Advice on cheap non-gaming PC

ecoutez

ecoutez

ecoutez

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Joined
31 Aug 2005
Posts
8
All,

I wonder if you can cast your eyes over this spec please. I am building a new PC for my father: usage will be internet, listening to music, storing photos etc, just general use. It will not be used for gaming. Budget is £300-400 I guess.

I want to get good value for money given the general usage of it:

Phenom II X2 550 Black
780G/785G motherboard
4GB DDR2 or DDR3 Ram
Antec 300 case
1-1.5TB hard disc
Windows 7, 64bit
Corsair 450W PSU
Whatever DVD drive/keyboard/mouse/monitor he has lying around!

Questions:

Should I aim for 780G or 785G?
DDR2 or DDR3?
Do I need a separare heatsink/fan, mainly for low noise?

Thanks in advance!
 
The PII is mostly for gaming; I would skimp on it to an AthlonII as the lack of a L3 cache is not going to be noticable. I would concentrate on energy efficiency; the build you specced is really a gaming machine without a GPU. DDR2 is fine, only consider DDR3 if its in the same price bracket and maybe for future upgrades.

Any thoughts on prebuilt? Warranty and the efficiency is going to better and you'll make savings on the OS too. I posted this earlier; its a rough guide to budget CPUs.
 
Cases can be had under £10 and PSUs for around £30.

I recently bought;

Asus P5Q-AM w/ integrated graphics - £35
Intel 5300 - £45
WD 500gb HDD - £40

2gb of branded DDR2 is around £25

So £190 if you don't mind free postage.

The only thing you may spend more on is the case and PSU and maybe a ATI card with sound and HDMI out for media purposes.

I would get probably spend £30 more on both the PSU, case and HDD.

£280~

Then the rest on software/misc

But that's your call.
 
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