Budget build for parents

[Schern]

I'm pricing up a build for my parents... trying to convince them to let me build a PC for them with an SSD for £25 more than getting a crappy Dell. The build I'm looking at is below. Anything I should worry about? I know the PSU's nothing special but it has ok reviews and the systems just going to be running off onboard graphics. My only concern was whether a B85 motherboard would be ok running the Haswell refreshed i3?

 

[barnsley]

That PSU is junk tbh. Also, if I was you I'd use more than one etailer as that tends to really boost the price.
Here is what I came up with:

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor (£77.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-E33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£32.44 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£44.44 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: A-Data Premier Pro SP600 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£48.50 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Toshiba Product Series:MG03ACA 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£62.57 @ CCL Computers)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£28.92 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£35.59 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHDS118-04 DVD/CD Drive (£10.78 @ Scan.co.uk)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£59.00 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £400.23

 

[Feronix]

Agreed with Barnsley, although the Silverstone case if fine too and looks pretty nice imo. Also; the PSU is a bit overkill and you'd easily get away with a Corsair VS350 (which is stupidly quiet).

Lastly, with the things your parents do with their PC I very much doubt they'd need 8GB RAM? Easy cost-saver by getting 4GB to start off with and you can always chuck some more in later.

Are your parents tech-savvy in any way? I know that until now I don't really like to use SSDs in client/familiy builds as they don't know how to work with them and don't realize they need maintenance. Most people also don't read what the little boxes say during program installs (hence why people like us can spend so much time removing adware and such) and thus will install literally everything to the C: drive.

Maybe get a motherboard and (somewhat smaller) drive that support caching in combination with a WD Caviar Blue?

 

[barnsley]

Crap didn't think about the "install everything to the C drive". TBH the average user probably just needs storage over speed.

 

[Vanner]

That PSU is junk tbh.

I would totally agree it is the one thing you do not want to go skimp on, a powersurege or a fault and could fry your whole system maybe even hard drives then that is a lot of data lost. I do order all from scan as well so it is your choice who to go with who want. I do it like to come at all one time though it is your choice at the end.

 

[Schern]

That PSU is junk tbh. Also, if I was you I'd use more than one etailer as that tends to really boost the price.
Here is what I came up with:

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor (£77.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-E33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£32.44 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£44.44 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: A-Data Premier Pro SP600 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£48.50 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Toshiba Product Series:MG03ACA 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£62.57 @ CCL Computers)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£28.92 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£35.59 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHDS118-04 DVD/CD Drive (£10.78 @ Scan.co.uk)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£59.00 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £400.23

Is the PSU going to be any worse than would come in the Dell though? Probably not!

Has to be built around Windows 8.1.

Any buy the time I've bought from all those different sellers the postage will probably have cost the £25 difference! I get free postage from Scan.

 

[Feronix]

Is the PSU going to be any worse than would come in the Dell though? Probably not!

Has to be built around Windows 8.1.

Any buy the time I've bought from all those different sellers the postage will probably have cost the £25 difference! I get free postage from Scan.

With the difference that when the Dell one goes the entire PC will be under warranty. If that thing you selected goes you'll have nothing (15 quid at best). Save yourself the trouble and money and just get a Corsair VS350 straight away. Plenty wattage and a quality unit backed up by proper warranty.

 

[Schern]

Agreed with Barnsley, although the Silverstone case if fine too and looks pretty nice imo. Also; the PSU is a bit overkill and you'd easily get away with a Corsair VS350 (which is stupidly quiet).

Lastly, with the things your parents do with their PC I very much doubt they'd need 8GB RAM? Easy cost-saver by getting 4GB to start off with and you can always chuck some more in later.

Are your parents tech-savvy in any way? I know that until now I don't really like to use SSDs in client/familiy builds as they don't know how to work with them and don't realize they need maintenance. Most people also don't read what the little boxes say during program installs (hence why people like us can spend so much time removing adware and such) and thus will install literally everything to the C: drive.

Maybe get a motherboard and (somewhat smaller) drive that support caching in combination with a WD Caviar Blue?

They're ok-ish computer-wise. They've seen mine boot and are impressed with how quick it is to be ready to use so an SSD is needed to get that kind of boot speed.

I can configure Windows to use the platter-based drive for documents, pictures etc. A 120gb SSD should be big enough for anything they're going to install. It's the same size I have (could do with larger really... have to shuffle games about). It's just the pictures, videos, music etc they have that will take up the space so if I configure the libraries correctly that will all just default to the normal HD right? Maintenance-wise Windows will sort that out automatically (I never have to do anything with mine).

With the difference that when the Dell one goes the entire PC will be under warranty. If that thing you selected goes you'll have nothing (15 quid at best). Save yourself the trouble and money and just get a Corsair VS350 straight away. Plenty wattage and a quality unit backed up by proper warranty.

Can't get the VS350 any more from the looks of things (a quick look admittedly). Scan, Aria and Amazon don't seem to stock them.

 

[Feronix]

They're ok-ish computer-wise. They've seen mine boot and are impressed with how quick it is to be ready to use so an SSD is needed to get that kind of boot speed.

I can configure Windows to use the platter-based drive for documents, pictures etc. A 120gb SSD should be big enough for anything they're going to install. It's the same size I have (could do with larger really... have to shuffle games about). It's just the pictures, videos, music etc they have that will take up the space so if I configure the libraries correctly that will all just default to the normal HD right? Maintenance-wise Windows will sort that out automatically (I never have to do anything with mine).

Yeah, that'll work! As long as they don't install/load everything onto the SSD it should be fine.

Can't get the VS350 any more from the looks of things (a quick look admittedly). Scan, Aria and Amazon don't seem to stock them.

What about the BeQuiet! System Power 7 300W?

 

[Schern]

What about the BeQuiet! System Power 7 300W?

Yeah, that might be worth a punt. I've got a BeQuiet in mine and I'm pretty happy with it.

 

[iBeInspire]

This is what I've done with the family PC here :

Install Windows on the C: drive, which should be the SSD, this way any program they try to install will automatically go there, then set up the doc/music/videos and especially the downloads folder on the D: drive which will be the mech, meaning all the stuff that doesn't need speed will go there... to be honest as long as you set it up ok, there won't really ever be any problems... their PC will be filled with viruses long before they have a drive letter issue

 

[Schern]

I can get a Corsair 430w (CX430) http://www.scan.co.uk/products/430w...xv2uk-80plus-bronze-eff-quiet-fan-atx-v23-psu for £34. Is that PSU ok?

And also would I be better to chuck another £10 at the motherboard and get a H97 like this http://www.scan.co.uk/products/msi-...cie-30-(x16)-d-sub-(vga)-dvi-d-hdmi-micro-atx rather than sticking the the B85?

This is what I've done with the family PC here :

Install Windows on the C: drive, which should be the SSD, this way any program they try to install will automatically go there, then set up the doc/music/videos and especially the downloads folder on the D: drive which will be the mech, meaning all the stuff that doesn't need speed will go there... to be honest as long as you set it up ok, there won't really ever be any problems... their PC will be filled with viruses long before they have a drive letter issue

Haha yeah you're probably right. My Dad installed some system optimizer thing once :banghead: Kept uninstalling it and each time I'd go round it would be back!

 

[barnsley]

Is the PSU going to be any worse than would come in the Dell though? Probably not!

Yeah it will be worse, I work with alot of older dell machines and I can say the psu is hardly ever the problem...
Its not an excuse to skimp on the power supply regardless.

 

[Schern]

Bits bought. Went for the Corsair PSU and H97 board in the end.