Spec Me Thread £800-900

EH75

EH75

EH75

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So my dad wants a new PC for family use. Will be generally used for web browsing, photo editing, maybe a bit of light gaming etc.

He is currently using a windows XP system that I built for him about a decade ago and although it has had a few upgrades over the years, it is getting a bit past it. I think anything would be an improvement.

I've been out of the hardware game for years, I think the last system I built was around the time PCI express came in and I think it had an Athlon 3800 in it. I have absolutely no idea what the kids are putting in their systems these days as I sort of grew out of gaming and have been mainly using laptops for the last 7 or so years.

It is a full system we are after including windows 8, speakers and a wide screen monitor. Was wondering if there are any wireless speaker solutions available which would allow us to stream music to another location within the house? Not sure if that is possible and how much of a dent it would make in the budget?

If anyone would be so kind as to point me in the right direction it would be much appreciated. He was going to get a full system from Currys but I am assuming we can do better if we build it from scratch or perhaps get one of the pre built OCUK systems?

Cheers
 
Don't know much about speaker so ive left a good £60 in the budget (minimum) for them.

As your light gaming the A10 is perfect. A nice powerful CPU with great on-board graphics. Paired with fast RAM it flies.

16GB for all your photo editing needs.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Samsung S24B300BS 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Glossy Black £139.99
1 x AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor (AD580KWOHJBOX) £99.95
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TD120BW) £82.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C10 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL316GB1866C10DC) £79.99
1 x Gigabyte F2A55M-DS2 AMD A55 Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £49.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black £49.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 500GB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA050) HDD £42.95
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £39.95
1 x Logitech G400 3600DPI Gaming Mouse (910-002279) £27.98
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
1 x Logitech K200 Media Keyboard (920-002733) £13.99
Total : £740.26 (includes shipping : £11.25).

 
1 x Samsung S24B150BL 23.6" Widescreen LED Monitor - Glossy Black £119.99
1 x AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor (AD580KWOHJBOX) £99.95
1 x Plextor M5S 128GB Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5S) £82.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C10 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL316GB1866C10DC) £79.99
1 x Gigabyte F2A85X-D3H AMD A85X Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £64.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black £49.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 500GB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA050) HDD £42.95
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £39.95
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
1 x Gigabyte KM5200 Keyboard and Mouse Set £10.99
Total : £704.27 (includes shipping : £11.25).



also have no idea on speakers either

or something with a lot more power,

1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £199.99
1 x Samsung S24B150BL 23.6" Widescreen LED Monitor - Glossy Black £119.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £83.99
1 x Plextor M5S 128GB Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5S) £82.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x GeIL EVO Leggera 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C10 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (GEL316GB1866C10DC) £79.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black £49.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 500GB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA050) HDD £42.95
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £39.95
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
1 x Gigabyte KM5200 Keyboard and Mouse Set £10.99
Total : £823.31 (includes shipping : £11.25).

 
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If you want to do any gaming on the i5 rig you'll need a graphics card. The budget cards aren't great. You need to spend over £50-£70 on a new one to compete with the 5800k.
 
HD4000 will be fine for light gaming, or add a cheap card if needed, but agree the 5800k is better for video, but the i5 is way quicker for everything else, so it's a call, only light gaming doesn't need a i5 but photo editing might use it better with the 16gb of ram
 
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Interesting. Tempted to go for the i5 rig, probably won't be that much gaming to be honest and it will just be a little bit of photo editing, nothing serious so I reckon that will probably be alright graphics wise?

Couple of daft questions regarding the SSDs, I take it these a pretty much standard now in that you'll have your SSD to put the OS and anything else you need fast access to on and then the larger traditional drive for general storage yeah?

Also, regarding wireless networking, do I need to get a seperate card or is this integrated into the motherboards these days?

Can probably do without a keyboard and mouse as well, got a wireless logitech setup which is a few years old but still does what is required.

Cheers for the help so far!
 
Redfox said:
Interesting. Tempted to go for the i5 rig, probably won't be that much gaming to be honest and it will just be a little bit of photo editing, nothing serious so I reckon that will probably be alright graphics wise?
Click to expand...
The Intel i5 3570K has HD 4000 integrated graphics and the AMD A10 5800K has HD 7660D, for gaming the AMD A10 5800K integrated graphics will be better with 1866MHz RAM

Redfox said:
Couple of daft questions regarding the SSDs, I take it these a pretty much standard now in that you'll have your SSD to put the OS and anything else you need fast access to on and then the larger traditional drive for general storage yeah?
Click to expand...
Yes, SSD is pretty much for loading files quicker, such as installing OS and softwares on it

Redfox said:
Also, regarding wireless networking, do I need to get a seperate card or is this integrated into the motherboards these days?
Click to expand...
It's best to buy a network card as there isn't many motherboard which includes it

AMD,

YOUR BASKET
1 x Samsung S24B300BS 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Glossy Black £139.99
1 x AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor (AD580KWOHJBOX) £99.95
1 x Plextor M5 Pro 128GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5P) £99.95
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £69.98
1 x Gigabyte F2A85X-D3H AMD A85X Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £59.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-15000C11 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1866C11D3P1K2/8G) £55.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black £49.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.98
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
1 x TP-Link 150Mbps Wireless PCI Express Adapter (TL-WN781ND) £10.98
Total : £737.29 (includes shipping : £11.25).



Intel,

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £199.99
1 x Samsung S24B300BS 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Glossy Black £139.99
1 x Plextor M5 Pro 128GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5P) £99.95
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00403) £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £69.98
1 x Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black £49.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £41.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.98
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
1 x TP-Link 150Mbps Wireless PCI Express Adapter (TL-WN781ND) £10.98
Total : £853.33 (includes shipping : £11.25).

 
If its general/light use, the A10 would be perfect. The i5 is the price it is be side its capable of great things, that's why its the chip of choice for gamers.

In your situation, the A10 seems a lot more suited.

The video I posted also shows how much better it is in PhotoShop and games than the i3..
 
Wasn't sure how to link the basket without linking to every item individually (which I couldn't be bothered with) but probably going to go with this:

Samsung S24B300BS 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Glossy Black
Plextor M5 Pro 128GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive
AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor
GeIL EVO Leggera 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C10 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit
Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM
MicroLab X16 68W 2.1 Speaker System
Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD
Gigabyte F2A85X-D3H AMD A85X Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 ATX Motherboard
Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black
Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply
OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black)
TP-Link 150Mbps Wireless PCI Express Adapter

Look ok?

I assume the CPU comes with a stock cooler and thermal paste, so I won't need to buy anything else?

Cheers.
 
Looks good mate although I would opt with an XFX 450w PSU :)

Interesting nobody has suggested you could also go with a cheaper Intel CPU such as the i3 3220 and a graphics card such as the Radeon 7770..this will offer better performance in photo editing and gaming compared to the 5800K
 
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The reason I've gone with the other PSU is because the XFX is out of stock. There is not indication of when they will be available again and I don't want to be waiting around for a couple of weeks because the PSU is out of stock, would be useful if there was an indication as to when they are getting more in. Was a bit surprised at the amount of things that were out of stock actually. Might wait for the XFX to come back in though, I guess we will be using this PC for a few years so a little wait for a PSU isn't much in the grand scheme of things.

The i3 is only about £10 cheaper than the AMD one then when you add the 7700 onto that it is going to be about £100 more, and I'm at the edge of my budget already. If the performace is not enough then we can always add a graphics card at a later date but I think if will be alright for a bit of light gaming in the meantime, but cheers for the suggestion.
 
Redfox said:
Wasn't sure how to link the basket without linking to every item individually (which I couldn't be bothered with) but probably going to go with this:

Samsung S24B300BS 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Glossy Black
Plextor M5 Pro 128GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive
AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor
GeIL EVO Leggera 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-14900C10 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit
Microsoft Windows 8 64-Bit DVD - OEM
MicroLab X16 68W 2.1 Speaker System
Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD
Gigabyte F2A85X-D3H AMD A85X Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 ATX Motherboard
Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black
Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply
OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black)
TP-Link 150Mbps Wireless PCI Express Adapter

Look ok?

I assume the CPU comes with a stock cooler and thermal paste, so I won't need to buy anything else?

Cheers.
Click to expand...

The cooler does have paste applied, can you get faster RAM? as the APU will love it.
 
Redfox said:
The reason I've gone with the other PSU is because the XFX is out of stock. There is not indication of when they will be available again and I don't want to be waiting around for a couple of weeks because the PSU is out of stock, would be useful if there was an indication as to when they are getting more in. Was a bit surprised at the amount of things that were out of stock actually. Might wait for the XFX to come back in though, I guess we will be using this PC for a few years so a little wait for a PSU isn't much in the grand scheme of things.

The i3 is only about £10 cheaper than the AMD one then when you add the 7700 onto that it is going to be about £100 more, and I'm at the edge of my budget already. If the performace is not enough then we can always add a graphics card at a later date but I think if will be alright for a bit of light gaming in the meantime, but cheers for the suggestion.
Click to expand...

Fair enough! I didn't realise the 3570k spec didn't have a graphics card included otherwise wouldn't have recommended one and an i3 3220 :p

Like the post below might be worth spending £10 extra and going for some even faster RAM

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-066-PA&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1387
 
Changed the RAM to the Viper stuff. Like you say, for an extra tenner I might as well. Thanks for pointing that out!
 
Actually just looking at the motherboard there, it says it supports "4x DDR3 1866/1600/1333/1066 MHz memory modules" So with that RAM being 2133MHz will it even work or be able to take advantage of the extra speed?
 
It will work at the speed, you can load an XMP profile to set the RAM up correctly for you.

I have a F2A85K-UP4 here and it says the same thing, yet works fine at 2133 or 2400Mhz.
 
If you are wanting advice on speakers have a look at the Hi-Fi and Audio Visual Section of the fourms and post a thread there as the people on there will be able to point you in the right direction of wireless music streaming solutions
 
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