Cheap PC Build for general use - good parts list?

[polar]

I am looking to build a general use pc that I can upgrade for just £300



Any suggestions on things I should change? I will be running Ubuntu and mainly for word processing, web surfing etc no gaming! I want to buy from Scan (or ebuyer or amazon).
Already have keyboard, data HDD, wifi usb and monitor.

I will be upgrading my HTPC at a later date and the intention will be to move the celeron processor over to that and replace this with an i5 or an i3. Is it worth buying such a cheap graphics card, or should I just use the on-board graphic and buy a card at a later date. Or perhaps get a cheap one that can be moved over to the HTPC.

Cheers

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

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[polar]

Sorted now!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Out of interest,why will you need a Core i3 or Core i5 in the future?? I would probably consider doing something different.

You get the following parts:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/amd-a...mhz-65w-retail

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigab...m2-motherboard

These would be fine for normal usage,but great for HTPC usage especially with the low idle power consumption of Trinity. FM2 also an upgrade part to Steamroller based APUs too. The Trinity A8 and A10 CPUs are comparable to the SB and IB Core i3 CPUs in many benchmarks.

AFAIK,many Linux applications tend to use more threads well,so the AMD A8 and A10 CPUs should do quite well for the price.

OTH,why don't you get this instead:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/amd-a...mhz-100w-retai

http://www.ebuyer.com/274047-asrock-...board-a75m-hvs

Here is my review of an A6-3670K under Windows 7:

http://forums.hexus.net/hexus-reader...ew-thread.html

I have a Core i3 2100 myself,and for general usage the A6-3670K is great considering its price. Socket FM1 does not have an upgrade path,but TBH an A6-3670K should last you years as a general purpose CPU, and also would do fine for HTPC usage.

[polar]

Thanks Cat-the-fifth for your great advice, I have redone the order with the upgraded gigabyte board which has sata3 and usb3 but most importantly is in stock!
Will the be quiet psu be ok? its 80%+ rated but have chosen as XFX 80%+ is out of stock?
Finally do I need an extra fan? the case ships with 2 top exhaust fans.

[Samwood]

The be quiet PSU is fine, its made by FSP, who are generally reliable. The XFX has been out of stock for months, I ran scan a while back & they said that they had no idea when they were getting more in.
You wont 'need' an extra fan, but i would move one of the pre-installed fans to the front as an intake - this will reduce dust build-up on inside your PC.

p.s. you need 1 more post on the Hexus forums to qualify for free delivery from scan (you'll then need to link your accounts).

[polar]

Having spent ages researching the AMD APU chips, the AMD Catalyst proprietary driver does not seem to be that great under ubuntu.

So it looks like im going to have to stick to intel - so will the celeron build be OK, any changes or other suggestions?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Having spent ages researching the AMD APU chips, the AMD Catalyst proprietary driver does not seem to be that great under ubuntu.

So it looks like im going to have to stick to intel - so will the celeron build be OK, any changes or other suggestions?

My mates runs a Phenom II X6 1045 and an HD4830 under Ubuntu fine. The only time he uses Windows is for running a few games. XBMC playback is fine for example. I have another mate who use an HD5850 1GB which seems OK too. OTH,gaming under Linux is much better on Nvidia hardware though.

I do have a Llano A6-3670K as a secondary build,so I can try installing Ubuntu to see if the latest drivers are fine or not.

Looking at these reviews of the A10 under Linux,they don't mention any problems:

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag..._hd7660d&num=1

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...0k_linux&num=1

[aidanjt]

If it's just for browsing, word processing etc. you really don't need that much PC.. 4GB of RAM, an SSD, and one of these (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=FS-013-ZT) would be more than enough to run Ubuntu pleasantly.

Oh, and if HD video playback is something you need on top of that, the nVidia ION variant is available: http://www.dabs.com/products/zotac-z...i-pc-7FF4.html

[polar]

@Cat-the-fifth Ok then perhaps the AMD chip is the right way to go, it certainly seems much better value for money.
The links you posted certainly suggest that the Catalyst Linux driver seems to be OK.
I just don't want to be left with a machine that ubuntu won't run-on and have to resort to paying for windows!

so if I stick with intel - would celeron be the way to go?

@Aidanjt - I want a machine that I can upgrade as I go, I already have an acer revo and whilst it will word process and surf the net its not fast! It has and continues to be a great cheap HTPC though!

[aidanjt]

@Aidanjt - I want a machine that I can upgrade as I go, I already have an acer revo and whilst it will word process and surf the net its not fast! It has and continues to be a great cheap HTPC though!

Meh, future proofing is a persistent pipedream in the industry. Everyone hopes for it, but when they get around to upgrading everything is obsolete. These things are throw-away upgradable. Just pull the disk, put it in its successor and boot up and play.

I'm not sure which revo you have, but the ID41 has a 1.8GHz dual core CPU and hyperthreading, the ION IGP can handle mild 3D loads and 1080p h.264 decoding, 4GB of RAM will essentially be going to waste, and an SSD makes all those costly seeks which delay menu item rendering not already cached negligible. It's plenty for a Ubuntu desktop, today, and the foreseeable future.

Just something to consider.

[polar]

Meh, future proofing is a persistent pipedream in the industry. Everyone hopes for it, but when they get around to upgrading everything is obsolete. These things are throw-away upgradable. Just pull the disk, put it in its successor and boot up and play.

I'm not sure which revo you have, but the ID41 has a 1.8GHz dual core CPU and hyperthreading, the ION IGP can handle mild 3D loads and 1080p h.264 decoding, 4GB of RAM will essentially be going to waste, and an SSD makes all those costly seeks which delay menu item rendering not already cached negligible. It's plenty for a Ubuntu desktop, today, and the foreseeable future.

Just something to consider.

Take you point regarding future proofing, i'm running an Acer Aspire Revo R3600 Desktop PC (Intel Atom N230 1.6 Ghz, 2 GB RAM, 250gb HDD) and running xbmc is fine, slow with full ubuntu and Ok-ish with Xubuntu. A ram upgrade would probably improve things further! Will look into the zotac boxes to see if they are any better.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

@Cat-the-fifth Ok then perhaps the AMD chip is the right way to go, it certainly seems much better value for money.
The links you posted certainly suggest that the Catalyst Linux driver seems to be OK.
I just don't want to be left with a machine that ubuntu won't run-on and have to resort to paying for windows!

so if I stick with intel - would celeron be the way to go?

@Aidanjt - I want a machine that I can upgrade as I go, I already have an acer revo and whilst it will word process and surf the net its not fast! It has and continues to be a great cheap HTPC though!

The Celery would be fine. I would also consider the A6-3670K though as drivers should be a bit more mature. For £60 you are getting a quad core CPU and a decent IGP. It should last you years IMHO.

BTW,the Zotac Ion should run Ubuntu reasonably well TBH.

[lapyiwin]

I would also recommend AMD APU for any budget built