Advice on this config for BASIC system please?

claypigeon101 said:
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
Click to expand...

Well case is personal preference, if your mate likes it fair enough. They did flip the mobo for a reason.

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1750/5/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6lztuKcG20

I would have used that corsair builder aswell but being out of stock i found the next best alternative. Ok it's ever so slightly more but having more wattage helps justify the cost. If I thought gaming was ever a possibilty i would have suggested the OCZ 550W PSU...i will link it just incase.

YOUR BASKET
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £46.98
Total : £46.98 (includes shipping : FREE).



If you wait till that PSU is in stock the next lot of offers might not be so helpful, it is a gamble. We really are picking over fine details now, it's still within the £500 budget. I do hope he likes it :)
 
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:
claypigeon101 said:
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 : £453.30 (includes shipping : £17.85).

Click to expand...

Looks good here:)
 
claypigeon101 said:
Thanks so much once again all of you guys for your help, really appreciate it, I have learned a lot in the process. Will let you know how the build goes! Thanks.
Click to expand...

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.
 
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!
 
claypigeon101 said:
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!
Click to expand...

No worries, i had brought this up earlier in the thread.

Although I must be honest i would have gone for the intel i3. The 1155 mobos can take the pentium G/i3/i5/i7 and Ivybridge is a possibilty too once released. The IGP isn't as good as llano but if he does any video encoding using quicksync on the intel setup really does help reduce encoding times

YOUR BASKET
1 x BenQ G2222HDL 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £95.99
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £93.59
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £61.99
1 x Gigabyte H61MA-D3V Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £44.40
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £38.99
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 : £438.08 (includes shipping : FREE).

 
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.
 
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/399?vs=289

Yes it's fine. You can't overclock the i3 CPU although even the i5Ks heatsink is relatively tiny and that will allow an overclock upto 4ghz (stock is 3.3).

I don't mean to confuse this further. The llano will work just fine as a general home PC but as i touched on earlier the intel setup has advantages too. We just go so carried away spec'ing llano we never really discussed the difference.

Llano is really only best suited to a HTPC build as it's IGP can handle bluray playback better and is even capable of some light gaming. Intels ivybridge cpus (the sequel to sandybridge if you will) has an improved IGP and yes that mobo i spec'd would take an ivybridge CPU as an upgrade later.

It's down to you or your friend what suits you best.....suffice to say there is a reason i have never actually got hands on and built a llano system......it's a very niche platform.

I do hope im helping more than im confusing
 
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.
 
The i3 is a dual core yes but it has hyperthreading, it infact performs much better then AMDs quad core CPUs.....i did put a link so you could see the difference between the llano and i3.

YOUR BASKET
1 x BenQ G2222HDL 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £95.99
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £93.59
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £77.99
1 x Gigabyte H61MA-D3V Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £44.40
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £38.99
1 x Bitfenix Outlaw Gaming Case - Black £33.98
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £31.19
1 x Logitech MK120 Desktop Set (920-002552) £15.98
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-7280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
1 x TP-Link 150Mbps Wireless PCI Express Adapter (TL-WN781ND) £9.98
Total : £458.08 (includes shipping : FREE).



Your case choice is no longer available (i hated it anyway lol) i've managed to get a 1TB drive in there for roughly the same price as your llano spec and as i said the i3 is going to be better for your friends uses.

As you pointed out i am heavily making use of this weeks offers. You could buy everything bar the PSU and the keyboard set (which is out of stock) and if that cheaper corsair builder PSU comes back into stock near the end of the week use that instead of the XFX.
 
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?
 
Here is a revised config to make use of the This Week Only offers that came in place today:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £89.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AZRX) **SINGLE PLATTER** £64.79
1 x Asus P8H61-M Intel H61 Chipset (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard **B3 REVISION** £45.90
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £38.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black £26.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/4GX) £19.99
1 x Samsung SH-S222BB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
1 x TP-Link 150Mbps Wireless PCI Express Adapter (TL-WN781ND) £9.98
Total : £311.62 (no shipping).

Of course there is no monitor attached, no Windows 7 and no keyboard and mouse, but with those added it should come to £440 ish.
My friend now says he might not want a new monitor so we'll see how it goes.

 
Last edited:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £89.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £61.99
1 x Gigabyte H61MA-D3V Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £47.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £46.98
1 x Bitfenix Outlaw Gaming Case - Black £36.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/4GX) £19.99
1 x Samsung SH-S222BB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
1 x TP-Link 150Mbps Wireless PCI Express Adapter (TL-WN781ND) £9.98
Total : £328.90 (includes shipping : FREE).




I'm sticking with that mobo as it has a PCI-Express 3 slot (so we know it's ivybridge compatible) and is only marginally more than your choice. The HDD will be quicker than your choice. Granted the PSU is overkill but should he ever want to drop in a dedicated GPU he won't have any concerns over power.
 
I was wondering whether the caviar green HDD would be worth getting for less power consumption? Or is that only for when you've got a low-power PSU..
I've got a WD Green 640GB on my OS drive and I can't complain. Though the faster drive is cheaper.
With the Caviar running slower idle will it theoretically last longer?

Yes I must have missed that Gigabyte mobo, that seems the one to go for with PCI3 and USB3

PS He might not be having a monitor so I'm sure an extra £16 for 8GB RAM would be worth it
 
 
claypigeon101 said:
I was wondering whether the caviar green HDD would be worth getting for less power consumption? Or is that only for when you've got a low-power PSU..
I've got a WD Green 640GB on my OS drive and I can't complain. Though the faster drive is cheaper.
With the Caviar running slower idle will it theoretically last longer?

Yes I must have missed that Gigabyte mobo, that seems the one to go for with PCI3 and USB3

PS He might not be having a monitor so I'm sure an extra £16 for 8GB RAM would be worth it
Click to expand...

Missed it? It's the same mobo i used last time albeit now more expensive! Missing out on last weeks offers has hurt the build, not much i can do about that now.

No offence but your friend sounds like a messer and has no idea what he wants. You have a good idea what you can get for the money, i don't want to keep spec'ing over and over and over.....as i'm sure you don't. When he gives you the money and knows what he wants, give me a shout ;)
 
Hey thanks, sorry to be a pain, this is just something I keep coming back to a few times a day as I'm working, hence the repeat OOH LET'S USE THIS CONFIG thing going on,
I'm just thinking out loud most of the time. Thanks anyway, let's see if he wants to part with his cash yet... :p
 
claypigeon101 said:
Hey thanks, sorry to be a pain, this is just something I keep coming back to a few times a day as I'm working, hence the repeat OOH LET'S USE THIS CONFIG thing going on,
I'm just thinking out loud most of the time. Thanks anyway, let's see if he wants to part with his cash yet... :p
Click to expand...

You're not a pain fella. I didn't mean to sound like a douche.

It's just that from what you've said you have picked up quite a bit. You know what socket to be on now, as you can see what exact parts we use is heavily influenced by the offers........hence me saying once you have the cash we can go through it again and get what he needs without paying over the odds :)

Although I have a feeling you'll do a pretty good job spec'ing it yourself now...i look forward to seeing what you end up building
 
Hi again guys! Back to annoy you. I just wanted to know your opinion on this build?
The PhenomII 965 is a brilliant processor, I've got one, it's ridiculously fast, and it's cheaper than an i3, I know it's last year/2 years ago's tech but it's so much faster than a 3ghz i3. What do you reckon

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 965 Black Edition "125W Edition" 3.40GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £95.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £57.98
1 x Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2P 760G (Socket AM3+) DDR3 MicroATX Motherboard £35.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUKV2) £34.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard II Midi Tower Case - 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 Samsung SH-S222BB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
1 x TP-Link 150Mbps Wireless PCI Express Adapter (TL-WN781ND) £9.98
Total : £318.90 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom