£300 PC

[Peerzy]

After an office style PC for £300 max, self build.

I'm looking for a decent CPU, 4GB Ram, 160GB HDD minimum, 320GB ideal, DVD ROM is fine, onboard graphics, audio and gigabit network.

Main tasks are running normal day to day applications, internet, nothing graphic intensive.

The cheaper the better, ideally I was hoping for some sort of i3, 4GB 250GB HDD, decent motherboard, smallish case for about £200-£250. If the difference between a low end i3 and something else isn't much then willing to consider that.

What would you suggest?

No need to considering any of the following: overclocking, gaming, graphics, audio, upgradable, OS, monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers.

 

[Jony27]

theres a LGA1155 Pentium bundle going in the MM atm.

should be enough for the tasks you're going to use it for.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18413456

 

[Peerzy]

theres a LGA1155 Pentium bundle going in the MM atm.

It'll need to be new.

 

[Jony27]

oh i see, any particular reason?
as going second hand can save you some cash.

 

[Peerzy]

oh i see, any particular reason?
as going second hand can save you some cash.

PC is for a friend starting up a home business, she wants 2 identical machines and wants new to avoid any issues and so she has all the warranty stuff clear cut.

 

[mp260767]

could update the processor to the AMD A6-3670K 2.70GHz, but that would take the cost to £310.

psu is overkill for the system but it was based on price rather than wattage, won't be running close to full load so it shouldn't be an issue.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £53.99
1 x AMD A4-3400 2.70GHz (Socket FM1) APU Processor (AD3400OJGXBOX) £49.99
1 x Gigabyte A55M-DS2 A55 Chipset (Socket FM1) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £44.99
1 x OCZ CoreXtreme 500w '80 Plus' Power Supply £32.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 333 Midi Tower Case - Black £31.99
1 x Kingston Blu 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9AD3B1K2/4G) £23.99
1 x LG GH24NS90 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £269.52 (includes shipping : £10.50).

 

[Peerzy]

could update the processor to the AMD A6-3670K 2.70GHz, but that would take the cost to £310.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £53.99
1 x AMD A4-3400 2.70GHz (Socket FM1) APU Processor (AD3400OJGXBOX) £49.99
1 x Gigabyte A55M-DS2 A55 Chipset (Socket FM1) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £44.99
1 x OCZ CoreXtreme 500w '80 Plus' Power Supply £32.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 333 Midi Tower Case - Black £31.99
1 x Kingston Blu 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9AD3B1K2/4G) £23.99
1 x LG GH24NS90 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £269.52 (includes shipping : £10.50).

Thanks, the PSU, RAM look perfect.

I've used that case before and she specifically asked for something smaller. As small as we can go in a normal tower I think is what she is after.

HDD looks good but I wonder if I can save a few quid by dropping down to a 250GB or 320GB as these PCs are going to be on a network anyway so will only be holding applications locally. Hmmm looks like the cheapest HDD OcUK do that they have in stock.

Ditto with the DVD drive, looks fine but I remember I use to get one all the time for about £13, have they gone up loads. Swapped it for one of these: Samsung SH-S222BB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM.

As I've used hundreds and never had a fault with them.

How does the CPU rate? I've always leaned towards Intel recently.

Looking good though.

 

[Lemin]

Xenon Intel Core i3 2100 3.10GHz Bundle £156.00

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £53.99

Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUKV2) £36.98

Cooler Master Elite 333 Midi Tower Case - Black £31.99

OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99

Sub Total : £244.96
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.25
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £51.24
Total : £307.45

 

[Peerzy]

Would this system be much better than yours:

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £99.95
(£83.29) £99.95
(£83.29)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £53.99
(£44.99) £53.99
(£44.99)
Gigabyte H61MA-D2V Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
OCZ CoreXtreme 500w '80 Plus' Power Supply £32.99
(£27.49) £32.99
(£27.49)
OcUK Imp MicroATX Tower Case (500w PSU) £28.99
(£24.16) £28.99
(£24.16)
Kingston Blu 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9AD3B1K2/4G) £23.99
(£19.99) £23.99
(£19.99)
Samsung SH-S222BB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
(£13.32) £15.98
(£13.32)
Sub Total : £250.73
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £52.25
Total : £313.48

Ignore the P&P as I'll get that free and it's about on budget. Throw away the cheap PSU that comes with the case? Or is the i3 actually not that much better than the CPU you linked?

Have no idea about the motherboard, I just picked a cheap one but there were loads of different types of 1155 board (H61, H67, P67 etc....)

 

[Peerzy]

Xenon Intel Core i3 2100 3.10GHz Bundle £156.00

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £53.99

Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUKV2) £36.98

Cooler Master Elite 333 Midi Tower Case - Black £31.99

OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99

Sub Total : £244.96
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.25
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £51.24
Total : £307.45

Interesting, how about this;

Xenon Intel Core i3 2100 3.10GHz Bundle £156.00
(£130.00) £156.00
(£130.00)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £53.99
(£44.99) £53.99
(£44.99)
OCZ CoreXtreme 500w '80 Plus' Power Supply £32.99
(£27.49) £32.99
(£27.49)
OcUK Imp MicroATX Tower Case (500w PSU) £28.99
(£24.16) £28.99
(£24.16)
Samsung SH-S222BB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
(£13.32) £15.98
(£13.32) Sub Total : £239.96
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £50.09
Total : £300.55

Which is the same but a smaller case and the DVDRW drive I've used before I think?


Is the Intel i3 route the better way to go than AMD?

 

[Peerzy]

Anyone

 

[m3csl2004]

I3 is the quicker processor, but the AMD has superior graphics.

 

[Peerzy]

The most graphical thing that will be done on the PC is flash on a website.

So the above i3 build looks good?

 

[Lemin]

I3 is the quicker processor, but the AMD has superior graphics.

I3 gets my vote.

 

[kyleVTR]

the i3 for sure

 

[koolpc]

Would that i3 run Photoshop ok? Build looks nice

 

[Lemin]

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/307746-10-intel-cpus-processing-power-differences