Help needed with new pc.. please..

[paulpowell1967]

Hi Fellow members, I'm looking to replace my old out of date pc. I was going to start with one of scans NO Brainer deals and add a few bits to make up a system. Can anyone recommend any specs for a family pc that could also be used for media centre if required. I would like to include blu ray writer in this system.
Many Thanks.
Sorry for being a bit vague. a few suggestions on what hardware would really be appreciated.
thanks.

[shaithis]

I would be seriously looking at an AMD Llano system.

[Domestic_Ginger]

micro-ATX or mini ITX?


My choice would be :-
mini-ITX mobo
CPU - A6.....
case with PSU bundle
HDD
Blu-ray writer

Llano sounds great although i am under the impression the mobos are a little steep (£65).

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

micro-ATX or mini ITX?

Llano sounds great although i am under the impression the mobos are a little steep (£65)

You can get FM1 motherboards for under £50 now!

What budget does the OP have and what do they need,ie, do peripherals and software need to be included too??

[paulpowell1967]

i can spend up to £700. I will need everything apart from monitor, mouse and keyboard.

[MSIC]

A family pc that could also be used for media centre if required. I would like to include blu ray writer in this system.

Hi there, we can certainly provide specs for the 'nuts and bolts' of the internal bits of a PC, and myself and plenty of others are happy to do so.
Before this though, I wanted to ask the following:-

Which room will it be in?
Does it have to blend in with (for example) at TV? Or is it ok for it to look like a (classic) PC?
Does it have to be quiet?
By 'Media Centre' do you mean that it will replace a DVD player (under a TV), or just that you want to connect an ipod, watch YouTube etc?
Is size an issue? For some people the smaller the better, but alot of people just have a standard idea of what they expect a PC to be and dont think twice about it.
Finally, and as a recap on the above, is design overall a concern for you?

Now that i've said all that, a great place to start is CAT-THE-FIFTH's monthly PC build thread:
http://forums.hexus.net/pc-hardware/...er-2011-a.html

[MSIC]

Given the above however, and unless / until you suggest something different, i'd be inclined to suggest the following:

Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 £27 (review)
PSU: PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 400W Modular £54 (review).
Motherboard: GigaByte GA-A55M-S2HP Motherboard Socket FM1 £55 (Note: Am less up-to-date on FM1 boards than others here, so another board could be better for you).
CPU: A8-3870K FM1 £108.
RAM: Corsair Vengeance Black 8GB DDR3 1600 MHz CAS 9 £39.
SSD: OCZ Agility 3 120GB £121 (Today Only, else +£3).
HDD: Seagate 1TB Barracuda Green £79 (Note: It's a tough call to recommend spending much money on HDD's at present - the prices are likely to plummet in the next few months).
Blu-Ray Writer: Pioneer BDR-206DBK £65.
Subtotal = £548

Windows 7 64 bit OEM £74.

Speakers: Creative Gigaworks T40 S2 £85

Total = £707.

A fairly small, reasonably quiet system which will play games when you need, but be a great media PC otherwise.
I would overall however advise waiting for HDD prices to come down, and get a 2TB drive if you plan on storing much media such as TV / films.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The system MSIC suggested looks solid. If you want USB3.0 and SATA3.0 I would go with one of the following motherboards:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/msi-a...oard-micro-atx

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigab...cs-on-board-mi

You could get this SSD for around £20 less:

http://www.ebuyer.com/282000-ocz-120...sd2-1vtxpl120g

The money saved could be put towards a quieter CPU cooler.

[sniffedmary]

PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 400W Modular
GigaByte GA-A55M-S2HP Motherboard Socket FM1
Seagate 1TB Barracuda Green