Low Spec - Mid Budget Build

rhysduck · 21 Oct 2013 at 10:29

Bit out of touch with current hardware from this year so bear with me..

My aging uncle needs a new computer so has asked me to help...
What's considered decent spec these days? He won't be playing Battlefield

just a bit of Word, Pictures, Internet etc.

Is the AMD A8-5600K still a decent processor? Used it in a build for my mum a while back and it's been solid.

Price needs to be kept down I need, CPU, Mobo, RAM, SSD/HDD, PSU.

Cheers!

Idleman · 21 Oct 2013 at 10:43

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A8-5600K Black Edition 3.60GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor (AD560KWOHJBOX) £71.99
1 x Toshiba SSD HDTS212EZSTA 9.5mm 128GB Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £67.99
1 x Gigabyte F2A75M-HD2 AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £57.98
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £47.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £44.99
1 x OCZ CoreXtreme 500w '80 Plus' Power Supply £35.99
Total : £338.33 (includes shipping : £9.50).

Indie · 21 Oct 2013 at 10:44

is your case ATX, ITX, mATX ?

cats_five · 21 Oct 2013 at 10:52

The AMD is great for what you are wanting, far cheaper than Intel. Does he really need the SDD though? My AMD comes back very quickly from sleeping, which is what I normally do.

I take it you've got a case that will take and ATX or mATx mobo, ODD, monitor, mouse, keyboard and operating system. If the OS is an OEM one you shouldn't use it on a new PC. If his monitor is really ancient the price of new ones has plummeted - you can get a reasonable IPS on for under £150 - and it makes a huge difference to the user experience.

rhysduck · 21 Oct 2013 at 11:41

Cheers guys.

Idleman, that's more or less exactly what I was speccing up but with this Corsair PSU.

I've got everything else yes. I might see if I can find a good small case for this too, any recommendations?

Idleman · 21 Oct 2013 at 11:47

rhysduck said:
Cheers guys.

Idleman, that's more or less exactly what I was speccing up but with this Corsair PSU.

I've got everything else yes. I might see if I can find a good small case for this too, any recommendations?

How much are you looking to spend on the case?

rhysduck · 21 Oct 2013 at 11:52

Cheap as possible. But still want something decent.

Idleman · 21 Oct 2013 at 11:56

rhysduck said:
Cheap as possible. But still want something decent.

How about this, should be ideal for the system.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Antec VSK3000 Micro ATX Case £24.95
Total : £35.45 (includes shipping : £8.75).

honosuseri · 21 Oct 2013 at 12:47

rhysduck said:
Cheers guys.

Idleman, that's more or less exactly what I was speccing up but with this Corsair PSU.

I've got everything else yes. I might see if I can find a good small case for this too, any recommendations?

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A8-5600K Black Edition 3.60GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor (AD560KWOHJBOX) £71.99
1 x MSI A75IA-E53 AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £69.95
1 x Toshiba SSD HDTS212EZSTA 9.5mm 128GB Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £67.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £47.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £44.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £43.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced Mini-ITX Case - Black £39.95
Total : £386.84 (includes shipping : FREE).

Mini-itx so that's small. The mobo is a bit more cash however it does have wifi and bluetooth included. I did a very similar build a month back with the A6K, even that APU is man enough for the stated use but the A8K is a good shout for an allround home PC.

rhysduck · 21 Oct 2013 at 19:17

Thanks both, both of them cases look just the job!