Building a cheap pc

Mac B

Hi all

This is my first time to try building a pc, to date the most I have done would be replacing memory and cmos battery..unfortunately my budget is very limited. I did consider a Zoostorm i3 340 on DABs for €303 but I'm not sure how easy it would be to upgrade, also could not seem to find any reviews on this pc.

1. What is your budget? €300 -€350

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? At the moment it will be used for general home use and internet browsing. I'm also doing an online course but it doesn't require anything special. The pc I currently use is borrowed an I need to return it soon. Next year I would like to add a GPU in order to be able to get into gaming. When I do start using it for gaming I'd be happy with medium settings. Games I used to play where the likes of GTA, tomb raider, resident evil so I've a new generartion of gaming to discover!! Next year I will probably look at converting home videos to digital also.

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? Yes, preferbly Windows 7. I was looking at PC Fritz (don't know if anyone can recommend them) or Amazon.

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [Hard drive/DVD Drive/Case/PSU/etc.] No

5. Do you need a monitor? [No

5a. If yes, what size do you need. [19'/20'/22'/24'/etc.]

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? 1024 x 768 Its an IBM Thinkvision L150p. I may upgrade next year depending on funds but no immediate plans to. Also restricted py space, the maximum physical size is 17inches that will fit in my desk

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Keyboard/Mouse/Wireless Card/Card Reader/Speakers/etc.] Keyboard and speakers but I may be able to get those separatly later, no need to be incuded in budget

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [Yes/No] Don't know how to but would consider when I upgrade next year

8. How can you pay? [Bank Transfer/Credit Card/Laser] Bank Transfer or laser

9. When are you purchasing? Next Week

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? [South Dublin City/Cork City/Kerry/etc.] Naas Co Kildare if I get stuck but should hope to build myself


From reading previous threads I've put together the following:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/roatwngrff584tp/Screenshot%202013-11-27%2019.25.57.png

Please be honest, if this is a piece of **** I wouldn't be surprised.

Thanks for any advice you can give

SterlingArcher

Rig you done up is grand.

But look save another few euro. 20 euro towards a better PSU. Corsair 500w I think is 50 or 55.

Coolmaster PSU are pieces of s,hit. You will find a hard time getting an honest review of it that was not paid for by them. I know your budget tight but a decent PSU is a good investment.

Mac B

SterlingArcher wrote: »

Rig you done up is grand.

But look save another few euro. 20 euro towards a better PSU. Corsair 500w I think is 50 or 55.

Coolmaster PSU are pieces of s,hit. You will find a hard time getting an honest review of it that was not paid for by them. I know your budget tight but a decent PSU is a good investment.

Thanks SterlingArcher.

I appreciate you looking at this me. I'll look at the psw

Mac B

Hi SterlingArcher

Thanks again for your assist. Will this PSU be okay:

http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=69044&agid=1627&pvid=4nnjyds39_hojwstga&ref=13

You suggested other savings elsewhere which would be really useful to me at this time. I'll look at it all again tonight and if I come up with a cheaper option hope you don't mind me running by you again. Unfortunately I have to go budget at the moment (the OH insists as pre Xmas and kids etc.) but I would like what I get to have upgrade options next year without having to change everything!

SterlingArcher

Mac B wrote: »

Hi SterlingArcher

Thanks again for your assist. Will this PSU be okay:

http://www.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=69044&agid=1627&pvid=4nnjyds39_hojwstga&ref=13

You suggested other savings elsewhere which would be really useful to me at this time. I'll look at it all again tonight and if I come up with a cheaper option hope you don't mind me running by you again. Unfortunately I have to go budget at the moment (the OH insists as pre Xmas and kids etc.) but I would like what I get to have upgrade options next year without having to change everything!

No problem will look up PSU now.. Have you used the discount site for hardwareversand? Looked up PSU is good.

Mac B

SterlingArcher wrote: »

No problem will look up PSU now.. Have you used the discount site for hardwareversand? Looked up PSU is good.

Thanks, yes I've used discount site and it comes to €329 plus shipping, which is a bit over budget so I think I'll have re do unless I can persuade toh to agree.

Just glad I'm on the right track going about this as it's my 1st time

Mac B

Finally ready to order, its been awkward as a lot of stuff is out of stock ATM, the joys of having to buy at Xmas. I've reduced the price somewhat so wouldn't mind a final opinion before I order:

Total:
273,43 €

WD Blue 1TB 6Gb's 49,08 €

Samsung SH-224DB schwarz 15,38 €

4GB Kingston ValueRAM PC3-10667U CL9 32,33 €

Corsair Builder Serie CX430 V3 Non-Modular 80+ Bronze, 430 Watt 36,93 €

Intel Pentium G3420 Box, LGA1150 53,99 €

ASRock H81M, Sockel 1150, mATX 45,90 €

Cooler Master N200 mit Sichtfenster, mATX-mini-Tower, schwarz, ohne Netzteil 39,82 €

Should I be worried that the motherboard seems to mention software geared to Windows 8 (Software Included: Drivers & Utilities, Cyberlink MediaEspresso 6.5 (30-day trial), Antivirus (Trial version), Start8 (30 days trial))...I plan on getting W7 key on Amazon

These are the discounted prices

Again thanks for the assistance in this:)

Johnboy1951

Based on your present use requirements

At the moment it will be used for general home use and internet browsing. I'm also doing an online course but it doesn't require anything special.

and this

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? Yes, preferbly Windows 7

I would be inclined to suggest using a Linux install and apply the few Euros it saves to better hardware.

When going for gaming next year you could easily change to Windows (or dual boot) ..... if necessary at the time.

Mac B

Thanks Johnboy

Unfortunately I've no experience of Linux. A dual boot with Linux was something I was going to try once I buy this PC. I've to return the one I currently use (borrowed from family) and feel that I might be jumping in the deep end if I just try using Linux on its own, especially as I'm using PC for a course at the moment.

Also what browser can you use on Linux, I've seemed to only hear Firefox been mentioned and others on the course seem to have problems running the course on it. I currently use IE.

Thanks for the advice

tdh

I think what Johnboy said is good advice. You could try ubuntu its very "windows-like" in terms of interface and ease of use. You can install chrome easily on it through a graphical interface - that is if it doesnt come with it pre-installed. The last time i used it firefox was the default browser.
Getting good quality hardware is worth it

Mac B

Thanks Tbh

I appreciate the Input from both of you. If I was to go that route what hardware changes do you suggest, maybe going back to the i3 4130 on my earlier posts?

Johnboy1951

I would probably suggest Linux Mint (which is based on Ubuntu).

It is set up better (IMO) for someone more used to Windows, and has most everything needed already present.
Anything else should be available from the repository.

Another that would be comfortable is PCLinuxOS - KDE version.
KDE desktop environment is very very tweakable ..... too much so at the beginning .... but PCLinuxOS is well set up also so that the tweaks can be learned over time.

My only doubt would concern iTunes & 'i' devices ...... they do not normally play well with Linux, as I understand (I don't own any 'i' devices).
If you have such devices then a little investigation would be advised to determine whether you can live with whatever limitations might be present.
It might matter or it might not

Be sure the RAM you get is a single stick and not a pair ..... this will allow you to expand the memory next year if required for gaming.

Yes I do believe you might find a benefit with the i3 processor, as you indicated in your first post an intention of doing some video converting.
An i3 with 4GB RAM running Linux should be well capable for this, even before you upgrade next year.

EDIT:
I just found this short video of PCLinuxOS Mate version fresh install ..... an 8 second boot .... hardware for that test is
AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 925 Processor 2.8GHz
4 gb memory
2 year old 128gb SATA-2 SSD drive

I was impressed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZqalvD2YxE

Mac B

Thanks Johnboy. I'll look at the i3 again. I've picked a single stick of ram so would the i3, mobo and case be a good combo?

Another question on Linux, any idea if JavaScript can be used as this seems to be the crucial problem that others have had when trying to run the course

Johnboy1951

Javascript is generally not a problem .... or at least I have not heard any horror stories, except maybe security concerns.

I did not look at your chosen case .... cases are a very personal choice (beauty in the eye of the beholder ).

The only concern I ever had about a case was the clearance for the heatsink/fan in a HTPC case. Some cases were too low to accommodate some heatsinks.

If you can, I would suggest getting a 'Live CD/DVD' of a couple of Linux distros, and trying them out ....... always bearing in mind how slow optical drives are, so the operating system will be a bit sluggish when run live.

If you can do that you can make a personal decision which distro suits YOU, and even play about with it a bit to get familiar with it.

Mac B

Great thanks, I don't mind experimenting a bit to find a suitable Linux for me. I can always down load and trial W7 also until I get a Linux setup that works for me.

I appreciate the advice

Mac B

Just seen your edit on the video, 8 second boot is very persuasive. Was there a link to the video (did I miss it).

By the way I've no "I" devices, all android.

Johnboy1951

Mac B wrote: »

Just seen your edit on the video, 8 second boot is very persuasive. Was there a link to the video (did I miss it).

By the way I've no "I" devices, all android.

Sorry, seems I missed adding it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZqalvD2YxE

Website:

http://www.pclinuxos.com

and the ISOs are available from here

http://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/os/Linux/distr/pclinuxos/pclinuxos/live-cd/

as well as other mirrors such as

http://ftp.heanet.ie/pub/pclinuxos/pclinuxos/live-cd/

Hope that helps in your research

hare05

On the Linux side of things, you could also just install Ubuntu to get you going, install virtualbox in Ubuntu and then you can run any other Linux or even windows as a virtual machine, which would run much faster than from a CD, though not as responsive as the OS they're running inside.

If your javascript thing is a programming course, VMs can also be really useful learning tools as you can deliberately crash a system without losing anything important and reset it to a working state in seconds.

ooisootuck

wow! that's quite cheap! I will build one based on this. Thanks!!

Mac B

Thanks for the links, lots for me to look at here. Course is not programming just about PC repair, I've to practice with vms also.

Johnboy1951

All distros should have the capability of running Virtual Box to allow playing with VMs, so I wouldn't let that determine which distro to choose.

I also suggest you go to each distro's forum and read the information provided ...... often the info is divided into notifications and 'stickies' and such. The answered help questions there should also give you a good insight into things related to the individual distro.

On the Linux side of things, you could also just install Ubuntu to get you going, install virtualbox in Ubuntu and then you can run any other Linux or even windows as a virtual machine, which would run much faster than from a CD, though not as responsive as the OS they're running inside.

Yes one could just install any distro blindly, without checking it out and checking out alternatives.
The more sensible thing to do would be to run a small selection of distros as Live CDs or Live USBs and decide which suits on a personal level.
For instance, I dislike Ubuntu greatly ..... but that is not a reflection on anything or anybody, many people like it ..... we have multiple distros to choose from, so hopefully there is a good fit out there for most people.

Mac B

I've used Live CDs before using position magic so quite happy to proceed with that route

Johnboy1951

Mac B wrote: »

I've used Live CDs before using position magic so quite happy to proceed with that route

Have a 'play' with as many as you have time and patience for .... it does get a bit complicated with the different desktop environments ..... for instance KDE, LXDE, Xfce, Mate, Enlightenment etc

A lot of the distros will have their own versions of the different DEs and they will be superficially different from another distros version of the same DE.
The distro developers set things up as they believe suits their 'target audience', but that does not prevent the user from changing things to their liking once installed .... thankfully, as I rarely like the defaults for any distro

Mac B

Sounds confusing already but I'm sure once I have time to play around, hope next week, I'll get to grips with it, I'll let you know how I get on

hare05

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

All distros should have the capability of running Virtual Box to allow playing with VMs, so I wouldn't let that determine which distro to choose.

I also suggest you go to each distro's forum and read the information provided ...... often the info is divided into notifications and 'stickies' and such. The answered help questions there should also give you a good insight into things related to the individual distro.



Yes one could just install any distro blindly, without checking it out and checking out alternatives.
The more sensible thing to do would be to run a small selection of distros as Live CDs or Live USBs and decide which suits on a personal level.
For instance, I dislike Ubuntu greatly ..... but that is not a reflection on anything or anybody, many people like it ..... we have multiple distros to choose from, so hopefully there is a good fit out there for most people.

The point of my post was that you could avoid the performance hit of a live CD demo by installing any stable linux and then running the rest of your demos through a VM. You can then make an informed decision in your own time while still having a functional computer for internet usage, etc.

Mac B

Thanks hare05, it's sound advice also. I've an old laptop (with dreaded vista) and I have to admit I'm thinking of wiping the hard drive and going ahead and installing either Ubuntu or pclinuxos and then experimenting. I've nothing to lose as laptop is dire to use with vista. Not even considering a dual boot as 64gb drive, with 43% taken up with vista and updates. When I use it I regularly have to factory reset so happy to try this.

I will most likely them test out with VMS as you suggest.

I think I'll have a few weeks to experiment as when I go to order my new pc there are stock issues, it being Xmas it's not surprising, I don't want to order unless everything is in stock.

I've been reading up on installing Linux and I'm happy I'll be able to do this.

Thanks again for your input

Johnboy1951

If you are going to use a low powered PC/Laptop, then you should choose your Desktop Environment carefully.

The more feature-filled the DE the less likely it will give a reasonable result on low end hardware.

Maybe posting the hardware specs of the intended machine would elicit some further advice regarding DEs to try ......

KDE is 'heavy'
Mate is mid
Xfce is a bit heavier
LXDE is light

Also you could use a 64 bit version if the hardware is capable, or a 32 bit if not.

If you do not have much RAM to spare, or HDD space, VMs are not going to work well, if at all.

You might need to match your initial distro/DE choice to the hardware available