Check this spec

[lego]

Friend has asked me to build him a pc. Being out of the loop for a while i no longer know whats the best choice.

He's after a machine primary as a htpc with some uni work thrown in (word excel web ect) and maybe some light gaming.

All thats needed is the base unit without a psu (i have one lying around) Looking to spend about £460.

I've had a quick look and come up with this

Forgot to add he need dual monitor support and he wants the sugo case (or something similar)

Thanks in advance

Lego

 

[Frozennova]

I'd take a look at going down the intel route as the chips dont run any where near as hot especially the i3's as they 32nm and have on-die HD audio and video.

Intel i3 530 - £98
Silverstone Sugo - £84.99
Gigabyte H55 UD2H - £84.99
Geil Value 4gb DDR 3 - £81.99
Samsung F3 1TB - 64.99

Total inc shipping £428

The phenom x4 is overkill for word/excel and media center use, the samsung F3 will perform better of the WD Caviar Green aswell

 

[Azra]

Depends upon kind of gaming, but given the grfx choice i would go x2 240e and oc it to 3.5ghz. 45w power = cool so less noise to cool it.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I assume you have a decent cooler!

This is what I would get:

AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 620 ~ £82

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-258-AM

Zalman CNPS8000 CPU Cooler ~ £26

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-022-ZA&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395

This is low profile and is under 78MM tall.

Asus M4A785TD-M Evo ~ £70

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-356-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1481

4GB 1600MHZ DDR3 ~ £83

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-026-PA&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

Samsung F3 500GB ~ £41

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-081-SA

Silverstone Sugo SG01B-F Evolution ~ £85

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-013-SV

XFX ATI Radeon HD 4770 512MB GDDR5 ~ £76

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-133-XF&tool=3

The dual slot cooler will exhaust hot air out of the case.

The total comes to around £463 excluding postage.

The Athlon II X4 620 has been undervolted in both SPCR and TechPowerUp review and around 30 watts has been reduced from peak power consumption as a result.