New system for sister

[Disturbedguy]

Hello Hexus massive.

I am looking at building my sister a new PC as the one she has now is slowly dieing.

The budget, is ideally £500.

She mainly uses the PC for the watching stuff online, Facebook and talking to mates, although if the PC was able, she would play The SIMS and possibly other games.

The only things she doesn't need are monitor, keyboard and mouse. Operating System, XP or Win7, either would be fine.

Cheers,

DG (It's my birthday and I'll do what I want to!)

[nibbler]

Get a self built Scan 3xs?

http://3xs.scan.co.uk/ShowSystem.asp?SystemID=1011

So much less hassle.

[Attila the Bun]

Get a self built Scan 3xs?

http://3xs.scan.co.uk/ShowSystem.asp?SystemID=1011

So much less hassle.

And if the girls in the office are anything to go by make sure it's pink.

Actually, if £500 inc OS is your target check this thread out it may save you some time

http://forums.hexus.net/hexus-hardwa...-pc-build.html

[Ulti]

If you're building brand new then here's some things to start from:
CPU: AMD Athlon II X3 445 3.1 GHz ~£63
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H ~£70
PSU: Corsair 400W CX ~£30
RAM: Corsair 4GB 1333Mhz DDR3 CL9 RAM ~£66
HDD: Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB ~£33

You say she only watches things online and may occasionally play Sims so you don't really need a big HDD. You may want to add a graphics card depending on the monitor resolution though.

This totals ~£262 atm, leaving ~£238 for the case, graphics or perhaps even an SSD such as the Kingston 64GB one for £77. Perhaps check out Scan's Today Only for the Silverstone HTPC cases if space is a concern or perhaps a cube case like the Sugo SG01 series: Black or Silver/White (~£62 on Today Only)

I personally own that board as well as an Athlon X3 435 and it plays 1080p video perfectly with only 2GB RAM. Haven't really played any games on it though so not sure how well the integrated graphics go with gaming. You really don't need to spend £500 though for what she does witht he pc really.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If you're building brand new then here's some things to start from:
CPU: AMD Athlon II X3 445 3.1 GHz ~£63
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H ~£70
PSU: Corsair 400W CX ~£30
RAM: Corsair 4GB 1333Mhz DDR3 CL9 RAM ~£66
HDD: Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB ~£33

You say she only watches things online and may occasionally play Sims so you don't really need a big HDD. You may want to add a graphics card depending on the monitor resolution though.

This totals ~£262 atm, leaving ~£238 for the case, graphics or perhaps even an SSD such as the Kingston 64GB one for £77. Perhaps check out Scan's Today Only for the Silverstone HTPC cases if space is a concern or perhaps a cube case like the Sugo SG01 series: Black or Silver/White (~£62 on Today Only)

I personally own that board as well as an Athlon X3 435 and it plays 1080p video perfectly with only 2GB RAM. Haven't really played any games on it though so not sure how well the integrated graphics go with gaming. You really don't need to spend £500 though for what she does witht he pc really.

+1 on this advice. This 880G based motherboard has the SB850 southbridge for a few quid more:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/218931

You can get an HD5670 512MB GDDR5 or the faster 9800GT for under £70:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/190648

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169143

The HD5670 will have lower idle power consumption than a 9800GT.

You could get the parts from Aria or even Microdirect as they are based in Manchester.

[Ulti]

+1 on this advice. This 880G based motherboard has the SB850 southbridge for a few quid more:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/218931

Ahha! That's the board I have, I thought something was slightly different about the board I linked.

[Disturbedguy]

Cheers Cat and Ulti.

Got me some thinking to do. Space isnt so much an issue, i just need to make sure the case I get will fit in the desk. The main issue will be to make sure it is well cooled.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

This case is quite good for the price:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/172779

[Pob255]

I was going to sugest the InWin Allure . . . untill I saw the price http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_1150.html

[kingpotnoodle]

I was going to sugest the InWin Allure . . . untill I saw the price http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_1150.html

Please. Never show this to my girlfriend! My poor PC will end up inside one

[Disturbedguy]

So far the system recommended by Ulti seems to be winning my vote. Just need to add a case and an OS.

[Pob255]

For a case you could consider the Thermaltake V3 for full atx http://www.ebuyer.com/product/234920

or the coolermaster 340 for an mATX case
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Coole...X-Case-w-o-PSU

For a prebuild
http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/...=464537&CatId=
although I think that one has some heat issues.
Or this one
http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/...=403125&CatId=
This one shouldn't have any issues, we have some of the Acer Veriton X270 at work, pentium dual core + nvidia 7100 chipset and they are great basic work/internet machines.
I'm mainly sugesting these acers as I do like them as small form factor pc's, I really like small form factor now, if you want full sized pc's then a scan xms system would be one to look at.

[Ulti]

Just found this case for around £35 inc del if your sister is still quite young and looks pink flowery things. It's cheap though and has a front mounted PSU but it shouldn't bother you too much as once you've built it you probably won't upgrade it for a few years.