Help spec 1st PC for my nephew?

[george1979]

Hi all,

My brother in law wants to get my 9 year old nephew his first PC since I've recently turned him on to PC gaming

Anyway to help save costs I have offered to build it if they buy the parts but I'm not at all up to speed with AMD parts.

They want to spend around £300- including windows. I wasn't sure if this would even be possible - he has said he would stretch the budget a bit if it was worth it. It is his first PC so I figure the integrated AMD graphics will do for now and he can upgrade a bit later. No need for monitor as he will connect it to a 42inch TV in the games room.

I was looking at this scan bundle:

LN37493 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair DDR3 XMS3 Classic, PC3-12800 (1600), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, 1.50V
LN47458 AMD FX 6300 Black Edition, Vishera, Six Core, S AM3+, 3.5GHz, 14MB Total Cache, 95W, Retail
LN47307 Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3, AMD 760G, AM3+, DDR3, SATA II 3Gb/s, RAID, PCIe 2.0 (x16), D-Sub/DVI-D/HDMI, MATX
LN3096 NO HEAT SINK AND FAN
LN41164 Scan Value Bundle Range

Considering added the artic freezer cooler to this for another £18. Always good to keep those temps down - and give the option to OC in future if he wants to.

£176.63


Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit SP1 Operating System Single OEM DVD

£70.44

Case:

http://www.ebuyer.com/239238-casecom...an-k5-9388blue

£21.98


PSU:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500w-...-green-erp-psu

Reason for 500W PSU is to allow room to upgrade to dedicated graphics later but open to suggestions.

£35.98


Total: £317.01 (maybe add £18 for upgraded cooler).


So what do you think? I'm totally open to suggestions as I'm a little out of my comfort zone here. Thanks

[AETAaAS]

AMD's FX processors do not feature integrated graphics, you'll have to get an A series APU for that. My choices;

A8 5600k - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/amd-a...hz-100w-retail
Asus F2A55-M - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-...sub-dvi-d-matx
Corsair 8GB 1600 - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/8gb-(...9-9-24-xmp-15v

Its 171.72 for the above set, so it's a little less than the bundle you selected but with the addition of very reasonable integrated graphics in trade of 2 cores which is a little superfluous for entry level gaming.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

TBH,you would be hampering the FX6300 by using such an old chipset. It will work though.

Kaveri should be out in January for desktop,so it might be worth waiting for it.

Edit!!

The first specifications list has no HDD too.

[george1979]

TBH,you would be hampering the FX6300 by using such an old chipset. It will work though.

Kaveri should be out in January for desktop,so it might be worth waiting for it.

Can't wait - its a christmas present!

How about changing the bundle to:

Scan FM2 VB10a
LN37493 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair DDR3 XMS3 Classic, PC3-12800 (1600), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, 1.50V
LN51036 AMD A6 6400K, S FM2, Richland Core, Dual Core 3.9GHz, AMD Radeon HD 8470D 800MHz, 65W, Retail
LN3096 NO HEAT SINK AND FAN
LN41164 Scan Value Bundle Range

EDIT: mobo selected on this is the Asus F2A85-M LE

£163.80

Also forgot a HDD in my OP - so add another £45.

Including the case that would come to around £350.

[AETAaAS]

^What is the mobo in that bundle? Is there anything else?

Otherwise I'd still go with my initial choices. The A8 5600k has stronger graphics than the A6 6400k
And I'd really be inclined to have a good 8GB set with an APU system, not only for the space but the overclocking as APUs benefit reasonably from a RAM OC.

[george1979]

^What is the mobo in that bundle? Is there anything else?

Otherwise I'd still go with my initial choices. The A8 5600k has stronger graphics than the A6 6400k (http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu...6_7.html#sect0)
And I'd really be inclined to have a good 8GB set with an APU system, not only for the space but the overclocking as APUs benefit reasonably from a RAM OC.

Sorry - just added an edit with the mobo. TBH the on board GPU isn;t much of an issue as I very much doubt it'll stay like that for long - will get him a dedicated GPU before long. May well pass on my GTX570 as I'm getting the upgrade bug at the moment.

I agree about the RAM but it's not much of an issue right now as it won't be OC'd straight away (chances are not at all). Trying to keep the initial cost's down - especially for things that are easily upgraded later.

I had a look at speccing a build with the A8 5600k but scan are short of cheap FM2 mobo's (with the exception of the value bundle ones it seems). I'd like to get most of the components from one place if at all possible.

[george1979]

What do you make of this?

http://www.cclonline.com/product/101...C/CCL-EL-BUZ3/

My immediate concern is the PSU. As soon as you start to change anything though they hit you with a £25 customisation charge.

[george1979]

Actually on reflection I've went right off a pre-built one.

I'm leaning towards your earlier suggestion of the A8 5600k and pairing it with this mobo:

http://www.ebuyer.com/397489-asus-f2...cessor-f2a55-m

And this RAM:

http://www.ebuyer.com/272181-kingsto...x1600c9d3b1-4g


That should bring the total build in at £350. What do you think of the mobo choice?

[HalloweenJack]

http://www.ebuyer.com/567538-ga-f2a8...ga-f2a88xm-d3h

a better mobo

[george1979]

http://www.ebuyer.com/567538-ga-f2a8...ga-f2a88xm-d3h

a better mobo

Thanks - I'm totally clueless about the various AMD chipsets. Higher number = better (i assume lol)

[HalloweenJack]

FM2+ (A88X) would be Kevari compatable , ideally though I would look for an asus board


http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-...-dvi-hdmi-matx


^^ would be my choice , a solid board and its 4+2 power

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would look at thes parts:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-Wi...=windows+8+oem
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-GA-...&keywords=a88x
http://www.ebuyer.com/239238-casecom...an-k5-9388blue
http://www.ebuyer.com/154832-liteon-...ve-oem-ihas122
http://www.ebuyer.com/568991-powerco...x7730-1gbd5-he
http://www.ebuyer.com/507066-amd-ath...-ad760kwohlbox
http://www.cclonline.com/product/982...t-OEM/PSU0486/
http://www.cclonline.com/product/414...0C9D3B1K2/4GX/
http://www.cclonline.com/product/662...Drive/HDD1190/

The total comes to £365.45 excluding cashback. The FSP is not a bad unit,although basic. A mate runs an Athlon II X4 760K and an HD7770 off one.

Edit!!

Another £15 to £25 should be able to get an FX6300 into the build.

[george1979]

That's great- give's me a good spec to aim for, thanks. Will shop around to see what prices i can get. The RAM is £7 cheaper on Ebuyer to start - I will try to stretch to the FX6300 if possible.

Do you reckon the FSP PSU will be OK if I were to give him my gtx570 when I upgrade?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

It might be pushing it TBH!

I would get this PSU:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/520W-Antec...item5400869972

The 620W version is around £5 more and you can get free delivery to a local Argos.

Edit!!

Try to use Flubit too,for the other purchases. Not sure it works with Ebay though.

[MrRockliffe]

Scan offer 1.35v ram. Get that along with a 5600k as you'll get better performance with overclocked ram

[george1979]

Sorry to revive this thread but I'm about to buy the parts this weekend and I wanted to ask about your recommendations for a AM3+ motherboard?

Trying to see if I can squeeze in the FX6300

Was thinking an Fx6300 will provide a degree of future proofing.


EDIT:

Would this be ok? http://www.amazon.co.uk/M5A97-R2-0-M...2B+motherboard