Non Gaming Performance PC

[APerfectCircle]

Basically i have been out of the PC buildling 'loop' for a while and i'm gettin a bit confused when picking components for my next pc. And was wondering if anyone could give me a hand?
I rarely play games on my pc anymore. i used to be really into it but now i just don't have the time. Could anyone give me some expample specs that would help me build a decent dual core (pref AMD) PC with a budget graphics card will play some stuff but isn't bleeding edge.
i have a budget of about £500-£600 and i'm only really looking for Mobo, CPU, Graphics, RAM and a decent quiet / silent power supply.

Cheers
Ant

[kalniel]

If you're not gaming, can I ask why you prefer AMD? The intel dual cores are very cheap. There are still advantages to AMD for things like power requirements etc, but you pay quite a premium.

Anyway, some example systems:

Full dual core Intel:
Intel D820 - £170
Gigabyte 8I945p-MF motherboard (i945/ICH7 chipset) - £73
Corsair value select DDR2 2mb twin pack - £130
460W Akasa aPFC ultraquiet PSU - £53
ScanFX 6200 turbocache(64mb) - £37

total ~464 quid inc vat. You get dual core, lots of ram, good sound, and good upgrade path for intel preslers in the future.

If you don't need total dual core I would change the CPU for a 650 which will boost the speed and still allow some multitasking/smoothness with hyperthreading.

The rest of the budget could be spent on upgrading to a high quality i955 based motherboard, or upping to a 830 processor.

If you're set on AMD then try:
X2 3800 - 244
MSI Neo4-F nforce 4 motherboard - 64
2gb corsair value select DDR - 163
mboard as above - 53
gfx card as above - 37

for around 563 quid inc vat. Well within budget, you get better performance for floating point operations than the intel, and lower power requirements. However sound isn't as good and the upgrade path probably isn't as good (need new motherboard sooner than for the intel system).

[DavidM]

You could go for a good single core AMD... and have the option to upgrade to dual later on...

[ajones]

If you're set on AMD then try:
X2 3800 - 244
MSI Neo4-F nforce 4 motherboard - 64
2gb corsair value select DDR - 163
mboard as above - 53
gfx card as above - 37

Think you mean "PSU as above - 53" and not "mboard as above - 53".

It may be wise to consider not jumping onto the dual-core bandwagon right now, and spending what you save on a better gfx card, say AMD64 3500+ (~£150) and a GF 6600GT (~£100)?

[menthel]

What are you mainly going to do with this computer? Is it just web browsing and homw office stuff?

[APerfectCircle]

I knows its a bit stupid but i just prefer AMD Dual core systems.
I guess its not really a non gaming pc just that gaming doesn't have to be its major purpose.
I use my pc for work (i'm a programmer) and its pissing me off that each time have to compile i get this nasty lag. I also work with photoshop alot and that gets quite tardy on my current pc.
I know dual core / multiprocessor doesn't have much advantage for gaming but loads of the software i use at the moment is 'multi-processor ready'
I want to future proof the processor so that when i get a bit more money maybe i can invest in a better gfx card.
Cheers for the suggestions they look gr8 cheers