New PC help

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11 Jan 2014
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Have given my old pentium computer to grandchildren, and am considering building my own new one. I cant decide between Intel i3 or AMD,Don't play games at all, but would like something snappy. Have kept my monitor, keyboard, mouse etc. I have a brand new unused Scandisk Plus 250gb SSD, and a couple of 1TB Sata 2 hard drives, would like if possible to include these in the build, although i don't mind changing the Hard drives for a 2 TB Sata 3 if needed. Don't need expensive graphics card either. Im not sure if i should components and assemble myself, or buy a barebone desktop and add drives etc. Plus i have no idea what to buy, and need some advice / help on which would be better . I think I'm capable of assembling one, although last one i built from scratch was 23 years ago. Budget is not huge, would like to keep it around £300 - £400 max. all help appreciate
 
My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £298.65
(includes shipping: £11.70)



So, since you're starting off with three drives already and indicate you may add more, I went for the cheapest mobo I could find with six SATA instead of the usual four below that price range.

The i3 is a luxury if it will just be used for browsing and basic tasks. A Pentium combined with the SSD you already have is enough to make it feel snappy and you likely won't notice any difference whatsoever.

You may not need 8GB RAM either. It's cheap right now though.

And specced a classy-looking case to use up the rest of the budget.

So it doesn't even need to cost £300 if you'd prefer cheaper.

Do you need Windows included, though?
 
My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £298.65
(includes shipping: £11.70)



So, since you're starting off with three drives already and indicate you may add more, I went for the cheapest mobo I could find with six SATA instead of the usual four below that price range.

The i3 is a luxury if it will just be used for browsing and basic tasks. A Pentium combined with the SSD you already have is enough to make it feel snappy and you likely won't notice any difference whatsoever.

You may not need 8GB RAM either. It's cheap right now though.

And specced a classy-looking case to use up the rest of the budget.

So it doesn't even need to cost £300 if you'd prefer cheaper.

Do you need Windows included, though?

I probably worded it wrong as I don't intend adding any more hard drives, I meant that if it would be better I would use on 2 GB Data 3 drive along side the SSD instead of the two 1 tb sata two drives I have now. In the meantime I have been offered the following used motherboard and CPU for £50.
MSI G41m G 28 with a Pentium 8500 CPU, no memory or graphics card. Not sure if its a bit old now though. I don't want to be spend unnecessary, not sure if it was much better than PC I have given to grandchildren. I want to be able to browse, burn CD and DVDs without problems.

Any views on mboard \ CPU offer, think it will only take 8 GB mem, no idea what type, or what graphics card I need.

Thanks for help
 
Dont bother with that old stuff get yourself something new that you can upgrade if needed.

More or less decided to do that now, like the section of components above, case looks OK, but I prefer something more standard looking, probably get cheaper case and use money saved for internal DVD writer.and any bits and bobs I may need, also just remembered I have a 450 watt Corsair power supply which is only about 15 months old, exchanged it from old PC as original was very noisy, kept it when I gave computer to gran kids,I think it should be OK in new PC.
 
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