Hi All, how cheap could you build a new system for with an i5 4690K?

Oliver55 · May 9, 2015

I would look myself on NewEgg, but I have no idea about all the compatibilities. I just bought a barebones PC from a place that puts systems together using reasonable components (kingston,crucial muskin (sp) ). I thought it was a good deal but now I'm wondering. It cost £385 or $595.

It comes with 2x4=8GB ddr3 ram, 120GB SSD sata3 and the fans are good enough to cool the cpu and a low end graphics card only. The PSU is 500W OEM. This power supply unit includes a large 120mm bottom mounted fan which helps to keep both the power supply and internal components cool while remaining quiet.

tiny voices · May 9, 2015

That OEM PSU is likely trash. You want a quality unit as it is the single most important piece of a computer.

What is the PC going to be used for?
Why do you need a 4690k?

USAFRet · May 9, 2015

Not enough info on specific parts and models.

1. The PSU is almost certainly sub-par
2. The GPU, as stated, is sub-par.
3. No info on which SSD. Some are to be avoided
4. Motherboard?

Oliver55 · May 9, 2015

tiny voices :

I wanted the best processor for a non gamer and don't want to upgrade for at least 7 years. I figured i5 beats i3 and i7 would be overkill. I was also looking for reasonable energy usage and I won't be doing much if any overclocking.

I just want a fast PC for everyday use. Lots of movie stream tabs, firefox and chrome open at the same time running macros. I don't want or need discrete graphics. The PSU doesn't need to have a large potential because I'm not going to be adding anything to the system, it just needs to be efficient.

I won't be adding any more RAM. The RAM is 1600, and the SSD like the RAM is either Kingston,Crucial or Mushkin (sp). I don't know what motherboard is being used.

tiny voices · May 9, 2015

If you aren't overclocking get a non-K CPU. It would be pointless to get a K series CPU and not overclock it. An i5 4460 would be much more ideal for higher efficiency and lower power use with giving the same performance in your tasks.

USAFRet · May 9, 2015

Oliver55 :

Doesn't matter if you are adding anything. A crap PSU is a crap PSU. And they degrade over time. A bad PSU starts on the edge, and degrades faster.
What may marginally work in that box of parts today may die 18 months from now.

tiny voices · May 9, 2015

^Agree.

I would definitely invest in a proper PSU. A quality 350-450w unit (perfect for your needs) won't be more than like $40 or so. It is WELL Worth the investment to protect your hardware. Why risk it for such a small amount of money?

Oliver55 · May 9, 2015

Well, If I could OC without bumping the wattage I would. The thing is I'm not sûre about that or If I would notice the différence in performance looking at what I'm using it for.

The site usés reasonable parts, I have no reason to believe the PSU is poor. They use parts which work well with the configurations. My concern was If I could have put a system together cheaper, not If I had shoddy parts.

What question can I ask the site about the PSU to endure it is good qualité?

tiny voices · May 9, 2015

You won't see any difference at all with overclocking. Don;t waste the money.

What brand/model is the PSU? (that is what you need to know. If you ask if it is quality, they will lie and say yes.) I'll tell you if it is quality or not. But, if all it says it "OEM 500w unit" then it is not quality.

can you post a link to the site with the configuration you bought?

Oliver55 · May 10, 2015

tiny voices :

It's quite a long link:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sphere-PC-Intel-Haswell-Quad-Core-i5-4690k-3-5GHz-8GB-120GB-SSD-USB3-0-Computer-/201144922100?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2ed52beff4

Ok thanks. I sent the site an email they usually get back within 2 days. There's not much info on the seller's product. I got much of the info by asking through emails, but they do seem to use reasonable parts.

USAFRet · May 10, 2015

Oliver55 :

tiny voices :

It's quite a long link:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sphere-PC-Intel-Haswell-Quad-Core-i5-4690k-3-5GHz-8GB-120GB-SSD-USB3-0-Computer-/201144922100?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2ed52beff4

Ok thanks. I sent the site an email they usually get back within 2 days. There's not much info on the seller's product. I got much of the info by asking through emails, but they do seem to use reasonable parts.

And they will reply with:
"It is a quality 500W 80+ unit"
Which means exactly squat.

Similarly with the SSD.

tiny voices · May 10, 2015

I assume the SSD is a V300, which is not great.

The PSU is certainly not as high quality as is ideal, and is almost certainly pretty low quality.

Oliver55 · May 10, 2015

Hmm.. I don't know about those specifics. I just assumed if it was a good name that would be enough. Given what I'm after, (the SSD is for fast boots and scans) what kind of version should I be asking for? The RAM is ok? It's a good name and 1600.

Also, I checked out the i5 4690 and that has the same power usage as the i5 4460, but it has the clock of the i5 4690k for CPU and iGPU. The price is 15% more than the i5 4460, but the performance is 8% multi thread and 15% single thread better. So maybe that would be an option also...

USAFRet · May 10, 2015

Oliver55 :

And that is precisely what sellers of these systems are counting on.
SSD!
500W!

Big numbers sounds good, but they are crap parts. Buy that, and you will be buying 1/2 of it all over again. Replace the PSU, replace the GPU, replace the SSD.

For instance, the retail price difference between a crap 120GB SSD and a good one is maybe $10.
For the PSU at that size, maybe $5-$10.

But that potential $20 difference is what they are counting on, and is reflected in the advertised price. Which brings eyeballs and sales.

If you see a PC for £385 and one for £420...and the descriptions were exactly the same (120GB SSD and 500W PSU, no brands or models), which one would you gravitate to?
The cheaper one. The £420 has better parts, but you wouldn't know that.
So the cheaper guy never tells you, and fakes you out with blinken lights and big numbers.

tiny voices · May 10, 2015

Nope, name doesn't mean good. The RAM is probably fine, but I'm guess the PSU and SSD are crap. You REALLY need to ask the brand and model for both the SSD and PSU. IF they won;t tell you, it is safe to assume both are crap.

Corsair for example has mediocre and excellent PSUs in their lineup.

It is not worth the 15% at all. You will NEVER see the difference at all between those CPUs.

USAFRet hit the nail on the head.

Oliver55 · May 10, 2015

Awesome, I'll send another email asking for model and brand for SSD as well as PSU.

Oliver55 · May 11, 2015

Lol. I got the response "as stated earlier we cannot guarantee particular models as the brands are used according to availability on time of build". So, I told them to give me the whole list of models because like you said, within a decent brand name there's a wide range of performance. I don't know if he's just playing dumb (customer service agent) but we'll see what response I get.

On the plus side, they are able to swap the 4960k with a 4460 and a £45 refund.

USAFRet · May 11, 2015

Oliver55 :

AKA "Whatever cheap stuff we have in the warehouse today"

There's a reason for the price.

Oliver55 · May 12, 2015

You guys were on the money.

The reply today was that they use a v300 for the SSD and they still don't specify model for PSU beyond restating 500w OEM. All parts do come with 3 year warranty.

So, what models should I present them with to give them an idea of the SSD and PSU I want? If you could give a list of good models that would be great or let me know what to look for to know myself what I should be asking for.

Many thanks.

USAFRet · May 12, 2015

For the SSD, simply state: "I do not want that particular model"
Read this from last year:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7763/an-update-to-kingston-ssdnow-v300-a-switch-to-slower-micron-nand

Overall, I'd look elsewhere for the whole thing.
If they are giving you this much runaround pre-sale...what will they do after they already have your money?

Oliver55 · May 12, 2015

Well, I thought if they'd replace the SSD and PSU with good parts without much increase, it would work out a lot better price wise than what I could find elsewhere. They've agreed to swap the 4690k with a 4460 and give me £45 back, so the price is only £340 now with 3 year warranty on all parts and free shipping. Unless you think I could get what you're saying I need at a similar price, give or take, it doesn't look like I have other options. My budget is £300-£385.

Oliver55 · May 13, 2015

This is the latest from the site (still waiting on PSU info) I told them the v300 wasn't good enough, so they offered these upgrades. Is that enough model information to know the quality? Are any of these good for their upgrade prices? Thanks guys. To have no SSD they will refund £35, so that is the effective cost of the v300.

SSD’s;
HyperX 120Gb Fury additional £15
Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 120Gb additional £25
HyperX 120Gb 3K additional £30

Oliver55 · May 13, 2015

This is the info on the PSU.

Unfortunately we do not have efficiency data for our 500W OEM power supplies. The 650W PowerCool unit (2x 6pin PCI-E Connections additional £45) does have an 80 plus certification and the Antec unit (2x 6+2pin PCI-E Connections £50) has a quoted efficiency of 88%.

They can't refund the 500W PSU provided as they get it delivered to them with their cases.

What do you guys think with all the info on PSU and SSD?

To recap: £340 with the i5 4460, 3 year warranty on all parts free shipping.

They'll knock off £35 for the SSD so I can get a better one, if you think their upgrades aren't worth it. For the PSU, I'll either need to upgrade to their choices or buy a separate PSU myself. From your stated prices on PSUs, I could get one for less than the price of an upgrade.

If you think I'm better with my own PSU and SSD, I'd be looking at £315 and however much they will cost me on top.

What do you think?

tiny voices · May 13, 2015

The Powercool PSU is trash. A danger to the PC. About as bad as it gets and honestly WORSE than I was thinking.

An Antec won't be bad at all.

In my honest opinion, it would be MUCH better to just build this on your own. IF you MUST buy it, get it with no PSU/SSD, but honestly, installing a PSU and connecting everything up is 90% of building a computer so you aren't saving anything.

Oliver55 · May 13, 2015

Do you think I could build my own for a similar price with good warranties, all new? Only reason I was looking at buying was I thought it was a good price and building myself would be difficult.

Hi All, how cheap could you build a new system for with an i5 4690K?

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