home PC for media, work and fun - casual Photoshop

mishra

mishra

Rising Star
Right guys I was asked by a friend to build a PC for usual Internet, Office work and media use. It is NOT a gaming PC and it is unlikely any games will be played in future. Need to be stable, relatively cheap and sufficient for nowadays Internet needs (youtube, ms office, etc...). It will also be used for casual Photoshop projects.

To start with:
  • budget is around £600-700 (inc)
  • it is NOT going to be overclocked in any way
  • no need for OS (my friend already have a retail copy of Win7 64)
  • below spec does not list graphic card, she will be using onboard one to start with - if ever there will be need for one, she can upgrade to sth nice. I see no point in buying cheap gfx (under £50) - as it will be not much better than onboard one - especially for office type jobs, right?

Main questions:
1. Any suggestions regarding swap of components? (in order to save some moneys)
2. Will onboard graphics manage HD youtube, BlueRay encoding (current quote does not list BluRay drive but possibly it will be added)
3. Any review on Iyama 22" monitor from quote... seems nice, but hard to find any reviews.
4. If PC is bought without Operatin System - how does PCspecialist check if all is fine with assembled components?
5. As we are Leeds/Halifax based.. can PC be collected - rather than delivered (to save on possible problems with currier?)

Thanks, much appreciated :)

Quote value: £658inc
Case COOLERMASTER ELITE 430 BLACK CASE
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-3470 (3.2GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard ASUS® P8Z77-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM) 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB
KIT)
Graphics Card INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)

Memory - 1st Hard Disk 1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE
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 600W Quiet 80 PLUS Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling INTEL SOCKET LGA1155 STANDARD CPU COOLER
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Network Facilities WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD (£16)
USB Options 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Modem NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND

Operating System NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE

Monitor IIYAMA E2273HDS 22" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D 1920x1080 (£119)
Keyboard & Mouse LOGITECH® MK260 WIRELESS KEYBOARD & MOUSE COMBO (£20)

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 11 working days
 
Last edited:
K

Karnor00

Bright Spark
1) The spec looks fine, although the 600W power supply is probably bigger than you need. A 450W PSU would still leave room to add bluray and most other things in future. That said, if a new GPU is a serious consideration then stick with the 600W PSU.
Also I would normally recommend the silver warranty for £5, although if you live very close to PCS you may not want to bother.

2) Integrated graphics will be fine for playing videos and DVD/bluray.

3) I've got an Ilyama monitor (although not that exact model) and found it to be very good. I did have a quick google at review for it and found them to be generally favourable, although not perfect (4/5 stars typically).

4 & 5) Can't help you here I'm afraid - you'd need to ask PCS.
 
mishra

mishra

Rising Star
Yeah I thought 600W could be a bit overkill, but was thinking if in future she will decide to go with dedicated graphics then her PC will be ready for it. Price diff between 450W and 600W is £32. Hmm, would 450W be "enough" for low-to-mid budget graphic card, something along the line of 550ti or 560ti? This card would not be purchased right now, maybe at some point in the future...
 
K

Karnor00

Bright Spark
Just doing a bit of checking, a 450W power supply would be sufficient with a bluray player and most current GPUs (e.g. 560ti or 660ti). However you'd probably need 600W if you wanted a really high end GPU (e.g. 670, 680).

Actually, rather than the 600W PSU, you should consider the Corsair 650W PSU - it's actually a bit cheaper than the 600W one plus has a better brand and is modular (which makes cabling inside the case much neater).
 
mishra

mishra

Rising Star
I think we may skip on bluray drive and stick with 450W PSU then. This PC will never be used for gaming so it's very unlikely it will end up with some fancy graphics in the future. However, I've always been advocating for getting slightly beefier PSU just for the sake of it, from my experience you may replace a lot of PC parts but if PSU is good quality it will stay, same story with PC case... but thinking about it again, maybe 450W is going to be just fine for such PC spec. Will discuss this with my friend, and hopefully very soon we will be ready with order.
 
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