How does this look?

[abibee]

I'm pricing up parts for a new computer, and wonder if this lot will work ok? I'm not a gamer, thus a cheap (basic I guess) graphics card. It's for general use and I hope relatively future-proof (for example my current computer is about 10 years old, so I expect this to last a good while).

AMD CPU FX-6300 AM3+ Hex Core 3.50GHz 14MB 95W Black Edition Retail
Asus motherboard M5A97 LE R2.0 AMD AM3+
Kingston memory 8GB HyperX Kit (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz CL9 DIMM RAM
Crucial SSD 120GB M500 2.5" 6Gb/s
Sapphire HD 5450 1GB PCI-E 2.1(x16) GDDR3 GPU 650MHz DL DVI-I HDMI Retail
Antec VSK-4000E Black ATX Midi Case
Coolermaster PSU 500W Elite Power with 12cm fan OEM
Pioneer DVR-221LBK 24x SATA DVD/CD Burner with LabelFlash

That lot comes to a few pence over £381 delivered, + another ~£70 for Windows. So, comfortably under £500 which is my max really.

I could save a little and get a 64Gb Sandisk SSD maybe if that's big enough for Windows and a handful of programmes. Are Crucial and Sandisk 6 and half a dozen as far as reliability/quality. And the memory could be G-Skill I see on this site for a similar price.

I intend to re-use my current HD as the secondary/data drive, and I'm sticking with the same peripherals and monitor I already have.

[ik9000]

You could possibly save a bit and go Kaveri - it's onboard graphics will be fine for up to moderate gaming. Give you more to put into other stuff eg monitor?

A10-7700k or A10-7850k and (SFAIK) cheaper FM2+ mobo. Only question is whether having 6 cores instead of 4 matters to you. For heavily multithreaded stuff it may help.

NB check your Mobo spec. For future proofing it sometimes helps to get good features up front eg lots of SATAIII (6Gb/s) and USB3, PCIe3 etc up front instead of (already dated) USB2 and SataII etc which in a few years will be obsolete. Ditto avoid Mobo with PCI instead of PCIe expansion slots. Pretty much useless now. A bit like IDE headers. Unless you are running legacy kit they are wasted space on your board.

Don't downsize the SSD. False economy. Also see this thread and scope some discount on the crucial SSD http://forums.hexus.net/hexus-news/3...m500-ssds.html

[abibee]

I see, an APU instead of a CPU and graphics card? I never really understood what an APU was, thus my conventional choice of seperate parts. It could work out. The A10-7850K is dearer, but with a slightly cheaper motherboard it could balance out and be in budget.

Is Gigabyte a good brand of motherboard? I've always trusted Asus and never considered any other brand, but I see a few cheaper but better looking spec Gigabyte boards on Scan (i.e. Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-DS2).

[scaryjim]

What's the spec of your current computer, and what is it that you're finding it's struggling on? You might not need a full new build: adding some more RAM and an SSD to an older build could really revitalise it...

[abibee]

What's the spec of your current computer, and what is it that you're finding it's struggling on? You might not need a full new build: adding some more RAM and an SSD to an older build could really revitalise it...

I added some more memory to Ellie (computer) about a year ago, but she's feeling her age in a few areas, she's nearly 10 and it's XP. So I'd like to retire her and get something new and Windows 8.1 (and Classic Shell probably).

[scaryjim]

What processor? How much RAM?

This may come as a surprise, but Windows 8 *can* run more smoothly on old hardware than XP sometimes. As long as you've got enough RAM the processor shouldn't be a problem. My old laptop only got replaced because I wanted to play more games - I used to use it for web browsing, email and some web development and it was fine on a 1.3GHz Pentium Dual Core. It had 4GB RAM and an SSD, which makes all the difference - newer versions of Windows can use spare RAM as a cache for commonly used files to improve performance, and obviously an SSD will speed up any computer. I strongly suspect that adding an SSD and Windows 8 to your existing computer will breathe new life into it

[azrael-]

DISCLAIMER: I won't be making specific product recommendations since I'm not from the UK and therefore not fully aware of the UK market.

I agree with ik9000 that going with a Kaveri instead of an FX would be a wise choice.

Motherboard-wise I'd go with a microATX board. In my book it gives you the best balance of size and upgradability. Personally, I also wouldn't skimp on the chipset, since it will probably extend the (useful not physical) life span of the board.

Memory-wise I find that Kingston is a good choice, but you may want to save some money by going with their ValueRAM series instead. Heatspreaders on memory have dubious advantages at best, but the one thing that is for certain is that you won't have any clue what so ever what kind of memory chips are used. Also, I'd go with JEDEC spec compliant memory (anything using more than 1.5V usually isn't). And stay away from low voltage DDR3L memory. Costs too much, yields too little, and there may be compatibility issues.

If you go Kaveri you can save the money for the HD5450 card. The Kaveri IGP is probably even faster.

Never buy an SSD under 120 GB. Actually, 240/250 GB is the sweet spot. Consider that you need to leave 20-25% of the drive unused to mitigate performance issues as the drives fills up. Samsung and Crucial drives would be my first choice.

Optical drive: If you still can, get a drive from Sony/NEC/OptiArc. Second choice would be LiteOn. Most other drives are LiteOn OEMs anyway, so why not go for the original? Sadly, Pioneer hasn't been Pioneer for a long time (except for BD rewriters). These days they're made by BTK, which don't have a stellar track record. Same goes for Samsung drives, which is quite the opposite of SSDs.

For the PSU, don't buy wattage just for the sake of it. Depending on what you plan to put into your build I can't see you needing more than 500W (which is what you've chosen). Don't skimp on the quality, though. A good PSU is long-time investment. Ideally, you would get one from Seasonic.

As for Windows, are you sure there isn't a Windows 8 upgrade version you can get cheaper. You do have XP to upgrade from and 8.1 is a free upgrade anyway.

[abibee]

@ scaryjim - Thanks, I appreciate the sentiment, but if I'm going to be getting some new parts, I'd rather go the whole hog and get a new machine.

@ azrael- - Thanks for the tips. I never knew about Pioneer, I've seen Lite-on for the same or less price anyway.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The FX6300 is a more power CPU but the A10 CPUs will have an IGP more powerful than any graphics card under £45. If you are going for longetivity I would get something like an XFX PRO 450W or a Seasonic G 360W. They both use good quality capacitors and a ball bearing fan.

[deejayburnout]

What processor? How much RAM?

This may come as a surprise, but Windows 8 *can* run more smoothly on old hardware than XP sometimes. As long as you've got enough RAM the processor shouldn't be a problem. My old laptop only got replaced because I wanted to play more games - I used to use it for web browsing, email and some web development and it was fine on a 1.3GHz Pentium Dual Core. It had 4GB RAM and an SSD, which makes all the difference - newer versions of Windows can use spare RAM as a cache for commonly used files to improve performance, and obviously an SSD will speed up any computer. I strongly suspect that adding an SSD and Windows 8 to your existing computer will breathe new life into it

Interesting. Might upgrade my OS and see if I get an improvement.

[scaryjim]

Interesting. Might upgrade my OS and see if I get an improvement.

I've got a mate who's IT manager for a small company and he swears that Windows 8 is by far the best performing version of Windows on older hardware. I've got rid of most of my old hardware recently, so I can't really do any testing, but I'm willing to take his word for it. Of course, I wouldn't complain if anyone fancied sending me some of their old systems...

[deejayburnout]

Might be a bit like Kit Kat for Android. Even though it's the newest OS, it has been heaving optimised and works good on older devices.