Power User system (no gfx)

[trif]

right, this is a bit of an odd one, after a fair bit of googling i can't see many posts like this, work have given me a budget to buy a PC, they said dell, i figure screw that ^^


-purchasing in the next few weeks
-buget (i've been set £400, i reckon i could stretch it to £445) [thats without vat] so about £500-520 after vat
-no sites i've seen have rebates


-pref site would be Ebuyer, but anything reputable and UK based would be fine, play.com, overclockers etc


-usage is general and IT work, ie most of the office suite always open and in use, web for research, random applications, basically lots of CPU, Ram, Network and HDD usage, the most use the gfx card gets is photoshop so on board would be fine or £15 slot filler ^^ (i know onboard can hog core resources)

already have:
-keyboard
-mouse
-screen

can probably dig up/borrow
-optical drive
-possibly case
-okish? psu

things needed:
-CPU
-Mobo
-Ram
-HDD
-gfx
-maybe psu and case (if someone can suggest a very reliable and sub £20 psu that'd be cool ^^) case is £10?


no part preference
overclocking - maybe - but limited, it'd be embarrasing if i broke anything, and ideally i want it to be quite stable [i've not done it before but i'm not against it if trusted guides are linked ]

res is 1440x900, i'll keep that screen for a while, and subtly winge for a new one after the next project ^^ res doesn't effect desktop too much

O/S will be windows 7 pro 64bit

 

[Silvune]

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 620 £75
MOBO: ASUS M4A785TD-M EVO £70
RAM: Crucial 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz/PC3-10600 Memory Kit CL9 1.5V £80
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB $65

Total: £280

I don't know if you'll want to put a dedicated graphics card into this, or what card that would be and how much it would cost, but I'm confident that there would be enough room left in the budget to get a case and reliable power supply. And if you decide against doing that then some of these, the CPU primarily could be upgraded.

 

[trif]

i've had a chat with some mates and we've come up with a few possibilities:

core i5
ram 4gb 1333/1600 £84 Crucial 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz/PC3-10600 Ballistix Memory Kit CL7 (7-7-7-24) 1.65V Or Crucial 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz Ballistix Memory Kit CL8(8-8-8-24) 1.65V Unbuffered Non-ECC
cooler £18.00 Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro rev 2 Socket 775, 1156, 1366, AM2, AM3 Heatpipe CPU Cooler
core i5 750 £150.00
mobo £125.00 Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3R P55 Socket 1156 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard
hdd f3 £37.00
gfx £21.00
psu £40
case £10

Total £485


Core i5 buget mobo and 8gb ram
ram 8gb 1333 £168
cooler £18.00
core i5 750 £150.00
cheap mobo £72 Gigabyte GA-P55-US3L P55 Socket 1156 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard
gfx £21.00
hdd f3 £37.00
psu £40
case £10

Total £516


AMD System
ram 8gb 1333 £168
AMD Phenom II X4 965 £140
mobo M4A785TD £70 Asus M4A785TD-V EVO Socket AM3 onboard DVI VGA HDMI 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard
hdd Spinpoint f3 £37.00
corsair psu £40
case £10

Total £465

few questions

how do the 2 gigabyte mobo's I've listed compare? and how would the OCing go on each? (would an H55 with onboard gfx be a good way to save £20? or is that not for the i5 750s?)

also do i5s even OC that well?

do the Phenom's do any better Ocing?