Spec my work mate a £500 PC.

Skynet5

Skynet5

Skynet5

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I'm not the best to do this...so putting it out to the community.

Guy wants a new PC for roughly £500.

Needs to have everything included (monitor, case, psu etc)...perhaps OS can be a separate purchase. He probably has a keyboard and mouse.


No particular constraints, except I know much more about Intel than I do about AMD, and will likely be on hand to help assembly if needed. So Intel is preferable.

He won't need graphics as he won't be gaming, so ideally be using iGPU. But will be doing photography type work...(just for personal stuff, it's not his living).
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x BenQ GL2460 24" Widescreen LED Slim Bezel Monitor - Black £119.99
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £92.99
1 x MSI H77MA-G43 Intel H77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard £67.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD10EZRX) **SINGLE PLATTER** HDD £53.99
1 x Adata XPG Gaming v1.0 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AX3U1600GC4G9-2G) £43.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.95
1 x Cooler Master Elite 330U Midi Tower Case - Black £30.19
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £479.08 (includes shipping : £12.50).




or with an I-5 processor.


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3330 3.00GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £149.99
1 x BenQ GL2460 24" Widescreen LED Slim Bezel Monitor - Black £119.99
1 x MSI H77MA-G43 Intel H77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard £67.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD10EZRX) **SINGLE PLATTER** HDD £53.99
1 x Adata XPG Gaming v1.0 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AX3U1600GC4G9-2G) £43.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.95
1 x Cooler Master Elite 330U Midi Tower Case - Black £30.19
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £536.08 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
mickyflinn said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x BenQ GL2460 24" Widescreen LED Slim Bezel Monitor - Black £119.99
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £92.99
1 x MSI H77MA-G43 Intel H77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard £67.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD10EZRX) **SINGLE PLATTER** HDD £53.99
1 x Adata XPG Gaming v1.0 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AX3U1600GC4G9-2G) £43.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.95
1 x Cooler Master Elite 330U Midi Tower Case - Black £30.19
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £479.08 (includes shipping : £12.50).




or with an I-5 processor.


YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3330 3.00GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £149.99
1 x BenQ GL2460 24" Widescreen LED Slim Bezel Monitor - Black £119.99
1 x MSI H77MA-G43 Intel H77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard £67.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (WD10EZRX) **SINGLE PLATTER** HDD £53.99
1 x Adata XPG Gaming v1.0 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (AX3U1600GC4G9-2G) £43.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.95
1 x Cooler Master Elite 330U Midi Tower Case - Black £30.19
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £536.08 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Click to expand...

I would swap out that Caviar Green(5400rpm) for something a bit faster, like the Barracuda (7200rpm) and cheaper.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £48.95
Total : £52.86 (includes shipping : £3.26).

 
The AMD chip can be overclocked to give better graphics for video playback(including BluRay) and some moderate gaming if he wished to. He can also use Win 8 Enterprise for 3 months and decide if he likes it, also gives him the chance to save for the OS.

YOUR BASKET
1 x BenQ GL2460 24" Widescreen LED Slim Bezel Monitor - Black £119.99
1 x AMD A10-5800K Black Edition 3.80GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor **FREE SIMCITY PC GAME** (AD580KWOHJBOX) £91.99
1 x Gigabyte F2A85XM-D3H AMD A85X Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 micro ATX Motherboard £61.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual CHannel Kit (PV38G213C1K) £59.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £48.95
1 x XFX Pro 450W Core Edition '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £39.95
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.95
Total : £486.79 (includes shipping : £12.50).



http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/evalcenter/jj554510.aspx

As the Asgard is out of stock atm, he could get the Antec, while it is on offer.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black £40
Total : £51.10 (includes shipping : £9.25).

 
Last edited:
lnoton said:
...
No particular constraints, except I know much more about Intel than I do about AMD, and will likely be on hand to help assembly if needed. So Intel is preferable.

He won't need graphics as he won't be gaming, so ideally be using iGPU. But will be doing photography type work...(just for personal stuff, it's not his living).
Click to expand...

Honestly the only time you'd need specific knowledge about AMD/Intel would be at the speccing stage which is where getting help here comes in. For assembly it makes no difference. In that kind of budget using integrated graphics you should certainly consider AMD. (Not saying it'll be the best option, not made up specs as others above me have to properly compare - just suggesting flexibility on that criteria)
 
 
I would think the Trinity A8K would be more than OK for his needs. The A10 has a better IGP but you said no gaming. Comparison HERE

YOUR BASKET
1 x Iiyama Prolite X2377HDS 23" Premium IPS Panel Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £139.99
1 x Gigabyte F2A85X-D3H AMD A85X Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £68.99
1 x AMD A8-5600K Black Edition 3.60GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Quad Core Processor **FREE SIMCITY PC GAME** (AD560KWOHJBOX) £67.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000C11 2133MHz Dual CHannel Kit (PV38G213C1K) £59.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £48.95
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £46.68
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £39.95
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.95
Total : £509.90 (includes shipping : £17.85).



Panel is OOS sadly at the mo but an IPS panel would have better colour reproduction for photo work
 
Just like to say thanks for all the advice. I'll go through them all later this weekend and recommend him a setup.

Sounds like AMD might be the way to go for him.
 
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