sub £500 pc build

[Djinni]

Hey guys... So i'm, looking for a sub-£500 build (all inclusive)for my girlfriend...

It's going to be used mostly for watching movies, browsing the web (you know... whatever it is girls do with this stuff) and some limited gaming, hopefully WoW too now that she'll have a semi decent machine.

So she's running a tight budget, so i'm looking for places I can shave of a few pounds here and there... It only really needs to last 2 maybe 3 years. (If I can squeeze an extra year or two out of it (by overclocking anything) for £50 then yes... i'd be looking at doing that)

I'm not as yet entirely sure she actually needs a Graphics card. Also unlike me, she's not tied to NVIDIA, so if theres a cheaper comparable ATI card available no issues with using that.

		Remove				Item Description		Quantity		Unit Price (ex vat)		Line Total (ex vat)
						Novatech Panther ATX Case with 500W PSU 10 in stock NOV-PANTH5		1		£20.82		£20.82
						Intel Core i3 2100 3.1GHz (Sandy Bridge) Socket LGA1155 - Retail. Out of stock: 100 Due 22 June IL-I32100		1		£79.15		£79.15
						Asus P8H61-I Intel H61 (Socket 1155) Motherboard - B3 Revision 5 in stock ASU-H61I		1		£58.32		£58.32
						Novatech 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit 15 in stock RAM-313334		1		£29.99		£29.99
						Novatech GeForce GTX 460 768MB GDDR5 PCIe 5 in stock NOV-GTX460		1		£94.15		£94.15
						LiteOn IHAS224-19 24x DVD+/-RW Lightscribe SATA Black - OEM 50+ in stock LIT-IHAS22		1		£13.32		£13.32
						Logitech MK250 Desktop - Wireless 50+ in stock LOG-922661		1		£17.49		£17.49
						Samsung SyncMaster E2220 22" LCD Monitor 3 in stock SAM-LS22CL		1		£91.66		£91.66
						Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 16MB Cache Hard Drive SATA 6Gb/s <8.9ms 7200rpm - OEM 50+ in stock WD-10EALX		1		£34.15		£34.15

	Total Basket Ex VAT: £439.05 ex vat Delivery Charge: 0.00 ex vat Basket + Delivery Ex VAT: £439.05 ex vat VAT @ 20%: £87.81 Total Basket Value: £526.86 inc vat

Why am I using Novatech?
Well as I've said in plenty of other threads,
Firstly and most importantly, I can get the VAT off on purchase.
Secondly and probably just as importantly I guess.. IF anything goes wrong, they have stores and repair centers I can walk into and get a same day fix (replacement/repair whatever)
Thirdly, they have great service anyway.

I am also considering comparable laptops (same budget) or barebones bundles etc... whatever works out for the best spec, and the cheapest option.

[BicycleMafioso]

I suggest HD5770.

Also. Girls only browse the Internet to look at horses and thesims-expansions. I swear. Nothing nude.

[Djinni]

I suggest HD5770.

Also. Girls only browse the Internet to look at horses and thesims-expansions. I swear. Nothing nude.

Novatech ATI Radeon 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCIe

£72.49

this one?

Good spot, thanks :-)

And I think its more like Jewelery and dresses... Also the fact that you even brought nudity up means you sure do.....

[Drunkenvalley]

Can probably shave off 500GB off the HDD.

[Sackman]

I would say keep the 460, it's a good 10fps better which is worth that £22.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3809/n...the-200-king/4

[Fuzzykins]

I suggest HD5770.

Also. Girls only browse the Internet to look at horses and thesims-expansions. I swear. Nothing nude.

Horses and sims? Those are some odd kinks, Tetris. x3

[Drunkenvalley]

I would say keep the 460, it's a good 10fps better which is worth that £22.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3809/n...the-200-king/4

...Not really, imo.

[Djinni]

I would say keep the 460, it's a good 10fps better which is worth that £22.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3809/n...the-200-king/4

Novatech ATI Radeon 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCIe 850MHz Core, 1024MB 4800MHz GDDR5 Memory, 800 Stream Processors, 1 x DVI, 1 x Mini DisplayPort, 1 x HDMI

vs

Novatech GeForce GTX 460 768MB GDDR5 PCIe 648MHz Core, 768MB 3400MHz GDDR5 Memory, 336 Cuda Processors, 1 x DVI, 1 x HDMI, 1 x VGA

[Deleted]

can't you go amd processor as well?

i was about to literally buy the barebones bits you posted in this thread because i need a play around machine and this looked like a quick and easy option... then i switched the mobo and processor for a socket amd3 and phenom II x4 840 to see how much cheaper it would be - the same case and psu and same ram, but with the two changes was only 187 quid including VAT

just added those other bits you needed as well, the monitor, optical drive, hdd, keyboard and mouse bundle, plus the hd 5770 and it only comes to 385 excluding VAT.

[Djinni]

can't you go amd processor as well?

i was about to literally buy the barebones bits you posted in this thread because i need a play around machine and this looked like a quick and easy option... then i switched the mobo and processor for a socket amd3 and phenom II x4 840 to see how much cheaper it would be - the same case and psu and same ram, but with the two changes was only 187 quid including VAT

just added those other bits you needed as well, the monitor, optical drive, hdd, keyboard and mouse bundle, plus the hd 5770 and it only comes to 385 excluding VAT.

I could... although i'm not entirely sure which AMD processors are worth buying anymore... (My last one was a PhenomII X4 920) + i've been hearing some very good things about the current generation intel chips. That said I'm also not used to building to such a low spec.... Usually I build for a high end gaming spec.

Logically the 840 would be an older chip than what I had in my PC 2/3 years ago.... ? I know this is a tighter budget but shouldn't we be moving forward? Not still installing hardware more than 2 or 3 years old?

[Deleted]

I could... although i'm not entirely sure which AMD processors are worth buying anymore... (My last one was a PhenomII X4 920) + i've been hearing some very good things about the current generation intel chips. That said I'm also not used to building to such a low spec.... Usually I build for a high end gaming spec.

Logically the 840 would be an older chip than what I had in my PC 2/3 years ago.... ? I know this is a tighter budget but shouldn't we be moving forward? Not still installing hardware more than 2 or 3 years old?

from what i've read it's actually a pretty new edition to the 800 series so the name is kind of misleading. it was out at the start of 2011 i think, but i could be wrong. the reviews i read so far though do place it as the best in the lower end cpu bracket, before you start getting to the sandybridge i5 cpus, seeing as it is a quad core with decent 3.2ghz speed.

[Deleted]

dunno how much the price difference is, but if it isnt to much you could better get a phenom 2 955 BE, instead of the 840.
955 is L3 cache which is better for gaming
But then again your GF doesnt game that much, but if she would start with wow, the 955 would be the better choice, but it depends on the price difference ofcourse

[Djinni]

I'd rather get her to spend £600 to make a system that will perform well for 3 or 4 years, than £400 on a system that will barely perform for 3 years and probably cease to be useful for gaming after 2years

[Sackman]

Novatech ATI Radeon 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCIe 850MHz Core, 1024MB 4800MHz GDDR5 Memory, 800 Stream Processors, 1 x DVI, 1 x Mini DisplayPort, 1 x HDMI

vs

Novatech GeForce GTX 460 768MB GDDR5 PCIe 648MHz Core, 768MB 3400MHz GDDR5 Memory, 336 Cuda Processors, 1 x DVI, 1 x HDMI, 1 x VGA

Look at the benchmark I posted and decide for yourself.

Architecture tends to be more important than stats nowadays. And the 460 768mb as shown in those benches performs considerably better, even at the higher resolution where the 5770 should eagerly pull away with more vram (according to everyones interpretation of it).

Your stats fail to link texture fill rate and memory bandwidth aswell, which is largely more important.