Advice needed on a sub £400 PC

[bozokka]

Hi,

My girlfriend wants a new PC and since I built my own i7 system over a year ago, things have moved on and I've lost touch a bit.

Her budget is up to £400 and she will be using for Photoshop, AutoCad, possibly 3DS Max, but only the scanline renderer, no CPU / GPU heavy GI stuff.

She also plays a bit on Second Life, so a good gfx card would be useful so she can turn everything up to 11.

I see OCUK do a Argon Tarbosaur Intel Core i5 bundle - how does it perform against the Xenon AMD Phenom Quad cores ?

Any advice appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[stulid]

You get better value for money, and better parts if you build yourself.

What parts do you need?

What can be kept? are the existing drives IDE or SATA?

 

[bozokka]

Its quite an old system, so they will be IDE. So I guess it will be better to start from scratch, and maybe use one of the IDE drives as a second drive if its needed.

I guess I should have said she wants a new PC, not upgrade the old one... just edited the post.

 

[stulid]

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-2300 2.80GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £139.99
(£116.66) £139.99
(£116.66)
MSI H67MA-E35 Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard - (Sandybridge) **B3 REVISION** £64.99
(£54.16) £64.99
(£54.16)
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 ATX '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUKV2) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £32.99
(£27.49) £32.99
(£27.49)
Samsung SH-S222AL/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
(£13.32) £15.98
(£13.32)
Sub Total : £319.93
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £66.49
Total : £398.92

Thats a complete base unit, if you need an operating system? then things will need to be cut back.

The i5 2300 is quick - http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i5-2500-2400-2300.html

The motherboard has SATA3.0 and USB3.0 and has these display outputs,
http://www.msi.com/product/mb/H67MA-E35.html#?div=Detail

- 1 x HDMI port
- 1 x Graphic Card port
- 1 x DVI-D port

Theres no IDE ports, so im afraid the older drives will have to be used for something else.

 

[Reaper 392]

sadly you cant use your old IDE drives if you get an intel system because none of the motherboards have any IDE slots any more (hell, its 25 year old tech, its about time it went)

*edit*
stulid, did you see the bit about second life? i dont know if the onboard will run that at minimum settings, let alone decent ones

 

[Reaper 392]

while i think about it, could you tell me exactly what stuff her current system has. you might be able to reuse some of it

 

[stulid]

*edit*
stulid, did you see the bit about second life? i dont know if the onboard will run that at minimum settings, let alone decent ones

Think he added that after, had a look seems like Sims on steroids, hmmmm.

Im going to come up with something.

 

[stulid]

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £89.99
(£74.99) £89.99
(£74.99)
MSI H67MA-E35 Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard - (Sandybridge) **B3 REVISION** £64.99
(£54.16) £64.99
(£54.16)
OcUK GeForce 9800 GT 512MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card - Bare OEM £49.99
(£41.66) £49.99
(£41.66)
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 ATX '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUKV2) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £32.99
(£27.49) £32.99
(£27.49)
Samsung SH-S222AL/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
(£13.32) £15.98
(£13.32)
Sub Total : £319.92
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £66.48
Total : £398.90

That will play that game and it just a drop of CPU power - http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i3-2120-2100.html

 

[bozokka]

Thanks for that spec stulid. Does that MB have onboard graphics ..cant see it in the spec ?
Would a slower (cheaper?) cpu be better, but with a decent ATI or Nvidia card ?

I was referring to your first list. ..looks like you have done it.

 

[stulid]

Or you can go Llano,


Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
AMD Llano A8-3850 2.90GHz (Socket FM1) APU Processor (AD3850WNGXBOX) with FREE DIRT3 PC Game £99.98
(£83.32) £99.98
(£83.32)
MSI A75MA-G55 AMD Hudson D3 (Socket FM1) DDR3 Llano MIcro-ATX Motherboard £71.99
(£59.99) £71.99
(£59.99)
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 ATX '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUKV2) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £32.99
(£27.49) £32.99
(£27.49)
Samsung SH-S222AL/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
(£13.32) £15.98
(£13.32)
Sub Total : £292.42
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £60.98
Total : £365.90

 

[stulid]

Thanks for that spec stulid. Does that MB have onboard graphics ..cant see it in the spec ?
Would a slower (cheaper?) cpu be better, but with a decent ATI or Nvidia card ?

My first spec, the CPU includes a built in graphics core (HD2000)

The second spec includes a Nvidia graphics card (the onboard graphics is still there too) which will play that game.

The third spec includes AMD's Llano (quad core with a good built in graphics core) - http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/A8-3850_Fusion_GPU_Performance/13.html

 

[Reaper 392]

hmm, i may have found a way of getting decent graphics and processing power. for just £10 in the rainforest you can get a PCI to IDE card.

search google for: Max Value 2 Port ATA133 PCI Card
the first result is £13.67 and supports RAID, the second result is £9.98 and doesnt support RAID.

it will let you use your existing hard drives and DVD drives which should save a fair amount. it means you wont have as fast hard drives, but it will give you about £30 extra to spend

*edit*
if this card gets the go ahead from stulid then heres two £390 builds, one with better gaming performance, the other with better processing power:


Gaming
1 x OcUK GeForce GTX 460 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - Bare OEM £95.99
1 x Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £89.99
1 x MSI H67MA-E35 Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard - (Sandybridge) **B3 REVISION** £64.99
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L7 530W '80 Plus' Power Supply £45.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £44.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £32.99
Total : £389.93 (includes shipping : £12.50).


Processing
1 x Intel Core i5-2400 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £144.98
1 x MSI H67MA-E35 Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard - (Sandybridge) **B3 REVISION** £64.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) £64.99
1 x OcUK GeForce 9800 GT 512MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card - Bare OEM £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £44.99
Total : £383.45 (includes shipping : £11.25).

 

[stulid]

@OP, How big are these Hardrives? are they slow? any model names etc?

I guess I should have said she wants a new PC, not upgrade the old one... just edited the post.

But with this quote, I would take my second spec, the i3 2100 is still fast as you want, especially with what sounds like she has at the moment.

 

[Reaper 392]

edited my post above. looking for your go ahead stulid.

also looking to find out what the OP is working with. for all we know there could be a much cheaper way of upgrading the current computer

 

[stulid]

edited my post above. looking for your go ahead stulid.

also looking to find out what the OP is working with. for all we know there could be a much cheaper way of upgrading the current computer

I want to know what the current drives are, if they are old slow things with not much capacity then a new 1TB at £44/dvd drive is sensible(is her current drive a DVD or CD etc?).

 

[bozokka]

Just found out its a Pentuim 4 2.8ghz, so its a few years old.

Yes, I'd go for the 1TB drive. No point dragging a nice new system down with an IDE drive thats probably only a few Gb anyway.

 

[Reaper 392]

I want to know what the current drives are, if they are old slow things with not much capacity then a new 1TB at £44/dvd drive is sensible(is her current drive a DVD or CD etc?).

how much slower would decent IDE HDD's be? not having had my own PC with an IDE HDD i have literally no idea.

 

[stulid]

Just found out its a Pentuim 4 2.8ghz, so its a few years old.

Well you need to find out about the drives etc.

 

[stulid]

how much slower would decent IDE HDD's be? not having had my own PC with an IDE HDD i have literally no idea.

Well , platter density and spindle speeds have gone leaps and bounds since older days, My first performance IDE drive was some 40GB Quantum Fireball, and it would look pathetic these days (USB thumb drives are probably faster)

 

[Reaper 392]

get your girlfriend to download a program called CPU-Z. it will tell you everything about the PC (except for the case and power supply obviously)

*edit*

Well crist, platter density and spindle speeds have gone leaps and bounds since older days, My first performance IDE drive was some 40GB Quantum Fireball, and it would look pathetic these days (USB thumb drives are probably faster)

yes, but in my dads ancient PC (might also be a pentium 4) he has two 250GB drives, so i didnt think they would be that bad