PC for £350-£400

Spammeh · 27 Apr 2012 at 15:59

Needed mostly for work and some WOW

don't need gfx or OS

What would you buy (ideally prebuilt)

cmndr_andi · 27 Apr 2012 at 16:13

Hi there,

Using the OCUK system Configurator I chose an Intel 10000i base and changed the following options:

Case to Bitfenix alpha
CPU to i3 2120
Memory to Kingston 8GB
Operating system to No operating system
Case mods to No case mods

Total cost (with free OCUk delivery) = £427.93

Slightly over budget, but it is a pretty decent low-cost system with a powerful dual core CPU (which is ideal for WoW), a quality PSU and built/guaranteed by OCUK.

Spammeh · 27 Apr 2012 at 16:50

Thought I'd be able to get a decent i5 for that budget really, especially without a gfx or OS needed

cmndr_andi · 27 Apr 2012 at 17:12

Unfortunately you could only fit in an i5 if you built it yourself (or got a friend to help). As I mentioned in the other post- a basic system with an i5 2400 will cost £380 for parts alone, once you factor in labour for building the PC then you are quite a bit over the £400 limit.

jamesfreddie · 27 Apr 2012 at 17:13

Is the machine just used for internet and word processing.

Spammeh · 27 Apr 2012 at 17:22

If I built it myself would I be able to get some better parts in it for the money then?
@jamesfreddie I also play wow

cmndr_andi · 27 Apr 2012 at 17:25

Spammeh said:
If I built it myself would I be able to get some better parts in it for the money then?

You certainly would.

Edit: For example - for almost the same money as that OCUK i3 prebuild - here is a system that uses an i5 2500K CPU and a overclockable Z77 motherboard. With the stock cooler you could easily overclock this CPU to ~4.1GHz.

If you want to bring this within the £400 budget then you could go for a cheaper board like this - though this doesn't allow overclocking, SATA3 or crossfire (which that Z77 board does).

Lukewhitworth · 27 Apr 2012 at 17:29

There are the pros that can spec things a lot better than myself but this is the cost of an i3 build. You can save a slight bit of money on the case (not much) but this has a window if you want to pimp it out at a later date.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £89.99
1 x Asus P8Z68-V LX Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £61.99
1 x OCZ ZS Series 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £49.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard III Windowed Gaming Case - Black £31.99
1 x Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £24.98
1 x Asus 24x DVD±RW DRW-24B3ST SATA ReWriter - Black (Retail) £20.99
1 x Corsair Value 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low Voltage Dual-Channel Kit £19.90
Total : £404.81 (includes shipping : £12.50).

jamesfreddie · 27 Apr 2012 at 17:30

Spammeh said:
If I built it myself would I be able to get some better parts in it for the money then?
@JamesFreddie I also play wow

Give me a second...

Added a graphics card i think you might want one for WOW.

You don't need a i5 for WOW or internet.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £89.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £61.99
1 x Gigabyte H61MA-D3V Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £47.99
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £41.99
1 x Kingston HyperX RED Limited Edition 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3B1RK2/8GX) £35.99
1 x Fractal Design Core 1000 Midi Tower Case - Black £32.99
1 x Sapphire HD 6450 HM 512MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card (11190-04-20G) £26.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-7280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £19.99
Total : £372.91 (includes shipping : £12.50).

With a I5

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £161.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £61.99
1 x Gigabyte H61MA-D3V Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £47.99
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £41.99
1 x Kingston HyperX RED Limited Edition 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3B1RK2/8GX) £35.99
1 x Fractal Design Core 1000 Midi Tower Case - Black £32.99
1 x Sapphire HD 6450 HM 512MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card (11190-04-20G) £26.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-7280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £19.99
Total : £444.91 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Spammeh · 27 Apr 2012 at 17:33

@jamesfreddie I have a gfx already; HD 6670 so would the money be best used elsewhere in that spec?

jamesfreddie · 27 Apr 2012 at 17:33

Spammeh said:
@jamesfreddie I have a gfx already; HD 6670 so would the money be best used elsewhere in that spec?

Oh i thought you where going to use onboard.

I will spec you a diffrent spec now.

If you really want a i5.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2400 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £151.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £61.99
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £41.99
1 x MSI H61M-P31-G3 Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £35.99
1 x Kingston HyperX RED Limited Edition 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3B1RK2/8GX) £35.99
1 x Fractal Design Core 1000 Midi Tower Case - Black £32.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-7280S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £19.99
Total : £395.93 (includes shipping : £12.50).

I would just use a i3.

Spammeh · 27 Apr 2012 at 18:07

With those components in, do you think I can get away with a 450W PSU? Will my gfx pull that much power from the PSU?

@cmndr_andi that seems like a great build.

cmndr_andi · 27 Apr 2012 at 18:11

To be honest, a system based around a sandy bridge quad core and a HD 6670 graphics card could happily run off a good quality 300W PSU. So a 430W or 450W is purely luxury and allows you to upgrade your GPU in the future.

Spammeh · 27 Apr 2012 at 18:21

Excellent. Do you know if OcUK still have a store you can pop in and pick up items?

cmndr_andi · 27 Apr 2012 at 18:23

They certainly do.

Overclockers UK (Esnet Ltd)
4 Axis
Millennium Way
High Carr Business Park
Newcastle-under-Lyme
Staffordshire ST5 7UF
United Kingdom

How to find us

We are located just 5 minutes from J16 M6 and have plenty of free parking

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=New...3.054009,-2.242584&spn=0.003992,0.011845&z=17

Spammeh · 27 Apr 2012 at 18:29

Open tomorrow as well, handy! Cheers guys!

Idleman · 27 Apr 2012 at 18:40

Can i ask, is this to replace the PC in your spec? If so then you can reuse your hdd and dvd-rw, if you have one. Also what Psu do you currently have?