Spec my dad a new PC

Reaper 392

Reaper 392

Reaper 392

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Joined
15 Feb 2011
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Location
Slough
My dad has asked me to spec him a new computer in the £450-£600 range. He wants to use it for light gaming on low settings, general use and occasional photoshop use. The main thing he wants is for it to be able to do this for a really long time (5+ years i would have thought). If you could spec a few builds at various points in that price range that would be fantastic

The current PC is ancient but it still just about manages with the latest games on low settings (i believe it uses a core 2 duo and an Nvidia 9600GT). its been needing a replacement for a while but the Hard drive has been getting a lot of bad sectors recently so he would rather replace it now while its still working just to be on the safe side.

He will need a new case and everything inside it. He has stressed that he wants a relaible hard drive that will not get bad sectors for many years. I'm sure he'll be happy with paying more for a harddrive than the cheapest 'decent' option to get this reliability.

Thanks for any help. Its been over a year since i've kept up with computer stuff so I really dont know whats good and what's not of the latest generation. Ask me about the stuff two generations ago or so and i'd be fine though.
 
Trinity build would be ideal.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Plextor M5 Pro 128GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5P) £109.99
1 x AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor (AD580KWOHJBOX) £99.95
1 x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD1002FAEX) HDD £83.99
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 Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black £49.99
1 x BeQuiet Pure Power L7 430W '80 Plus' Power Supply £39.95
1 x Thermalright True Spirit 120 REV A [BW] Performance CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £24.98
Total : £545.83 (includes shipping : £10.00).

 
That Trinity build looks spot on,

Though you could get hima bit more of a *B grade* Powerhouse:

YOUR BASKET
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card w/ Nexuiz, Sleeping Dogs & Dirt Showd (GX-100-GI) £129.95
1 x **B Grade** Intel Core i5-2500 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £125.99
1 x Plextor M5 Pro 128GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive - (PX-128M5P) £109.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £39.95
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £39.95
1 x **B Grade** Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £37.16
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 (MB-364-GI) £35
1 x **B Grade** Be Quiet! Shadow Rock Pro SR1 CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £24.98
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £576.96 (includes shipping : £12.50).



I actually prefer the trinity one for your uses.
 
Or if you really didn't care what it looked like and still go like a bat outta hell,

YOUR BASKET
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 Gigabyte F2A85X-D3H AMD A85X Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £64.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £53.99
1 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TXD38G2133HC11DC01) £49.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.98
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £26.99
1 x Thermalright True Spirit 90 CPU Cooler(Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £21.98
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £473.95 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 
For the 30 pound difference the B-Grade i5 rig is in a different league.
9600GT won't be a vast amount slower than Trinitys IGP, the 6670 wasn't as fast the 9800GT last time I checked, there's only one step up from 9600GT to 9800GT.
 
In terms of dedicated graphics cards, where does the trinity's onboard graphics sit? If its anything like the llano's that came before it then i'm assuming its damned good in terms of onboard, but not so great when its compared to low end dedicated stuff.
*edit*
ninja'd
*/edit*

Also, as much as I love them, my dad is not keen on solid state drives because of the limited number of reads and writes on each of the sectors. I suppose that could make the i5 build a lot more feasable

*edit*
While i remember he might want to stick with windows XP instead of upgrading to win7pro (free from my Uni) simply because my mum uses the computer for her work and she really isnt very good with computers, so any changes to how things work probably wouldnt be welcome. I'll check when he gets back
 
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Trinity is the step up from Llano IGP wise, it's a decent amount better, but I think a lot of people have unrealistic expectations of it.
You'd be better putting in the best CPU you could in your Dads rig and getting a better GPU as opposed that and getting a new HDD, but obviously that's not what you're asking, and it's probably not the wisest choice given the age of the hardware lol.

EDIT : The 9600GT is slow by todays standards, but you ideally want to buy something that's at least 3 times as powerful, which an A10 IGP isn't.

EDIT 2 : You really do want to be moving away from XP, Windows 7 isn't exactly much different to Windows XP in usability.

EDIT 3 : You could look at an SLC SSD, but they'll be rare, I remember having a RAID of 3 Sammy SLC SSD's.
 
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Martini1991 said:
Trinity is the step up from Llano IGP wise, it's a decent amount better, but I think a lot of people have unrealistic expectations of it.
9600GT to a A10 IGP is madness.
You'd be better putting in the best CPU you could in your Dads rig and getting a better GPU as opposed that and getting a new HDD, but obviously that's not what you're asking, and it's probably not the wisest choice given the age of the hardware lol.
Click to expand...

Yeah, If we went fr the upgrade what's there route we'd need more DDR2 RAM; a PCI or PCIe card to get more SATA slots for the HDD (it uses IDE drives); a new case to stop it from overheating (the 9600GT has been known to overheat the computer during long gaming sessions) and a new PSU just to cope with upgrading the CPU and GPU. As you said, not really sensible :p
 
How does this work out then for ya old man :)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Tomb Raider & Bioshock PC Games £161.99
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £92.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77M-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £86.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £53.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £39.95
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £26.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £535.96 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 
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YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Tomb Raider & Bioshock PC Games £161.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) HDD £67.99
1 x **B Grade** Gigabyte Z68A-D3H-GEN3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 (MB-380-GI) £52.00
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £39.95
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £593.87 (includes shipping : FREE).



You can buy him a heatsink for his B'day or Crimbo and then OC the i5K. This mobo can be updated to UEFI unlike the cheaper one Doomed used earlier
 
Ethermaster said:
How does this work out then for ya old man :) dropping the cooler would actually bring it dead on budget.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Tomb Raider & Bioshock PC Games £161.99
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £92.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77M-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £86.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £53.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.98
1 x BitFenix Merc Alpha Gaming Case - Black £26.99
1 x Thermalright True Spirit 90 CPU Cooler(Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £21.98
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £517.99 (includes shipping : £11.75).

Click to expand...

RAM is useful ;) I also hate how basic that Merc case is. Only one fan and no USB3 ports, the Asgard Pro is a better alternative although is a little more dosh
 
Same build but with Hono's case choice as I have to agree with him in my hearts of hearts.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 7850 OC Windforce 2X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with Tomb Raider & Bioshock PC Games £161.99
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £92.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77M-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £86.99
1 x Toshiba (7K1000.D) 1TB SATA 6GB/s 32MB Cache - OEM (DT01ACA100) HDD £53.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.98
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £39.95
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £541.96 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 
 
Some great suggestions around the price he was after. I'll run them by him and see what he thinks in the morning :)

Since you've all been recommending bigger graphics cards than i have at the moment (Factory OC'd GTX 460 768MB) i might look into upgrading my own graphics card and giving dad this one. depends how much money birthday i still have left lying around
 
Its a bit later than i meant to ask him, but I've finally gotten round to it and he has confirmed that he doesn't want an SSD. He also said, with a bit of grumbling, that he would probably have to upgrade to win7, which i can get for free from my uni.

The main thing he has said is that the graphics cards you are recommending are way more powerful than he would need. I would have suggested that he uses my one but i can see the lack of VRAM becoming a problem in several years time, especially with the new consoles getting plenty of VRAM.

Also, i didnt realise it at first, but it is just the one hard drive of the two that is failing. he has a second drive that he would ideally like to keep. for a while longer. i'm pretty sure that its an IDE drive so if anyone knows of a sata-IDE adapter of some sort that would be great.

lastly, he's only used ~100GB on his current machine, so a 500GB HDD wouold be plenty if that would be cheaper
 
Martini1991 said:
What about an SLC SSD?
Click to expand...
I asked, but it was a no. I think that an i5 ivybridge + lower end graphics card than has been recommended would do him just great. i would have said sandybridge, but ivy is on offer for the same price as sandy and since his computer may have just bitten the bullet he wants it pretty quickly. (the 'this week only' deals run out on wednesday morning dont they?)

since i've heard so many problems about the AMD drivers, and since he currently has an Nvidia card, i think he would probably prefer to go with Nvidia unless the AMD card selection is much better at the lower end.

*edit*
a quick check on anandtech's benchmark makes me thing that AMD have cornered the market in the low end graphics cards area. the 7750 and the 640 are about the same price but the 7750 is about a billion times faster
 
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YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x HIS HD 7850 IceQ X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H785QN2G2M) with Tomb Raider & Bioshock PC Games £155.99
1 x Asus P8Z77-V LX Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £85.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020059-UK) £54.98
1 x Corsair Carbide 200R Compact ATX Case - Black £49.99
1 x **B Grade** Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (S (HD-257-SE) £45
1 x Avexir Core Blue Series 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AVD3U16000904G-2CW) - Blue Light £40
Total : £624.54 (includes shipping : £10.50).



Just as cheap to get the 1TB at that price.
Ide to sata adapters, you can get one from the link below.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=i...0j57j0j5j62l2.9947j0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Although for a little extra, this card is a real bargain.

YOUR BASKET
1 x **B Grade** HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) with FREE Sleeping Dogs, Nexuiz, & CODMW2 PC Games £169.99
Total : £180.79 (includes shipping : £9.00).

 
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