£400 Budget Approx

[ADP1]

£400-500 PC spec

Looking to spec a PC for my parents, as they have had their current PC for about 7 years, and it needs replacing.

They are wanting the PC to come assembled, so we would hope to use the online configurator on the website here. Although, is this restricted to certain cases and parts?

The PC will be used for mainly checking emails, surfing the web, burning CD/DVD's, Skype conversations, and general purpose use.

Their budget is around £400-500, this is for everything, including the case, keyboard, mouse etc (but excluding monitor, and operating syetem). Would like an SSD to install the OS and apps into so the system runs faster.

I will be purchasing a monitor separately, and will be installing Linux Mint as the operating system.

They are likely to be keeping this PC for the next 6-7 years, so they would like something as fast as possible, so as not to go out of date! 250GB should be sufficient for their second HDD, as they have only used about 70GB so far.

Would appreciate any help

It seems with the configurator that I am limited to certain parts and cases?

Many thanks

 

[Danny75]

If the configurator limits your choices, you can just select the parts you want from the website and create a thread in the Customer Service forum to ask for a build quote etc.

 

[danewesley]

I'd get something like this, optionally take the gpu out and save £100, get the keyboard mouse they want and you have options like a nice aftermarket CPU cooler, a bigger ssd, blu ray drive?

 

[tamzzy]

build it yourself for not much more than 500 quid all in?

YOUR BASKET
1 x BenQ GL2250 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £85.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02733) £73.99
1 x Seagate SSHD 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DX001) SSHD Hybrid Drive £59.99
1 x MSI HD 7770 GHz Edition 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £53.99
1 x Gigabyte B85M-HD3 Intel B85 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £50.99
1 x Intel Pentium G3420 3.20GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £46.99
1 x SuperFlower Amazon 300W "80 Plus Bronze" Power Supply £29.99
1 x Zalman T1 Plus Mini-Tower USB 3.0 - Black £19.99
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-14 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
1 x Logitech MK120 Desktop Set (920-002552) £13.99
Total : £524.99 (includes shipping : £11.75).



as the build is for your parents, and their computer is 7 years old, do you think they could use linux? (just wondering)
recommend one of the hybrid sshds as it is 70% of the speed of ssds for daily workloads and with the benefit having space like a normal hdd (for not much more cost than a normal 1tb hdd)
also as the sshd is one drive as compared to an ssd+hdd, your parents wont need to bother with choosing which drive to store stuff as there's only 1 drive

 

[ADP1]

great thanks.

OK, so I think I will just order the parts and ask for a build quote as suggested.

Can anyone else give me a spec?

Main requirements..

Plenty of memory
Fast as possible processor, preferably i5.
SSD for OS and apps.
HDD for personal storage
Graphics card probably not required?? as they use the PC for emails and browsing mostly.
Can stretch to £450-500 if it would be beneficial.

Thanks

 

[ADP1]

build it yourself for not much more than 500 quid all in?

YOUR BASKET
1 x BenQ GL2250 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £85.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02733) £73.99
1 x Seagate SSHD 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DX001) SSHD Hybrid Drive £59.99
1 x MSI HD 7770 GHz Edition 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £53.99
1 x Gigabyte B85M-HD3 Intel B85 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £50.99
1 x Intel Pentium G3420 3.20GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £46.99
1 x SuperFlower Amazon 300W "80 Plus Bronze" Power Supply £29.99
1 x Zalman T1 Plus Mini-Tower USB 3.0 - Black £19.99
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-14 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
1 x Logitech MK120 Desktop Set (920-002552) £13.99
Total : £524.99 (includes shipping : £11.75).



as the build is for your parents, and their computer is 7 years old, do you think they could use linux? (just wondering)
recommend one of the hybrid sshds as it is 70% of the speed of ssds for daily workloads and with the benefit having space like a normal hdd (for not much more cost than a normal 1tb hdd)
also as the sshd is one drive as compared to an ssd+hdd, your parents wont need to bother with choosing which drive to store stuff as there's only 1 drive

I didn't see your last post when I wrote my previous reply. Thanks for the spec. I have already managed to find a monitor, so that won't be required. I have setup Linux Mint 16 on my laptop, and shown them the basics, and they are OK with it. All the apps they use are available, and of course their browser, so they are happy. The money saved on Windows can be better put towards parts. Apparently their current PC is actually about 5 years old

 

[tamzzy]

great thanks.

OK, so I think I will just order the parts and ask for a build quote as suggested.

Can anyone else give me a spec?

Main requirements..

Plenty of memory
Fast as possible processor, preferably i5.
SSD for OS and apps.
HDD for personal storage
Graphics card probably not required?? as they use the PC for emails and browsing mostly.
Can stretch to £450-500 if it would be beneficial.

Thanks

I didn't see your last post when I wrote my previous reply. Thanks for the spec. I have already managed to find a monitor, so that won't be required. I have setup Linux Mint 16 on my laptop, and shown them the basics, and they are OK with it. All the apps they use are available, and of course their browser, so they are happy. The money saved on Windows can be better put towards parts.

this is my 2p on your budget of 450 quid

YOUR BASKET
1 x Crucial M500 240GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - (CT240M500SSD1) £89.99
1 x Intel Core i3-4130 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £82.99
1 x MSI HD 7770 GHz Edition 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £53.99
1 x Gigabyte B85M-HD3 Intel B85 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £50.99
1 x CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle - USB Keyboard & Mouse £29.99
1 x SuperFlower Amazon 300W "80 Plus Bronze" Power Supply £29.99
1 x Zalman T1 Plus Mini-Tower USB 3.0 - Black £19.99
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-14 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £442.50 (includes shipping : £8.00).



removed windows (although i think that maybe you should just get windows, if your parents are already familiar with it) and monitor
better keyboard mouse
for your parents' needs, an i5 is way overkill, a pentium would be more than sufficient, but specced an i3 instead
as you say they currently only use 70gb, imo, a 240gb ssd would be sufficient, rather than a ssd+hdd (of course a sshd as the one i specced previously is another option)
i still maintain that for the less computer literate, 1 drive is better than 2 drives)
still kept a 7770 in the spec (cuz you'll never know ;p)

if it was my 450 quid to spend, i think this would be my choice though:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02733) £73.99
1 x MSI HD 7770 GHz Edition 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £59.99
1 x Seagate SSHD 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DX001) SSHD Hybrid Drive £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £53.99
1 x Gigabyte B85M-HD3 Intel B85 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £50.99
1 x Intel Pentium G3420 3.20GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £46.99
1 x SuperFlower Amazon 300W "80 Plus Bronze" Power Supply £29.99
1 x CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle - USB Keyboard & Mouse £29.99
1 x Zalman T1 Plus Mini-Tower USB 3.0 - Black £19.99
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-14 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £450.49 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 

[ADP1]

this is my 2p on your budget of 450 quid

YOUR BASKET
1 x Crucial M500 240GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - (CT240M500SSD1) £89.99
1 x Intel Core i3-4130 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £82.99
1 x MSI HD 7770 GHz Edition 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £53.99
1 x Gigabyte B85M-HD3 Intel B85 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £50.99
1 x CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle - USB Keyboard & Mouse £29.99
1 x SuperFlower Amazon 300W "80 Plus Bronze" Power Supply £29.99
1 x Zalman T1 Plus Mini-Tower USB 3.0 - Black £19.99
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-14 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £442.50 (includes shipping : £8.00).

I am liking this spec ,and also just using the SSD for everything. Thanks

The only thing I am wondering about is the 7770. From limited research, it looks like it doesn't have the best linux support. Although that's not to say there will be anything better from that perspective. I could be wrong though, and it will be perfectly fine. Are there any alternative cards that would also be good value for money?

Also.. if I ordered this today via the website. Could I put all these items into my bag, pay for it, and then afterwards, as customer service for a quote to build it? or would I need to ask customer service before I paid for the order, do you know? and how would I then place the order (including build fee?)

Some of the items have very low stock, this is the reason for the question, so I wouldn't want to wait before placing the order.

 

[tamzzy]

ah, yeah, amd dont give much linux support
nvidia don't have a decent price: performance gpu at that price bracket though =(
but if your parents don't game at all then i guess you could take out the gpu

building a pc is reasonably simple, there are loads of guides on youtube
paying an extra 30-50 quid for someone else to build is a bit excessive lol

 

[ADP1]

The more I look at it though, the 7770 does look very good value, so maybe this will be a good option.

 

[ADP1]

ah, yeah, amd dont give much linux support
nvidia don't have a decent price: performance gpu at that price bracket though =(
but if your parents don't game at all then i guess you could take out the gpu

building a pc is reasonably simple, there are loads of guides on youtube
paying an extra 30-50 quid for someone else to build is a bit excessive lol

Thanks. If I skipped the graphics card, which version of integrated graphics would this setup have?

 

[tamzzy]

The more I look at it though, the 7770 does look very good value, so maybe this will be a good option.

just get windows lol ;p

 

[tamzzy]

Thanks. If I skipped the graphics card, which version of integrated graphics would this setup have?

hd4400

 

[ADP1]

I think I could build the pc ok, but I am just wondered about the processor part. would I need to apply any thermal paste or anything like that?

 

[tamzzy]

the stock intel cooler has the thermal paste on the cooler, you don't need to apply any paste

 

[ADP1]

Thanks for the advice. If I bought this case instead:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-048-NX

Would I need to buy any fans for it?

I prefer the look of this case, as it's a little more plain.

 

[tamzzy]

that case is a good budget case. no extra fans needed

 

[ADP1]

Does that case have any advantages over the Zalman T1 Plus?

I know that it has a different look, but is the increase in price (double) mainly because of the larger size?

 

[tamzzy]

the source 210 is a full atx case (bigger), the t1 is a micro atx case

 

[ADP1]

the source 210 is a full atx case (bigger), the t1 is a micro atx case

Can I still use this micro motherboard in the full atx case? or do I need to purchase a separate motherboard to fit.?

This motherboard also looks good, has HD audio, and more ports.

Gigabyte B85M-HD3 Intel B85 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard