Low budget PC.

ivorito

ivorito

ivorito

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29 Apr 2012
Posts
307
Hi, my dad has asked me to get him a new pc... The current one he is using is very old and painfully slow, so its time to change. I'm after something around the 400-450 pound mark but which i know is a tight budget :(

Things required:
-Screen
-All the components for the tower (including case)
-Not a speaker/mouse/keyboard
-No OS or other software required
-Not a large amount of hard drive space is required so i think a 60gb or 120gb SSD would suffice for now but with the option of adding a hdd later on.
-Although, aesthetics are not crucial, I am not looking for something vulgar or gaming based so just a simple design is preferred.
-I would prefer to build it, but obviously if it is possible to buy a pre-built with the same spec for less I would do that.

Uses:
-Internet surfing
-Word processing/excel
-Light gaming. My dad is kinda addicted to Rome total war, and plays solitaire all the time. I might buy him shogun 2 in the future but anything fps based is not ever going to happen. He wont be after high frame rates but it would be preferable. He is probably used to playing with a good solid 15 so not a huge increase is required :P

Thanks very much for taking the time out and i appreciate this is difficult criteria. Thank you
 
 
The above is good if you can afford it.

If not, Llano might be a good option as its good integrated graphics for light gaming. Also get a 120GB SSD then


YOUR BASKET
1 x OcUK E2250SWDA 22" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £99.95
1 x AMD A6-3670K 2.70GHz (Socket FM1) APU Processor (AD3670WNGXBOX) £89.99
1 x Sandisk Ultra SSD 120GB 2.5" SATA-2 Solid State Hard Drive - (SDSSDH-120G-G25) £71.99
1 x Gigabyte GA-A75M-UD2H AMD A75 (Socket FM1) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £69.38
1 x Antec VP350P 350W '80 Plus' Continuous Power Supply £32.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £31.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX4GX3M2A1600C9) £23.99
1 x Samsung SH-S222BB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £456.68 (includes shipping : £17.85).

 
Wow, thank you both... Ill pitch both of them to my dad, just him being in his 50s he doesn't like to "waste money" and is a bit stingy like that :P Is there a graphics card worth getting that is around the £50 mark or thereabouts? Also is the i3 generally a more preferable cpu providing you have dedicated graphics or are they similar?
Thanks again.
 
ivorito said:
Wow, thank you both... Ill pitch both of them to my dad, just him being in his 50s he doesn't like to "waste money" and is a bit stingy like that :P Is there a graphics card worth getting that is around the £50 mark or thereabouts? Also is the i3 generally a more preferable cpu providing you have dedicated graphics or are they similar?
Thanks again.
Click to expand...

If you're getting a graphics card go for Intel for sure! Something like this is okay,
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-144-OK&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1863
but the 6850 is best value for money. If its light gaming, I'd probably go for Llano
 
Here's roughly how the two processors compare.

Intel i3-2100 v AMD Llano A6-3650

Remember that also the Total War series of games particularly Shogun 2 is very CPU intensive and the 6850 is a fair bit quicker than the Llano 6530 too. Llano offers great value for money at the low end but the i3 and 6850 is just about within touching distance of your budget. Yes you sacrifice on the size of the SSD but you can always add a normal HDD to install games on later.
 
shadow_boxer said:
Here's roughly how the two processors compare.

Intel i3-2100 v AMD Llano A6-3650

Remember that also the Total War series of games particularly Shogun 2 is very CPU intensive and the 6850 is a fair bit quicker than the Llano 6530 too. Llano offers great value for money at the low end but the i3 and 6850 is just about within touching distance of your budget. Yes you sacrifice on the size of the SSD but you can always add a normal HDD to install games on later.
Click to expand...


Sweet thanks... I might get the intel suggestion then and if he is too stingy i might pay the difference... One little thing: Intels integrated graphics HD 4000. If i went for an ivybridge i5 cpu (one with the hd 4000) how would that go against the amd suggestion? I heard the new graphics is significantly better. I know it is a bit more expensive, but this would also make it faster as its a better cpu. This might sound really nooby but i thought if the graphics and the cpu is a step up, why not? Thanks
 
The Intel on-chip graphics are still very pants compared to llano. If you go intel you really will need a discrete gpu to play games properly. The 2 choices above are really your best bets at that price.
 
Clav said:
The Intel on-chip graphics are still very pants compared to llano. If you go intel you really will need a discrete gpu to play games properly. The 2 choices above are really your best bets at that price.
Click to expand...

Okay thanks, I will try to get the first system.
 
Sorry, but does anyone know if the above cases are relatively dust proof/ dont get very dusty. I live in an old house and after opening up the old computer and found so much dust. Any suggestions for cheap cases if the above 2 are not likely to be good?
 
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