Budget PC for media

xiphrex

xiphrex

xiphrex

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21 Sep 2003
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Leicester
Hi,

The last time I did any sort of PC modding or kept up to date with new PC stuff was maybe 2-3 years ago. I am so out of the loop its horrifying!

I need to build a PC to replace an AC Ryan I am using as a media player for my TV.

My budget is about ~400 max, obviously the cheaper the better. I just need it to run Windows7 so I can do some web browsing/youtube if needed, and be able to play movies in full HD.

I would also prefer it to be as small as possible, and as quiet as possible.

I thought I could do this alone but after seeing thereare 11+ different chipsets for Intel alone on OCUK I have literally no idea what is best or where to start!

Thanks
 
This would do the job. There are various mini ITX cases you could use, some need special PSUs though.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte F2A85XN-WIFI AMD A85X Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £86.99
1 x AMD A8-5600K Black Edition 3.60GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor (AD560KWOHJBOX) £71.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G2400HC11CDC01) £59.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £47.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced Mini-ITX Case - Black £39.95
1 x Antec VP350P 350W '80 Plus' Continuous Power Supply £32.99
1 x Cooler Master GeminII M4 Low Profile CPU Cooler £22.99
Total : £374.88 (includes shipping : £10.00).



One important thing - the FM2+ boards are out any day soon, and these are better as they'd allow a Kaveri upgrade in the future (the next generation APU).
 
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You could go completely silent, SSD, low wattage CPU and a passively cooled case like the Akasa Euler.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus H81I-Plus Intel H81 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £68.99
1 x Samsung SpinPoint M8 2.5" 1TB 5400RPM SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HN-M101MBB) HDD £62.99
1 x Akasa Crypto Vesa Mini-ITX Case with 80W PSU - Black £59.99
1 x Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £49.99
1 x OcUK Slimline Slot Loading 4x BluRay-ROM / 8x DVD-RW Drive - OEM £39.95
1 x TeamGroup Elite 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED34GM1600HC11DC01) £29.99
Total : £311.89 (includes shipping : FREE).




About as small as you can go before getting thin ITX boards, I've chucked a Blu-Ray in there as well, as it's a HTPC.

Or if no optical drive is needed:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Antec ISK110 MiniITX Vesa Mountable Case - Black/Silver with 90W Power Supply £74.99
1 x Asus H81I-Plus Intel H81 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £68.99
1 x Samsung SpinPoint M8 2.5" 1TB 5400RPM SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HN-M101MBB) HDD £62.99
1 x Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £49.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED34GM1600HC11DC01) £29.99
Total : £286.94 (includes shipping : FREE).

 
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Raikiri said:
You could go completely silent, SSD, low wattage CPU and a passively cooled case like the Akasa Euler.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus H81I-Plus Intel H81 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £68.99
1 x Samsung SpinPoint M8 2.5" 1TB 5400RPM SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HN-M101MBB) HDD £62.99
1 x Akasa Crypto Vesa Mini-ITX Case with 80W PSU - Black £59.99
1 x Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £49.99
1 x OcUK Slimline Slot Loading 4x BluRay-ROM / 8x DVD-RW Drive - OEM £39.95
1 x TeamGroup Elite 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED34GM1600HC11DC01) £29.99
Total : £311.89 (includes shipping : FREE).




About as small as you can go before getting thin ITX boards, I've chucked a Blu-Ray in there as well, as it's a HTPC.

Or if no optical drive is needed:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Antec ISK110 MiniITX Vesa Mountable Case - Black/Silver with 90W Power Supply £74.99
1 x Asus H81I-Plus Intel H81 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £68.99
1 x Samsung SpinPoint M8 2.5" 1TB 5400RPM SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HN-M101MBB) HDD £62.99
1 x Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £49.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED34GM1600HC11DC01) £29.99
Total : £286.94 (includes shipping : FREE).

Click to expand...

That is hard to believe a 80 or 90w psu can sustain so many stuffs (surprising). How much power that CPU and MOBO cost?
 
From memory I believe the ISK 110 is rated at 90w, but actually only delivers a maximum of 85w.

No matter, I have one, connected to an H61, 8gb of Corsair XMS Ram, a vertex 2 SSD and an i3 2100t - rated at 35wTDP max.

It runs this no problem, I believe a spinning HDD should draw about 5w? and there believe the power supply should be suitable?
 
Thanks guys, so just to check, would something like this work to play full HD movies and run windows7 decently?

YOUR BASKET
1 x Akasa Euler Fanless Thin Mini-ITX Case - Black £69.95
1 x Asus H81I-Plus Intel H81 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £68.99
1 x Samsung SpinPoint M8 2.5" 1TB 5400RPM SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HN-M101MBB) HDD £62.99
1 x Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £49.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £49.99
Total : £313.31 (includes shipping : £9.50).



Is the CPU strong enough? I dont mind paying a bit more for a better CPU but Im not sure if the powersupply would then be enough for it.

Also Im going for the fanless Akasa case here, would that work with this motherboard?

And my last question so far - I have a full sized HD that I would prefer to keep using, will it fit in this case? I would rather go for a bigger case and have some leeway to put 2 hard drives in rather than be limited to one 2.5" one.
 
Not sure about the mobo compatibility but that case is only capable of shifting 35W of heat whilst the G3320 is capable of radiating 54W at full load.

It's unlikely to ever be at full load as a media/internet PC but it's something to consider, it could cause problems.

Also for the tasks you've listed I'd say 4GB of memory would probably be sufficient. Obviously if you decided to re-purpose the machine at a future date for gaming 8GB could come in useful then.
 
If you want the PC to be more of a living room PC, something you might do a bit of light gaming on as well as internet stuff, the APU is a very good option. You won't be using 80-90W PSUs for it though.
 
Hmm yeah Im thinking maybe it should be more of a living room PC with some scope for improvement in the future. Hows this look? (I took teppic's suggestions and tweaked some choices slightly):

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A10-5700 3.40GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor (AD5700OKHJBOX) £95.99
1 x Gigabyte F2A85XN-WIFI AMD A85X Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £86.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLD38G2400HC11CDC01) £59.99
1 x Antec VP450P 450W '80 Plus' Continuous Power Supply £39.95
1 x Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced Mini-ITX Case - Black £39.95
1 x Cooler Master GeminII M4 Low Profile CPU Cooler £22.99
Total : £357.85 (includes shipping : £10.00).



Im presuming the difference between AMD black edition and regular is the unlocked multiplier? In which case I dont need the black as Im not going to overclock this system (and the regular edition seems to use less energy?)
 
So just want to check before I buy the above - any further improvements or suggestions?

I wouldnt normally rush this sort of thing but I have some time off work this week so want to purchase the stuff quickly and hope its delivered whilst I still have time to build it!
 
It's a shame but I think some of the RAM's speed will be wasted as the chosen motherboard will only support up to 1866MhHz, and you're not planning on over clocking. You could perhaps consider saving a little and using 1600MHz, though I know the APU's do benefit from faster memory.

I might suggest using the money saved on the memory to upgrade to one of these PSU's as they would give you the headroom to add a graphics card later if you wanted to.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Seasonic S12II 520W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £59.99
1 x Antec High Current Gamer 520W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £59.99

 
Well my dad's PC suddenly stopped working and I had a hunch that it was the PSU, so I bought a new one, but that didnt bring the PC back to life either.

Today the parts arrived and I decided to use this PSU but lo and behold it didnt power up this new build either! Then I decided to do some reading and found out there are TWO 4 pin 12V connectors and only one of them is the right one! Swapped them out and the PC booted! So then I decided to give my Dad's PC another shot and it worked!

So now I have to sit and wait for a new PSU :(

By the way, for anyone who will read this thread and decide to buy the parts I got - be aware that the Coolermaster GeminiII low profile cooler only fits on the mobo one way, and is VERY close to the first memory slot on the mobo, and appears to completely obstruct the PCI-E socket incase you want to use a graphics card. Its so close to the memory infact that its pressing against it at the moment and I can see it bending a little but it seemed to work okay when I booted the PC up. You definitely will need to put the memory in first before the cooler if you are using both slots. If only they let you turn the cooler 90 degrees and mount it that way I think it would clear the memory easily. Oh well.

I have to say after years of being out of the loop of PC building I can see that nothing has changed - its still a frustrating, niggly, trying-to-cramp-a-small-header-connector-in-a-tight-space-but-my-hands-are-too-big process. You would think after all these years they would invent easier ways to put this stuff together, but no...
 
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