Budget PC

Clearlier

1. What is your budget? [£400/€540 - I'm living in the UK at the moment]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [SQL server Management Studio, Visual Studio, general internet]

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [Yes]

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [No]

5. Do you need a monitor? [No - but I'd be interested in suggestions for a 23" on a separate budget]

5a. If yes, what size do you need. [as above]

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

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Keyboard/Mouse/Wireless Card/Card Reader/Speakers/etc.] No

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

8. How can you pay? [Credit Card/Debit Card]

9. When are you purchasing? [ASAP]

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? [Bournemouth but happy to build myself]

I'm replacing a 7 year old Dell and ideally I'd like to pick something that will do me for the next 7 years. One option I have is to pick up another Dell off an outlet site. That may be the best option given my relatively low requirements but I've seen these threads pop up on the homepage a few times and thought I'd see if a better deal could be done.

My best option off the Dell outlet site at the moment is an Optiplex 7020 w 500GB Sata HD, 4GB of RAM and this processor: i3-4150 (Dual Core, 3.5 GHz, 3MB Cache, w/HD Graphics 4400). That's £335 delivered. I thought I could replace the memory with 2*8GB Dimms for another £70.

Can I do much better than that building myself?



Edit to add that I'll just be using SQL server and Visual Studio to teach myself for certifications so there won't be any heavy duty data processing going on.

Digital Solitude

Using Euro prices as I don't know any sterling ones

i3 4160 €120
1tb HDD €50
16gb DDR3 €80
B85M board €60
300w PSU €30
Case €50
120gb SSD €60
Total €540
Bit over budget probably but its got an SSD and double the hard drive space. A cheaper case is always an alternative.

As per monitors, BenQ 2450 is my go to recommendation for a cheap 1080p screen. It's 24", priced around €160

Clearlier

Digital Solitude wrote: »

Using Euro prices as I don't know any sterling ones

i3 4160 €120
1tb HDD €50
16gb DDR3 €80
B85M board €60
300w PSU €30
Case €50
120gb SSD €60
Total €540
Bit over budget probably but its got an SSD and double the hard drive space. A cheaper case is always an alternative.

As per monitors, BenQ 2450 is my go to recommendation for a cheap 1080p screen. It's 24", priced around €160

Thanks Digital. I haven't any experience with SSD's although I understand the principle - do they make that big a difference? Also, any recommendations on where to purchase?

Digital Solitude

Yeah I'd never go back to booting from a HDD now, its nuts the change.

If you want to go from the UK, Scan and Alternate come to mind. My prices are from mindfactory.de, Computer Universe or Amazon are good too