Moving Away From Laptop - Budget Build

[peppington]

After 7 years of being a heavy Laptop user, I've finally decided to move away from the laptop scene and put together a PC. The main purpose of the PC will be able to handle the use of a few adobe programs running simultaneously but also to be handle PC games if/when I decide to purchase some.

I've had a look at various build other people have put together.

Open to swap parts out for better alternatives but aiming to keep the costs low. The build I've put together is looking like it will cost around £400/425.



CPU - AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor
MotherBoard - Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+
GPU - Sapphire Radeon R7 260X
Memory - Kingston HyperX Fury White 8Gb(2 x 4Gb)
Hard drive - Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB
PSU- Corsair VS550 550W Power Supply
Fan - Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO Fan
Case - Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case


Feel free to comment on whether I am heading in the right direction, or suggest any improvements.

Cheers!!

[DJX366]

Hey there, you might want to consider a 1tb hybrid SSHDD I think WD have started doing them in the blue line too. It won't add too much to the cost but you will notice an improvement over a normal mechanical drive after a few boots(the most frequently used software ends up in the 8gb ssd bit) . I have one in my laptop and it works a treat while keeping the extra storage.

[law000]

My advice is not to skimp too much on the GPU - try the 280x as minimum, look on ebay to reduce the cost if need be (290x reference can be had as little as £160 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1217074489...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[peppington]

Hey there, you might want to consider a 1tb hybrid SSHDD I think WD have started doing them in the blue line too. It won't add too much to the cost but you will notice an improvement over a normal mechanical drive after a few boots(the most frequently used software ends up in the 8gb ssd bit) . I have one in my laptop and it works a treat while keeping the extra storage.

Thanks for the advice , will definitely look into that! I did see the benefits of getting an ssd but wasn't aware about the hybrid.

[peppington]

Thanks for the suggestion. The GPU was the main component I wasn't too sure about, along with the motherboard..

[DanceswithUnix]

The EVO version of that motherboard has lots of tweaks that are worth having, the one that sold it for me was the improved voltage regulator. Amazon usually have a good price on it, about the same as the non evo board elsewhere:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/M5A97-EVO-R2.../dp/B008RPZ5H8

[peppington]

I did see that offer on Amazon, but I didn't know the difference between the regular one or the EVO.. If anyone knows of any good bundles currently out there, will be greatly Appreciated!

[DanceswithUnix]

I did see that offer on Amazon, but I didn't know the difference between the regular one or the EVO..

The EVO version is very slightly bigger and has:

A pair of eSATA ports.
Uprated sound system.
6+2 phase digital VRM (rather than 4+2 traditional design)
Firewire port

Personally I wanted the better VRM, because that seems to be the bit that fails on cheap motherboards so I don't want to skimp there. If you intend overclocking, you definately want the EVO version.

[peppington]

After having a look around and seeing what else is out there and getting advice from a colleague, I have reworked the build and made a few changes. Let me know what you think:



CPU - AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor
MotherBoard - Gigabyte - 970A-UD3P
GPU - MSI Radeon r7 370
Memory - Kingston HyperX Fury White 8Gb(2 x 4Gb)
Hard drive - Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB (For the next year or so I will hardly fill it up)
PSU- XFX Core System Builder 550 power supply
Case - Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case

May consider going for the i5 CPU + MSI 297 Motherboard combination on Scan but don't know if I can justify paying well over £120 more..

[DanceswithUnix]

How does that graphics card compare on price to the much faster http://www.ebuyer.com/715613-vtx3d-r...-285-2gbd5-dhx ?

[peppington]

How does that graphics card compare on price to the much faster http://www.ebuyer.com/715613-vtx3d-r...-285-2gbd5-dhx ?

So the MSI R7 370 is going for £119..24