Help spec me a budget build

[KalC]

Need a bit of help from you guys with my new build!

I pretty much need all of the parts, apart from a monitor (1680x1050 FYI). To be more specific with the kit list here's what will be needed:

Motherboard
CPU
RAM
PSU
GPU
HDD
Case

I think thats it?

The new build will be used for general usage mainly... watching the odd DVD, with a bit of graphic design work and some occasional video editing. Games will not be played, I already have a PC for that. I have a budget of around £350 - £400 to spend so it would be excellent to hear some recommendations

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would look at the following parts:

AMD Athlon II X3 440 ~ £66

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/191955

MSI 785GM-E51 ~ £57

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173978

4GB 1333MHZ ~ £80

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/178943

Corsair 400W CX PSU ~ £40

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150985

Samsung F3 1TB ~ £62

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173804

Antec Mini P180 Black MATX Case ~ £62

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/140996

SATA DVD rewriter ~ £17

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164449

The total comes to £384 excluding postage.

[KalC]

Whoa, thanks so much for that!

Few questions though:

1) How comes AMD over Intel?
2) In terms of upgradeability in the future, how much headroom would be available with that motherboard?
3) Would onboard graphics be enough to handle some 3D modelling applications? Cinema 4D for example?

Thanks again

[DanceswithUnix]

Whoa, thanks so much for that!

Few questions though:

1) How comes AMD over Intel?
2) In terms of upgradeability in the future, how much headroom would be available with that motherboard?
3) Would onboard graphics be enough to handle some 3D modelling applications? Cinema 4D for example?

Thanks again

1/ AMD are better value at the low end, so more bang for your buck.
2/ You have spare PCIe and PCI card slots, and 2 unused memory slots. What do you have in mind?
3/ That is fairly up to date integrated graphics, so should be enough. I suppose a board with sideport RAM dedicated to graphics might be nice, but that may cost you more.

[KalC]

1/ AMD are better value at the low end, so more bang for your buck.
2/ You have spare PCIe and PCI card slots, and 2 unused memory slots. What do you have in mind?
3/ That is fairly up to date integrated graphics, so should be enough. I suppose a board with sideport RAM dedicated to graphics might be nice, but that may cost you more.

Thanks for clearing that up. I only asked as this would be my first mATX MSi board, have just read some reviews though and it seems pretty good

Right, so I am just about to order now. Anything to add/missing or am I good to go?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I assume that you are not going to overclock the processor??

I chose the MSI motherboard as it seems to have lower power consumption than other 785G based motherboards:

http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles...?cid=6&id=3048

The motherboard supports 125W CPUs.

This motherboard does have dedicated RAM for the IGP and supports 125W CPUs:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/179183

The following motherboard has dedicated RAM for the IGP and support for 140W CPUs I would look at the following one:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/170277

[KalC]

I assume that you are not going to overclock the processor??

I have no plans to overclock on this machine.

If do require a GPU I could just put one in at a later stage couldn't i?

[Domestic_Ginger]

I have no plans to overclock on this machine.

If do require a GPU I could just put one in at a later stage couldn't i?

You can. bear in mind teh PSU was 30A @12V available. This may limit the use of high end cards and it certainly won't run nvidias lastest monsters.