Please help me spec my PC!

irisandalex

I'm well out of date on PC technology, hoping some knowledgeable people will be happy to share their knowledge with me!

I need a PC:
- to run Windows 7 (I have a licence so don't need the software),
- able to keep running while multitasking (e.g. running simultaneously with email software, multiple browsers, web development software, graphic design, media recording and streaming),
- able to drive two VGA/DVI monitors (three would be great, but not essential if this adds significantly to the graphics cost),
- power efficient and not too noisy.

I don't need:
- a large hard drive,
- an attractive case,
- gaming ability (never play games unfortunately).

Please advise! I guess the first question is which processor/motherboard combo to go with? A motherboard where in a few years I will be able to switch out for a much faster processor could be good for future proofing.

Many thanks!
Alex

gonzo127

whats your budget?

do you need monitor, keyboard mouse etc?

is you windows license a retail copy or a unused OEM as otherwise you might not be able to use it

irisandalex

gonzo127 wrote: »

whats your budget?

do you need monitor, keyboard mouse etc?

is you windows license a retail copy or a unused OEM as otherwise you might not be able to use it

Thanks for the reply!

No budget, just want to spend the minimum to achieve a machine that does what I need it to.

Windows licence is no problem, not an unused OEM one.

irisandalex

Oops, didn't reply about the monitor, keyboard mouse etc.

Nope, probably don't need those. Might need another monitor, but at the moment I think I'm ok. So just the main box needed!

gonzo127

ok being a pain, but a budget is very important as it will set the mark for which we will spec to, even a rough budget (give or take £100) will help as a £1000 system will be much better than a £300 system, each will do the jobs you want just of course one will be quicker

i personally can not stand a slow system and want everything virtually instantaniously, yet my mother in law is more than happy with waiting a few moments for a window to open so i of course spend a lot more than she does on a system as my minimum i usually seem to spend is between £600-900 hers is between £300-400

irisandalex

Hmmm, tricky one. I guess I'm certainly thinking along the lines of a few hundred pounds - I'm guessing the processor/motherboard combo should be less than £200.

This will be the computer I work on. I do need most things to be virtually instantaneous, although I'm happy to wait for rendering when I'm doing image editing, I want it to be very quick when opening webpages, opening documents, opening emails, basic stuff like that. Even when I have everything open at once.

I'm assuming as I don't need gaming ability I don't need to spend anywhere close to £1000.

gonzo127

doh just lost what i had put ok quick sum up basic parts i would recommend for any basic build

Case - cooler master 330 elite ~£30, good case easy to work in with good cooling

RAM - 4gb DDR3 1333mhz good enough for most people, get a branded name such as Corsair should be ~£40 just check the voltages as some are 1.65v and others 1.5v so check this to make sure it will work with motherboard

PSU - get a good one ~£70 for a good quality modular one at ~500w, modular is good for keeping the system tidy but does cost a little bit more, if this is not a problem you could knock £10 of the PSU, however this is one place people will skimp on but try to think about it, it is the thing that provides the electricty to the system, a bad one can be unstable therefore causing crashes or could blow up taking the rest of the system with it - think electrical surge throught all your parts

hard drive - if your after speed go SSD, however you will be looking at ~£80 for 64gb, if not the Samsung f3 7200rpm disk drive is one of the fastest non SSD drives about and is ~£40 for 1tb (1000gb)

graphics card - any will do at around £50 the ati 5550/5570 or the nvidia gt430 gt220, should give you at least 2 connections and will allow for a bit of extra grunt when doing graphics intensive work, nvidia might be the best bet due to CUDA support, but ATI tend to be less power hungry

optical drive - any will do just match the colour for the case ~£12

so for the base spec above looking at ~£250-300 then you just need to pick the motherboard and CPU

AMD are pretty good for price to performance, however the new intel sandy bridge has the power but costs a bit more to get due to it being new

oh and quick edit i would suggest you go quad core mainly down to the graphic design aspect you want to use it for as a lot of graphics and video programs etc have started using multiple cores

irisandalex

Thanks for the advice regarding case, PSU, RAM, HDD and optical drive.

Regarding the motherboard and CPU, as this is where I'm starting, are you saying that for my needs (not needing absolute top performance, graphics or gaming power) going AMD is a no-brainer?

gonzo127

well in some ways this is why the budget comes into play

intel sandy bridge chip £140+
sandy bridge motherboard £75+

AMD Athlon x4 £75+ OR Phenom 2 x4 £100+ OR Phenom 2 x6 £140+
AMD AM3 motherboard £40+

edit - just note all of the prices i am quoting are from ebuyer

CoolHotCold

First off the AM3 Socket is already 2 years old, the new SandyBridge Sockets less then a month, so if you want somthing that you can future proof (to a degree) I would go with Intel's latest offering.

As Gonzo says, AMD is cheaper but will probably be phased out/replaced within a year or two. Intel have a larger up-front cost but you can upgrade (no magic crystal ball so best guess applies) in a couple of years for a better processor that will be much much cheaper then today.

irisandalex

So all the AMD chips use the same motherboard? Any idea if their new processor will be a different pin layout?

Intel Sandybridge is incompatible with older intel motherboards is it?

Thanks!