2013-10-22, 11:39
As the problem with my laptop glitching has been occurring more frequently over the last week, I think it's time I got a new PC before it's too late. If I'm going to build a new PC, I'd like to make it fairly future-proof, however I'm on a bit of a budget. I'd also like it to be fairly quiet. I'm not giving myself simple criteria.
Case.
I'd quite like a large, quiet case that will last forever. A "buy it for life" sort of thing. One case that stood out is the Fractal Design R4, it seems to have a lot of space, a good layout and it gets good reviews for it's build/design and general quality. Anybody else happen to have one that could comment?
~ £80
Processor.
I'm not quite sure what I should get here, the range is a bit bewildering at first. I know I'd like Intel, and an i3 seems to be the way to go. Something like this?
If there is something with better bang for my buck feel free to let me know, I'm clueless.
~ £90
Motherboard.
Same as above. I know I can't buy an AMD socket, I'm not quite that thick, but choosing the right board is a tricky task for a moron like me. I was looking at (what I think is) a budget/mid-range board like this for around £80, but I've got no idea if it's any good or if it would cater for my specifications. Again, any suggestions to an alternative would be greatly appreciated.
~ £80
RAM.
I was thinking about 2 x 4GB sticks so I could always pop another 2 x 4GB in for 16Gb in the future. Good idea, bad idea? I know it would depend on what motherboard I bought.
Kingston seem like a good solid brand, and 1600MHz seems good for <£60. I found some fancy looking Corsair on offer, but I don't know what the benefits would be, although it's only a few quid more.
~ £60
PSU.
A good quality brand here, like this BeQuiet 530W or this Corsair 650W seems like a good route to take. I like the neat and tidy idea of a modular PSU, and both these brands seem to offer good quality products that are both fairly quiet. What amount of each type of connection should I ideally be looking for though?
~ £60-70
The rest.
I can scrape a few old hard drives together until I can afford to buy a few larger, good ones. I have an old 512Mb graphics card in an old PC that I can salvage, along with an optical drive. I'm not sure if I should splash out on a new OS or use an old boxed copy of Vista I have, although my wallet seems to say I'll have to slog it with Vista for a bit. I will upgrade "the rest" as time and money sees fit.
The total for the above is around £370-380, although if that could come down a bit, that would be great. Most of the products I linked to are from Amazon, but I'm not afraid to shop around. I've probably forgotten something important, but that's my list for now. Feel free to abuse my ridiculous choices and/or replace them with something better.
Cheers guys and gals,
Nick
Case.
I'd quite like a large, quiet case that will last forever. A "buy it for life" sort of thing. One case that stood out is the Fractal Design R4, it seems to have a lot of space, a good layout and it gets good reviews for it's build/design and general quality. Anybody else happen to have one that could comment?
~ £80
Processor.
I'm not quite sure what I should get here, the range is a bit bewildering at first. I know I'd like Intel, and an i3 seems to be the way to go. Something like this?
If there is something with better bang for my buck feel free to let me know, I'm clueless.
~ £90
Motherboard.
Same as above. I know I can't buy an AMD socket, I'm not quite that thick, but choosing the right board is a tricky task for a moron like me. I was looking at (what I think is) a budget/mid-range board like this for around £80, but I've got no idea if it's any good or if it would cater for my specifications. Again, any suggestions to an alternative would be greatly appreciated.
~ £80
RAM.
I was thinking about 2 x 4GB sticks so I could always pop another 2 x 4GB in for 16Gb in the future. Good idea, bad idea? I know it would depend on what motherboard I bought.
Kingston seem like a good solid brand, and 1600MHz seems good for <£60. I found some fancy looking Corsair on offer, but I don't know what the benefits would be, although it's only a few quid more.
~ £60
PSU.
A good quality brand here, like this BeQuiet 530W or this Corsair 650W seems like a good route to take. I like the neat and tidy idea of a modular PSU, and both these brands seem to offer good quality products that are both fairly quiet. What amount of each type of connection should I ideally be looking for though?
~ £60-70
The rest.
I can scrape a few old hard drives together until I can afford to buy a few larger, good ones. I have an old 512Mb graphics card in an old PC that I can salvage, along with an optical drive. I'm not sure if I should splash out on a new OS or use an old boxed copy of Vista I have, although my wallet seems to say I'll have to slog it with Vista for a bit. I will upgrade "the rest" as time and money sees fit.
The total for the above is around £370-380, although if that could come down a bit, that would be great. Most of the products I linked to are from Amazon, but I'm not afraid to shop around. I've probably forgotten something important, but that's my list for now. Feel free to abuse my ridiculous choices and/or replace them with something better.
Cheers guys and gals,
Nick