Budget PC help

[PadForce]

Hi all, just trying to spec something up for a friend. His budget is around £600 and he will be using it mainly just for web browsing and other home computer stuff. He might be doing limited gaming on starcraft 2, left for dead 2 and borderlands 2 but this isnt certain.

I have come up with the 2 specs below. Tomshardware seems to generally recommend Intel CPUs over AMD so I am leaning towards that spec, plus its a bit cheaper. Will the standard CPU coolers hold up? Also, would being able to use the AMD crossfire ability between the CPU and the GPU make it more worthwhile going with the AMD set up (and would this motherboard support this)? I know I have done this on my rig but imagine it would make more of a difference at this lower end of the scale.

Many thanks,

PadForce

Case
COOLERMASTER ELITE 310 BLUE CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD BULLDOZER QUAD CORE FX-4170 (4.20GHz/4MB CACHE/AM3+)
Motherboard
ASUS® M5A97 R2.0 (DDR3, USB3.0, 6Gb/s, Windows 8 Ready!)
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (1 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
1GB AMD RADEON™ HD7850 - DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Free Item
FREE SLEEPING DOGS GAME with AMD HD 7850 GPU & ABOVE!
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD5002AALX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
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
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
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 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £615.00 including VAT and delivery.
Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/amd-bulldozer-top-spec-pc/3Podj9WKq4/

Case
COOLERMASTER ELITE 310 BLUE CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i3-3220 Dual Core (3.30GHz, 3MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8H77-M: M-ATX, DDR3, USB 3.0, SATA 6.0Gb/s, CrossFireX™
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (1 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
1GB AMD RADEON™ HD7850 - DVI,HDMI,2 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
Free Item
FREE SLEEPING DOGS GAME with AMD HD 7850 GPU & ABOVE!
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD5002AALX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1155 STANDARD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days

Quantity
1

Price: £597.00 including VAT and delivery. (+ £5 for silver, just spotted this!)
Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-home-office-pc/tyR3K3xDaC/

 

[keynes]

Will the standard CPU coolers hold up? Also, would being able to use the AMD crossfire ability between the CPU and the GPU make it more worthwhile going with the AMD set up (and would this motherboard support this)? I know I have done this on my rig but imagine it would make more of a difference at this lower end of the scale.

The standard cpu cooler will be fine for his intended use. The AMD motherboard supports crossfire. I don't think you are able to crossfire the integrated graphics card with the HD 7850 in the AMD spec you posted, as far as I know it is only possible with APU processors.

 

[PadForce]

The standard cpu cooler will be fine for his intended use. The AMD motherboard supports crossfire. I don't think you are able to crossfire the integrated graphics card with the HD 7850 in the AMD spec you posted, as far as I know it is only possible with APU processors.

Ah ok, thanks - that leans it even more heavily back towards the Intel then..

As a quick one would there be any point grabbing a i7 3770 processor and trying to use the integrated graphics on that instead or would that just be silly. The intel build with no GPU and a 3770 works out at £607.

Ta

 

[keynes]

Ah ok, thanks - that leans it even more heavily back towards the Intel then..

As a quick one would there be any point grabbing a i7 3770 processor and trying to use the integrated graphics on that instead or would that just be silly. The intel build with no GPU and a 3770 works out at £607.

Ta

An i7 for web browsing and other less demanding applications will be overkill. If you want a cheaper spec I'd suggest an APU processor + HD 6670.

 

[PadForce]

An i7 for web browsing and other less demanding applications will be overkill. If you want a cheaper spec I'd suggest an APU processor + HD 6670.

No I think the £596 for the i3 3220 + 7850 is fine as he might decide to play games with the rest of us and I imagine the 7850 is much better than a 6670? I was just wondering if the i7's graphics would come anywhere near the 7850 and then be faster at everything else - if thats not the case then no worries.

 

[keynes]

I was just wondering if the i7's graphics would come anywhere near the 7850 and then be faster at everything else - if thats not the case then no worries.

The HD 7850 will be better than the HD 4000

 

[PadForce]

The HD 7850 will be better than the HD 4000

Nice one, thanks - do you have any other suggestions for the spec or is it ok to go as it is relatively simple?

 

[keynes]

Nice one, thanks - do you have any other suggestions for the spec or is it ok to go as it is relatively simple?

At least silver warranty for either spec and if he is planning limited gaming I'd suggest downgrading the motherboard unless he is planning to crossfire or add an SSD.

 

[PadForce]

At least silver warranty for either spec and if he is planning limited gaming I'd suggest downgrading the motherboard unless he is planning to crossfire or add an SSD.

The motherboard below that one doesnt have a 6GB/sec SATA slot so I assumed I needed this one to get the best out of the Caviar Black's 6GB/sec? Im just putting 2+2 together though so could clearly be wrong.

Edit: Hmm - actually if I drop the motherboard down a level, and the HD to a non Caviar Black version, the GPU can go up to a 7870. Do you have an opinion on what would provide a better overall experience? The 7870 with 2gb of vram I imagine would provide much more longevity.

 

[keynes]

The motherboard below that one doesnt have a 6GB/sec SATA slot so I assumed I needed this one to get the best out of the Caviar Black's 6GB/sec? Im just putting 2+2 together though so could clearly be wrong.

Edit: Hmm - actually if I drop the motherboard down a level, and the HD to a non Caviar Black version, the GPU can go up to a 7870. Do you have an opinion on what would provide a better overall experience? The 7870 with 2gb of vram I imagine would provide much more longevity.

I think the caviar black will not bottleneck with a Sata 3
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/storage/disk-drives-hdd-ssd/western-digital-caviar-black-1tb-sata-6gbps-701111/review/page:3#articleContent
I'd go with an HD 7870 if you want to play demanding games.

 

[PadForce]

Great, many thanks for the help Ruben, +rep