300-400 euro budget...

Dr Nic

Hi Guys,
Looking at a new pc and looking for some advice...
Doesnt need a monitor, or any software really.
A decent graphics card but nothing special. Enough ram and hdd to run Photoshop, but it doesnt have to be a beast...
Any suggestions or sites?
Thinking about going second hand on adverts but maybe these german sites do a better deal?
Thanks!

Solitaire

Will you be gaming? You don't need much of a graphics card to run Photoshop well...

Dr Nic

Thanks - im considering no graphics card at all, just run vga from the mobo

deconduo wrote: »

Including OS is a tall order. If he's a student you can get Win 7 for €45. Then you could do something like this:

Total build cost: €346.79 + €30 shipping
4GB-Kit Corsair Twin3X4096-1333C9A DDR3, CL9 €30.59
Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB, SATA II (HD502HJ) €33.59
Samsung SH-222AB bare schwarz SATA €17.83
Xigmatek Asgard, ATX, ohne Netzteil, schwarz €31.61
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W €41.17
AMD Athlon II X3 450 "Boxed" 95W, Sockel AM3 €59.54
MSI 760GM-P33, Sockel AM3, mATX, PCIe €42.83
XFX RADEON HD 5770 1GB DDR5 DP HDMI DUAL DVI €89.63

Here's a post i found for a gaming pc for 400euro. Reckon i could drop the graphics altogether throw in a case and i should be laughing?

Opinions?

Dr Nic

One big concern id have is how loud is this going to be?
So i should watch decibel rating of the psu fan and heat sink?

Dr Nic

mATX Case and 420W psu all in one - 34eur

mATX is fine as all id ever need is one dvd drive

Dr Nic

Anyone care to have a look over this?
Basically took the above spec, dropped the gpu, case and psu and added an all in once mATX case & psu. And added a bigger hdd.
Anyone any idea how,loud this will be?
Thanks!

Total build cost: €229 + €? shipping
4GB-Kit Corsair Twin3X4096-1333C9A DDR3, CL9 €29.57
Samsung SH-222AB bare schwarz SATA €17.71
AMD Athlon II X3 450 "Boxed" 95W, Sockel AM3 €59.54
MSI 760GM-P33, Sockel AM3, mATX, PCIe €42.83
HKC Case 4673GD, mATX, 420Watt 34,16 €
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1000GB, SATA II (HD103SJ) 44,09 €

Monotype

I would fork out a little more for a better motherboard and avoid the cheapo PSUs.

Total build cost: €304.36 + €30 shipping
ASRock 880G Pro3, Sockel AM3+, ATX €78.53
4GB-Kit Corsair Twin3X4096-1333C9A DDR3, CL9 €29.57
Samsung SH-222AB bare schwarz SATA €17.71
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1000GB, SATA II (HD103SJ) €44.09
AMD Athlon II X3 450 "Boxed" 95W, Sockel AM3 €60.64
Xigmatek Asgard III Midi Tower - black, ohne Netzteil €32.63
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W €41.19

The PSU is decent quality and allows for upgrades.
The motherboard has up to date features allowing for upgrades with SSDs, USB 3 items and future processors.

If you fancy mATX, there's plenty of similar alternatives.
MSI 880GMA-E55 has similar features and should support future processors with a BIOS upgrade.
Slightly faster RAM mightn't go amiss either.

Dr Nic

How loud would that be?

Dr Nic

Ah - the fan in the psu is 20db - so thats the sound of normal breathing at 3m apparently
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-91267.html

Now the psu fan, cant seem to find its db rating - assume its less than the psu fan though...

Mister Man

You can control the fan speed on your CPU heatsink & other fans (GPU And normal fans) via app's you can download online, or from the BIO's I believe. Not sure if it's possible for the PSU though, although I've never noticed my PSU making noise in the past, so I would guess it would be quite.

Trevor451

Super flower amazons are near silent even under heavy load

Monotype

I don't know about the asgard III but I wouldn't exactly call the asgard I quiet. If noise is important, get some better fans and a quieter heatsink for the processor.
http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=28345

Dr Nic

Thanks guys...
http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=40699&agid=1193

This ram with this mobo?

MSI 880GMA-E55, Sockel AM3, mATX, PCIe - 77euro


Im going to go with mATX regardless so this case.

It comes with a psu, i wont be running anything too powerful so i might just use the stock cheapo one...
If i need one in future, i can grab something off komplett?

Monotype

Big heatspreaders can be annoying. It will do the job fine but I'd prefer something like
http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=29673
or even
http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=28068
although that has higher voltage.

I'm using RAM #1 with a very similar board.

Dr Nic

So any ddr3 ram cl9 will work with that msi 880?
Isnt 1600mhz the fastest ram for that mobo?
Just wondering cause i had 1333mhz ram i think and Monotype, i think you were saying to go for faster ram. That had me thinking that the ram i originally had was very slow, but it was only 1 step down right?

Monotype

Taking a look on the msi site it says
Supports four unbuffered DIMM of 1.5 Volt DDR3 800/1066/1333/1600* (OC) DRAM, 16GB Max
I wouldn't be overly concerned about speed limits of boards. You rarely see the 800, with the 1333 and the 1600 being the most common. I would usually pick the 1600 as it is not the huge expense leap of the higher speeds. It's handy to have RAM that is rated a bit higher for overclocking too. When the budget is tight, you can pick the slower RAM and not suffer, but the marginal cost is not that much in this case, in my opinion, and still well within budget.

I'd say nearly any DDR3 RAM of any kind would work in that board. I haven't heard of many compatibility issues with this generation of AMD boards.
There's a list of tested modules here if you are very concerned.
http://www.msi.com/file/test_report/TR10_2198.pdf

Edit: Never mind, that list isn't great - it only covers two speeds. As I've said the ripjaws works very well and I've used it with a few AMD boards including a similar MSI board.

Dr Nic

Anyone know their bank account number to tx payment?

Fluffy88

*deleted* I should have read the next page of replys :eek:

Dr Nic

Heres the final BOM - How do you guys get a nice formatted printout?
This is a ridiculously good price! Beats adverts hands down for quality and pretty much the same price!
Thanks to all for your help!

Name: 4GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 MHz CL9
Article number: HV20CO60DE
Stock balance: ready for dispatch
Quantity: 1
Price per unit: 36,71 €
Price: 36,71 €

Name: AMD Athlon II X3 450 "Boxed" 95W, Sockel AM3
Article number: HV20X347DE
Stock balance: ready for dispatch
Quantity: 1
Price per unit: 60,64 €
Price: 60,64 €

Name: HKC Case 4673GD, mATX, 420Watt
Article number: HV203H07DE
Stock balance: ready for dispatch
Quantity: 1
Price per unit: 34,16 €
Price: 34,16 €

Name: MSI 880GMA-E55, Sockel AM3, mATX, PCIe
Article number: HV1132MYDE
Stock balance: ready for dispatch
Quantity: 1
Price per unit: 77,33 €
Price: 77,33 €

Name: Samsung SH-222AB bare schwarz SATA
Article number: HV207SBADE
Stock balance: ready for dispatch
Quantity: 1
Price per unit: 17,71 €
Price: 17,71 €

Name: Samsung SpinPoint F3 1000GB, SATA II (HD103SJ)
Article number: HV1310F3DE
Stock balance: ready for dispatch
Quantity: 1
Price per unit: 44,09 €
Price: 44,09 €

Subtotal: 270,64 €
Shipping costs by DHL-Normalversand + 30,00 €


Total: 300,64 €

Fluffy88

When you see a nice pwetty post like Monotype used on the last page, or the one you quoted from Deconduo you can use this thread to get that same one.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056303834

Dr Nic

Total build cost: €270.64 + €30 shipping
4GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 MHz CL9 €36.71
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1000GB, SATA II (HD103SJ) €44.09
HKC Case 4673GD, mATX, 420Watt €34.16
Samsung SH-222AB bare schwarz SATA €17.71
MSI 880GMA-E55, Sockel AM3, mATX, PCIe €77.33
AMD Athlon II X3 450 "Boxed" 95W, Sockel AM3 €60.64

Monotype

I would really advise that you get a better PSU.
When they come that cheap, there is something wrong (no, you usually don't get bargains with cheap PSUs, just a piece of junk that could loosely be called a PSU that's maybe half as powerful as what they say).

marco_polo

Monotype wrote: »

I would really advise that you get a better PSU.
When they come that cheap, there is something wrong (no, you usually don't get bargains with cheap PSUs, just a piece of junk that could loosely be called a PSU that's maybe half as powerful as what they say).

Pretty much spot on, it should have something like a 200W label on it (Check out the guns on that 12V rail).

http://www.hkc-europe.com/product_detail.asp?id=700

Dr Nic

Got the gear this am - Delighted but cant get the dvd drive to fit the case. It goes in most of the way then catches...
Maybe the front fascia has to come off the drive?
Anyone any idea?

Monotype

Put it in from the other side? - From inside the case to out or vice versa.

Dr Nic

Thanks
No chance of getting it in from outside as there's alittle hinge...
Has to be from the inside but it just catches about half an inch from being totally in

Monotype

Did you screw or attach it to a rail or anything that could be in the wrong place? - Too far forward or back?
DVD drives are usually a standard size and the front bezel usually doesn't come off unless you buy one with different colours - even those are a standard size and can be difficult to pull off (memories of sore fingers).

Check that there's no bits of metal or plastic that you're supposed to break off. There might be something in the case manual although these are often sparse.

Dr Nic

No i dont think so - i broke off the bits that needed breaking...
Anyway - the cd drive works but its moveable...

Now a bigger problem. Trying to install Xp pro. Was working away through the various Microsoft blue screen messages until it got to the point - F8 do you agree - The damn computer wouldnt recognise my usb keyboard F8 - so i had to reboot.

Now it appears as if the hard drive is somehow locked from booting. It just shows a black screen...


Usually id just pop the hdd into a external caddy and format it, but i havent a SATA caddy...

Maybe i could boot Linux from CD and use that to format the drive??

Any idea's?

deconduo

You should be able to just try and install windows again. Its strange that it didn't recognise the keyboard, I've never seen that before.

Dr Nic

Sorted now...

Just need to get the dvd drive to fit fully, but overall its great!