How's This For A Potential Family Computer?

[AnotherMuggle]

Evening All,

I got some great advise from you guys just over a year ago to build my own computer and I'm very pleased with it. I've now been tasked with choosing a new family computer for my mum and sister, for general home and office use. I like the look of the Dell Inspiron 620 MT, which is less than £500 and comes with a 22" monitor. However, I'm expecting limited upgradability with this computer. As a potential alternative I've put together this package and just wanted to run it buy you guys before I make any firm decisions:

• Intel Core i3 2120, S1155, Sdy Bridge, 3.3GHz, 5GT/s, HD2000 IGP 850Mhz, 3MB Cache, Core R 33x, 65W, Retail
• Asus P8Z68-V LX, Intel Z68, S 1155, DDR3, SATA III - 6Gb/s, SATA RAID, PCIe 2.0 (x16), D-Sub/ DVI-D/ HDMI, ATX
• 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair DDR3 XMS3 Classic, PC3-10666 (1333), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, 1.50V
• 22" Viewsonic VA2248-LED LED Monitor, Full HD DVI/VGA 1920x1080, 5ms, 250cd/m², 10000000:1
• 500GB Western Digital WD5000AAKX Caviar Blue, SATA 6Gb/s, 7200rpm, 16MB Cache, 8ms
• Akasa AK-ICR-07U3 3.5" Black Internal Multi Card Reader M2, Micro SD & USB 3.0 port via passthrough
• Coolermaster Elite 334U Black Midi Tower Case with CM 460w PSU
• LiteOn IHAS122-18 22x DVD±R, 8x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, DVD-RAM x12, SATA, Black, OEM
• Edimax EW-7612PIn 300Mbps Wireless 802.11 b/g/n PCI Express Adapter
• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit SP1, Operating System, Single, - OEM

This lot comes in at just over £550 including postage. I am trying to keep the price as low as possible without making any too great sacrafices in quality or performance.

Any advise is greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
TK

[pam123]

Very nice.
I'd get a 500 watt psu but otherwise you're cleared for launch.

[glc]

500 watts for onboard video? That's overkill.

[David M]

Which applications will you be running with this computer? Anything that might push the CPU or GPU?

[jdeb]

I think that build looks good. I don't care for the power supply that comes with the case but their are worse.

380GB - 380W Seasonic S12II-380 Bronze PSU, 82+% Eff', 20/24 pin, 120mm Fan - Scan.co.uk

[pam123]

Family computers with graphics's slots get upgraded later on .

[rwest]

Pretty sure this will do ya too:
Antec VP 350W PSU | Ebuyer.com

From what I can tell the VP is the European version of the Basiq. I'm pretty sure 350 watts will handle your needs unless you plan to upgrade the video later (as Pam has mentioned). I'd wait for one of the mods to confirm.

You can also get it together with the Antec 300 case for 78.05
I'm not sure on what shipping is though.

[AnotherMuggle]

Originally Posted by David M Which applications will you be running with this computer? Anything that might push the CPU or GPU?

The computer is for general use so it will mostly see web browsing, word processing, spreadsheets, those kinds of applications. I'd say it's highly unlikely to be pushed to any extent, but obviously there's always the possibility. It will never see games, neither my mum nor sister are even vaguely interested.

There have been a few comments regarding the PSU... Am I likely to have trouble with a Coolermaster? I noticed it was listed as a quality brand, if not the top bunch, in the sticky on these forums. I chose it because it seems to be the best quality case and PSU for the price, regardless whether they are bought together or as a package. The Seasonic and the Antec both look like nice options, but will push the price up unless anyone can recommend a cheap case which looks modern and is as good quality as the Coolermaster.

Thanks for everyone's input!

[jdeb]

Originally Posted by AnotherMuggle The computer is for general use so it will mostly see web browsing, word processing, spreadsheets, those kinds of applications. I'd say it's highly unlikely to be pushed to any extent, but obviously there's always the possibility. It will never see games, neither my mum nor sister are even vaguely interested. There have been a few comments regarding the PSU... Am I likely to have trouble with a Coolermaster? I noticed it was listed as a quality brand, if not the top bunch, in the sticky on these forums. I chose it because it seems to be the best quality case and PSU for the price, regardless whether they are bought together or as a package. The Seasonic and the Antec both look like nice options, but will push the price up unless anyone can recommend a cheap case which looks modern and is as good quality as the Coolermaster. Thanks for everyone's input!

Just go with the original setup then. I was just hinting that there were more reliable power supplies to get. I am not even going to try to come up with a case for that Seasonic for what you will pay for the original setup. I will add though that the biggest mistake people make when building a PC is usually the power supply and the worst ones are usually included with cases. Cheap power supplies take motherboards and or memory with them when they fail. If yours fails it will more than likely do that, so you have been warned. I have taken many of them apart and there is no comparison between a Coolermaster and Seasonic power supply.

[glc]

Who is your preferred UK vendor?

I'm not a Coolermaster PSU fan either, but for a budget unit they seem to be pretty reliable if you don't push them too hard - 460 watts with onboard video should be fine, it won't be pushed at all. I don't know how it is today, but several years ago Coolermaster's OEM was FSP, which is probably the only low end OEM I trust - they make the Basiq line for Antec.

[AnotherMuggle]

Originally Posted by glc Who is your preferred UK vendor? I'm not a Coolermaster PSU fan either, but for a budget unit they seem to be pretty reliable if you don't push them too hard - 460 watts with onboard video should be fine, it won't be pushed at all. I don't know how it is today, but several years ago Coolermaster's OEM was FSP, which is probably the only low end OEM I trust - they make the Basiq line for Antec.

Thanks both. I would prefer to buy from Computer Hardware - Scan.co.uk if I can. I've had good experience with them in the past.

[glc]

Squeeze out another 5 quid and get this case/PSU:

Antec VSK-2450p Black Mid Tower Computer Case with Antec 450W PSU - VSK-2450P - Scan.co.uk

[gordintoronto]

Originally Posted by pam123 Very nice. I'd get a 500 watt psu but otherwise you're cleared for launch.

The CPU is rated at 65 watts, and everything else put together might consume 50, so even a 200 watt power supply would have a nice margin of error. How many non-gamers add a video card which consumes 200 watts?

[glc]

Even with onboard video, with a full ATX system we don't recommend anything less than 300 watts these days. There's no point, and I haven't even seen a full ATX PSU smaller than 300 watts in years.

[pam123]

Originally Posted by gordintoronto The CPU is rated at 65 watts, and everything else put together might consume 50, so even a 200 watt power supply would have a nice margin of error. How many non-gamers add a video card which consumes 200 watts?

Things change and builders decide to upgrade ( One of the reasons for building your own computer is that you can upgrade. It makes for a much longer useful life.) and no a 200 watt power supply does not belong in a current computer.