Another budget build

[Mehta23]

We're trying to build a decent, and fairly powerful and quiet PC for around £4-500. It's gonna be used for standard desktop applications, and some HD movie editing.

Parts so far:

CPU- AMD FX 6300 over the 6100
RAM- 4GB DDR RAM - would that be enough, or is 8Gb recommended?
Mobo- Haven't decided on a motherboard, need to decide if we need usb 3 or PCi x16.
HDD- Seagate 1TB Barracuda
GPU - thinking 6670 or a 7750?
PSU- not sure on how much Wattage or Amperage is needed?
A cheap case from Xcase with some extra fans, maybe corsair AFs or Sharkoon.
And I think we're gonna leave some sort of budget for a new monitor (£80 or so)

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

OS required in the budget??

[Mehta23]

I'm not sure. I'll say yes for now.

One of the dilemmas I was facing was whether the newer Haswell CPUs would be any match for the FX and a dedicated graphics card? Or if the card is needed at all.
I know editing is cpu intensive so that's why we went for the hexacore rather than a A10 APU.
I've heard AMD graphics work better with AMD CPUs so that's why we haven't put much thought into a 650 or a 640.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If you are going to need a copy of Windows and a monitor,that alone is around £150. This means you essentially have a £250 to £350 budget.

I would probably look at an FM2 based build with an A8 5600K for around £70. You can get SimCity with the CPU which should reduce the cost if you sell it.

Moreover,for CPU only encodes you will get Core i3 level performance(or higher) and a reasonable IGP.

[Mehta23]

If we excluded the monitor and OS, would you then recommend anything else? (We already have an old monitor)

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

How much video eidting will be done?? What software is being used??

[Mehta23]

Probably will be done fairly regularly. We don't have any software yet, but maybe Serif or perhaps Vegas

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Probably will be done fairly regularly. We don't have any software yet, but maybe Serif or perhaps Vegas

Sony Vegas supports OpenCL acceleration:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ew,3521-3.html

This is what I would get:

http://www.cclonline.com/product/934...e-CPU/CPU0155/
http://www.cclonline.com/product/761...-Card/VGA0547/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/G-Skill-Chan...words=8gb+ddr3
http://www.cclonline.com/product/554...tion-/PSU0202/
http://www.ebuyer.com/436858-biostar...herboard-ta970
http://www.ebuyer.com/239238-casecom...an-k5-9388blue
http://www.ebuyer.com/319639-seagate...em-st1000dm003
http://www.ebuyer.com/410560-liteon-...k-ihas124-19cu

The total comes to around £369.

Edit!!

Amazon seem cheap for Windows 8 64 bit:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-Wi...=windows+8+oem

So that would take the build cost to around £439.

So if you can find a monitor for around £70 to £80 you will be slightly over budget,and of course you need a keyboard and mouse too.

[Mehta23]

Thanks very much. We already have the keyboard and mouse and case. I'll have a look at the parts you've recommended now.

Edit: I think we already have a spare win7 did lying around, so if we didn't need to buy Win8, would you change anything?

Owner would like it to cost between £3-450, and we've got a £20 case, £50 hard drive, and the £90 Fx6300 so £160 spent so far.

In fact, I think we'd probably just spend the extra money on fans and maybe a motherboard with usb 3 and/or pci3. Sound Ok?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Thanks very much. We already have the keyboard and mouse and case. I'll have a look at the parts you've recommended now.

Edit: I think we already have a spare win7 did lying around, so if we didn't need to buy Win8, would you change anything?

Owner would like it to cost between £3-450, and we've got a £20 case, £50 hard drive, and the £90 Fx6300 so £160 spent so far.

In fact, I think we'd probably just spend the extra money on fans and maybe a motherboard with usb 3 and/or pci3. Sound Ok?

Make sure the case can take ATX motherboards. The motherboard has SATA3.0 and USB3.0 ports,although AMD does not have PCI-E 3.0 although it won't make a difference for the type of build you are going for(and even most gaming builds).

If you want to overclock,it might be better going for a more expensive motherboard,although i know a few people who have used the Biostar motherboard with the FX6300 at stock and it seemed fine.

[Mehta23]

I doubt there'll be over clocking unless it will make a big difference. . I was thinking pci3 mainly for future proofing

edit: just realised the case takes ITX and micro ATX. The case in question is the Xcase Amera, http://www.xcase.co.uk/X-Case-Amira-...e-amera-br.htm, I don't think we'd return/cancel the order, but would it stay cool with a 60mm fan on the back, and a 120mm on the side? I'm thinking about swapping these out for something that might provide better cooling anyway.

edit2: I've just realised the front mounted PSU.. beginning to think it'll be more trouble than it's worth. Anyone know of some good "girly" cases?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I doubt there'll be over clocking unless it will make a big difference. . I was thinking pci3 mainly for future proofing

edit: just realised the case takes ITX and micro ATX. The case in question is the Xcase Amera, http://www.xcase.co.uk/X-Case-Amira-...e-amera-br.htm, I don't think we'd return/cancel the order, but would it stay cool with a 60mm fan on the back, and a 120mm on the side? I'm thinking about swapping these out for something that might provide better cooling anyway.

edit2: I've just realised the front mounted PSU.. beginning to think it'll be more trouble than it's worth. Anyone know of some good "girly" cases?

AMD has a more limited choice of mATX motherboards TBH unless you go socket FM2.

There are not many girly cases available in the UK ATM. The In Win Allure is not for sale anymore for example.

How abour vinyl wrap on a normal case??

This case is decent:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/BitFenix-Mer.../dp/B005JRICNG

You can add a few red fans into it like my mate has done,for their other half.

Edit!!

I know someone else with this case:

http://www.ebuyer.com/526148-exdispl...-kj-3392-white

It not ideal but looks OK.

[Dottorrent]

Have a look at this -

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silve...-white-w-o-psu

This case is built by Silverstone, a legendary name in the PC market. Solidly built and has enough room for your components. Just add a rear fan and you're good to go.

[Mehta23]

So a budget PSu has been bought (I regret it now, but I overlooked it and said it was fine to buy) has been bought. It's not 80 PSU bronze, and its not on Overclocker's recommended PSU list, so I dont know whether to go along with it.

PSU: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500w-...-year-warranty
PSU list: http://www.overclock.net/t/183810/fa...power-supplies

Normally I'd think it'd be perfectly fine, but since we're adding a graphics card (do we actually need it? ) I'm not sure about it, especially seeing as the XFX is 80 PLUS bronze, and isn't much more. Only thing is that the OCZ has apprently been dispatched, and explaining to my cousin why he should send it back is gonna be hard.

So do you think this OCZ is ok?

and thanks Dotterrrent for the case, I'll see if my cousin (client) wants it.

[Dottorrent]

EDIT - sorry for double post.

[Dottorrent]

So a budget PSu has been bought (I regret it now, but I overlooked it and said it was fine to buy) has been bought. It's not 80 PSU bronze, and its not on Overclocker's recommended PSU list, so I dont know whether to go along with it.

PSU: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500w-...-year-warranty
PSU list: http://www.overclock.net/t/183810/fa...power-supplies

Normally I'd think it'd be perfectly fine, but since we're adding a graphics card (do we actually need it? ) I'm not sure about it, especially seeing as the XFX is 80 PLUS bronze, and isn't much more. Only thing is that the OCZ has apprently been dispatched, and explaining to my cousin why he should send it back is gonna be hard.

So do you think this OCZ is ok?

and thanks Dotterrrent for the case, I'll see if my cousin (client) wants it.

The power supply is fine for low wattage use. I would actually send it back for a Corsair CX430. Same price, better overall quality.