Thoughts on £400 build

Mr Jack

Mr Jack

Mr Jack

Caporegime
Joined
19 May 2004
Posts
33,962
Location
Nordfriesland, Germany
Needs to include Windows and a monitor, but not keyboard and mouse. It's wanted for basic web and word processing use (basically, it's wanted for writing a thesis on). £400 maximum price.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £395.85
(includes shipping: £0.00)
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Thoughts?
 
If its just for web and Documents you won't need an SSD, the Kingston 1866MHz won't run as that CPU requires 1600MHz and 4GB is more than enough

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £350.85
(includes shipping: £0.00)
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Last edited:
Kuuwahi said:
If its just for web and Documents you won't need an SSD
Click to expand...

I disagree. An SSD means near instant on - that's always worth it.

...the Kingston 1866MHz won't run as that CPU requires 1600MHz and 4GB is more than enough
Click to expand...

Good spot on the ram speed. But at an extra £13 I think 8Gb is still worth it.
 
An SSD will mean the OS will boot quicker, There will be no real difference with text documents.

I'm not 100% sure on this but would an SSD be bottlenecked by such a slow CPU?

I was trying to lower the price as much as possible for you :).
 
Kuuwahi said:
An SSD will mean the OS will boot quicker, There will be no real difference with text documents.
Click to expand...

It'll boot quicker and it'll load up new applications quicker but, yeah, Word is still going to run at the same speed when it gets there. I think it probably makes a bigger difference than other upgrades though.

I'm not 100% sure on this but would an SSD be bottlenecked by such a slow CPU?
Click to expand...

I don't think so. Not a SATA one, maybe an NVMe, I guess. Certainly not enough to make it as slow as an HDD.

I was trying to lower the price as much as possible for you :).
Click to expand...

And thank you for your help, it is appreciated :)
 
I have had a wee go at improving. I have a 120gb in a PC with Office 365, AutoCAD, Revit, CorelDraw & Photoshop. so for web and word it will be fine. you can get away with 1x4gb ram (will be single channel), with the cost saving you can go up a CPU. I have used a A6 and with an SSD they are quite nippy

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £385.05
(includes shipping: £13.20)
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@Kurgen I didn't use that monitor because it only has a VGA port, The Mobo doesn't so you would need to buy a cable for around £5. That extra £5 might as well be spent on the monitor I listed.
 
Looks good Mr Jack and responders.

I'd go with a compromise between the original spec and Kurgen's. Drop down to the Kingston SSD (they're absolutely fine for office PCs) but keep the 8 GB memory IMO.

I'd personally also stick with the A4-6300, the 200 MHz bump the 6400K gets isn't a big deal, and the mobo probably isn't suited to overclocking.
 
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