# £500 PC Build Help...



## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

My lad needs a new pc, been many years since i've dabbled with these things so i was going to just buy off the shelf.

My youngest (14) told me i need to build one and has drawn up a part picker list - http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/T6mmQ7

Already got a monitor, keyboard etc, so this will be just the pc. I've a budget of circa £500 - the part picker list above will be a few quid more due to P&P on some items.

How does the list sound? PC will be used for internet, gaming etc.

Will be hardwired into the router as it sits next to it.

Is there anything else i need? I asked my lad about sound cards, network cards etc but he tells me they are all build into the motherboard.

Cheers all.


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## hobbs182 (Jul 10, 2013)

Not a bad spec there mate for your budget,

Only things I would consider if you can;

Change the Toshiba HDD for a western digital one, preferably the black as its classed for high performance, not sure if you are aware but most of their rma/returns go to unit in Cheney Manor, so would work in your benefit time wise if you had any faults (providing they request you send it to that unit)

Would change the graphics card to either Gigabyte or EVGA 750Ti brand as they are usually a hell of a lot better overall than Palit

And I would personally consider either adding a CPU cooler or replacing it for that Cooler master fan, as those AMD processors do get quite hot and would hugely benefit from an upgraded cooler tbh


Reg any other additions, you may need a WiFi card should it need to be wireless, as board only includes Ethernet, but other than that I can't see any other problems


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## bigbadjay (May 29, 2012)

Looks like they've had a few one Day sales


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

hobbs182 said:


> Not a bad spec there mate for your budget,
> 
> Only things I would consider if you can;
> 
> ...


:thumb: cheers for that. I'm quite chuffed that he's done so well. His older brother said "Spec me a pc" and he's sat and read reviews etc and come up with that list. He picked some makes to keep the budget down.

Tweaked it a little and come up with this following your recommendations http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/wdRYbv

Brought the HDD down to 1tb to keep costs down, we can always buy a second drive in the future if needs be.

The new list ok now then?



bigbadjay said:


> Looks like they've had a few one Day sales


Lol, yeah, surprising how much the costs fluctuate. Bit like playing stocks and shares!


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## hobbs182 (Jul 10, 2013)

Shiny said:


> :thumb: cheers for that. I'm quite chuffed that he's done so well. His older brother said "Spec me a pc" and he's sat and read reviews etc and come up with that list. He picked some makes to keep the budget down.
> 
> Tweaked it a little and come up with this following your recommendations http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/wdRYbv
> 
> ...


Spot on mate,

Seen worse quoted specs from so called professionals, so would be proud too!

If you/he needs any help building or further questions just pm me and I can help with contact details, my work is based in Stratton

But by sounds of it you should be good


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

Spot on. Thanks for that. I was brought up in Stratton, parents still live on Grange Drive. Small old world.


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## hobbs182 (Jul 10, 2013)

Shiny said:


> Spot on. Thanks for that. I was brought up in Stratton, parents still live on Grange Drive. Small old world.


Ruskin way me but work Ermin street, very familiar with the whole Stratton area, especially Grange Drive lol


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

Lol :thumb:

Whilst I'm on a roll, my lad (the 14 yr old) has an HP Envy m6 laptop and he wants a monitor and SSD drive for it as his Christmas present. He's spec'd up these two, thoughts on the ? http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/fJR7Mp

Cheers again.


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## hobbs182 (Jul 10, 2013)

Shiny said:


> Lol :thumb:
> 
> Whilst I'm on a roll, my lad (the 14 yr old) has an HP Envy m6 laptop and he wants a monitor and SSD drive for it as his Christmas present. He's spec'd up these two, thoughts on the ? http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/fJR7Mp
> 
> Cheers again.


Monitors to me are more personal opinion, as long as they are 1080p, have HDMI (which it is/does,) your desired size and look good in your opinion then that LG shouldn't be a problem,

Are you sure your HP envy has a msata slot? As that's the newer type ssd's that tend to be in the really new machines

Do you mean the 2.5" SSD's that would replace the hard drive itself, if that's the case I prefer OCZ and Samsung drives

Otherwise that msata ssd should do the trick and then use the current HDD as a slave drive for data


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

He's looked into this and apparently there is a slot for an SSD as HP designed it to run as a cache accelerator or something.

His manual says it has an mSATA slot for this. He posted on the HP forum and apparently HP is a bit messy due to not being able to change the boot order in the BIOS, but it can be done by disconnecting the HDD, putting a boot file on the SSD and then installing windows etc. Then reconnect the HDD and run it as a slave.

I guess the best way to find out will be to take the back off and have a look before ordering. I didn't even know there were different types of SSD!


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

Just bought this on Amazon for £60 Sapphire Amd R9 280X Dual Mini Tri-X Oc Graphics Card (3GB, 384 Bit, GDDR5, HDMI, PCI-E): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories 

Price has now gone back up to £205 so waiting to see if Amazon honour it.


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

Bah, Amazon have cancelled the order  I knew it was too good to be true!

Oh well, back to the original list! The case my lad originally picked has gone up from £30odd to £80 so we've had a little re-jiggle, changed the case to a cheaper one and added a couple of case fans.

The superclocked version of the GPU was £2 more so also swapped to that one.

Thoughts on the final list please? http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/hdX7yc

Would like a bit of reassurance before making the order.

Cheers


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## hobbs182 (Jul 10, 2013)

Shiny said:


> Bah, Amazon have cancelled the order  I knew it was too good to be true!
> 
> Oh well, back to the original list! The case my lad originally picked has gone up from £30odd to £80 so we've had a little re-jiggle, changed the case to a cheaper one and added a couple of case fans.
> 
> ...


hey mate,

I'd remove one of those artic pwm fans, as your motherboard only supports 3 including the processor cooler fan so you will only need 2 x Arctics and your CPU cooler,

asrock website;
- 1 x CPU Fan connector (4-pin)
- 1 x Chassis Fan connector (4-pin)
- 1 x Power Fan connector (4-pin)

I personally have that specific case, 
when building i would suggest removing the front fan (supplied) in exchange for one of those Arctics as it should pull in more air (intake), i'd mount the other Arctic fan behind the CPU cooler as an exhaust and use the spare provided fan on the case side/window connected to a molex from the power supply - this wont be plugged straight into the board so will be constant speed and not thermal controlled, pulling the hot air from the graphics card, however this can be removed should it prove too noisy


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

Ah cheers, that makes sense. 

I guess I will need a semi modular PSU for the molex connection? The one we have selected is non modular.


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## hobbs182 (Jul 10, 2013)

Shiny said:


> Ah cheers, that makes sense.
> 
> I guess I will need a semi modular PSU for the molex connection? The one we have selected is non modular.


nope, every power supply will include at least one (normally two) lines of molex cables,

however if you can expense the upgrade to the modular version of PSU you would benefit as the case selected doesn't have room behind the motherboard to cable manage and hide, so all cables are this side (viewable) and it's not the biggest of cases with a non modular PSU

so you would only use what cables you require and leave the others out the case, safe somewhere, less cables = better airflow basically


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

Cheers. I may upgrade to the 750w modular one then. Offers a bit of future proofing too I guess. 

I don't know why i set a budget, it always turns out a target to beat. Lol.


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## SteveyG (Apr 1, 2007)

Good luck with the WD HDD. I've had to RMA 4 times in the last 5 months  Last drive that got sent was a recertified unit


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

What problems did you have? I've read a few online reviews and the only problems seem to be with Amazon and their packaging, which has now apparently changed.

Does this PSU come with the correct / enough cables?

http://www.evga.com/products/Specs/PSU.aspx?pn=9d224a7d-d321-4350-a2fa-c8366df799a4


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## SteveyG (Apr 1, 2007)

Shiny said:


> What problems did you have?


Mine are regularly failing with SCSI sense key 3, code 11 before they get kicked offline. So fatal read errors basically.


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## Delboy_Trotter (Jun 7, 2007)

looks good - personally I'd put in a bit more Ram, but that's just me


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

I can always up the RAM at a later date though. Trying hard to keep it on budget, failed.... Lol


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## Guest (Nov 19, 2014)

Seriously consider an SSD, if you can. Improvement to boot (10-15secs from cold to a usable desktop) and app loading times (nigh on instantaneous) is unbelievable if you've not experienced one before. I've only got a 128GB SSD and that it getting rather full. I'd go for at least 256GB.

Try ebay for components. Managed to source an i7 4770k for £180 and a 3GB Radeon 7970 (aka R9 280X) for £120. That helped to put more pennies into other stuff.

I'm pretty sure I did my upgrade (about 2 months ago) for not much over £500, which was m/b, 8GB RAM, processor + heat sink, gfx card, case and 750W semi-modular psu. I did have the SSD already, as well as monitor, keyboard and mouse.

Edit to add, this was my parts list and prices, in case it helps:
i7 4770K processor - £180 from ebay
Cooler Master 212 EVO heat sink - £25 new
Gigabyte H81 matx m/b - £38 new
8GB RAM Corsair low profile - £62 new
3GB 7970 GFX card - £120 from ebay
Case - £35 new (need a wider case as cooler is very tall!)
XFX 750W 80+ Bronze semi modular psu - £67 new
Total - £527

New prices are from quick search on Amazon today, all available on prime (but are about what I paid, though I used ebuyer). Ebay prices are as paid, 2 months ago - there would have been some postage on top too.

A 256GB SSD would be from about £75 at Amazon, which would take you to £600 :/.


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

Cheapest 7970 I can find on eBay is £200. 

Not really fussed about an SSD to be honest, it will only need to be started once and he will either be doing his homework, surfing or playing games. It will still be phenomenally quicker that what he currently has either way.


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