Advice on this config for BASIC system please?

claypigeon101

claypigeon101

claypigeon101

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Hi all, I'm building a basic spec system for my friend. He just wants a good all round computer suitable for downloading and storing loads of music, other than that just everyday work.

I had a look through and specced this.. can anyone give me any pointers as to whether the processor+motherboard+ram are good config or not etc.. and where i can possibly save money i.e. don't bother with tri-core maybe get the lowest dual core... I don't know the new chips.

What do you think:

YOUR BASKET
1 x LG E1951S 18.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Glossy Black £76.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £61.99
1 x AMD Llano A6-3500 2.40GHz (Socket FM1) APU Processor £59.99
1 x Asus F1A55-M LX AMD A55 (Socket FM1) DDR3 MicroATX Motherboard £49.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUKV2) £34.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 311 Midi Tower - Black/Orange £29.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (TW3X4G1333C9A) £17.99
1 x Akasa AK-CC4009EP01 Venom Pico Compact CPU Cooler (Intel LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/AM2/AM2+/AM3/FM1) £16.99
1 x Asus 24x DVD±RW DRW-24B3ST SATA ReWriter - Black (Retail) £16.99
1 x Logitech MK120 Desktop Set (920-002552) £15.98
1 x TP-Link 150Mbps Wireless PCI Express Adapter (TL-WN781ND) £9.98
Total : £406.88 (includes shipping : £12.50).



Budget is £500 MAX and it needs new keys, mouse and screen as well as OS

Have I done an okay job?
Thanks
 
hey thanks jamesfreddie, although when the celeron is pretty much the same price why not go for the Llano tri-core.
Do you know if the motherboard and processor go together well? There won't be any bottlenecking or anything by having a lower end motherboard and a tri-core? I know the tri-core is no monster CPU but I just don't know the lower end components.
I also like the idea of Asus mobo as I've had Gigabyte problems in the past.
 
stulid said:
Llano, £500 all in,


YOUR BASKET
1 x OcUK E2250SWDA 22" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £89.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £61.99
1 x AMD Llano A6-3500 2.40GHz (Socket FM1) APU Processor £59.99
1 x Gigabyte A55M-DS2 A55 Chipset (Socket FM1) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £40.20
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUKV2) £34.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £31.19
1 x Cooler Master Elite 311 Midi Tower - Black/Orange £29.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-7280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
1 x Logitech MK120 Desktop Set (920-002552) £15.98
1 x TP-Link 150Mbps Wireless PCI Express Adapter (TL-WN781ND) £9.98
Total : £493.19 (includes shipping : £19.10).

Click to expand...

Hey stulid, that's a great build, thanks, though I'm curious, why 8GB RAM? I've got 4GB in my win7 ddr2 system and it runs plenty fast enough. Even a saving of £12 by buying 4GB is worth it to by friend.
 
honosuseri said:
Does your friend have a HDTV?

He could run the rig through the TV if he does. Which will save him buying a monitor, which in turn frees up cash to get more storage space.....or have bluray playback rather than just a DVD drive.....those llano specs do make great lil HTPCs
Click to expand...

Nah he wants a monitor, he only has a big TV downstairs and he wants it for the office. But great idea, thanks anyway!
 
Man, you guys are great. I love asking for help on OCUK forums, everyone's so willing to help.

Can I ask, is there a general consensus on motherboard? If I'm going with the tri-core Llano.
The cheapest Gigabyte is HERE (click) and the cheapest Asus is HERE (click).

Being so cheap will they let the processor down at all?
 
Okay here we go. Taking into account all your comments including motherboard with DVI/HDMI, 8GB RAM etc, this is the spec I think I will go with:

YOUR BASKET
1 x BenQ G2222HDL 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £95.99
1 x Asus F1A75-M AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM1) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £66.00
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £61.99
1 x AMD Llano A6-3500 2.40GHz (Socket FM1) APU Processor £59.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUKV2) £34.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £31.19
1 x Cooler Master Elite 311 Midi Tower - Black/Orange £29.99
1 x Akasa AK-CC4009EP01 Venom Pico Compact CPU Cooler (Intel LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/AM2/AM2+/AM3/FM1) £16.99
1 x Asus 24x DVD±RW DRW-24B3ST SATA ReWriter - Black (Retail) £16.99
1 x Logitech MK120 Desktop Set (920-002552) £15.98
1 x TP-Link 150Mbps Wireless PCI Express Adapter (TL-WN781ND) £9.98
Total : £461.51 (includes shipping : £17.85).



My friend's son is a university student so I think he can get win7 for around £40 if they act quickly. Which brings the entire total to well under £500 with a nice LED 21.5" screen and enough power to handle anything.

What do you think of this spec? I'm pretty sure it's the one to go with, managed to get 8GB of 1600mhz RAM which should be a shade smoother than the 1333... for just over £30.

Would you agree this is a good spec to go with? It also leaves the option for a basic-ish video card should he want to turn to photos and video editing.. he won't be gaming. The important thing is to get a 1TB HDD for music storage when the prices come down again methinks
...could always shave another £10-15 off and get a smaller monitor but that's up to him.

EDIT: PS I'm lucky enough to live about 5 mins away from OCUK shop so no shipping costs, I will pick up.
 
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Okay thanks again stulid you are the man.

Here we go:

YOUR BASKET
1 x BenQ G2222HDL 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £95.99
1 x Asus F1A75-M AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM1) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £66.00
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £61.99
1 x AMD Llano A6-3500 2.40GHz (Socket FM1) APU Processor £59.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUKV2) £34.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £31.19
1 x Cooler Master Elite 311 Midi Tower - Black/Orange £29.99
1 x Asus 24x DVD±RW DRW-24B3ST SATA ReWriter - Black (Retail) £16.99
1 x Xigmatek Gaia CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/1366/2011/AM2/AM3/FM1) £15.98
1 x Logitech MK120 Desktop Set (920-002552) £15.98
1 x TP-Link 150Mbps Wireless PCI Express Adapter (TL-WN781ND) £9.98
Total : £460.50 (includes shipping : £17.85).



The £1 cheaper cooler is also much quieter and the Seagate drive is faster. Less than £500 including OS but don't tell OCUK. (it's cool I'm buying EVERYTHING else from them ;) )
 
Okay final config for Jason's benefit, remember it will be minus £18 for no shipping but add £41 for Windows so it's like £478 in total.

YOUR BASKET
1 x BenQ G2222HDL 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £95.99
1 x Asus F1A75-M AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM1) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £66.00
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £61.99
1 x AMD Llano A6-3500 2.40GHz (Socket FM1) APU Processor £59.99
1 x Antec VP350P 350W '80 Plus' Continuous Power Supply £31.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £31.19
1 x Cooler Master Elite 311 Midi Tower - Black/Orange £29.99
1 x Asus 24x DVD±RW DRW-24B3ST SATA ReWriter - Black (Retail) £16.99
1 x Xigmatek Gaia CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/1366/2011/AM2/AM3/FM1) £15.98
1 x Logitech MK120 Desktop Set (920-002552) £15.98
1 x TP-Link 150Mbps Wireless PCI Express Adapter (TL-WN781ND) £9.98
Total : £478 ISH including Windows (remove shipping but add cost of Windows 7).

 
Last edited:
honosuseri said:
Never say never brother....i added the XFX 450W PSU as it was only a few pounds more and is an excellent PSU. You never know what the future holds i woud opt for the 450 rather than the 350 but it's your call.

I must confess i dont like the orange on that case, i thought the outlaw case was discrete and well spec'd for the cash and you have added a CPU cooler but yet you say he wont overclock :/
Click to expand...

Yes that is a good point, you're right, but in this case I know there won't be the need for drastic expansion, not to the extent that I need another 150-200w out of the power supply. Extra HDDs maybe but he won't even bother with a GPU probably. I will put it to him though. Personally I trust Antec PSUs above anything XFX.

Also, I like the orange case :p I don't like the silly upside-down layout of that BF Outlaw case
 
stulid said:
Yeah, pity the Corsair is out-of-stock.
Click to expand...

Thank you sir. You know I called up OCUK to ask and they expect they will have the Corsair 450w back in stock by the end of the week.. but the this-week-only deals will have run out by then and I will have to alter the setup to save money haha. Plus I can get it up and running this week
 
I took your advice with the XFX 450w PSU, foreseeable-future-proofing for an extra £8 is definitely worth it.
In the name of saving £11 I reduced the RAM to a decent pair of 2x2GB sticks, the reason being I know 8GB makes sense when it's so cheap but I'm running heavy music programs and maxed out 1080 games and I've only got 4GB DDR2, and I have never had any problems whatsoever, so that's why I reckon 4GB will be plenty for my friend.

YOUR BASKET
1 x BenQ G2222HDL 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £95.99
1 x Asus F1A75-M AMD A75 Chipset (Socket FM1) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £66.00
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £61.99
1 x AMD Llano A6-3500 2.40GHz (Socket FM1) APU Processor £59.99
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £38.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 311 Midi Tower - Black/Orange £29.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/4GX) £19.99
1 x Asus 24x DVD±RW DRW-24B3ST SATA ReWriter - Black (Retail) £16.99
1 x Xigmatek Gaia CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/1155/1156/1366/2011/AM2/AM3/FM1) £15.98
1 x Logitech MK120 Desktop Set (920-002552) £15.98
1 x TP-Link 150Mbps Wireless PCI Express Adapter (TL-WN781ND) £9.98
Total : £475 ISH (removed shipping but included the student Win7 price for Jason).

 
Last edited:
honosuseri said:
Happy to help. You have to remember though that YOU have a dedicated GPU, in this case we are using the IGP for your friend and it will "steal" system RAM (you can select the amount in the BIOS).

The llano IGP is pretty good (you can do some light gamig even). Seeing as it saved you getting a dedicated GPU I would pay the £10 more to get 8GB of system RAM and i could set 1GB to the IGP and still have plenty left over....like i said we are nit picking over fine details now.
Click to expand...

Hey that's an important point.. I will consider that.
I would recommend he got the 8GB anyway it's just whether every penny counts as they say. But he said budget £500 so it will still be under £500 if I get 8Gb for him.

Thanks!
 
Interesting, yeah, you don't have a custom cooler there, is the stock cooler good enough?
Is the i3 a better buy over the Llano? When buying budget Intel just seem overly expensive to me.
 
Thanks honosuseri, no you're not confusing things, just giving me more things to consider which can only be a good thing when I'm trying to build the best value system for my friend. I quite liked the idea of the Llano tri-core because it just gives the 'feeling' of capability handling tasks.

Though as I say this is a basic build, and he won't need massive performance. I just want to safely know that this computer will last him as long as possible.. put it this way the system he is upgrading from is a pentium 4 XP system with probably 512 RAM and a fan so loud you can hear it next door.

With the i3 3.30 on a good deal for another day or two and the mobo combination the same price as the llano and the USB3 mobo i've been looking at, will the i3 be noticeably better in just everyday computing due to the Llano's 2.1 normal/2.4ghz boost speed?

As you can imagine my friend doesn't understand the workings of the components and just really understands high speed smooth PC vs slow laggy old system, rather than the realistic useful difference between a higher speed dual core vs a slower tri. Though AMD put out more processing power from a slower speed, am I right?

Chances are I will have to re-spec this week for him due to some of the offers running out and others being available, cos we only have until Tuesday night to buy it if he wants my current Llano config anyway.

What I really want more than anything is for me to be able to build him a system that is well within his budget and for him never to have to call me to tell me that the system is slowing down under load or going off its legs in the next few years. It's got to last until the components burn out because he won't need it for anything more than work and storing music.
 
You da man. Thanks so much for all that.
Alas, I haven't heard back from my friend since a couple of days ago so I am guessing it's gonna be another re-spec in the week to fit with the new offers that will be coming... darn it. But I've learnt a lot about motherboard choice as well as the i3 being the one to go for... the full price i3 3.3ghz is £99 though, would have been nice to save a few pounds. Is there a noticeable difference between the 3.3 and the 3.1 do you reckon?
 
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