General PC build

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APM

APM

APM

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I've not done a full build for a while but I think I may need to in the foreseeable future.

I'm running an old dual core AthlonX2 as a general PC ,media player,file server and was considering replacing the HDD with a SSD to save a few volts/amps and help it run a bit faster too but now I'm thinking for a small outlay I could probably build a new unit to sit there.

As I've not looked at spec for a while I'd appreciate any suggestions for a good,capable,low cost motherboard to base the build on,probably prefer Intel over AMD but open to ideas.

There's a GPU in the machine that's running now to give HDMI out capabilities so if a mobo doesn't have a HDMI out but does have a X16 slot that's good too.

Cheers.
 
Asus A68HM-Plus AMD A68 Chipset (Socket FM2+) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard
Stock Code MB-670-AS

10 In stock
£39.95*


AMD Athlon X4 860K Black Edition 3.70GHz (Socket FM2+) Kaveri Quad Core Processor (AD860KXBJABOX)
Stock Code CP-386-AM

20+ In stock
£59.99

Corsair Value 4GB (1x4GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Single Channel Kit (CMV4GX3M1A1333C9)
Stock Code MY-326-CS

9 In stock
£19.99*


Zalman T3 Micro -ATX Case USB 3.0 - Black
Stock Code CA-076-ZA

Out of stock
£20.99*

Kolink KL-500 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply
Stock Code CA-011-KK

1 In stock
£31.99*

WD Blue 1TB 7200rpm SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM (WD10EZEX)
Stock Code HD-366-WD

33 In stock
£41.99*
 
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I can't work out how to post the links as I've seem them posted elsewhere.
Duur.

Could be that CPU is overkill for what I need which is a general web browsing machine ,media and file server.
 
APM said:
I can't work out how to post the links as I've seem them posted elsewhere.
Duur.

Could be that CPU is overkill for what I need which is a general web browsing machine ,media and file server.
Click to expand...

put them into your basket in the store, click on view basket and underneath you will see the option BBCode, that is what you're looking for.
 
AM1 makes a decent cheap & low powered general use machine. It can even do low level gaming with a discrete GPU (which you can add later given the hugely over-specced PSU!). SSD makes it run nice and smooth and you've got a 1tb drive for your file/media storage. It's got a HDMI out on the motherboard so if you're not gaming you can run it fine from that.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £234.81
(includes shipping: £0.00)
​
 
My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £236.00
(includes shipping: £11.10)
​
 
Thanks chaps,BB code eh who'd have known...

Thanks again for a very interesting specced lay out too,I'll just have a quick gander at that now.
 
This would be my suggestion for a general usage pc, you can still even do some light graphic or gaming work by leveraging that apu


My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £308.55
(includes shipping: £11.70)
​
 
I haven't looked at boards in a long time and frankly it's stunning what you can get for under £50 down to £25 these days,HDMI,2 SATA 3 ports etc...
 
APM, I can honestly say that you should get an ssd in any new build, even on my old x2 the difference it made was HUGE over the hard drives.

Does the server do any encoding or transcoding as I'm thinking maybe an intel rig with quicksync might be a better option than an amd one if it does :)
 
Does anyone know when the new AMD Zen cpu's are being released?

Seems like any day now or maybe 6 months who knows?

I have an old machine to cannabalise so I have old 500GB and 250GB Seagate HDD's although I'd probably prefer not to use them as the 250GB drive came out of an old Sky+ box and must really be getting on in years now.It works fine as my Fedora boot drive and has done for a while and doesn't return errors when tested but experience says a newer drive would be more reliable long term.

Serviio would want to run on it I guess but maybe these newer AMD Zen chips would be up to the task too?
 
APM said:
Does anyone know when the new AMD Zen cpu's are being released?

Seems like any day now or maybe 6 months who knows?

I have an old machine to cannabalise so I have old 500GB and 250GB Seagate HDD's although I'd probably prefer not to use them as the 250GB drive came out of an old Sky+ box and must really be getting on in years now.It works fine as my Fedora boot drive and has done for a while and doesn't return errors when tested but experience says a newer drive would be more reliable long term.

Serviio would want to run on it I guess but maybe these newer AMD Zen chips would be up to the task too?
Click to expand...

End of 2016 for FX series and early 2017 for the apu's as far as I am aware
 
APM said:
Serviio would want to run on it I guess but maybe these newer AMD Zen chips would be up to the task too?
Click to expand...
I was running serviio 1.5 on a s939 x2 4200+ with 4gb of ram and it was fine with everything I threw at it although I didn't test any h265 on it. I'd be looking at i3/i5 based machine now though as they seem like they should be able to cope with h265 10bit without issue (based on i7 4790k at around 10% cpu).

As to waiting for Zen... personally I wouldn't bother waiting, it's another year and even then will only really be equal to intel from what I've been reading.
 
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