Cheapest effective desktop

zoobee

zoobee

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Hi,

I hope someone can spec me a desktop build that will work with a 1080p HD drawing tablet this : https://www.huiontablet.com/kamvas-gt-191.html
its not going to be used for heavy gaming, but would need to run photoshop.

No need for an OS or screen, would like to have a SSD for OS, not exactly sure where its best to spend the bulk for programs like photoshop, RAM or CPU? I dont exactly know that's why i'm asking =)

Budget is £400, its for my niece, her newish but cheap laptop doesnt seem to be able to display the tablet in 1080 I guess becuase its not 1080 itself? Anyways, I bought my gaming desktop at OC and was really impressed with the help in getting a nice system and would really appreciate any advice for this as budget is very tight.

Many thanks, Zoob
 

orbitalwalsh

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If self building , but to be honest and think others will say, second hand i5 dell unit would be best bang for buck

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £409.99
(includes shipping: £11.10)




Out of the box thinking

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £469.37
(includes shipping: £15.90)



​

Things are the size of a bacon bap!
​
 
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zoobee

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Thankyou Orbital you're a gent, yeah i was thinking about that road, but becuase i could provide the OS myself, I thought new might be better... I need to do some thinking, not even sure when to look for referb desktops, Ebay, Amazon, dopes OC do them?

cheers for help
 

Aneskimo

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zoobee said:
Thankyou Orbital you're a gent, yeah i was thinking about that road, but becuase i could provide the OS myself, I thought new might be better... I need to do some thinking, not even sure when to look for referb desktops, Ebay, Amazon, dopes OC do them?

cheers for help
Click to expand...


If you want something new with warranty then what is spec’d above is good, secondhand is the likes of gumtree and seen as your buying eBay isn’t bad there can be scammers but using PayPal if an item doesn’t turn up you can claim it back
 

zoobee

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Cheers guys, wow i'm getting pressured by my niece to make a decision and get somthing, but i'm dithering like mad, so much available...

*** link removed ***

Mods is this OK? No it isn't

*** link removed ***

Both offer 1 yr warranty, but the CPU and MB they use is refurb, everything else is new inc the card.

Given up on Dell becuase she will be using her HD drawing tablet and will need a dedicated card becuase the programs she will be using.

£450 is like the upper most budget, really wanted for £400 otherwise its just getting silly.

So as the experts, what do you guys suggest I do?

Cheers for any help
 
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unnddd

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zoobee said:
Cheers guys, wow i'm getting pressured by my niece to make a decision and get somthing, but i'm dithering like mad, so much available...

*** links removed ***
Click to expand...

I wouldn't recommend either of those. The one on the first link has an ancient mobo/processor combo with no upgrade path, and the same with the second one: now that Ryzen is out I would recommend against getting anything with an older AMD chipset, as the savings are not big enough to justify that.

If you're going to add an external graphics card, the best you can do right now, until the cheaper Coffee Lake motherboards come out next year, is to buy the cheapest AM4 socket motherboard that has all of the features you need (e.g. you might want it to support M.2 SSDs) and pair it with a Ryzen 3 1200, which is a capable quad-core chip that comes with a decent stock cooler.
 
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unnddd

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The GT 1030 is a good budget graphics card, and this is the absolute minimum priced build I can find on OCUK. Perhaps it would be a good idea to spend a bit more on a better quality PSU, and pick the version of the graphics card based on your acoustic preferences (and the case based on aesthetic preferences). If you go via other websites you should be able to get it under £400.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £421.23
(includes shipping: £12.30)



​
 

zoobee

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Thankyou unnddd, yeah im beginning to think a new build is the way to go, i bought mine in bits from OCUK a few years ago and had fun building it, its never gone wrong. Thats a nice build, and more current and of course new.

Well i'm glad i asked and will consider this, thanks a lot for taking the time.

I have a perfectly work steelstone 600w SST st60F 80 plus is there any reason i can't use that? Its 6 yrs old, but only used for 2 years and its totally clean, the only part of my old build i kept when i replaced it

Hmm what about this, seems nice?

*** link removed ***
 
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unnddd

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zoobee said:
Thankyou unnddd, yeah im beginning to think a new build is the way to go, i bought mine in bits from OCUK a few years ago and had fun building it, its never gone wrong. Thats a nice build, and more current and of course new.

Well i'm glad i asked and will consider this, thanks a lot for taking the time.

I have a perfectly work steelstone 600w SST st60F 80 plus is there any reason i can't use that? Its 6 yrs old, but only used for 2 years and its totally clean, the only part of my old build i kept when i replaced it

Also will it fit in a micro ATX box?
Click to expand...
Your power supply would work just fine, and a name brand will be better than the Kolink for sure. Since you're saving some money on the power supply, consider going for the ASRock A320M Pro4, as it has four RAM slots instead of the two on the one I linked, plus it has two M.2 slots for SSDs which might come in handy in the future.

For the graphics card, have a look at the different GT 1030s, and pick one which has the ports you need, and maybe read some reviews to find out which one is better quality or quieter.
 

pastymuncher

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zoobee said:
I have a perfectly work steelstone 600w SST st60F 80 plus is there any reason i can't use that? Its 6 yrs old, but only used for 2 years and its totally clean, the only part of my old build i kept when i replaced it
Click to expand...


That psu will be fine. I would take a 6 year old Silverstone SFF psu over that Kolink rubbish that has been recommended anyday.
 

unnddd

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zoobee said:
Hmm what about this, seems nice?
Click to expand...
That is better but if you want an SSD it'll push the price up, and the processor is significantly slower than the Ryzen 3 1200, although whether this matters is up to you. If going pre-built the most cost effective option would probably be to pick up a refurbished i5 business PC from Dell and pop in a GT 1030 for graphics, although the upgradeability will be limited, and again, you might have to add an SSD.
 
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zoobee

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Thanks so much guys, I think i will buy from OC again and not muck about, build it myself and use my old PSU so save some cash and maybe spend that elsewhere in the build

So without a PSU and OS what do you think would be the best option for a £450 budget now? I like the AMD option, is there a chance i get a better Mobo?

I dont know, i'm seeing half decent 2nd hand things on Ebay, but not sure...
 

ExoMale

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If you was is Gloucestershire area my system in sig is for sale, but 8gb ram and a 6670.

You can get much better with your budget, just a good base ha, you will struggle new if you want something decent for that budget.
 

zoobee

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My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £460.73 (includes shipping: £12.30)


Can anyone comment on this build?

I'm thinking this is the way to go, thought i would go for the next upgrade of the Ryzen 3, and could not decide if to even go for the 5 for another £30.

Oh, I will need the thermal compund, wont it or will that come with the chip?

I dont know if this is any good? Oh and also becuase i'm so dumb, I have win 8 disk i can use for the OS, but its 64bit, this build is 64 bit isint it?

for £20 more is this a better card or not much?

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...ddr5-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-198-gi.html​
 
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Danny75

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My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £423.00 (includes shipping: £11.10)
​

No need for the paste.

MSI or Asus GT 1030s come with 3 year warranty, the others seem to only have 2 years.

Since the Crucial MX300 275GB is on offer, get it over the Hynix.

For RAM get at least 2666MHz, if not 3000/3200 (which cost more).

May have issues with older versions of Windows. Microsoft is stopping support, has already blocked updates a few times, then unblocked them, and seems Intel/AMD are also beginning to stop support. There are probably some workarounds for now.

As for a slightly more expensive card in my opinion it's not worth it, because at that level the difference is so minimal you're just throwing extra pounds away. If spending a bit more I'd grab a B350M motherboard (with VRM heatsinks and four memory slots) to better handle any CPU & RAM upgrades in future, and be able to overclock. And also a 3000/3200MHz DDR4 kit to begin with instead of 2666MHz. Such as:


My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £426.05 (includes shipping: £11.10)
​

This CPU is quad core and eight threads. Faster RAM. And could be accompanied with a MSI B350M Bazooka motherboard for £71.98 that has four memory slots and can overclock (not available from OcUK).

However, since your last spec was £460 and that would exceed it, here's a £450-ish spec:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £381.05 (includes shipping: £11.10)
​

And add MSI B350M Bazooka for £453 total.

I would take this last combo over 1300X + A320 board because you can simply overclock the 1200 with the B350 to same or higher than 1300X speed, and it has faster memory.
 
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zoobee

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Thanks Danny for posting, is the micro ATX case large enough? Yeah i wish I had £500 lol I didnt know too much about the RAM frequencies, thanks for that

Was looking at this for a refurb, not sure how it would compare performance wise..
 
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Danny75

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zoobee said:
Thanks Danny for posting, is the micro ATX case large enough?
Click to expand...

As long as you go with micro-ATX board yes. But do consider storage room for drives if you plan on adding more as that one is a bit limited for 3.5" drives. You can mount a micro-ATX board in ATX if needed.


zoobee said:
Yeah i wish I had £500 lol I didnt know too much about the RAM frequencies, thanks for that
Click to expand...

Very welcome. Ryzen does benefit substantially from higher frequencies.


zoobee said:
Was looking at this for a refurb, not sure how it would compare performance wise..
Click to expand...

You'll need to remove the link to competitor. If you don't need Windows, and considering it doesn't have SSD like in your custom specs, the price for that refurb would be a bit steep, despite the GTX 1050. Think there are slightly better deals to be found. If you want advice on others, list the components and whether it has Windows, and the price.
 

zoobee

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Yeah im not happy with a 2nd hand tbh, I dont think she will be overclocking unless its just pressing a button ;p, if that helps, but would be nice to have a decent board and best CPU poss but not sure if 5 is worth the extra money and lower spec of everything else, or if 3 will do and have slightly better RAM, Card, Mobo etc lol, im so indecisive.

Thanks for all your help everyone
 

zoobee

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I cant help but think the ryzen 5 for £30 more is better in the long run... is it worth it? I could even save a little by downgrading the RAM perhaps?

I love the B350 board and want to keep that and the 1030 AERO, SSD and case.

Is the Midi case much bigger than the Micro ATX case? Im just thinking of the cables fro the PSU, its a meaty thing, what is the benefits of the ATX case aside from its smaller?

Wow from what was a £200 budget fur 2nd hand PC is turning into somthing else. ;p
 
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