Is this a good home PC for £300?

Dylzan

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Aug 2, 2013
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So I'm building a PC for someone who is going to be using it mainly for internet browsing/a few applications so wants it to be relatively quick, of course not lightning fast. He is upgrading from a Pentium 4 with 2GB RAM so it is obviously quite an upgrade. My parts list is here: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3Aes7.
PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3Aes7
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3Aes7/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3Aes7/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor (£77.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Asus H81M-PLUS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£40.57 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Kingston Fury Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£27.42 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Seagate 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive (£57.29 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Zalman Z5 ATX Mid Tower Case (£31.04 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£35.76 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£11.69 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £281.76
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-28 22:03 BST+0100). Please note that this isn't the actual case I'm going to be using but I just left it in there to show the price range for the case. I'm looking for any improvements that people would have and look forward to your replies.
 
Solution
So... Much... Quoting! lol

With this kind of build, pretty much anything in the 'Tier 3' group and up will be perfectly fine. The CX series is perfect for budget builds, as you can usually get the 430w on sale, and sometimes for under $20. For this build, the EVGA, be Quiet!, and CX are all just fine, and whatever is cheapest at time of purchase would be good to go with :)
I would upgrade to the i5-4440 and still stay under 300 quid. The RAM is 1333 speed, but is in dual-channel and a lower CAS latency, so will actually be faster.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor (£125.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£32.05 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Kingston Value 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£24.00 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£41.82 @ Aria PC)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£28.92 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply (£29.98 @ Ebuyer)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£11.69 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £294.45
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-28 22:14 BST+0100)

Case is also a bit smaller too, since you're using a mATX board.
 

targetdan

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Mar 31, 2012
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What you had should do him proud :)

I just changed the psu for a better reviewed model:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor (£77.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Asus H81M-PLUS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£40.57 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Kingston Value 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£24.00 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive (£57.29 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Zalman Z5 ATX Mid Tower Case (£31.04 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: be quiet! 300W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£35.16 @ Scan.co.uk)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£11.69 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £277.74
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-28 22:24 BST+0100)
 


LOL... EVGA would be a lot better than the Be Quiet PSU.
 

targetdan

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Mar 31, 2012
418
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Better than the CX in OP's build I meant.
 


Oh... I thought the CX was more reliable than Be Quiet; I'm sorry.
 
So... Much... Quoting! lol

With this kind of build, pretty much anything in the 'Tier 3' group and up will be perfectly fine. The CX series is perfect for budget builds, as you can usually get the 430w on sale, and sometimes for under $20. For this build, the EVGA, be Quiet!, and CX are all just fine, and whatever is cheapest at time of purchase would be good to go with :)
 
Solution