Basic PC €250

Recurve360

Hi guys, looking to build a basic pc just for web browsing and MS word for my parents. Will do absolutely no gaming with it so integrated graphics will do. Budget is around the 250 mark, little bit of leeway but the cheaper the better. Anyway heres the form:

1. What is your budget? [€250-300, cheaper the better]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [Web Browsing, MS word, candy crush etc...]

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [No]

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [500 GB hdd, keyboard, mouse, speakers,80 and 120mm fans]

5. Do you need a monitor? [No]

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? 1280x1024 not upgrading

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Keyboard/Mouse/Wireless Card/Card Reader/Speakers/etc.] [Wireless card]

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [Not on this build to save costs]

8. How can you pay? [Any]

9. When are you purchasing? [Probably not for about 3 weeks]

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? [Wont need help]

Heres something I whipped up:
Item|Price
TP-LINK TL-WN881ND Netzwerkkarte/-adapter|€11.99
4GB G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9-9-9-24|€30.20
ASRock H81M-HDS, Sockel 1150, mATX|€42.19
Thermaltake Munich 430W|€38.51
Crucial M500 120GB SATA 6GB/s 6,4CM (2,5") 7mm|€61.46
3R Systems Design Gehäuse R370 Black, mATX|€24.29
Intel Celeron G1820, 2x 2.70GHz, boxed|€33.90
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€261.53

Will use geizhals to save 10-15 on the build and picked that PSU as I have one and may just order a higher rated one myself. Any suggested changes?

Thanks

Recurve360

Any suggestions?

Addled

Sorry that I'm starting to sound like a broken record on here but you can get 1600mhz ram for only an extra 2c try searching for "HV20G842DE", (sorry I can't post links). It probably won't make much appreciable difference but for the price I'd say there's no point ever using 1333mhz anymore.

Other than that the build looks grand.

Doublelime

You may as well buy a cheap pc for like €300 if it's only going to be used for Web browsing and word. That's what I think anyway. And you might get a good deal if the shop gives word at a discount

unkel

Recurve360 wrote: »

Any suggestions?

Bring it down from €261 to €200 by dropping the SSD. Absolutely no need for that extravagance in your parents system. Use your old 500GB drive instead

Recurve360

Addled wrote: »

Sorry that I'm starting to sound like a broken record on here but you can get 1600mhz ram for only an extra 2c try searching for "HV20G839DE", (sorry I can't post links). It probably won't make much appreciable difference but for the price I'd say there's no point ever using 1333mhz anymore.

Other than that the build looks grand.

I copied that decription and it was still saying 1333Mhz. But ill have a proper search and change it if thats all the difference even though itll never be needed

Doublelime wrote: »

You may as well buy a cheap pc for like €300 if it's only going to be used for Web browsing and word. That's what I think anyway. And you might get a good deal if the shop gives word at a discount

This was the only new desktop I could find at that price: http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/asus-k5130uk006s-desktop-pc/315445/307.

My build has a better processer, more ram,wifi and upgradeability and a SSD. For 50 less than the prebuilt. They have Office 2010 and Windows 7 that can be cloned onto the SSD so no need to buy it again.

unkel wrote: »

Bring it down from €261 to €200 by dropping the SSD. Absolutely no need for that extravagance in your parents system. Use your old 500GB drive instead

.
Ill try convince the father to drop it, he just likes the fact that it can boot very quickly and theres virtually no loading times. Decent system for 200 quid then?

Serephucus

unkel wrote: »

Bring it down from €261 to €200 by dropping the SSD. Absolutely no need for that extravagance in your parents system. Use your old 500GB drive instead

I disagree 100% with this.

If there's one thing I would absolutely try and include in a basic build like this, it's an SSD. His parents aren't going to give two ****s about whether their PC's CPU has hyperthreading or not, but they most certainly will notice the thing booting up a lot quicker, and all of their Office applications and web browsing being much more responsive.

Then there's the fact that systems with SSDs don't slow down over time like HDD systems seem to. Not 100% sure why this is the case - could be fragmentation, could be that the SSD's location-independent access times means it doesn't get bogged down with a registry clogged full of junk.

This is coming from personal experience of upgrading a couple of junker family machines with SSDs, and hearing comments of universal amazement at how much better everything is.

Recurve360

Serephucus wrote: »

I disagree 100% with this.

Just ordered the above including SSD Costing them 240 overall and got a cheap 2.5 to 3.5 adapter aswell. Decent build for the price?

Addled

Sorry about the RAM product code. The code should have been for "4GB G.Skill PC3-12800U CL11-11-11-28" but it's fixed now. It's pretty much identical but with slightly looser timings at CL11 than the 1333mhz at CL9 but overall memory throughput will be a good bit better.

For another €1.68 you could get 4GB with CL9 as well "4GB Team Group Vulcan Series Red, DDR3-1600, CL9" code is "HV20G842DE".

cherryghost

Solid build IMO

Recurve360

Cheers Fellas.

Just been dispatched today so will possibly have it by Friday or Saturday hopefully

On a side note does anyone know what the Bitfenix Merc Beta is like for cable management, im doubting its great as I ordered one of those instead of the case above. Iv done 4 builds in the last 6 months so I should be able to make it pretty tidy.

Next on the list is a mini itx build for a HTPC for myself

beauf

I have a ssd in an old laptop and i like it.

But I had another system much newer with a new sata drive and tbh i was happy enough with it.

I want the ssd in a laptop more than a desktop. Oddly i miss it most shutting down a latop.

pedatron

really considering pulling the trigger on this build myself. It'd be my first build by myself but I think I'll be ok! It's for the parents as well! Ant recommendations or changes before I add to cart? Thanks!!

yawhat!

1150 socket as well so if they need a bit more power down the line can easily upgrade the processor as well.

Good build!

Recurve360

pedatron wrote: »

really considering pulling the trigger on this build myself. It'd be my first build by myself but I think I'll be ok! It's for the parents as well! Ant recommendations or changes before I add to cart? Thanks!!

Its pretty fast for the price. I went with a different case after. The bitfenix merc beta for an extra few quid is worth it in my opinion. Good cable management in it for a cheap case. Would get a dvd drive aswell if you need one. You could change the PSU aswell if you wanted because some people prefer the corsair builders series ones and might add an extra case fan or two aswell but there not essential

Recurve360

yawhat! wrote: »

1150 socket as well so if they need a bit more power down the line can easily upgrade the processor as well.

Good build!

Thats the idea that its upgradeable. Otherwise would of went for a fm2 apu
Thanks dude

pedatron

This site appears to be down for me when I add an item to the basket? Anyone else having this problem?

pedatron

Built this PC a few months and it's been going a treat to be fair. My first build and all! I've been doing a bit of video editing on it recently and could do with more power. What should I be looking at graphics card wise? I'd be willing to spend a bit but not a ridiculous amount! Thanks!

pedatron

pedatron wrote: »

Built this PC a few months and it's been going a treat to be fair. My first build and all! I've been doing a bit of video editing on it recently and could do with more power. What should I be looking at graphics card wise? I'd be willing to spend a bit but not a ridiculous amount! Thanks!

Bump for this? Recording and editing GAA matches for my club with a fair decent camera. Could really do with more power in the PC now. She's really struggling. Should I go for a graphics card or new processor or both? Club has offered to pay for it but I can't screw them over with a price either.

I'd appreciate anybody's input. I wouldn't even know where to start with compatibility of cards or processors as I have thrown out boxes and generally don't know enough! Thanks!

Recurve360

pedatron wrote: »

Bump for this? Recording and editing GAA matches for my club with a fair decent camera. Could really do with more power in the PC now. She's really struggling. Should I go for a graphics card or new processor or both? Club has offered to pay for it but I can't screw them over with a price either.

I'd appreciate anybody's input. I wouldn't even know where to start with compatibility of cards or processors as I have thrown out boxes and generally don't know enough! Thanks!

What software is she using for the editing and rendering video? Depending on the software you may only need one or the other. I render quite a lot in after effects and premier and thats mainly CPU and RAM intensive. Id go with either an i5 4440 or something like a pentium aniversary edition if the h81 board supports overclocking(not sure if it does). And another 4gb of ram.

If you could tell me what software being used and how long the clips are and the kind of encoding being used would be a great help...

pedatron

Recurve360 wrote: »

What software is she using for the editing and rendering video? Depending on the software you may only need one or the other. I render quite a lot in after effects and premier and thats mainly CPU and RAM intensive. Id go with either an i5 4440 or something like a pentium aniversary edition if the h81 board supports overclocking(not sure if it does). And another 4gb of ram.

If you could tell me what software being used and how long the clips are and the kind of encoding being used would be a great help...

I'm using a new sony camera with a built in HDD atm (will put up the model number after work). It's fairly high end and cost well over a grand. The files for one match normally equal about 10GBs of raw footage. I'm finding the files in a Stream folder within the camera and clicking and dragging them into Xilisoft Video Converter, joining them together and converting into an mp4 file that comes out at about 1.2GB. I know I am making a dogs dinner of the processing and bypassing many other files contained within the camera but the computer cannot handle premier pro it seams (blue screened a few times) and I rarely need to do any editing. The video is normally fine as is but I know I am doing it incorrectly and it also takes an age to process. I've reverted to using my Macbook Pro for the last couple of games

I believe that a bump in power, better technique of processing the video and maybe different software will definitely help my case. Hope I've answered your questions correctly and Thanks a million again.

beauf

Looks like Xilisoft Video Converter can use GPU acceleration.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/386711-33-unable-acceleration-xilisoft-video-converter

You really need to look at computer in its entirety, and see the size of the file, the format of the file and the software you are using. To see what hardware would give you the best performance.