Spec please: PC for Mum?

Gimpymoo

Gimpymoo

Gimpymoo

Soldato
Joined
31 May 2005
Posts
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Location
Nottingham
Hi.

My mother currently has an OEM system which has a low spec Celeron on a LGA 775 socket with 4GB DDR2 RAM.

It has hit the bricks and diagnosis confirms either a Mobo or CPU fault.

Would like to get her something more responsive as the Celeron (1.6Ghz I think) was not the quickest of things, even at web browsing or browsing photos. Upgrading to 4GB RAM helped in this regard.

I am reluctant to throw money to old components to revive it so would rather upgrade to a nice APU system.

I will be sticking with the OEM case to help keep costs down. Already has monitor, keyboard, mouse etc.

I have a 400W PSU.

My mothers main use is web browsing, Skype with Video, email and looking at photographs. The kids when visiting will sometimes want to play Minecraft/Battle Chess.

Will be used with Windows 8.

I thought of the following:

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD A6-6400K 3.90GHz (Socket FM2) APU Richland Dual Core Processor (AD640KOKHLBOX) £44.99
1 x Asus A55BM-E AMD A55 Chipset (Socket FM2+) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £39.95
2 x TeamGroup Elite 4GB (1x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Single Channel Module (TED34GM1600C1101) £23.99 (£47.98)
Total : £132.91 (includes shipping : ).



Input appreciated, thank you.
 
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YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte F2A88XM-HD3 AMD A88X (Socket FM2+) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £49.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Beast 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX24C11T3K2/8X) £45.95
1 x SanDisk Pulse 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - (SDSSDP-064G-G25) £44.99
1 x AMD A6-6400K 3.90GHz (Socket FM2) APU Richland Dual Core Processor (AD640KOKHLBOX) £44.99
Total : £185.92 (includes shipping : ).




This board has a HDMI (you dont mention how she is currently connecting to her monitor?) and you can overclock the APU if she wants more power. It also has SATAIII and USB3.0

Faster RAM as APU's love it.

SSD is probably all she needs to run an OS and emailing etc.
 
Current monitor is VGA.

Your right about the SSD being a good upgrade and is something I was going to get if can keep the costs low.

Are the FM2's the best "bang for buck" APU at the moment?
 
Yes they are, Kaveri is still a bit too much money. At £45 that 6600K has plenty of ummpphh
 
If wanting stronger cores and thus opted for a none APU CPU, what would an equivalent seperate GPU be?
 
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A HD6670 is what is normally paired up with a 5800K/6800K in Hybrid Crossfire, 2nd hand they are like £30.

An exact equivalent for a 6400K is a HD6450/6570
 
Thank you for the replies Stulid, big help.

So with a £150 budget, what would the recommendation be for Mobo (mATX), CPU and RAM?

Cannot afford GPU at this point.

Go for the 6400k as originally thought or could one get a better core for core CPU and add a lower spec GPU at a later time? Maybe even get a CPU change down the line if going for a different socket?

I was all set for the 6400K but thinking about it, a dual core for an OS nowadays can at times seem sluggish, so would prefer a quad if possible, if only to help pull it through another year or so of use when it is "old".
 
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tbh, an extra 50 quid to bring your budget to 200 quid will net you this:

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7770 GHz Edition 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £65.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan GOLD 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLYD38G2400HC11CDC01) £53.99
1 x Intel Pentium G3420 3.20GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £46.99
1 x Asus H81M-E Intel H81 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £37.99
Total : £204.96 (includes shipping : ).



which would probably be better than most apu setups

or, better still, go the 2nd hand route and net yourself some nice stuff in the MM.
 
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