Office PC

Shapey Fiend

My father/my home office PC is starting to show it's age. I ordered a 500gig Samsung SSD the other day (€200) and I figured what the hell If we're spending that much I may as well just build a new machine altogether. This has to go on the desk so a compact-ish case would be good.

1. What is your budget?

€350-ish (excluding 200 already spent on SSD) but I wouldn't mind going a bit cheaper if possible.

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer?

Autocad. Only 2D stuff but newer versions of that program are a bit slow even for that! Also use a program called Lighting Reality which doesn't have any recommended specs and can kind of chug on this 1st gen i3.

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

Yes. Office 365 recommended?

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [Hard drive/DVD Drive/Case/PSU/etc.] (If possible state brand and model of the parts to ensure compatibility)

I'd rather leave it alone and use it for something else.

5. Do you need a monitor? [Yes/No]

No

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

Have a decent mouse. Need new keyboard and cheap speakers.

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [Yes/No]

No

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

All methods

9. When are you purchasing? [In x days]

Hopefully within the next few days.

Thanks for your help lads.

Digital Solitude

Pentium G3220 €55
H81m board €60
1tb HDD €55
4gb RAM €30
300w PSU €30
Zalman Z4 €22
Windows is €30 or so
Total €285 or so.
Recommend adding an SSD if you cancelled the 500gb, or getting an i3 or better case.

Any questions, ask away.

Shapey Fiend

I'm still getting the SSD. My budget is 350ish excluding that.

Digital Solitude

Right well a case like a BitFenix might be a bit nicer. Can get an i3 4160 for €115 but probably no need in that.

Is there a need in a 500gb SSD? I know you already have it ordered but even still

justsomebloke

I'd be cancelling the SSD and putting the cash towards a better build with a smaller SSD. Only spending €350 on a machine to do autocad is nuts. IMO you should be looking at an i5 build

Shapey Fiend

You're probably right. I see now I underestimated how much an i5 costs.

500gig was a necessity because we've 10 years of files and my father's already a bollocks for misfiling things everywhere without introducing multiple drives into the equation.

I'm prepared to go to 500 then. If it was me I'd spend 700 but the da is cheap. He'll get the VAT back anyway. I'm mostly on here cos I don't know what motherboards fit in smaller cases like, say, the bitfenix prodigy and don't want to make a dumb mistake.

justsomebloke

you can change the location of My Desktop and My Documents to point to another drive so by default he wouldn't be saving to the SSD.

Also how is he backing his work up?

Shapey Fiend

The SSD shipped the day I made this thread but that's a good pointer didn't think of that.

We've got an external drive hooked up that backs up automatically. Should probably have it back up to the cloud as well hadn't got around to it yet.

tony1980

Does anyone have a link to the Zalman Z4? Trying to put together a budget build but cant see that case on hardwareversand or amazon.

Digital Solitude

tony1980 wrote: »

Does anyone have a link to the Zalman Z4? Trying to put together a budget build but cant see that case on hardwareversand or amazon.

None in stock. This should do

http://www.hardwareversand.de/Mini/224145/Zalman+A1+Micro-ATX+Geh%C3%A4use+-+schwarz.article

Make sure you've a mATX board

tony1980

Digital Solitude wrote: »

None in stock. This should !

http://www.hardwareversand.de/Mini/224145/Zalman+A1+Micro-ATX+Geh%C3%A4use+-+schwarz.article

Make sure you've a mATX board

Cheers DS!

tony1980

Digital Solitude wrote: »

None in stock. This should do

http://www.hardwareversand.de/Mini/224145/Zalman+A1+Micro-ATX+Geh%C3%A4use+-+schwarz.article

Make sure you've a mATX board

Was going to go with this one, waiting on offer from flubit

http://www.amazon.co.uk/computers/dp/B00EPLE3J4