Hi all, I have been asked by the father in law to build him a computer. His only needs are that he wants it to be fast and to last as long as possible without anything being done. The uses for it will be mainly internet, basic accounts then storing photos and a small music collection. I went for the 2500k just cause it should last longer, the same for the 8gb ram. prob wont be overclocking so is the stock cooler ok? is the psu ok or anyhing cheaper but high quality availible? Any advice would be great so thanks in advance http://www.scan.co.uk/savedbasket/b856517edffa41c395ce65e7d741a0a4
That seems like a good build but a i5 2500k seems a bit excessive, especially when your not overclocking. An i3 2100 would be fine for great number of years if he's just using it for word and internet browsing.
If your not overlooking then you can drop th 2500k and just get a 2500 to save a few quid. Also not too keen on that psu you can get better for similar price look for antec earthwatts or truepower . You could probably drop to 4 gig ram too without any noticeable slowdown in the type of tasks he will be doing. Putting in a small ssd might be a good call if he wants speedy with the money from the RAM and CPU downgrade.
4GB Ram will do, as will an unlocked CPU. And the stock cooler will be fine. But any real reason why Windows Pro? I can see the benefits of you being able to RDP into it for support duties, but software like TeamViewer will do that for free anyway.
thanks for the speedy replys with both the cpu and ram i was just thinking that it would last that bit longer. since that not the case i will downgrade. thanks for the psu advice was thinking i need modular but guess i dont really so can go with the earthwatts for the same price. I was not sure about windows because he is running xp pro now so am going to check his needs but guess we dont really need it. a question i do have is how noisy is the stock cooler? If noisy then any recommendations for a quiet one?
I thought that windows looked expensive couldn't work out why.lol. one day ill learn to read. Also if you don't mind buying separately pretty much everything your gonna want will be I. Scans today only at some point during an average week - just make a few more posts so that you qualify for free delivery.
The stock cooler is quite loud under load if your loooking for something quiter the coolermaster 212+ is suppose to be good, I'm not sure whether you would need it though if not overclocking.
Thanks I'll keep an eye out on today only but will prob get as one delivery for ease of delivery. I think noise is quite important to will take a look at the coolermaster thanks
you can get a lot of little extras that can add up from china http://www.dealextreme.com/c/hardware-parts-313 the stuff takes ages to get here though.. usually a month to month and half.. free shipping and no tax
You can't overclock on that H67 motherboard anyway even though I naturally support the purchase *cough* An non-K edition would do him unless he's in need of a particularly powerful CPU? i5 would be better as it has TurboBoost - i3's do not. Also remember non-K edition desktop CPUs have half the EUs, so while desktop/Aero/Flash/video performance will be perfectly fine, any 3D rendering will suffer. You can get to that bridge later though. I would get an Antec Earthwatts 430W and 4GB of memory, and tbh since that's a mATX board have a look at mATX cases like the Silverstone ML03. Depends if your father in law cares how it looks.
Even though hes using a H67 board, I would still put the i5 2500k in it for the HD 3000 gfx, which is about twice as powerful as the 2000 in the non-k versions (and there is only 8 pound difference).
True, but the basic functionality for media playback/flash acceleration remains the same between them both though. Depends how interested he is interested in gaming, and whether buying a proper PCIe card at a later date is worth it.
Yes very true, but I still think that if he is going to buy a 2500 chip, it may as well be the K version seeing as it is a measly £8 more, but he gets about twice the gfx power with the integrated HD 3000 (which outperforms some low end gpu's like the 5450 in some benchmarks). Admittedly, hes only going to see the difference in gaming or in graphics intensive apps, but I still think its worth it in the long run.
I think I will still go for the k cause yes it's only 8 pound more but also when he comes to sell it to upgrade again I'm sure the k will be worth more second hand? I did not notice the board was not atx. Can you recommend one to me. It has to have onboard graphics and that's about it I think.
You dont really need an ATX board, mATX will be fine seeing as he won't be using SLI or Crossfire anytime soon if he doesn't game. Plus they can still take any PCIe gpu you throw at them, so I wouldnt worry about that. You want something like the Asus P8H67-M PRO Rev3, which should be more than enough for his needs: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus...i-e-20-x16-ddr3-1333-sata-6gb-s-raid-matx-vga
I've just built an i3 2100 rig with this board, it's great. It has 4 DIMM slots, an extra fan header and a proper VRM heatsink, unlike the cheaper versions. It has internal USB 2.0 connector overkill (5 connectors equals 10 USB ports!) but hey... The new EFI BIOS is great too, a little quirky/buggy in places I have found, but still great.
I think you would be better off with an AMD 955, 8gb of ram, nice SSD (to avoid the slow down) and a small HDD. Just add a 380 Watt Antec Truepower PSU Professional isn't needed home premium is enough. Also look at open office rather than office, if he liks it you can save 90 pounds. If he doesn't just buy office. Most of the thing have already been covered. Does the 100 have dust filters on the front? I have a 300 and I put a filter on the side, the amount of dust it collect is rediclious so well worth the few pounds for that. Another vote for the coolermaster 212 Hyper Plus here.
Have a look at the Xigmatek Midgard, it has filters throughout, great cable routing options, a fan controller supplied as standard (needed for the 1800RPM stock fans!) and is only a few quid more than the Antec 300.
Go with what murraynt said no need for proffesional over home premium and open office is worth a look.
