Budget PC (£250-£300)

Prian · 19 May 2013 at 17:58

Hello, my cousin just rang me up about buying a system, I told him he could get more for his money buy building himself. He is up for the challenge, as his computer is currently about 9 years old and barely starts up.

So I was hoping some of you lovely people could suggest a few ideas for spec.
He already has a keyboard, mouse, monitor.

This computer will be used for word processing and watching movies.
So he wont need a graphics card and he will need a dvd drive.
He wants this computer to run 24/7 so it will need to be energy efficient and quiet. He also wants to to be pretty small so its unnoticeable.

I know this is a lot to ask but is there any chance we can build a system like this for that price?

I was thinking a core i3 and about 8gb of ram, but I dont really know much about this price range.

thanks for the help!

honosuseri · 19 May 2013 at 18:02

YOUR BASKET
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TD250BW) ** Cash Back Promo ** £136.99
1 x Thermaltake Element Q mini-ITX HTPC Case - 220W Power Supply £56.99
1 x Gigabyte GA-E350N AMD Hudson M1 DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £47.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED34096M1600HC11DC) £29.99
1 x Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £301.94 (includes shipping : £10.00).

or

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI A75IA-E53 AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £69.95
1 x AMD A6-5400K Black Edition 3.60GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Dual Core Processor (AD540KOKHJBOX) £47.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-16000C9 2000MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2B2000C9) £41.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.98
1 x Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced Mini-ITX Case - Black £39.95
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-252-SE) £30.00
1 x Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £299.84 (includes shipping : £10.00).

Going small isn't cheap bud

Prian · 19 May 2013 at 18:10

Thanks for the response, Im liking the look of the second build.
To be honest I dont think he minds about size too much just as long as its quiet and power efficient

RJC · 19 May 2013 at 18:12

YOUR BASKET
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Desktop and Notebook Kit - (MZ-7TD120KW) £89.99
1 x Gigabyte H61N-D2V Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £44.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced Mini-ITX Case - Black £39.95
1 x Intel Celeron G550 2.60GHz Socket LGA 1155 Processor - Retail £37.99
1 x Antec VP450P 450W '80 Plus' Continuous Power Supply £36.95
1 x Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
2 x TeamGroup Elite 2GB (1x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Single Channel Module (TED32GM1333C901) £14.99 (£29.98)
Total : £309.83 (includes shipping : £10.00).

honosuseri · 19 May 2013 at 18:17

Well the Trinity APU is more power hungry than intel CPUs but the integrated graphics are far superior and are infact gaming capable to a reasonable degree

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte F2A85X-D3H AMD A85X Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £64.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-16000C9 2000MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A2000C9) £53.99
1 x AMD A6-5400K Black Edition 3.60GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Dual Core Processor (AD540KOKHJBOX) £47.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.98
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-252-SE) £30.00
1 x Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £302.03 (includes shipping : £11.75).

That's the A6K using 4GB of 1600Mhz RAM. Faster RAM helps the integrated graphics.

honosuseri · 19 May 2013 at 18:25

RJC said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Desktop and Notebook Kit - (MZ-7TD120KW) £89.99
1 x Gigabyte H61N-D2V Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £44.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced Mini-ITX Case - Black £39.95
1 x Intel Celeron G550 2.60GHz Socket LGA 1155 Processor - Retail £37.99
1 x Antec VP450P 450W '80 Plus' Continuous Power Supply £36.95
1 x Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
2 x TeamGroup Elite 2GB (1x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Single Channel Module (TED32GM1333C901) £14.99 (£29.98)
Total : £309.83 (includes shipping : £10.00).

Sadly that mini-itx mobo doesn't support sataIII so won't make the most of the SSD

YOUR BASKET
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TD120BW) £83.99
1 x Intel Pentium G860 3.00GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £59.99
1 x Gigabyte H61MA-D3V Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £47.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.98
1 x TeamGroup Elite 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED34096M1600HC11DC) £29.99
1 x Zalman T2 ATX Mini Tower Case - Black £19.99
1 x Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £311.92 (includes shipping : £10.00).

Idleman · 19 May 2013 at 18:28

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte F2A75M-HD2 AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £57.98
1 x Silverstone Milo ML03 HTPC Case - Black (SST-ML03B) £56.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £47.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.98
1 x AMD A4-5300 3.40GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Dual Core Processor (AD5300OKHJBOX) £37.99
1 x Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
2 x TeamGroup Elite 2GB (1x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Single Channel Module (TED32GM1333C901) £14.99 (£29.98)
Total : £302.40 (includes shipping : £11.25).

Akagi · 19 May 2013 at 18:29

I don't really see the point of recommending a Celeron/Pentium build.

The integrated graphics wont be much good for playing 1080P content surely?

Trinity all the way.

RJC · 19 May 2013 at 18:33

acme15 said:
I don't really see the point of recommending a Celeron/Pentium build.

The integrated graphics wont be much good for playing 1080P content surely?

Trinity all the way.

My Intel NUC Celeron and my spare Celeron system plays 1080p MKV files without issue.

honosuseri · 19 May 2013 at 18:35

acme15 said:
I don't really see the point of recommending a Celeron/Pentium build.

The integrated graphics wont be much good for playing 1080P content surely?

Trinity all the way.

I've done a couple of Trinity specs (Idlemans is quite nice but has the "slow RAM"). The AMD APU would make for a better all round machine I'd have to agree

Akagi · 19 May 2013 at 18:39

RJC said:
My Intel NUC Celeron and my spare Celeron system plays 1080p MKV files without issue.

Fair enough then

I didn't have any first hand experience to go on.

Idleman · 19 May 2013 at 18:42

honosuseri said:
I've done a couple of Trinity specs (Idlemans is quite nice but has the "slow RAM"). The AMD APU would make for a better all round machine I'd have to agree

As he is not gaming, the ram should be fast enough for his needs. Or am I missing something?

honosuseri · 19 May 2013 at 18:47

Idleman said:
As he is not gaming, the ram should be fast enough for his needs. Or am I missing something?

No mate it works fine that's why I put that video in my post. Just showing that it can be balanced to cater for some light gaming if he fancies it.

Idleman · 19 May 2013 at 18:49

Ram prices just lately are really hammering these budget builds.

areksnumbr1sxylady · 19 May 2013 at 18:53

Trinity would be your best call...

Yeah those ram prices.. what are they doing -.-

honosuseri · 19 May 2013 at 18:57

Idleman said:
Ram prices just lately are really hammering these budget builds.

It's not helping but 1333mhz is not worth buying in my eyes. I still spec'd 4GB but @1600Mhz for 1p more.

Idleman · 19 May 2013 at 19:07

honosuseri said:
It's not helping but 1333mhz is not worth buying in my eyes. I still spec'd 4GB but @1600Mhz for 1p more.

If he can up his budget, then I`ll include the faster ram.

honosuseri · 19 May 2013 at 19:13

Idleman said:
If he can up his budget, then I`ll include the faster ram.

There is 1p behind his sofa I'll bet lol

Prian · 19 May 2013 at 19:42

Idleman said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte F2A75M-HD2 AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £57.98
1 x Silverstone Milo ML03 HTPC Case - Black (SST-ML03B) £56.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £47.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.98
1 x AMD A4-5300 3.40GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Dual Core Processor (AD5300OKHJBOX) £37.99
1 x Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
2 x TeamGroup Elite 2GB (1x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Single Channel Module (TED32GM1333C901) £14.99 (£29.98)
Total : £302.40 (includes shipping : £11.25).

This build looks great and we could switch out the ram for this:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-021-TG

thanks a lot guys, Ill run this by him. I will also see if he would like a hdd or a small ssd, as he has a couple of external drives full of movies which he could also use for storage!