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Help with new budget PC

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Hi there,

I'm attempting to build a new PC in the UK, with a £400 budget. I want it to be fairly balanced and relatively future-proof - I don't do heavy gaming but play the occasional game of Football Manger or Sim City. I don't need a monitor, speakers, keyboard or mouse.

Here's what I've specced out so far. I would like to know:

a) Will it all work together?
b) Is it balanced?
c) Is there a better way of spending £400?
d) Can I squeeze a second HDD in somehow?

Components:

Processor: Athlon II X3 450
£64.98
http://www.dabs.com/products/amd-athlon-ii-x3-450-3-2gh...

Cooler: with processor (I assume)
£0.00

Motherboard: Asus M4A78LT-M LE
£44.03
http://www.dabs.com/products/asus-m4a78lt-m-le--amd-760...

Memory: 4GB DDR3 1333MHz
£59.98
http://www.dabs.com/products/corsair-memory-xms3-4gb-dd...

Graphics Card: ATI Radeon 5670 HD
£64.74
http://www.dabs.com/products/sapphire-technology-ati-ra...

Hard Drive: Western Digital 160GB
£26.98
http://www.dabs.com/products/western-digital-caviar-blu...

Case: Best Value S001 (Micro ATX)
£30.90
http://www.dabs.com/products/best-value-s001-micro-atx-...

Power Supply: with Case (450W)
£0.00

Optical Drive: LG Electronics 22x DVDRW
£19.04
http://www.dabs.com/products/lg-electronics-22x-dvdrw-l...

OS: Windows 7 32 bit
£75.70
http://www.dabs.com/products/microsoft-windows-7-home-p...

Total: £386.35

More about : budget

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Have you tried looking on aria.co.uk ?

I swear by them. The currently have a dvdRW for £12.00 or something. Be sure to check their superspecials section. Also get the retail version of Windows 7. That way if you upgrade your system you wont have any problems re-activating it, and you get the 64 bit version and the 32 bit version in the same box, so you can swap and choose. Its usually only a couple of quid more. Also don't skimp on your HDD. Get a 500GB one as a minimum. You will be shocked how fast you can fill a drive :)  :)  :) 

Cool, thanks for pointint out aria.co.uk. I've managed a similar system, with a slightly better (IMO) motherboard, cheaper RAM and other components, and squeezed in to 500Gb HDDs, all for £397.21:

https://www.aria.co.uk/WishList/wtiDHXP-GSodZWnp83y4yA,,

Windows 7 Retail seems to be about £40 more than OEM, so I think I'll stick to the OEM route.

Any other comments? Will the GPU fit inside the Micro ATX Case? Does anyone know any better cases for a similar price? Will the CPU come with a stock fan (I don't plan to overclock)? Will the PSU be okay?
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Homebuilt system Expert

a) Will it all work together? Yes
b) Is it balanced? No, GPU is to small, 1 gig....
c) Is there a better way of spending £400? Yes, saving it.
d) Can I squeeze a second HDD in somehow? No, not at this budget
Homebuilt system Expert

Quote:
Why 64bit Windows?
Because you can upgrade better, and it allows you to use more of your computer's ability.
Quote:
And what's wrong with the RAM?
High CAS timings, something from G.skill is better, Newegg is better for looking at the specs of the RAM

Quote:
£600 isn't an option - my old PC (from 2003) is finally giving up the ghost and I need to replace ASAP.
mmk, can you salvage anything?



Edited for a mistake in BBC code

Not sure there's much worth salvaging inside the box, as it's all so old.

Most of the RAM I can see in this range is CL9, and GSkill seems to be about 50% more expensive. I could drop one of the HDDs from my Aria wishlist (see post 3) to include either the GSkill CL8 RAM or a 1Gb Radeon 5670 but I'm not sure which would be the better shout, if either.

I've been told 64bit Win can slow down some older applications which are written for 32bit Windows, and Windows 7 Home Premium doesn't have the XP mode available to it, so I'm not totally convinced about 64bit Windows 7...
Homebuilt system Expert



Quote:
Most of the RAM I can see in this range is CL9, and GSkill seems to be about 50% more expensive. I could drop one of the HDDs from my Aria wishlist (see post 3) to include either the GSkill CL8 RAM or a 1Gb Radeon 5670 but I'm not sure which would be the better shout, if either.
ugh, ugh, ram would be the better investment. I only see one HDD on the post. you are at 360 something, so you have 40 quid to work with, plus if you can shave a bit off....

Quote:
I've been told 64bit Win can slow down some older applications which are written for 32bit Windows, and Windows 7 Home Premium doesn't have the XP mode available to it, so I'm not totally convinced about 64bit Windows 7...

Who told you THAT? 1. Win7 has XP compatibility mode, I can post a screenshot if you want... 2. It'd probably move the same or faster, depending on the encoding, definitly not noticiliby slower, the guy who told you it might have been his HDD was an older Fat32, and it moved slower because of this.

RickyT23 said:
OK, no operating system, AsRock motherboard, £344 inc. delivery.

You will have to add another RAM DIMM, dont know why but it removed one (they are currently under superspecials)

Better RAM, GPU, PSU, Case.

Your gonna have to fork another £20 - £30 over you £400 by the time you have added Windows but its a better machine.

https://www.aria.co.uk/WishList/E15_Wsb7SklASd7XSmDPyw,,

HTH


Thanks for your help - I went with the Motherboard, RAM, PSU and Case you recommended - the case is great, very easy to build with.

I stuck with my X3 450 and 5670 512Mb graphics, and went with Windows 7 64bit. Got one 500Gb HDD. Spent £415, my wife seemed not to mind the extra £15!

Anyway, all built on Monday, seems to run fine. Thanks again for all your input!
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