on a normal SATA 2 board.

The power supply is the cheapest one available, so will do for connecting it to a TV and for browsing the net etc.

Finally the case is the cheapest one OCUK have in stock at the moment and its quite fancy with the front LED fan too.

To bring the price down, maybe get a 320GB HDD, You will save around £10 for that.

Hope this helps.

CinderzFTW
 
CinderzFTW said:
PSU: OcUK Swift 450W: http://bit.ly/ozUSDy: £15.98

The power supply is the cheapest one available, so will do for connecting it to a TV and for browsing the net etc.
Click to expand...
noooooooo! dont go for a cheap PSU. there is literally no place in the world for a cheapo no brand PSU.
yes it will probably be able to power the computer as long as it doesnt have a dedicated graphics card, but it will cost you so much more in the long run on the electric bill, and will almost certainly take the motherboard and processor out when it dies.

go for something like this: Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply

its by one of the best brands out there, so its going to be super reliable, when it does eventually die it wont take out your components and its 80+ rated (that means that between 20% and 80% of its rated power its more than 80% efficient. i would be very surprised if the cheap PSU was over 60% efficient

an absolute bargain for £37

*edit*
also, while i remember about it, is there anyone in the family that wants call of duty modern warfare 3 for the PC?
if there is then you might be able to persuade them to go halves on this PSU + MW3 bundle:
OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply with FREE Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - PC (Retail)

they would get MW3 for a discount, and you would get a better, more efficient PSU for £27.49
 
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CinderzFTW said:
but im thinking of his budget of £70... and it seems as thought it is only going to be used as a web browsing machine anyways, maybe watching films on. No need for anything that pricey. Maybe go for this then: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-026-OP&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1709

It's only £20 and will be better than the first one I stated!
Click to expand...

technically its better, but thats like saying rabies is better than botulism

the PSU i have recommended will save the £20 difference between it and the OcUK value one within a year or two if the PC is on a fair amount of time. also, when the OcUK value one goes pop the corsair one would A, almost certainly still be working, and B not take any components with
 
True I suspect. I am thinking about saving money for the fella that is all. The Corsair Builder Series PSU's are good.

What are your views on EZCOOL PSU's?
 
I found a few and some say its good and some say it isn't.

Scan sells them for £40 and I paid £40 for mine from a local city centre computer shop because my old PSU failed on me. I needed one that day and this was the only half decent one they had in. I will not let any shiny silver thing with no badges on it near my pc.
 
Thanks for the help guys (this is mnm's OH).

I know all about the low grade PSU stuff and was seriously considering the corsair psu, but right now our budget for it is £70.
Hopefully I can get into the MM on Monday, so I can look for some second hand cases and HDD's, which hopefully will let me get a nicer PSU.
 
Little update on this
Took a risk on this, a case and an unbranded PSU come up stupidly cheap from a local shop. Brought it home on Friday and I just come out of hospital about 3 hours ago from the shock, only woke up this morning.

Moral of the story....dont take risks, it blows up motherboards.

The company has given my a free Gigabyte AM3 mobo and 4GB DDR3 RAM and possibly a CPU if thats dud too. All turns up tomorrow, doubt itll be anything good though.
 
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