PC for Daughter

mehuk · 4 Nov 2011 at 23:04

Not sure if anyone in here is into budget end PCs, but basically I want to build my daughter a cheap rig just for her to learn on as she is now at school.

Will need all parts but not a HDD as I have a 72gb Raptor from an old machine, as well as a 250gb WD.

Peripherals not needed as ill pick up a cheap MS mouse and Keyboard.

A dedicated GPU would be nice though, just incase she has some games.

cats_five · 5 Nov 2011 at 08:58

You might get some of the bits free via Freecycle - I got a reasonable mATX case that way, and someone else got the Firewire card I'll never need.

http://uk.freecycle.org/

Presumable these are IDE HDDs so you need a motherboard with a couple of IDE connectors.

Lemin · 5 Nov 2011 at 10:23

Best bet is the members market.

RJC · 5 Nov 2011 at 10:40

Any use:

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
HIS ATI Radeon HD 6570 IceQ 1024MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card £59.99
(£49.99) £59.99
(£49.99)
AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 250 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £49.99
(£41.66) £49.99
(£41.66)
Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUKV2) £37.99
(£31.66) £37.99
(£31.66)
Asus M5A78L-M LX AMD 760G (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £35.99
(£29.99) £35.99
(£29.99)
BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £32.99
(£27.49) £32.99
(£27.49)
Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT25664BA160A) £21.98
(£18.32) £21.98
(£18.32)
OcUK 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
(£14.99) £17.99
(£14.99)
Sub Total : £214.10
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £45.32
Total : £271.92

Orcvader · 5 Nov 2011 at 11:01

RJC's build is good, although you can drop the 6570 and use the onboard assuming she'll only be using programs like office and web browsing.

Do you know if your drives are IDE or SATA?

Do you also need Windows?

A Llano might be a better choice if she does play the odd games every now and then.

moody89 · 5 Nov 2011 at 11:03

Not sure on your budget but I'd be tempted to go for a H67/H61 motherboard and a Pentium G620. It's a great performing CPU for around £50 and should be ample for her needs. Couple that with a low-ish cost case, 4GB RAM and maybe the Corsair CX430v2 PSU and you have the basis for a pretty decent budget rig. Of course, you have the option of adding a dedicated card if you need to or leave it for now and see what kind of games the plays. In all honesty the onboard graphics on the Pentium won't be up to much 3D gaming but will be fine for browsing/flash games etc.

The other option is an AMD APU and an FM1 board which will work out a little more expensive but will offer acceptable performance for most low end games without the need for a dedicated card.

It all depends on what you think her needs will be and your budget etc. but something to think about!

Orcvader · 5 Nov 2011 at 11:10

Done a quick Llano spec:

The A6-3500 is a triple core CPU with 6530D graphics, so it'll play the odd games fine.

moody89 · 5 Nov 2011 at 11:51

Orcvader said:
Done a quick Llano spec:

The A6-3500 is a triple core CPU with 6530D graphics, so it'll play the odd games fine.

That looks like the ideal of kind of build to me!