[AmyJ]

So I have a budget of £700 to build a new desktop. It will not be used for gaming so I don't need particularly advanced graphics cards etc, I'm mainly focused on system speed and stability. I have £300 to use separately for a decent monitor/printer, and I already have an external hard drive so I factored that out. This is what I've come up with so far:



..it comes to £697.

I'm concerned that it might be "overkill" for a standard office machine, and since someone else is putting it together for me (I'm only picking the components ), I'm also worried that a couple of things I selected might be incompatible. I went for a dedicated sound card because on-board sound tends to be rubbish, but it might be a little unnecessary. Thoughts/suggestions?

[smithsmith]

Liquid cooling is a complete overkill in that set up, unless your overclocking your CPU, even in that case an aftermarket heat sink fan would more than suffice and would be considerably cheaper

Dont get a ssd no point for your needs, first its too expensive for its storage size = your better of getting a 1tb segate/ western digital caviar = cheaper and more storage and faster search time vs faster boot time
Your rather get a i5 2500

try sites like

ebuyer
overclockers
scan

(Original post by AmyJ)
x

[Dijipo]

Liquid Cooling and a SSD on a non-gaming desktop lol

This is probably what you should be looking at with your budget:


Onboard sound isn't that bad, and even if it is, then you could always buy a sound card later and put that in.

And btw that Graphics Card at the bottom is optional. The motherboard has a VGA port, and the 2500k has integrated graphics so you perfectly well get rid of that graphics card.

[AmyJ]

(Original post by Dijipo)
Liquid Cooling and a SSD on a non-gaming desktop lol

This is probably what you should be looking at with your budget:


Onboard sound isn't that bad, and even if it is, then you could always buy a sound card later and put that in.

And btw that Graphics Card at the bottom is optional. The motherboard has a VGA port, and the 2500k has integrated graphics so you perfectly well get rid of that graphics card.

Hi

Yeah, I think I'll get rid of the graphics card. I want the SSD though - I already have an external HDD for media storage, so the SSD is just for the operating system and my work documents. Can I avoid the CPU cooler completely or might a cheaper one be alright? Say £15 for something like this?

http://www.ebuyer.com/176157-arctic-...66-ac-frz-7pr2

[AmyJ]

Okay so I've changed the processor to a cheaper 3rd-gen i5 (3450), gotten rid of the sound & graphics cards, swapped the liquid cooler for a normal heatsink fan and picked a slightly cheaper case from Scan. New price is £587...good to go?

[Intriguing Alias]

(Original post by AmyJ)
So I have a budget of £700 to build a new desktop. It will not be used for gaming so I don't need particularly advanced graphics cards etc, I'm mainly focused on system speed and stability. I have £300 to use separately for a decent monitor/printer, and I already have an external hard drive so I factored that out. This is what I've come up with so far:



..it comes to £697.

I'm concerned that it might be "overkill" for a standard office machine, and since someone else is putting it together for me (I'm only picking the components ), I'm also worried that a couple of things I selected might be incompatible. I went for a dedicated sound card because on-board sound tends to be rubbish, but it might be a little unnecessary. Thoughts/suggestions?

A cooler like this would be great: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gelid...oogle+shopping

Very quiet too.

For an SSD, chuck out that Vertex and put in a Crucial M4. Also keep the 3570k and there's no need to spend more than £76 on a motherboard (this one specifically).

[Rainingshame]

(Original post by AmyJ)
So I have a budget of £700 to build a new desktop. It will not be used for gaming so I don't need particularly advanced graphics cards etc, I'm mainly focused on system speed and stability. I have £300 to use separately for a decent monitor/printer, and I already have an external hard drive so I factored that out. This is what I've come up with so far:



..it comes to £697.

I'm concerned that it might be "overkill" for a standard office machine, and since someone else is putting it together for me (I'm only picking the components ), I'm also worried that a couple of things I selected might be incompatible. I went for a dedicated sound card because on-board sound tends to be rubbish, but it might be a little unnecessary. Thoughts/suggestions?

Drop the Vertex 2 and get the kingston SSD instead (i can't remember the model name.) For none gaming i recommend dropping the i5 3570k and getting a 3550 or 3540(i've got one) as the extra 1 GHZ will be unnoticeable mostly. You can then drop the H60 and get a normal air cooler (a £30 one from cooler master/ noctua should do) and instead you can use the extra money to get more media storage space or can cover the cost of upgrading a generation on the SSD(you'll see a marked difference). Also drop 210GT it's old and **** the integrated would probably spank it's ass around, get a 6650 or something along those lines. If you can find a discreet one so you're system stays quiet. a 6650 would be good if form time to time you want to play a browser game, video edit something, use Photoshop or watch HD movies.
Oh and take Hassi's advice on the motherboard personally i'd recommend a £80-90 from gigabyte or ASRock.

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by AmyJ)
So I have a budget of £700 to build a new desktop. It will not be used for gaming so I don't need particularly advanced graphics cards etc, I'm mainly focused on system speed and stability. I have £300 to use separately for a decent monitor/printer, and I already have an external hard drive so I factored that out. This is what I've come up with so far:



..it comes to £697.

I'm concerned that it might be "overkill" for a standard office machine, and since someone else is putting it together for me (I'm only picking the components ), I'm also worried that a couple of things I selected might be incompatible. I went for a dedicated sound card because on-board sound tends to be rubbish, but it might be a little unnecessary. Thoughts/suggestions?

http://www.ebuyer.com/288926-asrock-...-extreme4-gen3

This is a pretty good motherboard also to check out.


Or look at this bundle http://www.dabs.com/products/asus-p8...271.html?src=1
Asus P8Z77-V LX, Intel Core i5-3570K & 8GB DDR3 Performance Plus Ivybridge Bundle, though you won't see much difference in performance unless gaming compared to other i5's, but see if it works out cheaper.

[Intriguing Alias]

(Original post by Iqbal007)
http://www.ebuyer.com/288926-asrock-...-extreme4-gen3

This is a pretty good motherboard also to check out.


Or look at this bundle http://www.dabs.com/products/asus-p8...271.html?src=1
Asus P8Z77-V LX, Intel Core i5-3570K & 8GB DDR3 Performance Plus Ivybridge Bundle, though you won't see much difference in performance unless gaming compared to other i5's, but see if it works out cheaper.

The motherboard seems pretty overkill considering all those fancy PCIe slots will be useless

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by hassi94)
The motherboard seems pretty overkill considering all those fancy PCIe slots will be useless

True, but even then from reviews it's worth it cos of the performance with it's price.

[Camoxide]

Change the SSD to a curcial M4 or Samsung E30 http://www.dabs.com/products/samsung...m_content=TB00

You can just use the stock cooler no point wasting money.

Get a cheaper PSU like the Corsair CX 430.

Onboard sound is fine for standard speakers, get rid of the sound card.

That graphics card is probably weaker than the onboard graphics. Just use the integrated intel HD 4000 graphics. More than fine for what you need.

Also you could probably get a cheaper motherboard.

[Blastoise]

Try this OP
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISA...d=345355018880

[ELs123]

OP what is going to be the most demanding task your going to throw at your PC. It sounds to me like its going to be an office PC.

If that is the case you could build one for much less than 700.

EDIT: Onboard sound is good enough. unless you have some FLAC files and a decent speaker setup I doubt you will notice the difference without a soundcard.

[alexs2602]

If you plan to overclock;

Fairly cheap Z77 motherboard
i5 3570K
Gelid Tranquillo Rev 2
8GB low profile RAM (I have Corsair vengeance LP)
Crucial M4 128GB (OS drive)
Optical drive(up to you. Depends if you use blu rays. I got a cheap Sony DVD drive and I only used it to install the OS and a few drivers.)
Case(£45 - 70 is probably ideal. Coolermaster, Corsair, BitFenix, NZXT, Fractal Design, Antec are good manufacturers. Zalman Z9[+] is pretty decent too.)
PSU from a quality manufacturer(Corsair, OCZ, Antec, XFX, Coolermaster, BeQuiet!) @ 500-550 W


Will probably do you. If you haven't got a current hard drive then you'll want a strorage drive. This depends how much space you're likely to need. How much you download, rip blu rays or whatever. At a rough guesstimate you could probably get up to 2TB and stay in budget. This is just off the top of my head though. You can also get a case/psu combo from coolermaster if you want to save money or whatever.

What about monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers and OS? Are those sorted?

[AmyJ]

(Original post by Camoxide)
Change the SSD to a curcial M4 or Samsung E30 http://www.dabs.com/products/samsung...m_content=TB00

You can just use the stock cooler no point wasting money.

Get a cheaper PSU like the Corsair CX 430.

Onboard sound is fine for standard speakers, get rid of the sound card.

That graphics card is probably weaker than the onboard graphics. Just use the integrated intel HD 4000 graphics. More than fine for what you need.

Also you could probably get a cheaper motherboard.

Thanks. I've switched the SSD to the Crucial M4 (it was actually £5 cheaper), dropped the sound and graphics cards and picked a cheaper cooler. Current price total ~ £535.

[AmyJ]

(Original post by alexs2602)
If you plan to overclock;

Fairly cheap Z77 motherboard
i5 3570K
Gelid Tranquillo Rev 2
8GB low profile RAM (I have Corsair vengeance LP)
Crucial M4 128GB (OS drive)
Optical drive(up to you. Depends if you use blu rays. I got a cheap Sony DVD drive and I only used it to install the OS and a few drivers.)
Case(£45 - 70 is probably ideal. Coolermaster, Corsair, BitFenix, NZXT, Fractal Design, Antec are good manufacturers. Zalman Z9[+] is pretty decent too.)
PSU from a quality manufacturer(Corsair, OCZ, Antec, XFX, Coolermaster, BeQuiet!) @ 500-550 W

Will probably do you. If you haven't got a current hard drive then you'll want a strorage drive. This depends how much space you're likely to need. How much you download, rip blu rays or whatever. At a rough guesstimate you could probably get up to 2TB and stay in budget. This is just off the top of my head though. You can also get a case/psu combo from coolermaster if you want to save money or whatever.

What about monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers and OS? Are those sorted?

I've already got the OS and a 1TB external hard drive, so I'll be using those. I've got a separate £300 budget for a monitor and basic peripherals. I was looking at this monitor:

http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/...ource=googleps

and this printer, which has decent reviews on CNET and PC Advisor:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005G3WE1...SIN=B005G3WE1Y

I only need a basic keyboard/mouse etc so I'm not going to spend too much on that. If I can save money on the main build (say, if the cost comes down to £500-550) then I'll have more to spare for buying decent speakers and so on.

[zedeneye1]

you cant really get a non-gaming pc in 700pounds...you need to LOWER your budget lol....

[alexs2602]

(Original post by AmyJ)
I've already got the OS and a 1TB external hard drive, so I'll be using those. I've got a separate £300 budget for a monitor and basic peripherals. I was looking at this monitor:

http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/...ource=googleps

and this printer, which has decent reviews on CNET and PC Advisor:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005G3WE1...SIN=B005G3WE1Y

I only need a basic keyboard/mouse etc so I'm not going to spend too much on that. If I can save money on the main build (say, if the cost comes down to £500-550) then I'll have more to spare for buying decent speakers and so on.

This really all depends on whether you can afford this and what you need it for. For most people those two are probably a bit overkill but if you need it, have decent income and/or the budget isn't a big concern then go for it.

Since you're not a gamer then getting a screen that good seems to me to only have a few uses - you're a big video watcher/editer, image editer... possibly viewer. I personally don't see a point in getting a screen with a resolution of less than 1920x1080 which requires a 21.5" monitor or larger, if you wanted to look elsewhere. If you just want to go for quality then the Dell certainly fits the bill. It's considered the best money can buy.

As for the printer; that also depends. Unless you're printing photo quality images or in large quantities I don't see the point in spending too much. Then again I don't own or need a printer so my advice won't help you pick one. I definitely wouldn't advise a cheap printer if you need one but my knowledge of printers and their suitability to buyers is practically non-existent so beyond that I can't say much more.


At the end of the day I normally suggesting buying for your needs rather than wants, especially if you don't have a lot of money. Obviously I can't judge this, just saying.

[AmyJ]

(Original post by alexs2602)
This really all depends on whether you can afford this and what you need it for. For most people those two are probably a bit overkill but if you need it, have decent income and/or the budget isn't a big concern then go for it.

Since you're not a gamer then getting a screen that good seems to me to only have a few uses - you're a big video watcher/editer, image editer... possibly viewer. I personally don't see a point in getting a screen with a resolution of less than 1920x1080 which requires a 21.5" monitor or larger, if you wanted to look elsewhere. If you just want to go for quality then the Dell certainly fits the bill.

As for the printer; that also depends. Unless you're printing photo quality images or in large quantities I don't see the point in spending too much. Then again I don't own or need a printer so my advice won't help you pick one. I definitely wouldn't advise a cheap printer if you need one but my knowledge of printers and their suitability to buyers is practically non-existent so beyond that I can't say much more.

I do a lot of desktop/magazine publishing and editing work so I wanted the best colour reproduction, that's all. Same for the printer, really. The ability to handle A3 would be helpful but it seems to skyrocket the price.

[alexs2602]

(Original post by AmyJ)
I do a lot of desktop/magazine publishing and editing work so I wanted the best colour reproduction, that's all. Same for the printer, really. The ability to handle A3 would be helpful but it seems to skyrocket the price.

Fair enough. In that case the monitor is perfect for your needs. You can't get better than Dell.

I'd like to help with the printer but I can't. It's not something I've researched in years.