Spec help (replacing mac-mini)

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16 May 2011
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A friend of mine wants a small, budget PC to replace his mac mini, to use as a media hub and to play SC2 and Diablo 3.

He does not need a monitor, keyboard, mouse or hard drive. Can you guys suggest something within £500.

The goals are:

Playing SC2 and D3 at fairly good settings.
Being as small and discreet as possible.
Being as quiet as we can get it.

I would be grateful for any help.

Thanks,
Pickman
 

If you're using a dedicated GPU why go with Llano?


How about this for a quieter option? Not that I know if the 6850 is loud on its stock cooler :p

YOUR BASKET
1 x OcUK HD 6850 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £94.99
1 x Intel Core i3-2120 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £93.59
1 x Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard REV 1 £84.98
1 x LG CH10LS28 BD-ROM 10x BluRay ROM / DVDRW SATA-II Optical Drive - Black (Retail) £59.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-500CXUKV2) £44.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £31.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £31.19
1 x Gelid Icy Vision Rev 2. VGA Cooler (Nvidia GTX 5XX and ATI HD6XXX Series Support) £28.99
1 x Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £21.98
Total : £509.20 (includes shipping : £13.75).

 
It won't be overclocked. It only needs to play D3 and Starcraft 2 and be a media centre, plus the graphics won't be anything that astonishing, I don't think there will be much value in over clocking.

The only real reason to go from the i3 to i5 2500K would be overclocking.

You should notice a lot of diffrence between a i5 2500K @ 3.3 and one @ 4.8.

There is a lot of value in overclocking.
 
The only real reason to go from the i3 to i5 2500K would be overclocking.

You should notice a lot of diffrence between a i5 2500K @ 3.3 and one @ 4.8.

There is a lot of value in overclocking.

At stock the i5 Benches higher than the i3 and has more 4 cores rather than two so it is much better for the increasing number of things that can multi thread.

My own i5 2500k is OCed to 4.8 but the friend I am looking to help out wants something that is less about raw power and more about firing into his life quietly and not making too much of a fuss whilst still being able to play the odd game.
 
At stock the i5 Benches higher than the i3 and has more 4 cores rather than two so it is much better for the increasing number of things that can multi thread.

My own i5 2500k is OCed to 4.8 but the friend I am looking to help out wants something that is less about raw power and more about firing into his life quietly and not making too much of a fuss whilst still being able to play the odd game.

Its upto you.

You could check out the I5-2390T as it only uses 35W TDP.
 
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