Looking for budget PC

muffler

Guys, I had what I thought was a decent enough desktop PC (Asus G10AC) but to cut a long story short it was returned to the manufacturer and Im getting some of my money back. The actual seller, Save on Laptops in Birmingham, wouldnt entertain me at all despite being within warranty but that issue is still with Trading Standards although Im not hopeful of a positive outcome and hence a very limited budget on looking for a replacement model.

What I found with the Asus desktop was the speed and smoothness during every day use which was great compared to a couple of Dell PC's I had in the past and indeed Im on a Dell model now. I dont know what type of processor it had but it did have 8gb memory so that would have helped.

Anyhow Im looking for recommendations for a desktop PC for normal use such as browsing/downloading, office work, viewing videos and a bit of light gaming such as playing a few of the older COD and Battlefield games. I will be adding Office and AutoCad but dont need a monitor, keyboard etc.

Id like to get something with a decent processor and 8gb of RAM and Im not fussed on the HD so long as I can get a 150 - 200 GB approx. USB 3.0 ports would be an advantage. Id prefer to buy new but had looked at a couple of used models like this and this but just cant see anything that ticks all the boxes for my budget anyhow.

Now the big problem....Im trying to keep within a budget of €400 - €450 which is probably near impossible but I would welcome your comments and/or recommendations.

Thanks in advance

RossieMan

Budget should be fine, an ssd is a must now for every PC as it's such a massive upgrade over a HDD.

On my phone now but you should fine someone who'll give you a decent spec machine. Not sure what graphics card you'll get for that budget though.

muffler

RossieMan wrote: »

Budget should be fine, an ssd is a must now for every PC as it's such a massive upgrade over a HDD.

On my phone now but you should fine someone who'll give you a decent spec machine. Not sure what graphics card you'll get for that budget though.

Thanks RossieMan. appreciated.

I know the SSD's are expensive compared to the conventional hard drives and to keep within a budget the latter would be fine. I dont need a huge amount of storage as i tend to back up a lot of stuff on to a portable disc. The PC Im currently using has about 70gb used and if I was to add the music, videos, photos, books etc it would take another 100gb max so thats why Im thinking a 200+gb drive would suffice.

Im clueless when it comes to the more technical points but I realise I would need a half decent graphics card but Im not an out and out gamer so something fairly basic would be ok but maybe with an option to upgrade in the future.

Johnboy1951

If you are prepared to build (or have built for you) then something from this thread should suit

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057703904

minitrue

If you were going to build it yourself I think something like the following would be sane:

CPU: Intel Pentium G4600 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor (€92.69 @ Mindfactory)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B250M-DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (€77.99 @ Mindfactory)
Memory: PNY Anarchy 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (€53.01 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (€79.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Case: Zalman ZM-T1 PLUS MicroATX Mini Tower Case (€23.67 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (€49.89 @ Mindfactory)
Total: €377.24 (probably more like €399 with the actual shipping charges from mindfactory).

If you need to include a copy of windows and get it in under €450 you'll need to make some harsher compromises (like dropping to the G4560 and a H110 board and slower ram along with going for 1 8GB stick to make that an easier upgrade in future as the H110 board will only have 2 slots).

I went with the G4600 as it has twice the graphics power as the G4560, if you don't need windows (or are happy to use it with the watermark for now and buy it later) and really want a graphics card now, the G4560 and a rx460 wouldn't be much over €450 and should squeeze into €450 if you drop back to the H110 board also.

At a quick glance it seems the G4600 is roughly 25% quicker then the old i5-2400 in those refurbs for single threaded tasks and maybe 10% slower for multi-threaded stuff. The G4560 in particular is an incredible bargain but if you are gaming at all and not going to have a graphics card I'd pay the premium for the G4600..

muffler

Thanks for the replies guys. I will need a copy of Windows and while Id prefer a "out of the box" PC I certainly wont rule out a self build....or in my case getting someone else to do it as I havent a notion about theses things

The gaming end of things isnt a deal breaker as first and foremost the PC will be used for work but I do enjoy playing a couple of the older COD and Battlefield games now and then but the quality of the graphics wouldnt have to be great.

A DVD drive is also a must and 3.0 USB ports would be important. I have no idea how those ports work as in - are they part of the processor set up or what are they linked to? I know thats a stupid question as such but when you dont know the answer its not hard to ask

minitrue

Your budget will have you stuck at the very bottom end of "out of the box" PCs with nothing that could remotely be called a decent processor (and between autocad and the even old gaming I'd steer clear of those super low power chips which also have absolutely no upgradability) so if you don't want to build it you'll be better off keeping on hunting for used stuff which suits or you can just throw some ram and an ssd into.

You can just install Windows 10 and use it unactivated, for months or longer. Otherwise building your own the guts of 25% of your budget goes to Windows on day 1 :-/

A DVD drive costs about €15 so that's not going to mess with your budget much.

USB 3 ports come from the motherboard generally and realistically anything remotely sane to buy now second-hand should have usb 3 ports.

Obviously you could also go for a hd instead of an SSD but that's insane when you have such low space requirements, an SSD is the most dramatic performance improvement you can get on a PC. It sounds like you could get away with a 120GB SSD but I'd save that cost-cutting until you know it's really the best option left to get you over the line.

I think the most important questions now are:

1) can you get someone to help you build it (or are you willing to diy, it's really not hard)
2) are you ok to defer the windows purchase
3) how hard is the €450 limit

Someone might chime in with a sane used offer or two to consider either.

BloodBath

Your best bet would probably be the second hand market.

AMD are releasing new processors soon so a lot of people will be upgrading and selling older i5 and i7's with boards and ram so you could probably pick up a decent i5/i7 with a board, cooler and ram for around €200-250.

Keep an eye on adverts.ie over the next couple of weeks.

MRTULES

I would have a look at TerrorFirmer's PCs on adverts. He would definitely have something to suit. Where are you based?

muffler

minitrue wrote: »

I think the most important questions now are:

1) can you get someone to help you build it (or are you willing to diy, it's really not hard)
2) are you ok to defer the windows purchase
3) how hard is the €450 limit

1. I wouldnt have the confidence to chance it myself but could probably get someone to build it for me. If there's a good saving to be had then that might be my best option.
2. Im sorta lost on this point. Is Windows not needed to run everything or at least install stuff?
3. Would prefer to keep as low as possible obviously but could increase that up to 500 or so

MRTULES wrote: »

I would have a look at TerrorFirmer's PCs on adverts. He would definitely have something to suit. Where are you based?

I'll certainly have a look there, thanks.

minitrue

re: 2) I'm not going to start talking about Windows Vs Linux Vs OSX Vs ChromeOS Vs Android as you mentioned games and Autocad at least which basically means you need Windows.

You can however install windows 10 and go ahead an use it without paying. It will stick a watermark on your screen after a while and mildly nag you about it being unactivated every now and then but it makes it easy to defer the purchase. If you have a windows 7 or 8 license you could use you could also use that for Windows 10 either!

As for 3) obviously the more you shave off the more you reduce performance or remove options to upgrade later or just leave yourself with the absolute minimum disk or have a nosier and less efficient power supply or ...

Something like:

CPU: Intel Pentium G4600 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor (€92.69 @ Mindfactory)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B250M-DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (€77.99 @ Mindfactory)
Memory: PNY Anarchy 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (€53.01 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: Plextor M7V 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (€80.23 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Case: Zalman ZM-T1 PLUS MicroATX Mini Tower Case (€23.67 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (€50.97 @ Mindfactory)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0 DVD/CD Writer (€14.69 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (€99.85 @ Mindfactory)
Total: €493.10 (really about €507 delivered)

Hasn't really compromised anything (it's cheap but not cutting corners) and includes Windows. It has the "luxury" of an extra €30 on the processor (over a G4560) to double the gpu power, add 50% more cache and bump the speed a smidge. Drop back to the G4560 and it's still good. Leave out windows for now and you are way under budget and could jump all the way up to an i5-7400 (probably overkill) or down to the G4560 and add a graphics card (probably overkill depending on how old the games are).

And that machine is bang up to date and set for upgrading in 1,2,3 years time as opposed to say Dell's cheapest machine which is €400 and has a puny cpu by comparison and no upgrade options for cpu or graphics at least.

With your budget and requests I don't see a new "out of the box" machine as an option, but building one is. I'm pretty useless when it comes to second hand stuff but that should give you a good benchmark to put any options up against.

smacl

BloodBath wrote: »

Your best bet would probably be the second hand market.

AMD are releasing new processors soon so a lot of people will be upgrading and selling older i5 and i7's with boards and ram so you could probably pick up a decent i5/i7 with a board, cooler and ram for around €200-250.

Keep an eye on adverts.ie over the next couple of weeks.

Second this, but just be aware if something seems too good to be true it probably is. Going for a seller with good knowledge of kit, e.g TerrorFirmer of these boards, makes sense as you're less likely to pick up a dud and people who sell regularly are keen to keep up a good reputation.

Which version of AutoCAD and how big are your DWG files, as this could dictate the lower limit of what will work.

Lu Tze

smacl wrote: »

Which version of AutoCAD and how big are your DWG files, as this could dictate the lower limit of what will work.

And if its mainly 2d files you work on? I find that a dual core is fine for 2d, even if you have large files or xrefs, so long as you have enough ram, and a fast hard drive (ssd)

smacl

Lu Tze wrote: »

And if its mainly 2d files you work on? I find that a dual core is fine for 2d, even if you have large files or xrefs, so long as you have enough ram, and a fast hard drive (ssd)

Yep, I just did a quick search on my local drive and DWG files sizes ranged from about 50k to over 2GB. Small 2d stuff is fine on most PCs, large meshed 3d surfaces not so much, point clouds definitely not

TerrorFirmer

If you can get someone to build for you, hands down your best option is a G4560/8GB/SSD/GTX1050 based build which €450 should cover. Just go with Win10 unactivated, it's perfectly fine to use and is completely non-intrusive.

Minitrue's one above is good but I would drop to G4560, forget Windows, leave out the DVD drive, and add a GTX1050. Even for older Battlefield titles (BF3, BF4) the integrated graphics are not really enough to cope.

You have a brand new computer, full warranty, latest DDR4 platform, etc - at that price point it's worth it over second hand. Especially thanks to the G4560 budget gaming PC's have come on leaps and bounds in recent months. Just a few months ago, performance costing €450 now would have cost €600.

muffler

Thanks again guys for all the info, tips and advice.

Just to respond to a previous question. The AutoCad is either 2009 or 2010 version and it's 2D. Its currently installed on an old machine running XP and typical file size would be around 10 - 20mb but a maximum of perhaps around 40mb. It doesnt get much use and when it does its mostly for mapping work and opening dwg files for printing. I'll need to check to see if it's compatible with the newer versions of windows.

Im still a little unsure about the suggestion of not activating Windows in a new PC. Would it not be needed to use Microsoft Office and AutoCad etc?

RossieMan

no. not needed.

perhaps do a bit of reading on the subject if you wish, might put your mind at ease.


You'll just have to put up with a watermark on the bottom of your screen, not intrusive at all.

cunavalos

There are a few options on the dell outlet page within your specification and budget.

Some of the PC's are certified new and not necessarily customer returns or refurbished units and will come with a warranty and operating system.

Unfortunately the Dell website does not allow hot-linking of specific product pages so best to search for available optiplexes on the Outlet home page and obviously the Business Outlet prices are excluding VAT

Coupon Code - Plex183 will give a 15% discount on Optiplex Systems off the listed price and additional 2-5% discounts can also be had by calling a sales agent.

http://outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/InventorySearch.aspx?brandid=2&c=uk&cs=ukdfb1&l=en&s=dfb&fid=1321&fid=1356&fid=1372&fid=1405&fid=1406&fid=1453&fid=1456&fid=1460&fid=1462&fid=1524&fid=1526&fid=1527&fid=1529&fid=1555&fid=1592&fid=1594&fid=1597&fid=1617&fid=1618&fid=1742&fid=1748&fid=1754&fid=1756&fid=1781&fid=1836&~ck=mn

For example the following Optiplex 3040 are available

and taking into account VAT, delivery, the aforementioned discount and currency exchange rate can be had for less than €400 including the addition of an extra 4GB RAM to bring it to 8GB