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The "Spec Me" Challenge

sagramore

sagramore

sagramore

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Joined
20 Oct 2002
Posts
500
Okay. Here's a nice budget spec for you guys with a fairly tight budget :)
It's been a couple of years since I built a PC so I'm a little out of the loop when it comes to hardware at the moment and would REALLY appreciate some spec ideas for my sister's new PC.

Here's the story:

She's going to uni for the first time this coming weekend and her current PC (a Biostar rig I built for her a couple of years ago that I used to use) is coming to the end of it's little life. Unforunately it's an AMD s754 system running an AGP graphics card and PATA hard disk. So I'm guessing that not a lot of the stuff out of this is going to be recylcleable (perhaps the DVD player? :) ).

She originally would have preferred SFF but I think she's more adamant that it's fairly quiet (this current one is like a banshee on heat). I'm guessing it'll be easier to fit the budget if it's not SFF but just standard ATX size. Don't want a gigantic heavy case if possible though :) So the requirements are as follows.....

1. It will be used primarily for her work. She is doing a course on photography so image editing is a must, but I don't think she does any 3D work or modelling or video editing, just things like photoshop.
2. It obviously also must handle Email, Browsing, MSN, Winamp, and whatever else the cool teenagers do these days.
3. I doubt she'll be doing any gaming on it at all so that's not a problem.
4. The spec is around £400 all included if possible. Monitor, keyboard, mouse, printer, etc are already available so it's just the core system that needs buying for that price.
5. She wants as much hard disk space as possible please!
6. She also wants some form of external hard disk with 1-touch backup ability so that she can hit the backup button once a day to make sure all her work is safe.


I think that's it - if you think I've gone way over the mark or have any other questions then please let me know. Otherwise please post your spec ideas and I shall thank you all very much :)

Sagramore / Ham (and his sister)
PS. No you can't have any pictures of her......
 
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Will you require an operating system with this?

PS. No you can't have any pictures of her......
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:(




[EDIT]:

If no OS is needed, I'd say the following is good.

54jg9pv.jpg
 
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screenshotbk8.png

£400 is rather tight to get everything in. 2 GiB RAM ith a good dual core CPU, a decent mobo, an excellent HDD. There's little money left over for an externam HDD. I only included one HDD becasue a) there's not enough money for it and b) she can buy another when this one's full. Reuse the DVD drive if possible.

It should, however, be nice and fast, cool, and quiet. :)
 
Thanks for those two guys!
They are really helpful. I will have a think about which one would be better. The first one will be cheaper with the external HDD included. Also, am I missing something or does the 2nd spec still need a graphics card?

If anyone thinks they can do better, please do carry on posting - I hope to order later this evening!
 
The one I posted (the first one posted, by the way :p) has ATi graphics integrated on the motherboard.

EDIT:
How's this for a combo of the two?
screenshotor9.gif

It's got the big CPU cooler which should make it dead quiet, better RAM for only a tiny bit more money, the external HDD, and a CPU that's faster than flibby's but slower than my original.
 
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I think the Ninja is a major overkill, I doubt it would even fit in a Micro ATX case... there was barely any clearing in my P180.


Had a reshuffle on my original spec, removed the pioneer as I noticed you said you have on already or can salvage it. So added stuff and took some stuff out, overall:

Abit IP35 Board, future proofed and way better
Faster CPU that original
Better RAM with heatspreaders
More compact case and PSU
Better graphics card (1gb VRAM instead of 256mb)

I think it's going to be the best you can get from OcUK for the £400, in my opinion.
 
If its only going to be used for internet, office and music why dont you get a 3800+ as its only £44 and is still more than powerful for doing just that.
 
how random said:
If its only going to be used for internet, office and music why dont you get a 3800+ as its only £44 and is still more than powerful for doing just that.
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That's certainly an option. I chose the C2D since there'll be a lot of PS work. An "Energy Efficient" X2 3800+ would be a great choice since it dissipates less heat than the Intel at idle and at load.
 
It's the fairly high end photoshop use that we're worried about really.
Thanks for the specs guys, I like the look of your edited one Flibby.

On the off chance we find a little more cash for it would you recommend extra cache & clock speed (i.e. upgrade to E4500) or faster FSB (i.e. upgrade to E6320)? Which would be better for the photoshopping??
 
And if I want to avoid clocking it? :D All well and good clocking my PC but if my sister takes it to Derby and I can't prod it for 2 months we could be in trouble :D
 
It'll be the higher clock speed that will make a difference to her for Photoshop, the cache isn't as important. Therefore if you could muster more money, depending on how much you get, I'd either pick:

E4500 - 2.2Ghz / £90
E6750 - 2.66Ghz / £125
 
spec.jpg


Finally ordered
Just in case any of you cared :)

She decided a "prettier" case was worth the cash, as well as the slightly faster proc.

Thanks again to all who helped!
 
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