Build for dad £200-£300

Danny75 · 28 Mar 2015 at 01:03

stulid said:
I say 128Gb SSDs are a poor choice now with programs/applications and the OS itself getting bigger and bigger

Hmm. My 120GB is still only half full, after two years. A couple of (small) games on that one too.

And if this is true:

Microsoft uses the example of a device which has 32GB of storage. Older versions of Windows might allow for 17.6GB of free storage on that device, but the use of the new compression technique, along with the ditching of a recovery image, with the 64-bit version of Windows 10 frees up another 6.6GB of storage space, giving that device a total of 24.2GB of free space, with just 7.8GB used for the OS itself.

http://www.windowscentral.com/windows-10-will

Then I'll have more free space.

stulid said:
256Gb just on its own is usually plenty fora general office PC.

I agree. But as he likes watching movies - if he also wants to save his faves, better a 120 SSD with a 500GB/1TB HDD.

stulid said:
The Kaveri will have OpenCL acceleration so applications that can make use of this (Sony Vegas, Adobe etc) will be really quick.

Yeah, I do prefer your Kaveri build to the Athlon. And it's an option to consider, because you never know if you'll start using PC for other things.

stulid · 28 Mar 2015 at 01:10

Danny75 said:
Hmm. My 120GB is still only half full, after two years. A couple of (small) games on that one too.

Then you need to try playing some games or do something with your PC that uses it.

And if this is true:

Then I'll have more free space.

Not sure how true that is as today I did a fresh install of Win10 preview and its eaten a large chunk just by itself.

Danny75 · 28 Mar 2015 at 01:22

stulid said:
Then you need to try playing some games or do something with your PC that uses it.

Larger games are on mech drive.

And his dad doesn't appear to be a gamer.

stulid said:
Not sure how true that is as today I did a fresh install of Win10 preview and its eaten a large chunk just by itself.

Haven't tried it yet but am about to in a few weeks time. How much room did it take right now?

stulid · 28 Mar 2015 at 01:27

Danny75 said:
And his dad doesn't appear to be a gamer.

Never said he was, plus why use a HDD if you can fit everything onto a bigger SSD?

Haven't tried it yet but am about to in a few weeks time. How much room did it take right now?

I have 138Gb free from a 240Gb SSD (223Gb after formatting) all I have is BF4 installed.

Danny75 · 28 Mar 2015 at 01:47

stulid said:
Never said he was,

I know. And now I could say I don't see your point in telling me to try playing some games.

stulid said:
plus why use a HDD if you can fit everything onto a bigger SSD?

1. Same speed
2. More storage room.
3. Can reinstall OS without worrying about where to back up your personal files.

stulid said:
I have 138Gb free from a 240Gb SSD (223Gb after formatting) all I have is BF4 installed.

You can use something like WinDirStat to see exactly how much. It shows my Windows 7 install using 20.7 GB.

stulid · 28 Mar 2015 at 01:51

Danny75 said:
1. Same speed
2. More storage room.
3. Can reinstall OS without worrying about where to back up your personal files.

Huh? not even close

SSD is massively faster than a HDD

Use Cloud for storage

Danny75 · 28 Mar 2015 at 02:30

stulid said:
Huh? not even close SSD is massively faster than a HDD

Mhm. Watch those pics and docs play at lightspeed on SSD.

stulid said:
Use Cloud for storage

More work uploading and downloading stuff. And less work for the NSA. Doesn't sound right.

Plus, what's the cheapest Cloud storage option you can find for say, 150GB?

sastusbulbas · 28 Mar 2015 at 03:11

The simple fact is, your overcomplicating things, and you have stated absolutely nothing an old LGA775 Core2Duo could not do.

My Windows 10 machine is an Asus Maximus II gene with an E8500, 2x2GB of Dominator GT PC8500, and a single 120gb SSD. HD5750 GPU with a BeQuiet Cooler and BeQuiet 630w PSU.

My Windows Server 2012R2 project was an Asus P5QL-VM-EPU LGA775 Micro ATX with an old Core2Duo E6300 and 4gb of PC6400 with a 350w Corsair PSU residing within a Fractal Core 1000 case. On board GPU with that motherboard.

Both managed general PC tasks and internet stuff fine, more so when an SSD was installed, one of the biggest improvements any PC can have is an SSD.

As for memory, I usually recommend 8gb as minimum, I am consistently over 4gb, usually around 6gb plus these days, and with 4gb had Windows 10 give me a few warnings regarding low memory. The difference in cost is £8.

I personally think even a simple Pentium would do the job.

YOUR BASKET
1 x SK Hynix 128GB SSD SH910A SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (HFS128G32MNB-2201A) £44.99
1 x Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £44.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £35.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) HDD £34.98
1 x Antec VP350P 350W 85% Efficient Continuous Power Supply £31.99
1 x **B Grade** Asus H81M-PLUS Intel H81 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX (MB-582-AS) £24.98
1 x Zalman T3 Micro -ATX Case USB 3.0 - Black £16.99
1 x Samsung SH-118BB/BEBE SATA 18x DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM £13.99
Total : £258.50 (includes shipping : £8.00).

What I would recommend is stating exactly what he has right now, case, optic drive, motherboard, cpu, memory etc. Then we can see what needs changed or can be re-used.

stulid · 28 Mar 2015 at 03:15

Danny75 said:
Mhm. Watch those pics and docs play at lightspeed on SSD.

Yes I do

SSD > HDD which is a fact

cannot believe you said they are the same speed! that's a really noob'ish thing to say

More work uploading and downloading stuff. And less work for the NSA. Doesn't sound right.

Plus, what's the cheapest Cloud storage option you can find for say, 150GB?

Not sure, many free services and even Microsoft give a free amount.

NSA have had a backdoor into HDD via firmware for years

Danny75 · 28 Mar 2015 at 04:26

stulid said:
SSD > HDD which is a fact cannot believe you said they are the same speed! that's a really noob'ish thing to say

We were comparing/discussing SSD+HDD v single SSD, not single SSD v single HDD.

I'll talk to you again when you're less drunk.

stulid said:
Not sure, many free services and even Microsoft give a free amount.

Yeah, not much storage room for free that I know of.

stulid said:
NSA have had a backdoor into HDD via firmware for years

I know. It's still easier for them through Cloud (bulk collection), hence less work.

stulid · 28 Mar 2015 at 04:29

Danny75 said:
We were comparing/discussing SSD+HDD v single SSD, not single SSD v single HDD.

I'll talk to you again when you're less drunk.

No!

I said,

stulid said:
Never said he was, plus why use a HDD if you can fit everything onto a bigger SSD?

You said,

Danny75 said:
1. Same speed
2. More storage room.
3. Can reinstall OS without worrying about where to back up your personal files.

Which it is not.

If you can fit everything onto a bigger SSD than use a smaller SSD+HDD, the bigger SSD will be quicker, the HDD will be the bottleneck in the system.

Fact.

Danny75 · 28 Mar 2015 at 05:00

stulid said:
No!

I said,

You said,

Which it is not.

If you can fit everything onto a bigger SSD than use a smaller SSD+HDD, the bigger SSD will be quicker, the HDD will be the bottleneck in the system.

Fact.

Bla bla.

You're still wanting to miss the point. Pics, movies, docs... don't need SSD speed.

Fact.

So you'd miss out on more storage for what? Speed that isn't needed. It takes all of 1-2 seconds to open a movie from HDD.

Therefore SSD+HDD in a rig that won't benefit from faster game load times or scratching etc = same speed where it counts (and more storage room).

Fact.

I know a gnat if you'd like to carry on straining and a strawman if you want a like-minded friend?

stulid · 28 Mar 2015 at 05:02

A bigger SSD will also have better performance numbers than a lower capacity SSD.

Also I have movies on a HDD (a WD Black to be precise) and once its been idle and parked up it takes longer than 1-2 seconds to wake it up and access the folders.

Fact.

And don't get cocky with me.

Closed before you say something you regret.

sastusbulbas · 28 Mar 2015 at 12:35

An SSD makes a great upgrade to any system including old.

But if someone is happy with the slow desktop speeds and access times of HDD, there is no point trying to convert. The fact of the matter is, he does have a point, the majority of people using PC's for media do not use SSD for storage, they use WD Green's, WD Reds, network attached storage and USB devices too. All HDD.

My last HTPC was a 120gb ssd, and that was overkill, a 60gb would have been more than adequate, as it was XBMC OS and to stream music and movies over a network, the files lived on an HGST and WD Green drives.
I certainly would not recommend anyone buy a 500gb SSD just to store 300gb plus of movies on if they have a limited budget. And would be a bit sceptical over anyone claiming to see a difference between SSD and HDD as an HD movie was played.

For a £200 to £300 budget it's a bit rude to suggest an SSD then get upset over the manners which follow.

As for the OP, you are being a bit ignorant and silly, you want an upgrade between £200 to £300, but still fail to state the complete system specification you intend to upgrade. The OS, 32bit or 64 bit? Memory? gpu? cpu? power supply? motherboard? case? optic drive? hard drive? etc etc? Give some factual answers and specifications on what you currently have to upgrade upon and you may get more helpfull suggestions.

Quote, He wants to buy a prebuilt because he says they are cheaper and more reliable. Did you slander off and argue with your dad when this statement was made? If not, why argue with the Forum Moderator?

Quote, He has a monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers and GPU and a usb3 card and windows. Specifications? Is it a CRT monitor from the early 90's and Wondows 98? Casio keyboard? Car audio speakers? No specifications, resulution, no details, so your getting nonsence suggestions.

Quote, He only uses it for internet browsing and occasional movie watching. So what your saying is that his system is that old, and your that technically inept, you have both failed to fulfil basic functions many using old LGA775 Pentiums and Windows XP manage? Or are there more details you can give which will help us see your predicament and requirements?

It sound to me like you need the cheapest CPU/motherboard/memory with HDMI as standard on the motherboard. Basically a low spec HTPC/desktop PC.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced Mini-ITX Case - Black £39.95
1 x Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) HDD £34.98
1 x Antec VP350P 350W 85% Efficient Continuous Power Supply £31.99
1 x Asus AM1I-A AMD AM1 (Socket FS1b) DDR3 Mini ITX Motherboard £26.99
1 x GeIL Black Dragon 4GB (1x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Single Module (GD34GB1600C11SC) £24.95
1 x AMD Sempron 3850 1.30GHz Quad Core Processor - Retail (Socket AM1) £24.95
1 x Samsung SH-118BB/BEBE SATA 18x DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM £13.99
Total : £207.40 (includes shipping : £8.00).

Mockingbird · 28 Mar 2015 at 13:26

For this use and this budget... Why not a tablet?
Watch movies, browse, walk around the house with it.

stovakor · 28 Mar 2015 at 14:34

Thanks for the replies, great recommendations , did not get a chance to look at it till now.

He said hes not really interested in SSD as he would rather have more space for the same price but ive decided i will give him my 120GB SSD and buy myself a 250GB SSD and one of my 1TB HDD.

The GPU he is using is quite new, a Radeon 6450 1gb i think and i think thats enough for him (plus its quiet so he likes it).

Thats another thing he wants is something very quiet so would a new CPU cooler be worth buying or will the stock be quiet enough??

A lot of nice budget cases mentioned but it needs to be upright to fit inside desk, sorry forgot to mention

I agree with Danny that the i3 will be a better choice for him because he does not really multitask much or use any Adobe or video editing software so a faster dual core will feel a lot snappier. (which i think is the main requirement here)
I would suggest the G3258 but im sure he would want the i3 more.

If i was building it for myself with that budget i would def go for stulids Kaveri build i just dont know if my dad will really benefit from it.

deano-5 said:
Whats up with the old machine?

Sometimes it turns on but nothing is showing up, no signal, sometimes only mobo video out works, doesnt wake up from sleep or sometimes wont turn on or go past bios. (we have tried replacing power supply, graphics card, hdd and nothing has changed. Also its extremely sluggish and freezes all the time. Too much work and stress has gone into fixing it.

Mockingbird said:
For this use and this budget... Why not a tablet?
Watch movies, browse, walk around the house with it.

They already have a tablet and he likes to have a computer in the office for longer browsing.

So....

i3 4160 £96
H81M PLUS £50
2x4GB GeIL Black Dragon £47
Zalman Z1 or T3 case £17-25 (whatever he likes best)
120GB SSD (from me)
1TB HDD (from me)
Radeon 6450 (from old computer)
DVD RW (from old computer)

£210-£218

I think he will be happy with that.
Enough money for PSU of some sort.

Thanks guys, this has been really helpful.

EDIT: that Kaveri build looks really good, ill show him that too.