OOOOKIES, I guess first off I need to give an idea of the use for this comp. Well, office work, general photo editing, internet and listening to music, nothing extreme by any means. So I said to mum ooo the new E6300 is great for what you need, but she doesn't want to go for the bottom end cpu, I can kinda understand her view point, she doesn't want it OC'd or anything so the faster it is at stock the better. Anyway, on with the specs: Mobo: Asus P5B-E Plus (£97.99) or Gigabyte GA_965P_DS4 (£99.99) CPU: E6600 (£177.99) RAM: Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C4 TwinX (£159.99) HDD: Western Digital Caviar RE 250GB 2500YS SATA-II 16MB Cache (£48.99) GFX: I'm really not sure here, she wont game though. CPU Cooler: Freezer 7 (£13.99) PSU: Corsair HX 520W (£59.99) Firstly, what do you think? Secondly dont argue about the E6600 and thirdly, if you are thinking JEEEEZ thats good prices, they are all ex.VAT becuase my parents are self employed with a ltd company we can claim the VAT back. Cheers ) EDIT: All prices are from OCUK
Get some passive gfx card. Quietness is what you should aim for overall. Gigabyte DS3 or that P5B should do, DS4 is better, obviously. If she wants to save cash, get some 667 mem, should won't know the diff as long as you have 2GB.
I know you said not to argue but I would still tell them to get the E6300. Otherwise its like buying a ferrari for your daily comute. Looks great apart from that. If there no chance of gaming you would likely get away with the cheapest gfx card you can find tbh. I prefer ATi personally, especially for non-gaming stuff. Maybe an X1300? Good point about passive cooling. Nothing worse in an office machine than a noise. Especially if its one that changes pitch constantly like something in my PC atm!
Hmmm good points, i'm now having a rummage to have a look. In terms of running vista though, all DX9 cards can right? And I guess the only thing off the list is a good quiet case, I guess it is down to the rig inside obviously but are there any recommendations? (doorless preferably otherwise i'll just get moaned at). EDIT: I'm also a ATi fan, and am eagerly awaiting there DX10 (isn't everyone?), however, I saw This, not sure about it but the X1300 does look pretty good from where I am standing, it's just the vista issue
If that's the case about graphics, then I'd either go for a mobo with integrated graphics, or just the cheapest card you can find! If it's not really gonna have to do much, then there's no point being too picky about manufacturer; all it has to do is work. This is the cheapest card I could see on OCUK. EDIT: I don't see why either the 6200 or X1300 would have a problem in Vista. Also, you should be able to disable some of the fancy effects if you have any problems. Depending on whether you are that worried about cost, 2gb ram and an E6600 do seem a bit like overkill for what you say it will be used for. 1gb ram and an E6300 would be fine, but if cost isnt a prob, might as well get what you can I guess. Just thinking that money saved in those areas could be put towards a nice case, and things like a dvd drive, case fans, cables or whatever other odds and sods you might need. For a case, how about something like this or possibly a Lian Li PC-7 ?
Yeh I hear you hazza, but the reason for the mid specced cpu and ram is becuase mum can afford it, plus I wont have to upgrade it for ages either. What do you guys reckon about the HDD, is it better to have a seperate one for the OS or have the one I have and just partition it?
As the computer comes to a mom, I expect she doesn't download too much stuff or install huge games, so even a smaller disk could do. Instead I'm worried about her documents. Maybe RAID with smaller disks? There are decent raid-controllers on modern mobos so it would only add the price of a second disk. As for the case I'd aim for anything with dustfilters! I don't know about your mom, but mine would definitely be happier to use the hoover and clean a filter than to open the rig and clean the coolers. Maybe Antec P150 (Or solo..)? They also look relatively nice and don't have doors. (Did I mention it's also pretty silent) About the GFX and actually everything. If you don't buy the cheaperst nor the most expensive, you most likely will get something good. So, in this case, I'd recommend you to get the second cheapest. The X1300 could be ok, but also 7300 or 7600GS. As long as it's passively cooled, it's fine.
External disk to back things up to. Buy a 2.5" drive and an external case then she can put it in her sock draw. Why is everyone so obsessed with RAID?
Because I don't honestly think there's many basic users who _REALLY_ backup all the important files manually.. (I just made myself an idiot because there's software-based backupping methods, right?)
Wow, that sounds like overkill to me. 1Gb of suitable Corsair Value DDR2 and a E6300 would be a good combo. Leave the stock cooling on and you can probably cut back to a 400W PSU (decent brand though) and a cheaper motherboard. Use the saved money on a nice big screen.
yep many of them, and you usually get one product if you buy an external disk. But there are others out there you can buy // get free etc.. you could get a NAS box and whip it on the network and use it for everyones back up
You know, its a good point about RAID 1. If its going to keep a lot of important documents etc it can't hurt tbh. Not gonna protect you from them deleting something themselves or virus infection etc but for the minimal price increase, may be worth looking into it?
by general photo editing, will there be any extensive use? because if not, 1GB wll be fine, and just try and reason with her to get an E6300, while its the bottom end CPU, you could also argue that its the best low end CPU For what she's doing, she's hardly going to tax an E6300 at all.
Save some money on the ram, and go for a 6300. You WON'T notice the difference in windows. Games maybe and possibly photo editing you might notice the difference, but only if you've used the quicker CPU before. Save some pennies
Looks good to me, for the GPU get something cheap like the BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 6200 LE of OCUK it will run Vista fine and should even manage Aero Glass
I have had some partial success, dropping it to an E6300, and PC5300 XMS2, and the DS3. She's got a 19" tft and runs it at 1024*768 (dont even get me started, really don't) becuase she can see it better, MEH I was just thinking 2GB of ram because it will do her for ages, what happened to budget corsair stuff? the XMS2 is cheaper? I won't get it with the stock cooler becuase she wants quiet, I may get her a zalman if the budget is looking ok.
The intel stock coolers pretty good actually, really quiet at low fan speeds. Can get a bit louder but nothing too bad. Zalman might be a bit better under load, but the extra cash probably isnt worth it.
Or the freezer 7? My 64 is pretty quiet, but if the stock is ok and the case it good I think you are right. Getting the right case for her is becoming a sodding nightmare!
