£1,500 budget - PC for a friend

Mr Blonde

Mr Blonde

Mr Blonde

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Liverpool -> London
This is for a friend with a £1,500 budget or there about.

• Used primarily for daily work but will need to be able to cut the mustard with a few mainstream games he’ll put on himself.
• He doesn’t need masses of drive space. I’ve specified a 80Gb SSD for windows/apps and a 500Gb HD for games/media which should more than cover his needs.
• A 22” wide screen monitor is the maximum size he’s willing to go up to.
• Keyboard, mouse and speakers not needed.
• He doesn’t need a flash case. He’s middle aged and is beyond caring about such things.
• All in all, a fast daily use PC able to cut the mustard with games.

Quick question about the cooling. I’ve gone with the standard CPU cooler on the overclocked bundle and an Antec 300 case. Will this cooling be sufficient do you feel?

Any other thoughts or comments gratefully received.


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two things stand out.

1) modular psu for the smallish case to aid tidy cable management.

2) if you brought the CPU, ram and motherboard separately you save big bucks.
 
Nice components - i'd think hard about an overclocked bundle for a friend though, not saying things will go wrong or become unstable with it but if they do, the first port of call for your friend will be you, in effect you'll become the support man in the middle, implicitly responsible...at least morally for choosing the components in the first place.

I'd save the extra cash by buying the bundle components separately without the overclock and state to your friend, that if he chooses at a later date he can push the processor a little harder himself, with minimal effort. Furthermore the extra cash you save can be added somewhere else on the build.
 
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I think that for a gaming and everyday use you can get something cheaper like AM3 that will do the just as well as the one you put together.
 
Some good points there.

I don't know why I went for an OC bundle. I'll change that for individual components. The rest will do him fine :)

Many thanks.
 
I saw the AM3 comment has i5 been considered as well, for most users it provides considerably more power than is necessary, it was noted in most reviews there is little performance difference between i5 and i7 so seems a little overkill for a general use computer. If the user its being built for does something that is very demanding disregard my comment but i recall a few months back everyone saying i7 wasn't needed for 99% of users and i5 would be more than sufficient.
 
Tobywon said:
I saw the AM3 comment has i5 been considered as well, for most users it provides considerably more power than is necessary, it was noted in most reviews there is little performance difference between i5 and i7 so seems a little overkill for a general use computer. If the user its being built for does something that is very demanding disregard my comment but i recall a few months back everyone saying i7 wasn't needed for 99% of users and i5 would be more than sufficient.
Click to expand...

Well if he has the money theres nothing wrong with going with a i7 build i think, he still has a SSD in the build and a nice graphics cards so its not like his cheaping out on other parts for it.
 
You could buy windows for half the price from software4students if you know of anyone whos at uni. I got one by signing up as my mates guardian :D
 
if you dont need i7, its spending for the sake of spending. The i5 has proven to be the most that current current gaming needs. I have one (750) and it ruins everything i have thrown at it
 
Hi,

A few points about the build, stock cooler CPU is a little noisy, it will be the noisiest thing in the case, I suggest you make a few changes.

I recommend this cooler, cheap and almost silent. Titan Fenrirs are very good though. But Custom PC voted the Nero as good value cooling too.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-069-AK&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395

I say ditch the 22 inch Samsung Monitor, 120 HZ is a gimmick, 60 Hrz or 75 hrz monitors should be fine. The only reason would be to use 3D, which I doubt your mate will.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-114-SA&groupid=17&catid=949&subcat=

I would also recommend a 1TB hard drive for example, the Samsung Spinpoint F3, double the storage and a mere £20 pounds more.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-082-SA&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1279

Hope this helps.

Von
 
* As said, the guy's middle aged. The last time he he changed his pc was 5 years a go, so I went with something that should serve him well for a good while.

* I've taken on board the comment re the cooler - thank you.

Ordering tomorrow - fin.
 
Lose the SSD, replace it with a fast "regular" boot drive, and get a 1.5TB storage drive if you want it to last longer. Also try and get him a 5870.
 
What kind of work is it used for?

I think £1500 is overkill for this needs and feel something based around the six core Hex core AMD which is out in the next couple of week would more than suit his requirements.

Spend the extra £7 on the Windows 7 Home Premium retail version:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SW-124-MS&groupid=33&catid=1555&subcat=

Even if he does not plan on changing the PC for five years if the motherboard was to go so does the license... so worth the extra seven pounds for piece of mind.
 
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