Cheap as possible Desktop

doctorg

1. What is your budget? CHEAP AS POSSIBLE <€500

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Normal Web browsing, Photo editing, web designing, Programming and a bit of gaming(play most if not all at low setting?)

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? No

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

5. Do you need a monitor? No

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? No.

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Yes

8. How can you pay? Credit card, laser

9. When are you purchasing? 2-3 weeks.

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? [South Dublin City/Cork City/Kerry/etc.] South dublin


Is it possible? Am I asking for too much :P
I await for your wisdom

MRTULES

Now I dont think this will work but here you go.

Item|Price
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€31.49
Seagate Barracuda 7200 500GB SATA 6GB's|€56.56
Xigmatek Asgard, ATX, ohne Netzteil, schwarz|€32.23
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W|€42.15
ASRock Z77 Pro3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€87.14
Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155|€215.26
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€483.82

Im sure someone who knows their stuff will tell you whats what. I'd reckon the on board hd 4000 graphics might not be enough for you and this build is total CPU and no GPU. Maybe a better option would be this
Item|Price
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€31.49
Seagate Barracuda 7200 500GB SATA 6GB's|€56.56
Xigmatek Asgard, ATX, ohne Netzteil, schwarz|€32.23
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W|€42.15
Intel Core i3-2120 Box, LGA1155|€109.07
ASUS P8H61 REV 3.0, Sockel 1155, ATX, DDR3|€61.04
Sapphire HD6870 1G GDDR5 PCI-E DL-DVI-I+SL-DVI-D / HDMI / DP|€160.64
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€512.17
Just swapped to an non over clockable i3 for CPU and threw in what I think is an ok GPU (valuewise, although it was cheaper so may not be great value now) Also Im not sure about the mobo, but something like this might be on the right track.

I'd be interested to see what others had to say about this also as I may be looking for something similar.

ED E

Spend money on Processor/Ram now, with some shítty onboard GPU and then buy a decent graphics card in a few months with a bit of saving. Better than crippling everything now.

doctorg

I don't mind getting a refurb or used Processor/ram if it reduces the cost.

Would very much prefer the discrete graphics card, main reason to buy the desktop!

Also Guys Ram and hdd space can be low can I can upgrade later with some amazon vouchers i have

doctorg

Bump

doctorg

Guys,

I got a 25% discount coupon for a dell vostro 470.

I was thinking of getting the base model for €438, is it a good deal?

Can I put in a nvidia geforce 640 in this?

Monotype

I'd guess that the dell vostro wouldn't be anywhere near as powerful as the first one posted by MrThurles which is an extremely upgradable PC with the basis for a long lasting systemThe 640 wouldn't be a great card. If you'd like, I could pick out an AMD system. They have a couple good priced CPUs. You could divert some of the funds saved to a decent graphics card.

doctorg

Monotype wrote: »

I'd guess that the dell vostro wouldn't be anywhere near as powerful as the first one posted by MrThurles which is an extremely upgradable PC with the basis for a long lasting systemThe 640 wouldn't be a great card. If you'd like, I could pick out an AMD system. They have a couple good priced CPUs. You could divert some of the funds saved to a decent graphics card.

Ok, So the first one is alot more powerful than the vostro?

Are the prices of HDSW the cheapest or could I get a better value shopping around. ( amazon/eBay).

Don't really like AMD. Intel is better imo.

So if i go for the first one, are all the part compatible? and since it doesn't have a GPU, is there one I could pick up on amazon? I haz £60 there.

Thanks!

Monotype

Yes. The vostro has a 3450 while the other has a 3570K. Faster plus you can overclock to gain even more performance.

That's about the cheapest around. Ebay won't save you anything as these are new parts by a big company so individual sellers can't compete. Amazon are expensive for hardware except if you're just buying one or two items.

Any reason you're writing off AMD like that. Intel has the best performance - there's no opinion about that. AMD do provide better performance at certain lower price points, however. The 3570K is one of the best CPUs around and the #1 choice here.
£60 wouldn't buy you much of a graphics card. If you had a bit more, you could think about a 7750 or 7770. The integrated graphics isn't too bad and you could try it out for a little while, while you save for a better card.

doctorg

Monotype wrote: »

Yes. The vostro has a 3450 while the other has a 3570K. Faster plus you can overclock to gain even more performance.

That's about the cheapest around. Ebay won't save you anything as these are new parts by a big company so individual sellers can't compete. Amazon are expensive for hardware except if you're just buying one or two items.

Any reason you're writing off AMD like that. Intel has the best performance - there's no opinion about that. AMD do provide better performance at certain lower price points, however. The 3570K is one of the best CPUs around and the #1 choice here.
£60 wouldn't buy you much of a graphics card. If you had a bit more, you could think about a 7750 or 7770. The integrated graphics isn't too bad and you could try it out for a little while, while you save for a better card.

I find AMD to be slower than intel so I kinda like to stay away. But as you are saying the one above seems alot better than the vostro.

Can it be tweaked further to reduce the cost? Reduce ram and hdd and get a cheaper case ??

Is this all I will need to build it or will I need to buy screws and other stuff separate?

Thanks alot for the help so far

Monotype

Maybe the AMD systems you use are always older generations that the Intel systems. Or it could be many other reasons. You can't write off a manufacturer just like that as you're just limiting your options.

You won't be getting a case much cheaper than that. It's €30. That is cheap. There's a few cheaper ones alright, but they start getting really crappy.

Yeah, you could get 4GB and in most situations, you won't see much difference. 8GB would probably last you the entire life of the system.
Here's about the cheapest one you can find.
http://lb.hardwareversand.de/1333+Low+Voltage/38042/4GB+Corsair+Valueselect+DDR3-1333+CL9.article
or for slightly higher speed.
http://lb.hardwareversand.de/1600+Low+Voltage/66623/4GB+G.Skill+RipJaws+PC3-12800U+CL9.article

I suppose you could take a look on adverts to see if there's any RAM second hand. It would be hard enough to beat that price and I wouldn't be bothered with ebay as by the time you've factored in postage and made sure that they're not fake, you'll have spent over the amount.

You could save about €1.50 and get the Pro4-M board.
http://lb.hardwareversand.de/DDR3/59321/ASRock+Z77+Pro4-M%2C+Sockel+1155%2C+mATX.article

It's a smaller board and note that there's no PCI slots if you plan to reuse old sound cards etc.

Edit: Everything you need is there except a power lead. That's the same kind that you find in all PCs, same kind as electric kettle. There's no DVD drive or windows in there, if that's an issue.

doctorg

Monotype wrote: »

Maybe the AMD systems you use are always older generations that the Intel systems. Or it could be many other reasons. You can't write off a manufacturer just like that as you're just limiting your options.

You won't be getting a case much cheaper than that. It's €30. That is cheap. There's a few cheaper ones alright, but they start getting really crappy.

Yeah, you could get 4GB and in most situations, you won't see much difference. 8GB would probably last you the entire life of the system.
Here's about the cheapest one you can find.
http://lb.hardwareversand.de/1333+Low+Voltage/38042/4GB+Corsair+Valueselect+DDR3-1333+CL9.article
or for slightly higher speed.
http://lb.hardwareversand.de/1600+Low+Voltage/66623/4GB+G.Skill+RipJaws+PC3-12800U+CL9.article

I suppose you could take a look on adverts to see if there's any RAM second hand. It would be hard enough to beat that price and I wouldn't be bothered with ebay as by the time you've factored in postage and made sure that they're not fake, you'll have spent over the amount.

You could save about €1.50 and get the Pro4-M board.
http://lb.hardwareversand.de/DDR3/59321/ASRock+Z77+Pro4-M%2C+Sockel+1155%2C+mATX.article

It's a smaller board and note that there's no PCI slots if you plan to reuse old sound cards etc.

Edit: Everything you need is there except a power lead. That's the same kind that you find in all PCs, same kind as electric kettle. There's no DVD drive or windows in there, if that's an issue.

Ok thanks!

How long does delivery take?

Are all those parts compatible?

I already have windows so i can install that via USB.

The mobo has USB 3 I guess? Would be a plus :P

Tea_Bag

I really don't see why you wouldn't go AMD on that budget. an 8120 + 870 Extreme3 comes in at €200. less than you planned on spending on the CPU alone. outside of benchmarks, you'll have 85% of the CPU performance, but twice the budget for a GPU, which is what really counts for gaming. the 8120 won't have you bottlenecked at 1080p for a long time, unless youre running crossfire or SLI.

doctorg

Tea_Bag wrote: »

I really don't see why you wouldn't go AMD on that budget. an 8120 + 870 Extreme3 comes in at €200. less than you planned on spending on the CPU alone. outside of benchmarks, you'll have 85% of the CPU performance, but twice the budget for a GPU, which is what really counts for gaming. the 8120 won't have you bottlenecked at 1080p for a long time, unless youre running crossfire or SLI.

You see, i don't just want to game. I want to be photo/video editing and programming. intel has better support and more processing power i think!!!

Tea_Bag

just to point out, programming can be done on a Pentium II. unless you're compiling a huuuuuge program in maybe Java or some other vm style code you would never know the difference between AMD and Intel.

actually, you could come over to mine and I bet you wouldn't be able to work out which was the Intel system.

what video editing?

ED E

Yeah, programming is low power(unless you're compiling huge things on the fly), so ignore that.


Video work, its true that some products, and when I say some I mean Adobe, lend themselves better to Intel systems, but if thats going to mean 12 minutes to render a video instead of 10 whats the big deal. This a budget rig, buy AMD.

Tea_Bag

what do you mean by 'support'?

as far as future proofing, you're pretty much at the limit of both techs. AMD has a few new CPUs that would fit the socket for an upgrade later.

doctorg

Tea_Bag wrote: »

just to point out, programming can be done on a Pentium II. unless you're compiling a huuuuuge program in maybe Java or some other vm style code you would never know the difference between AMD and Intel.

actually, you could come over to mine and I bet you wouldn't be able to work out which was the Intel system.

what video editing?

Ok, if I was to go with AMD, what would the system look like?

Can you make out the configuration for me? And I might gamble with AMD :P