Spec me for £300...

Naan_H

Naan_H

Naan_H

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Hi all, need a quick spec up

Im quite out of the loop, i still run my q6600, and am not sure what the new chipsets are all about.

Basically my bro needs a new system - he is currently using his acer revo as a pc- for net surfing, and word processing. He feels it is just too slow. He is due to start doing some work from home - by this i mean he will logging into a work server and be working remotely - i think the revo will struggle with this tbh. He needs something with some grunt that will last him a few years

Anyway, im looking to make him a system, he has a budget of £300 (he can go a little above if needed). If he could get something with at least dual core, maybe even quad core, it would be great.

He will not need a monitor or operating system, keyboard or mouse.

I think an SSD is a must, as well as at least 1TB of storage and possibly 8GB of RAM. No gaming needed, but HD video playback and multi-monitor support for a little future proofing.

Thanks in advance!
 
The SSD, 1TB harddrive and 8GB of RAM will take up a third if not more of your budget. An SSD is not a must, the money would be better spent on another component.
 
 
High Jack Adam - thanks for the input. He will not be gaming, but im sure if some strategy game comes out he might be tempted to dabble in it- he used to love command and conquer.

Wouldnt one of the newer APUs be better, im thinking the A8-5600 with Gigabyte F2A85X-D3H AMD A85X Chipset??

I wont be needing the DVD writer.

I also get free shipping. I have some items in the shopping basket but have no idea in how to embed like you have in a forum post!
 
I love C&C too! Probably my favourite games, before they released C&C4 of course, they ruined it IMO!

I dont know about those APU's, I've never looked at them as to me they're more for small form-factor PC's. I'd still advise the Bulldozer but obviously go with whatever you want!

Without the optical drive, you can bump up the 500GB harddrive to a 1TB one as long as there isn't anything else you need.

I haven't included a cooler because the stock heatsink and fan will be sufficient.

The basket thingy tool can be found here: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18371076

:D
 
 
 
Idleman said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A8-5600K Black Edition 3.60GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor **FREE SIMCITY PC GAME** (AD560KWOHJBOX) £71.99
1 x Gigabyte F2A85X-D3H AMD A85X Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £64.99
1 x Adata XPG Xtreme v1.0 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C10 2133MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AX3U2133XC4G10-2X) £59.99
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (S (HD-257-SE) £45
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.98
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
Total : £329.04 (includes shipping : £11.75).



Although, I would keep an eye on the MM. You might get something better.
Click to expand...

+1

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A8-5600K Black Edition 3.60GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor **FREE SIMCITY PC GAME** (AD560KWOHJBOX) £71.99
1 x Gigabyte F2A85X-D3H AMD A85X Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £64.99
1 x Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-16000C9 2000MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A2000C9) £53.99
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (S (HD-257-SE) £45.00
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.98
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
Total : £308.94 (includes shipping : FREE).



Slightly cheaper RAM but it's not in stock yet.

Case is better than the Merc, has two fans installed and cable management great value for the price. PSU is modular and better than the OCZ (which isn't even bronze rated).

The A10 has a better IGP but that doesn't really matter if you think you'll add a dedicated GPU much later
 
Those are specs I was looking at too - thanks guys. To be honest all the IGP needs to do is display HD / bluray quality video if needed, and I want some multimonitor support. He might inherit one of my DGM monitors so dual link etc is a must.

Looks like ill stick with the corsair - dont want anything going pop!

What are the benefits of the A10 over the A8 in terms of graphical power . Will i notice a difference in windows usage? If he dabbles in the odd game (which is unlikely) will it make a massive difference? Is it wort it for the £30 extra?
 
The A8K is a good compromise.


That's only the A6 (dual core and lower rated IGP) using 1600mhz RAM. Faster RAM helps the IGP but you can see even this less than ideal setup is doing quite well for casual gaming :)
 
He is only geting 19 - 25FPS in that video with the games on high/ultra.

I told him to turn the settings down. And added that if he wanted to play games at 20FPS he should have bought an Xbox 360 :D
 
Hi guys, sorry to bug you lot again, im probably going to order some bits this week, has anything changed in the last 3-4 weeks? I notice some prices have gone up.

the corsair RAM is no longer in stock - is the ADATA RAM an ok alternative?

what about the TWO memory or the kingston Hyper x memory for the same price?
 
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Guys i made a school boy error and ordered a ATX motherboard for a micro atx -case - do you recommend any Micro ATX boards on the A85 chipset?
 
stulid said:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-427-GI&groupid=701&catid=1903&subcat=2399

But currently out of stock.
Click to expand...

Idleman said:
This, but it is out of stock atm. You could ask in CS and see when it will be available.
Also, what case did you get?

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte F2A85XM-D3H AMD A85X Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 micro ATX Motherboard £61.99
Total : £70.69 (includes shipping : £7.25).

Click to expand...

thanks for the replies. I went for the coolermaster elite 344 case - both my brothers like it and want something cheap and cheerful.

Overclockers said they dont have a lead time on the mATX version - however they said that they are getting a lot of returns for gigabyte boards, apparently a lot of them going pop; they suggested I went for an Asus equivalent. Has anybody heard this about gigabyte boards?

I cant tell the A85 asus boards apart to be honest - specifically the non-pro versions, although there seems to be a £10 difference between the F2A85-M and LE versions
 
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