Budget PC help please

alowe

I'm looking to build a new pc. I want it for editing photos in lightroom, and internet. Possible video editing, this is only home stuff, and time to process the actual video doesn't bother me. We also want it to be able to stream sky from pc to tv via a hdmi cable preferably, so as audio will come through on the tv.

1. What is your budget? €350 - €400

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Photo editing, possible video editing, Internet.

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? No

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer?
Radeon HD 5450 PCI Edition 512mb DDR2 - PCI 3.0


5. Do you need a monitor? No

5a. If yes, what size do you need. n/a

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? 1920x1080 - No

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? Card reader possibly (if cheap)

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? No

8. How can you pay? Credit Card/Paypal

9. When are you purchasing? within 4 weeks

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? n/a

The Splat

alowe wrote: »

I'm looking to build a new pc. I want it for editing photos in lightroom, and internet. Possible video editing, this is only home stuff, and time to process the actual video doesn't bother me. We also want it to be able to stream sky from pc to tv via a hdmi cable preferably, so as audio will come through on the tv.

1. What is your budget? €350 - €400

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Photo editing, possible video editing, Internet.

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? No

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer?
Radeon HD 5450 PCI Edition 512mb DDR2 - PCI 3.0


5. Do you need a monitor? No

5a. If yes, what size do you need. n/a

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? 1920x1080 - No

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? Card reader possibly (if cheap)

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? No

8. How can you pay? Credit Card/Paypal

9. When are you purchasing? within 4 weeks

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? n/a

What do you mean by streaming? Through the router or actually putting the box under the TV?

alowe

Box will be connected directly to tv. One vga cable to monitor and then pref hdmi to tv. Tv doesn't appear to have audio in, so currently have dvi to hdmi on tv and sound through speakers on pc (which is in separate room)

We'll use it for watching sky sports on skygo on the pc but obviously would like picture and sound on tv.

BloodBath

How about this? Small form factor so you can stick it under the tv with the rest of the boxes.

Good sized ssd for fast boots and all your programs and the 1tb drive for storage.

Item|Price
ASRock B75M-ITX, Sockel 1155, ITX|€68.10
Intel Core i3-3220 Box, LGA1155|€105.05
Seagate Barracuda 7200 1000GB, SATA 6Gb/s|€57.42
Samsung SSD 840 120GB SATA 6Gb/s|€81.99
4GB Corsair Valueselect DDR3-1333 CL9|€27.24
CIT MTX-0068 Mini ITX case|€27.24
Shipping|€42.56
Total|€401.35

alowe

Sorry, should have explained better - I don't want it for under the tv as its going to be used as a pc with monitor, printer, etc. for editing photos, kids playing games, surfing internet, etc. The connecting to the tv is secondary, and something we use very occasionally, but if upgrading, figure that I might as well include.

I was looking at dell, and found this spec:
Vostro 270, i3-3220, 500gb, 4gb, dvd-rw, and win 8 (which although I don't need, I only have win 7). This I can get for €356 delivered.

hardwareversand.de - the best I can match above spec seems to be around €400 (ex delivery.)

For budget (but still with an I-cpu), is dell better than hardwareversand?

BloodBath

My bad. Something like this would be better then. Dropped the ssd to beef up the pc a little. You can always add one later if you want. The board has sata 600 ports. An improved processor and a dedicated graphics card. Better than the dell anyway.

Item|Price
AMD FX-6300 Prozessor, Boxed, Sockel AM3+|€105.05
ASRock 960GM/U3S3 FX, Sockel AM3+, mATX|€48.87
4GB Corsair Valueselect DDR3-1333 CL9|€27.24
Seagate Barracuda 7200 1000GB, SATA 6Gb/s|€57.42
Zalman T2 Mini Tower - schwarz, ohne Netzteil|€18.98
Corsair VS Serie VS350, Non-Modular, 80+|€29.56
ARCTIC COOLING ARCTIC F12|€3.29
Club 3D Radeon HD 7750, 1024MB GDDR3, AMD Radeon HD 7750, PCI- Express|€75.21
LiteOn iHAS124-04 schwarz SATA|€16.68
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€401.29

alowe

Thanks bloodbath - nice spec.

Question though .... rather than spend the 75e on the soundcard, is there a slot for the sound-card I have to use that instead? This could allow me to add an additional 4gb ram. Also, am I right in thinking the motherboard only has 2 slots for ram? And if I wanted to add a fire-wire card, and memory card reader, is this possible with this motherboard?

thanks, and very much appreciate your knowledge.

BloodBath

It's a graphics card. It uses the pciex16 slot on the board. There is still a pci and a pciex1 slot free. There is no integrated graphics on the 6300 but the dedicated graphics card will be a lot better than any integrated one. It will allow most games to be played at reasonable frame rates.

There is also 1 ram slot still free so you can add another 4gb when you need to.


The zalman case only has 1 front accessible 5.25 inch bay. You could change the case to this. That would allow you to add a card reader to the front 3.5 inch bay. The firewire card and card reader are both cheap. You might need another sata cable for the card reader.

Either that or use an external usb one.

External card reader.

Firewire card.

Internal card reader.

The pciex1 slot would still be free to add a network card if you wanted.

alowe

Quick q... why do you go for a case, fan and psu separately and not just get the case with psu (seems like a better selection of cases at the €50 price, which is what the case and psu separately are together anyway.) Also, why do you add an extra fan when there's already one in the case?

Gumbi

alowe wrote: »

Quick q... why do you go for a case, fan and psu separately and not just get the case with psu (seems like a better selection of cases at the €50 price, which is what the case and psu separately are together anyway.) Also, why do you add an extra fan when there's already one in the case?

Couple of reasons. PSUs found in cases are utter ****e compared to properly branded units that have passed quality testing measures. (Rating system, etc).

Case fans are usually cheap. But do the job. Getting the second fan and implementing a 2 fan setup improves airflow for better cooling (and the arctic f12 is dirt cheap on hardwareversand, so why not??).

alowe

Ok, final question .... After adding memory, i'm hoping to get the graphics card under €50. As i'm not going to be playing 'proper' games on the pc, will the following graphics card be sufficient for my photo editing?

http://www.hardwareversand.de/2048+MB/75537/Club+3D+Radeon+HD+5450+Noiseless+Edition%2C+2GB+DDR3%2C+VGA%2C+DVI%2C+HDMI.article

Or should I really just fess up the cash for the one recommended?

Also, is it worth €20 for the lads to put the pc together? I work in IT, but generally just take apart pc's rather than put them together from stratch. I'm thinking to ensure that right cables go into right places it might be worth €20? (plus I have a newborn, so not sure how obliging he'll be to letting me put together a pc.)

Thanks again for all the help. Its very much appreciated.

BloodBath

If you want to save some monies change the board and cpu to these. The processor has pretty much the same performance as the 6300 but it has an integrated graphics chip. It's the best integrated graphics on any processor and will still run most games. The board also has more features. Full sata-600 and 4 ram slots. Change the ram to this as well. It will get the most out of the integrated graphics.

Item|Price
AMD A10 5800K Black Edition mit AMD Radeon HD 7660D Grafikeinheit, Box, FM2|€113.84
ASRock FM2A75 Pro4-M, FM2, mATX|€60.31
8GB-Kit GeIL EVO Corsa PC3-14900U CL9-10-9-28 (DDR3-1866)|€60.30
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€253.44

No harm getting them to build it but there has been some issues with people here who got them pre built. Parts can get damaged in transit easier.

alowe

Ok, before I press the buy button - is this ok? Again, its mainly for editing photos and streaming sky sports from pc to tv.

Thanks a million.

2x 4GB Corsair Valueselect DDR3-1333 CL9 54,48 €
AMD FX-6300 Prozessor, Boxed, Sockel AM3+ 105,05 €
ASRock 960GM/U3S3 FX, Sockel AM3+, mATX 48,87 €
Seagate Barracuda 7200 1000GB, SATA 6Gb/s 57,74 €
Zalman T2 Mini Tower - schwarz, ohne Netzteil 18,98 €
Corsair VS Serie VS350, Non-Modular, 80+ 29,56 €
LiteOn iHAS124-04 schwarz SATA 16,54 €
Club 3D Radeon HD 7750, 1024MB GDDR3, AMD Radeon HD 7750, PCI- Express 75,21 €
ARCTIC COOLING ARCTIC F12 Pro TC 4,02 €
LogiLink 5m Kabel HDMI High Speed mit Ethernet, 2x 19-pin Typ-A Stecker 7,16 €
LogiLink FireWire PCI Karte, IEEE1394A, 3+1 Port 7,00 €
MediaRange TFT/LCD/Plasma Bildschirmreinigungstücher in Spenderdose 100Stk 2,18 €
LogiLink USB 2.0 Card Reader Stick für SD, SD-HC, Micro SD, Micro SD-HC 1,39 €
+ Delivery

Gumbi

Change the RAM to what Bloodbath has suggested above. It gives a nice boost to your graphics processing speed for only 6 quid more.

alowe

Gumbi wrote: »

Change the RAM to what Bloodbath has suggested above. It gives a nice boost to your graphics processing speed for only 6 quid more.

Is there another RAM that's the same (even the one that's slightly more expensive?) as the one from bloodbath isn't available till 5th June (although I could wait the week if needs be.)

BloodBath

Looks fine. No need for the faster ram if you are going with the dedicated graphics card anyway.

alowe

Thanks for all the guidance. Ordered now .... so could be having fun next weekend putting it together :-)