Cheap Llano desktop build

notthemilkybark

notthemilkybark

notthemilkybark

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6 Nov 2011
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112
I'm working on putting together a cheap desktop for my sister for my parents and I to give to her for Christmas. Our target budget is around £300. She's a relatively light user- mainly using her computer for office work, but also the occasional light gaming (Sims 2, Rome Total War- mainly relatively old games, although I'm sure she will play some newer games once she has a machine that can handle it!).

However, I'm also looking for a machine that will last a long time- she's not the kind of person who replaces a computer more often than every 5 years. By this I don't mean the kind of future-proofing that will let her play Crysis 4 in 2016 on a PC that costs £3000 in 2011- just something that will keep being usable for years to come, not break down, and have some potential for upgrades. As such, I am not looking to overclock, simply because I want to maximise the lifetime of the parts. I have also gone for a Fusion APU as while I imagine that the built in graphics will suffice for the time being, it also gives me the option of picking up a cheap Radeon a few years down the line and doing an assym-Crossfire setup if my sister feels she could do with more graphical firepower.

My current parts list looks like this:


CPU/GPU AMD A8-3850
Motherboard MSI A75MA-G55
RAM Corsair CMX4GX3M2A1600C9
Hard Drive Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB
DVD drive LiteOn IHAS124-19
Case & power supply** No Competitor links - Disguised or not **
Wifi TP-Link TL-WN781ND

The hard drive is already on order, so feel free to give me dire warnings about it but its too late. :P I wanted to get in and order it fast before the price leapt from £60 to £100, like the hard drive I originally planned to get did.

The single part I'm currently most worried about is the case and PSU. Anyone got experience with this make? I know that a stock PSU is generally frowned upon in these parts, but as you can see I'm building a pretty low powered machine (Llano processor, no discrete GPU, no overclocking), and I am well, well below the purported 500W power budget on that thing. (Not to mention that £20 for the two together is ridiculously bargain basement.) However if anyone has some real horror stories about this brand, or if there's an obvious alternative within a reasonable price bracket (I'm not looking to spend a third of the PC's price on a PSU!) then I'm open to having my mind changed. I'm also planning on relying on the included heatsink and fan with the CPU (no overclocking again), and the case fans.

Thanks a lot for the help!
 
Ah, I should have guessed! Well, Googling the name will get you to the same place, anyway. It's just a bargain basement small tower with an included 500W PSU.

I'm looking for a small tower- not too obtrusive, but doesn't limit my options too much.
 
Never skimp on the PSU quality.

Something like a Corsair CX430w would be a minimum recommendation from me and then you can fit a 6570/6670 later on in "dual graphics" mode safely
 
I wouldnt touch it, go for a corsair builder series and a cheapish case :) Yes it will probable set you back an extra £40 but youl have a better case and wont need to worry about the PSU going bang :)
 
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don't 'may', do it ;)

Aim to spend at least 10-20% of your budget on a decent quality Psu, if a cheap one decides to give up and take 90% of your system with it, you will seriously be kicking yourself :)
 
Well it can play games thats for damn sure.

I currently got Deus-Ex Human Revolution installed and its chugging along ok.
 
Thanks for all the help everyone! I think i'll scrap the entire original case and get a slightly better case and a proper psu. I think i'll give the £75 one recommended by brennen a miss though, I don't fancy blowing half the budget on a box ;) I just have one last question- the mobo i'm going for has 24 pin and 4 pin power connectors, instead of the more usual 24 and 8. Would the above mentioned corsair psu work alright with that? The product description is a bit vague at best- and i'm still not very good at deciphering them...
 
Thanks a lot for all the help guys. :) I've got the PSU you recommended on order, and a Xigmatek Asgard (I just preferred the appearance).

I do have one final n00b question, though- the RAM I have ordered is rated at 1.65V, and the board's default RAM voltage is 1.5V. I presume I'll have to just bump up the RAM voltage to get the full 1600Mhz out of the sticks- that won't cause any issues, will it?
 
Thats fine, the Corsair in this system is 1.65V, just manually set it correctly in the BIOS along with the frequency and the timings written on the sticks.
 
Thanks a lot for all the help everyone- my sister loved her Christmas present! :) A few of the parts got swapped (the A8-3850 became an A6-3650 as I couldn't get hold of an A8 due to supply issues, and the hard drive became a Hitachi picked up from PC World when I couldn't get hold of the originally ordered HD before Christmas), but it was essentially the same. Works a treat :) Big improvement over her old Sony laptop she was struggling by with.

Can I just say that the Xigmatek Asgard Micro Black is a rather nice case, too, and one which OCUK would do well to stock- cheap, small, relatively conservative looking but still pretty slick, and comes with a nice fat 120mm intake fan preinstalled. Perhaps not as refined as the Fractal Design case, but I feel a decent choice. Its main "sin" is probably the lack of tool free fitting for drives, but considering that this machine probably won't be opened up for many years to come until she wants me to upgrade the RAM or something similar I doubt that will be an issue. It certainly seems more sturdy than the old Akasa Genesis case my girlfriend's prebuilt machine came in, and relatively quiet once I had reduced the RPM of the two case fans a little. (I fitted a Xilence Redwing 80mm to the rear exhaust.)
 
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