Basic PC for me Dad.

[Boozad]

My dad's old PCS machine is finally biting the bullet, I upgraded his XP Pro install to 7 Pro over the weekend but whenever Windows runs updates the thing ends up shutting down. I can't go round to troubleshoot for him as we virtually work opposite hours, and he's absolutely useless with computers so can't do it himself. All he really uses it for is a bit of Facebook, banking and the odd thing around the web, nothing intensive whatsoever. He also doesn't have masses of cash to throw around and, after me talking him into getting a new machine, he set me a price of £250 or so to spec him one up. So with all that in mind I came up with these to specs below.

The first one is an AMD A Series build, plenty for what he needs, but can I drop any lower on anything? I could drop to the A58M-E as he won't be using an SSD or moving multiple files so the 6GB transfer rate is by the by, but I was looking at getting him a USB 3.0 port on there. That may be a waste of time though to be honest.

Case
ZALMAN T4 BLACK MICRO-ATX CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD A4-5300 Dual Core APU (3.4GHz) & Radeon™ HD 7480D Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® A88XM-PLUS: (M-ATX, DDR3, USB 3.0, 6Gb/s)
Memory (RAM)
4GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
Integrated AMD Radeon HD 8000 Series Graphics
1st Hard Disk
500GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD5003AZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 350W VS SERIES™ VS-350 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £302.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/amd-fm2-richland/kAONgGMX5S/

Next up is an Athlon II build. For the £30 price difference I really don't think it's worth taking that big a hit on the CPU frequency, so I'm leaning towards the first build.

Case
ZALMAN T4 BLACK MICRO-ATX CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Athlon 5350 Quad Core APU (2.05GHz/AM1) & Radeon™ HD8400
Motherboard
ASUS® AM1M-A: (M-ATX, DDR3, USB 3.0, 6Gb/s)
Memory (RAM)
4GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
Integrated AMD Radeon HD 8000 Series Graphics
1st Hard Disk
500GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD5003AZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 350W VS SERIES™ VS-350 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £273.00 including VAT and delivery.


Any input or alternative builds would be gratefully appreciated.

 

[Wozza63]

Have you considered Intel?

£265.00

Case
STYLISH PIANO BLACK ENIGMA MICRO-ATX CASE + 2 FRONT USB

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Celeron® Dual-Core G1840 (2.80GHz, 2MB Cache) + HD Graph

Motherboard
ASUS® H81M-PLUS: Micro-ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs

Memory (RAM)
4GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 4GB)

Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)

1st Hard Disk
500GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD5003AZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

Power Supply
CORSAIR 350W VS SERIES™ VS-350 POWER SUPPLY

Processor Cooling
INTEL STANDARD CPU COOLER

Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs

USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS

Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)

Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED

Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE

Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)

Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days

 

[Boozad]

Have you considered Intel?

I had but I was looking to get him a quad core as this will probably have to last him another six or seven years. While I'd prefer to drop an Intel in there for him I don't know if a dual core CPU is the way to go?

 

[Wozza63]

The first spec you chose there as a dual core.

And being quad core isn't all that important. To make full use of a quad core you will need to have 4 foreground processes running as very few programs are optimized to make full use of even a second core. The only way they can use more than one is treating them all as a single core effectively which would not result in a 200% or 400% gain in speed for dual or quad core.

Also for something to last that long £250 is certainly a tight budget

 

[Boozad]

I thought the A Series APUs were all quad cores, my mistake. To be honest his Athlon 64 x2 has lasted him over six years and cost about the same price, this should be more than adequate for him.

 

[mantadog]

Hmm I say you add in an extra £250 yourself and get him something decent

A dual core should last forever for general day to day tasks like Facebook/banking. I just got a similar machine for my mother, ended up spending £400 on it went for the full on i3 though. SSD for my own benefit so when I need to fix it everything happens quick and just a basic case and everything else.

 

[GeorgeHillier]

Maybe grab the A8 or one of the A series quad core APUs and drop the HDD to the standard one? I'm sure for everyday use the standard HDD would be fine.

 

[A314159]

The APUs aren't that cheap though.... Eh, get anything, at that budget it really doesn't matter about performance.

 

[PokerFace]

Hmm I say you add in an extra £250 yourself and get him something decent

....and that's Xmas sorted :santa:

 

[GeorgeHillier]

The A8 Quad core can be had for the same price as your original post:

Case STYLISH PIANO BLACK ENIGMA MICRO-ATX CASE + 2 FRONT USB
Processor (CPU) AMD A8-6500 Quad Core APU (4.1GHz) & Radeon™ HD 8570D Graphics
Motherboard ASUS® A58M-E FM2+ (M-ATX, DDR3, USB 2.0, 3Gb/s)
Memory (RAM) 4GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 4GB)
Graphics Card Integrated AMD Radeon HD 8000 Series Graphics
2nd Graphics Card NONE
1st Hard Disk 500GB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 16MB CACHE
2nd Hard Disk NONE
3rd Hard Disk NONE
4th Hard Disk NONE
RAID NONE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive NONE
Memory Card Reader INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply CORSAIR 350W VS SERIES™ VS-350 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Sound Card ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
Wireless Router/HomePlugs NONE
USB Options 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Modem NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Firewire NONE
TV Card NONE
Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
DVD Recovery Media NO DVD RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor NONE
2nd Monitor NONE
3rd Monitor NONE
4th Monitor NONE
DVI-D & HDMI Monitor Cables NONE
Eyefinity / GeForce 3D Vision NONE
Keyboard & Mouse NONE
Mouse NONE
Gaming Mouse Pad NONE
Speakers NONE
Webcam NONE
Headsets NONE
Surge Protection NONE
Cable Tidy NONE
Printer NONE
External Hard Drive NONE
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Home Installation NONE
Data Recovery NONE
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Pricing Information
Price (excluding VAT) £254.17
Price £305.00