Spec me a mini/small build.. £400

Scam

Scam

Scam

Soldato
Joined
20 Oct 2002
Posts
19,035
Location
London
Hello all. Following on my other thread regarding my trusty old rig pretty much being on it's last legs, I think it's time to replace it. It's a P4 3.2GHz with 1GB RAM, and a GeForce 6800 128MB so as you can probably tell it's very much had it's day :D

I've moved on since building that back in the day. Games no longer interest me. I'm after a general machine for the usual web browsing/emails/word-processing -- I will be doing some Photoshop on it though, I'd like that to be as snappy as possible (budget allowing).

I'd like a small rig, Micro-ATX or Mini-ITX (er, what's the difference?). The BitFenix Prodigy looks nice.

I'm happy to salvage a few bits from my current machine if I can. Could I keep the GFX card (AGP)? Will it fit in a small case? Or will onboard on today's mobos be better than that anyway? Same goes for my soundcard, it serves me well enough. I will need Windows 8, and I'd really like an SSD for that install to keeps things speedy.

I'd say I'm happy to keep my DVD ROM and current harddrives, but they are both IDE.. I already have keyboard/mouse/monitor.

Any recommendations/pointers greatly received! It's been a while, I'm very much out of the loop! :) Thanks.
 
Hi,

If you're looking for snappy Photoshop for that budget, something like this is what it sounds to me you could do with (8GB memory etc):


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-4130 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £82.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £74.99
1 x Toshiba SSD HDTS212EZSTA 9.5mm 128GB Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £61.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan GOLD 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLYD38G1600HC9DC01) £49.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £41.99
1 x Asus H81M-PLUS Intel H81 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £40.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 350W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £35.99
1 x LG GH24NSB0 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £403.92 (includes shipping : FREE).




And then just stretch budget as much as you want for a case. There are cases that will cope easily with that rig starting at £19.99 (check the Zalmans for instance), or stretch more for the Prodigy if your heart is set on it. :)

I couldn't fit the Prodigy into budget without it affecting the performance I think you want. Around that price-range, the Phenoms are also worth looking at. They look even better in person, very elegant. Also the Aerocool Dead Silence range and the Xigmatek Aquila.

The CPU onboard graphics are superior (according to reviews) to the GeForce 6800 so I don't think you'll need it. Good thing too, as I haven't seen new motherboards with AGP slots anymore. If the soundcard is just as old, you may not need it either, as onboard sound has also improved in general. If you'd like to try/use it anyway, then make sure that the mobo has the right PCI/PCI-E slot for it. The Asus in the basket above only has PCI-E.

This Week Only offers will change later today.

Maybe an AMD build would be good, and I'd like to see if someone comes up with a decent one, but this feels more Intel to me so that's what I've specced.
 
Last edited:
Thanks. I think I know the answer here, but I take it there's no real need for me to try to use my current IDE harddrive for storage (with a new SSD for Windows), or my old DVD ROM? They're both IDE... The mobo you posted doesn't appear to have IDE connections so I guess they're essentially useless to me now? How about PSU? Any worth using my current one if the case supports it?
 
Do you know the make and model of the PSU?

The past few generations have gone away from IDE connections and probably wise to upgrade to the latest SATA connections.
 
Last edited:
Its an Akasa but I can't see the power of it without taking it out! To be honest for the sake of £35 I'd probably rest easier having something new..
 
image.jpg
 
Thanks guys. Are there any decent Abit mobos out there that would be suitable? My AS8 has lasted so long I feel like I should be a bit loyal to them! It is rock solid.

I think I'd only need the SSD (120GB+), and no extra drive. My current Windows install is on a 40GB drive anyway! I do have a 500GB IDE drive which I think I could get a SATA adapter for. That'd do me to be honest, especially as I've just built a Raspberry Pi media centre which holds all my films/videos etc.
 
 
Looks great. Is there a big difference between that cpu and the i3? As I said above, I can forget about extra storage for now, the SSD will do me. Maybe I can drop that and go slightly better on the cpu. My current P4 is 3.2GHz so in my head I don't think I want to go with a lower clockspeed than that. Pointless I know :p Will check out some reviews of the mobos posted when I have more time!
 
Scam said:
I'd like a small rig, Micro-ATX or Mini-ITX (er, what's the difference?). The BitFenix Prodigy looks nice.
Click to expand...

Micro-ATX is larger than Mini-ITX.

Scam said:
I'm happy to salvage a few bits from my current machine if I can. Could I keep the GFX card (AGP)? Will it fit in a small case?
Click to expand...
No, you can't find a modern board with an AGP slot.

Scam said:
Or will onboard on today's mobos be better than that anyway?
Click to expand...
Yes, modern onboard would probably be faster.

Scam said:
Same goes for my soundcard, it serves me well enough.
Click to expand...
Probably not worth it? I mean, no harm probably, but probably no benefit.

Scam said:
I will need Windows 8, and I'd really like an SSD for that install to keeps things speedy.
Click to expand...
Okay

Scam said:
I'd say I'm happy to keep my DVD ROM and current harddrives, but they are both IDE..
Click to expand...
No modern motherboards support IDE.

Scam said:
I already have keyboard/mouse/monitor.
Click to expand...
Keep a look out for connectors. Most modern MBs don't have two PS/2 connectors, and does your monitor have DVI or HDMI connectors? VGA is somewhat fading out as a connector.

If you're not really looking for a gaming rig, you'd be better off getting something like a Shuttle XH61V.
 
Hello all. Apologies for an old thread bump but it's been a while since I've had a chance to think about this again! Taking in the advice above, I've quickly spec'd up this below. Any thoughts?

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-4130 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £82.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £74.99
1 x Toshiba SSD HDTS212EZSTA 9.5mm 128GB Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £61.99
1 x Pioneer BDR-209EBK 16x BDRW Multilayer 128GB retail £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan GOLD 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLYD38G1600HC9DC01) £55.99
1 x Gigabyte H81M-HD3 Intel H81 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £41.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 350W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £39.95
Total : £427.49 (includes shipping : £8.00).



I'm happy to go to a max of £500 including case (that basket needs a case added), so is there anything I should be looking to improve on? Any reason for me to go Gigabyte over Asus or vice versa? (I thought I read somewhere that support is better from Gigabyte :confused: )

You can see I've added a BD drive. Reason being I've now got a RPi media centre so I'd like to be able to rip any Blurays I come across to get them on there. Writer only seems a tenner more than a reader anyway? I've also left out a large storage HDD. I have a 500GB IDE drive in my current rig that I'm happy to buy an IDE-to-SATA adapter for. Has anyone done this, is it a faff? Will it work on all mobos? In any case, storage isn't a priority due to having my RPi media centre.

Perhaps I should look at a larger SSD though, for future proofing? I was looking at other brands but it seems to be a bit of a minefield when it comes to SSDs!

Thanks for any help :)
 
Go gigabyte, support is better and the boards are rock solid. Don't get an adapter, they nearly always fail and are slow, and will blow up. Save yourself 2 quid and leave it out. I'd go for the Samsung evo ssd or more preferably the crucial mx100.
 
 
tamzzy said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4440 3.10GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £131.99
1 x Crucial MX100 256GB SATA 2.5” 7mm SSD + 9.5mm Adapter (CT256MX100SSD1) £79.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £74.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £55.99
1 x Asus H81M-E Intel H81 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £39.95
1 x OcUK Value Blu-ray / DVDRW combi SATA - OEM £39.95
1 x SuperFlower Amazon 300W "80 Plus Bronze" Power Supply £29.99
1 x Zalman T2 Plus Mini-Tower USB 3.0 - Black £19.99
1 x OcUK Tech Labs Zaward OEM 120mm Golf Ball Fan £2.59
Total : £475.43 (includes shipping : ).

Click to expand...

I wouldn't go for the Amazon psu, it's not very good. Otherwise that's great
 
I read it a couple of times on here and on a review I think, may be wrong but I think there's better options
 
Photoshop runs best on lots of RAM and multiple hard drives (one for PS, one for the scratch disk and one for storage of RAWs/JPEGs...some add a 4th for cache but this is overkill for most).

If you're looking for Photoshop to run nicely you shouldn't do everything off one disk, especially with only 8gb of ram.

Maybe try to squeeze a 2nd SSD in and/or get a caddy for your IDE drive or something? I don't know really.

I suppose a lot depends on what your doing with Photoshop. I'm upgrading my laptop to a desktop and editing multi layered PSDs with 4gb of ram and a single 7200rpm HD was absolutely awful.

Maybe 8gb will be enough for you. Your usage expectations would help.
 
Thanks. To be honest in the grand scheme of things my PS usage won't be anything heavy by today's standards. My SLR is an old Nikon D50 and only shoots 6MB! I think anything I buy will be snappy!

tamzzy, that's a good spec thanks. Worth paying extra for the i5 do you think?

I guess my main aim is future-proofing. I built my current PC in 2003 :p
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom