Help with a new pc

F

Fran

Member
Hi everybody!

I am planning to buy a new pc to use for my daily tasks and playing some (low requeriments) games.

My first though was to buy a refurbished one, but I saw that for a bit extra money I can get someting way better, and new.

I don't know a lot about pc builds and the budget is up to 400.

Case
PCS 3312B BLACK CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5500 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
GIGABYTE GA-A320M-S2H V2: Micro-ATX, AM4, USB 3.2 Gen 1, 6GB/s
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GT 730 - DVI, HDMI, VGA
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
Power Supply
PCS 250W 80+ BRONZE POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
Norton 360 inc. Game Optimizer - Free 90 Day License
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
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 9 to 12 working days
Price: £377.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-home-office/dzq9QZH7GY/
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Fran said:
Hi everybody!

I am planning to buy a new pc to use for my daily tasks and playing some (low requeriments) games.

My first though was to buy a refurbished one, but I saw that for a bit extra money I can get someting way better, and new.

I don't know a lot about pc builds and the budget is up to 400.

Case
PCS 3312B BLACK CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5500 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
GIGABYTE GA-A320M-S2H V2: Micro-ATX, AM4, USB 3.2 Gen 1, 6GB/s
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GT 730 - DVI, HDMI, VGA
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
Power Supply
PCS 250W 80+ BRONZE POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
Norton 360 inc. Game Optimizer - Free 90 Day License
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
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 9 to 12 working days
Price: £377.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-home-office/dzq9QZH7GY/
Click to expand...
You won't be able to get anything new remotely worthwhile for 400, a basic gpu alone will be around £200, youd be looking at around £1000 for entry level just for the tower, then a further £200 or so for peripherals and monitor
 
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
As above, I don't think I'd waste £400 on a PC personally. An off the shelf laptop would be a far more suitable solution. Refurbished might not be too bad, better value certainly, but it would still be a throwaway system with no real upgrade potential.
 
F

Fran

Member
Thank you for replying guys.

I think I was not clear yesterday.

I am not looking to build a gamer pc or made future upgrades. I just want a pc that last me for long, that's why I played with the pc build tool to create that. The pc I use now is a amd a4-5300B with no grapichs card. I only need the CPU, I have the rest. Currently I use two screens and run programs like autodesk. But when I try to multitask it becomes slow. I don't need a graphics card, but I though that one of the cheap would do better than just the integrated one. Same with ssd, I can live without that.

Will that pc that I created suits me or will be a source of problems?
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Fran said:
Thank you for replying guys.

I think I was not clear yesterday.

I am not looking to build a gamer pc or made future upgrades. I just want a pc that last me for long, that's why I played with the pc build tool to create that. The pc I use now is a amd a4-5300B with no grapichs card. I only need the CPU, I have the rest. Currently I use two screens and run programs like autodesk. But when I try to multitask it becomes slow. I don't need a graphics card, but I though that one of the cheap would do better than just the integrated one. Same with ssd, I can live without that.

Will that pc that I created suits me or will be a source of problems?
Click to expand...
We can't advise on self builds or competitor builds, these forums are for PCSpecialist systems only I'm afraid, you may have more luck on Toms Hardware which is an open forum.
 
sck451

sck451

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
I'm pretty sure by "CPU" @Fran means "the tower". (That term actually refers to the main chip, not to the whole thing, FWIW.) But it's a term in relatively common (albeit very confusing) use.

I'd be very disinclined to get a system like this: it is not really significantly more powerful than a laptop, while having none of the upsides. However it is possible.

And you can get an SSD for this price: I'd not recommend booting off a hard drive for any system today.

I don't know what games you mean: this won't do a good job of anything graphically intensive. But for simple games, it would be OK.

Case
CORSAIR 175R RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE Poor case for anything that needs much airflow; fortunately this doesn't
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600G Six Core CPU with Radeon™ Graphics (3.9GHz-4.4GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4) The integrated GPU here is way better than the 730: this is a really good chip
Motherboard
GIGABYTE A520M K V2: Micro-ATX, AM4, USB 3.2, 6GB/s Much better motherboard
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB) More and speedier RAM will make a big difference
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (3500 MB/R, 3200 MB/W) I'd really strongly recommend a better quality SSD than this (like the Solidigm one that adds £14) because you don't want to lose your data to a drive failure
Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W CV SERIES™ CV-450 POWER SUPPLY Not great, but enough for this system if you have absolutely 100% no intention of ever conceivably upgrading it
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER Not great, but enough for this
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year 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
Price: £410.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/66skn9HxXw/
 
F

Fran

Member
English is not my first language, I may not explained myself properly.

I have the pc I said and I want to replace just the tower.

I designed th pc on the first post with a budget of 400. I don't know if it is balanced or not.

Currently I run autocad and similar on my pc, but is very slow, specially when loading programs or games.

My idea is to buy a pc to replace that one, I don't need a gamer pc, just one with a decent performance.
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Fran said:
English is not my first language, I may not explained myself properly.

I have the pc I said and I want to replace just the tower.

I designed th pc on the first post with a budget of 400. I don't know if it is balanced or not.

Currently I run autocad and similar on my pc, but is very slow, specially when loading programs or games.

My idea is to buy a pc to replace that one, I don't need a gamer pc, just one with a decent performance.
Click to expand...
While the above is a PC, it's not the case that you can just put any components together and they'll work, they have to match your requirements.

You mentioned gaming, for gaming, you need a dedicated GPU. There's no way around that, you could settle for on board graphics, but it would be a tragic experience while only lasting a few years before it was completely obsolete. You would have the option to add a GPU at a later date, but only on a properly configured PC which the above certainly isn't. And a £400 budget just doesn't allow to build a suitable platform.

Autocad similarly is designed with hardware acceleration in mind, that means a dedicated GPU.

I would STRONGLY suggest NOT buying the above system, it's just throwing money away, it won't last long at all before performance drops off a cliff, so in the long term you'll be spending far more than if you equip a proper platform at the outset.

But it's your choice. A well designed system will last 7 - 10 years with a GPU upgrade once or twice in the lifetime, the above system you'll be lucky if it last 2 years before you want to throw it out of the window.
 
T

TonyCarter

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
PC = case & all the internal components

Tower = the format of the unit that contains all the internal components (formats such as tower, mini-tower, desktop, laptop, all-in-one)

You monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. are peripherals.

So replacing the tower is replacing the PC…and as everyone else has said, your original config is very poor…even considering the tiny budget.

I’m a bit conflicted, because compared to your old PC running it’s decade-old dual-core AMD processor, anything modern will easily surpass it. HOWEVER, all the other components have moved on too, as have their power requirements, so a slow HDD, minimal RAM, minimal power supply, and decade-old GPU seems like a waste to us.

For example
  • the Vega7 GPU that is part of the 5600G CPU, is about 2x the power of the GT730…but as it uses the same RAM you need more in the first place, and 8GB is simply not enough
  • a HDD is over 10x slower than the slowest NVME SSD on offer…and everything will take advantage of the faster drive (Windows, Autocad, games) - start-up to desktop could be as quick as 5-10 seconds
Is your current it running Windows 7 (or something older/newer)? Is the version of Autocad you’re running also an older version, and will it run on newer hardware, or will you need to upgrade that too (and newer versions may have higher hardware requirements than your budget allows).

How ‘basic’ are these basic games you may want to play, and what resolution are you using on your monitors?
 
Last edited:
F

Fran

Member
Thank you all. I didn't knew many things you said. I will think about it, maybe increase the budget, maybe buy a laptop or something for just a couple of years...
 
F

Fran

Member
sck451 said:
I'm pretty sure by "CPU" @Fran means "the tower". (That term actually refers to the main chip, not to the whole thing, FWIW.) But it's a term in relatively common (albeit very confusing) use.

I'd be very disinclined to get a system like this: it is not really significantly more powerful than a laptop, while having none of the upsides. However it is possible.

And you can get an SSD for this price: I'd not recommend booting off a hard drive for any system today.

I don't know what games you mean: this won't do a good job of anything graphically intensive. But for simple games, it would be OK.

Case
CORSAIR 175R RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE Poor case for anything that needs much airflow; fortunately this doesn't
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600G Six Core CPU with Radeon™ Graphics (3.9GHz-4.4GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4) The integrated GPU here is way better than the 730: this is a really good chip
Motherboard
GIGABYTE A520M K V2: Micro-ATX, AM4, USB 3.2, 6GB/s Much better motherboard
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB) More and speedier RAM will make a big difference
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (3500 MB/R, 3200 MB/W) I'd really strongly recommend a better quality SSD than this (like the Solidigm one that adds £14) because you don't want to lose your data to a drive failure
Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W CV SERIES™ CV-450 POWER SUPPLY Not great, but enough for this system if you have absolutely 100% no intention of ever conceivably upgrading it
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER Not great, but enough for this
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year 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
Price: £410.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/66skn9HxXw/
Click to expand...
Hi

How will you make this design recomendable?, of course increasing the budget. I really don't know by how much.
 
sck451

sck451

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Fran said:
Hi

How will you make this design recomendable?, of course increasing the budget. I really don't know by how much.
Click to expand...
Better case, better storage, better motherboard (probably) and better power supply. None of these is essential in and of itself, but the extra ~£150 they'd cost would make a massive, massive difference to the quality and lifetime of the PC.
 
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