New build for XP replacement

[jamesa917]

I'm planning to build my parents a new PC to replace their old Windows XP machine (AMD Athlon XP 3000+, ASUS K8N motherboard, 2GB RAM, 1TB Western Digital HDD, Radeon X800 GTO, Corsair HX520 PSU). I haven't built a PC in over five years so I wanted to check I'm not missing anything/making any bad choices.

My parents will probably want to keep this computer for as long as possible, so I want it to be future proof, but they only use it for web browsing, occasional video streaming and their photos (Google Picasa), so it doesn't need an amazing graphics card etc.

Here's what I was planning:

• Intel Core i5 4440 - £130 (Haswell)
• ASUS B85M-G motherboard - £50
• 1TB Seagate Hybrid SSD/HDD - £60 (good for boot times but a big enough SSD would be too expensive)
• Gigabyte GZ-MA03 micro-ATX case - £30 (current one is a bit knackered)
• Either 2x4GB DDR3 RAM - £55 or 2x16GB DDR3 RAM - £100 (I'll just get whichever 1600MHz kit is cheapest by someone like Kingston). I'm thinking my parents won't need 16GB at the moment, but it'll save upgrading/any dual channel compatibility issues later. You always end up upgrading RAM sooner or later...
• Corsair CX500 PSU - £40 I'm considering re-using the current Corsair HX520 though, what are the thoughts on that? It was a good PSU when I bought it, but it is probably over five years old now.
• A cheap SATA DVD-RW drive (the current PC has PATA) - £10

...which comes in at £420 + buying Windows 8.1 (hopefully I can get that cheap as I'm a student).

What do people think/anything at all I've missed? (I think the motherboard comes with a couple of SATA cables and I'll get a few screws). I'm planning to use the integrated HD4600 for now as I can always add discrete graphics in future if necessary - I'm assuming this motherboard/CPU combination will work for that? Things like front & back USB 3.0 are good for keeping it future proof.

I considered reusing the current HDD but that's getting a bit old too so probably best to replace. Thanks for any advice.

 

[RCoon]

Sometimes Amazon isn't always cheapest. As a UK member, I recommend you check PCPartPicker UK, as well as:
OCUK, Aria, Novatech, Dabs, Ebuyer, Scan, CCL Online

As for the main topic, I recommend a lesser version of that i5, which is cheaper. The extra 100mhz won't make much difference to web browsing. You could also consider a Kaveri FM2+ system.

@ne6togadno @BarbaricSoul

 

[BarbaricSoul]

You have gone way over-kill. For what you parent will be using the computer for, they will never need a i5 CPU. Give me a few minutes and I'll post a suggested build, plus a couple of my build buddies will be long, like opps, my buddy RCoon is already here

 

[RCoon]

You have gone way over-kill. For what you parent will be using the computer for, they will never need a i5 CPU. Give me a few minutes and I'll post a suggested build, plus a couple of my build buddies will be long, like opps, my buddy RCoon is already here

WTF i literally just typed your name and you posted. Like the goddamned candyman.

Also, on a side note, OP - you can probably afford to drop down to 300W 80Plus Bronze rated or less. A system running without a dedicated GPU will consume almost nothing in terms of power, maybe as little as 150W if that. Web browsing/youtube doesn't require a dedicated GPU at all, not even in the future. It would provide no benefit.

 

[BarbaricSoul]

WTF i literally just typed your name and you posted. Like the goddamned candyman.
.

You did the exact samething to me

Hey jamesa917, this build will do what you want and is considerable less expensive than what you are looking at- http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3lesk

 

[RCoon]

You did the exact samething to me

Hey jamesa917, this build will do what you want and is considerable less expensive than what you are looking at- http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3lesk

+1 to this build, awesome budget case, nice PSU. OP could switch to intel if he so desired and drop the GPU for integrated, entirely down to whether he wants dedicated GPU and what not. CPU is nice and GPU is pretty awesome for what it's worth xD I'd be half tempted to up the motherboard, but that's coming from a gamer's point of view.

 

[BarbaricSoul]

+1 to this build, awesome budget case, nice PSU. OP could switch to intel if he so desired and drop the GPU for integrated, entirely down to whether he wants dedicated GPU and what not. CPU is nice and GPU is pretty awesome for what it's worth xD I'd be half tempted to up the motherboard, but that's coming from a gamer's point of view.

here's a Intel build suggestion- http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3leze

 

[RCoon]

here's a Intel build suggestion- http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3leze

i3 4130 would also be compatible and have 2 cores/4 threads if OP wants a little more of a thrifty processor, around £75.

 

[BarbaricSoul]

So jamesa917, you are being kinda quiet there. Do you have any questions about the build suggestions?

 

[Aquinus]

With all of that savings from @BarbaricSoul rigs that he threw together, you should probably invest in an SSD. I think it's worth it and that is the next gift from me to my parents for their computer... or laptop.

 

[jamesa917]

Thanks for the replied RCoon/BarbaricSoul - I agree that it is overkill, but bear in my parents are likely to keep this PC for about 10 years like they did with the XP machine! I'd rather it was more powerful than they need and snappy for everything than a bit laggy in three years time.

Ebuyer and Amazon seemed more or less the same price so I chose Amazon for better customer service as I'm not too worried about a price difference £10-20 overall, but I will shop around a bit (I hadn't heard of PCPartPicker so thanks for that).

The XFX PSU you've chosen isn't for sale from Maplin anymore but I'll definitely check something a bit less powerful like the Corsair CX 430. AMD vs Intel doesn't matter too much to me, but I get the impression Intel are pretty dominant again nowadays so naturally went for them. What's the performance difference between Pentium, i3 and i5?

Is there any particular reason for the NZXT case over the Gigabyte one I chose? I'm not too fussed about it so I chose a cheap one from a brand I recognised. I'd go for 8 GB of RAM as it's fairly cheap anyway, although I admit that 4GB would probably be enough.

 

[Aquinus]

Thanks for the replied RCoon/BarbaricSoul - I agree that it is overkill, but bear in my parents are likely to keep this PC for about 10 years like they did with the XP machine! I'd rather it was more powerful than they need and snappy for everything than a bit laggy in three years time.

Ebuyer and Amazon seemed more or less the same price so I chose Amazon for better customer service as I'm not too worried about a price difference £10-20 overall, but I will shop around a bit (I hadn't heard of PCPartPicker so thanks for that).

The XFX PSU you've chosen isn't for sale from Maplin anymore but I'll definitely check something a bit less powerful like the Corsair CX 430. AMD vs Intel doesn't matter too much to me, but I get the impression Intel are pretty dominant again nowadays so naturally went for them. What's the performance difference between Pentium, i3 and i5?

Is there any particular reason for the NZXT case over the Gigabyte one I chose? I'm not too fussed about it so I chose a cheap one from a brand I recognised. I'd go for 8 GB of RAM as it's fairly cheap anyway, although I admit that 4GB would probably be enough.

If your parents don't do much more than watch video, browse the web, use office, do email, and manage photos (like mine), you don't need more than a Pentium. Almost any CPU will do fine. For tasks like these, performance issues tend to be memory capacity or disk I/O related. So with that said, consider an SSD and a Pentium will work just as well as an i7 for these purposes. Actually, an APU would probably be the better deal, maybe one of those new low-tdp APUs?

Edit: Ugh, I think those low-tdp CPUs never made it to market. Where the heck are there?

 

[RCoon]

Thanks for the replied RCoon/BarbaricSoul - I agree that it is overkill, but bear in my parents are likely to keep this PC for about 10 years like they did with the XP machine! I'd rather it was more powerful than they need and snappy for everything than a bit laggy in three years time.

Ebuyer and Amazon seemed more or less the same price so I chose Amazon for better customer service as I'm not too worried about a price difference £10-20 overall, but I will shop around a bit (I hadn't heard of PCPartPicker so thanks for that).

The XFX PSU you've chosen isn't for sale from Maplin anymore but I'll definitely check something a bit less powerful like the Corsair CX 430. AMD vs Intel doesn't matter too much to me, but I get the impression Intel are pretty dominant again nowadays so naturally went for them. What's the performance difference between Pentium, i3 and i5?

Is there any particular reason for the NZXT case over the Gigabyte one I chose? I'm not too fussed about it so I chose a cheap one from a brand I recognised. I'd go for 8 GB of RAM as it's fairly cheap anyway, although I admit that 4GB would probably be enough.

The i5 I'm not sure will be worth it, as in 10 years time, the issue will not necesarrily be the amount of threads, as oppose to the speed of the individual threads. You'd be better off financially going to the i3/pentium with a reasonable core speed. That plus an SSD would make this system run like a trooper.

As I said before, if you skip out on a GPU entirely, you will need 300w MAX on your PSU. A good quality Antec Earthwatts 300W Bronze would be perfect.

As for the case, the NZXT Source 210 is the greatest budget case ever made ever ever. We always recommend it for it's excellent layout and cooling potential.

I feel the SSD combined with a high clocked i3 would last the longest. 8GB is a wonderful idea however.

EDIT: There's a nice offer on amazon for the new Crucial M500 SSD's, you can grab a 240GB SSD for a bargain, or a 120 for even less. Check it out. £84 for 240GB SSD!

 

[BarbaricSoul]

With all of that savings from @BarbaricSoul rigs that he threw together, you should probably invest in an SSD. I think it's worth it and that is the next gift from me to my parents for their computer... or laptop.

Both my build suggestions have a SSHD. I have one in my main rig and while it's not as fast as a actual SSD, it is quite nice and fast.

Thanks for the replied RCoon/BarbaricSoul - I agree that it is overkill, but bear in my parents are likely to keep this PC for about 10 years like they did with the XP machine! I'd rather it was more powerful than they need and snappy for everything than a bit laggy in three years time.

Ebuyer and Amazon seemed more or less the same price so I chose Amazon for better customer service as I'm not too worried about a price difference £10-20 overall, but I will shop around a bit (I hadn't heard of PCPartPicker so thanks for that).

The XFX PSU you've chosen isn't for sale from Maplin anymore but I'll definitely check something a bit less powerful like the Corsair CX 430. AMD vs Intel doesn't matter too much to me, but I get the impression Intel are pretty dominant again nowadays so naturally went for them. What's the performance difference between Pentium, i3 and i5?

Is there any particular reason for the NZXT case over the Gigabyte one I chose? I'm not too fussed about it so I chose a cheap one from a brand I recognised. I'd go for 8 GB of RAM as it's fairly cheap anyway, although I admit that 4GB would probably be enough.

Exactly like Aquinus and RCoon just posted, your parents will be better off focusing on RAM and a fast hybrid SSHD or a SSD/HD combo. For what you said your parents will be using the computer for, a Pentium CPU or any AMD quad core will be more than enough.

As for the difference between Pentium, i3 and i5, and i7 for that matter

Pentium= 2 cores, 2 processing threads, no hyper-threading
i3= 2 core, 4 processing threads, hyper-threading enabled
i5= 4 cores, 4 processing threads, no hyper-threading
i7= 4 core, 8 processing threads, hyper-threading enabled

Almost forgot, about the NZXT case, it is just a very good budget case that has good cable management abilities. I have one myself, and for $40, the thing is about the best bang for the buck case available today.

 

[jamesa917]

Thanks for all the advice so far! I'll need to double check how much space my parents are using at the moment before going for an SSD as 500GB drives still seem pretty pricey, so SSHD seems a good compromise.

I'll definitely drop the i5.

 

[RCoon]

Crucial 240GB M500 link

http://www.ebuyer.com/497430-crucia...ium=products&gclid=CIyXgsukxL0CFScGwwodyE0AfQ

 

[jamesa917]

One question about dual channel RAM:

I know some motherboards can be picky about non-identical sticks of RAM. If I get a motherboard with four RAM slots, and buy one matched pair now, would it be ok to buy a different matched pair later and still have dual channel working?

 

[RCoon]

One question about dual channel RAM:

I know some motherboards can be picky about non-identical sticks of RAM. If I get a motherboard with four RAM slots, and buy one matched pair now, would it be ok to buy a different matched pair later and still have dual channel working?

If the RAM is CL9 1600mhz then all you need to do is buy ANY RAM that is 1600mhz CL9 and it will match each other regardless of brand. Ensure the voltage is the same too.

 

[RCoon]

My 2 cents including OS, SSD, 8GB
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3lfai

EDIT: OP, I have 150 x 250GB HDD's sat next to me. I'll send you a couple for free (only because you're in the UK) if you just pay the postage. Ranging from Maxtor, Hitachi, WD and Seagate

Spoiler

 

[jamesa917]

My 2 cents including OS, SSD, 8GB
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3lfai

EDIT: OP, I have 150 x 250GB HDD's sat next to me. I'll send you a couple for free (only because you're in the UK) if you just pay the postage. Ranging from Maxtor, Hitachi, WD and Seagate

Thanks for the offer - I always have the 1TB drive in the old PC so I can use that if necessary!

I'm thinking a build along the lines you just chose would be ideal; I just have to decide on the hard drive. A 240GB drive might be enough for my parents, but my mum has an ever growing collection of photos and videos of her grandchildren so I need a decent overhead. Dual hard drives is an option but will inevitably lead to problems when my parents manage to save everything on the wrong drive!

 

[BarbaricSoul]

Thanks for the offer - I always have the 1TB drive in the old PC so I can use that if necessary!

I'm thinking a build along the lines you just chose would be ideal; I just have to decide on the hard drive. A 240GB drive might be enough for my parents, but my mum has an ever growing collection of photos and videos of her grandchildren so I need a decent overhead. Dual hard drives is an option but will inevitably lead to problems when my parents manage to save everything on the wrong drive!

with that in mind, I recommend the same SSHD drive I'm using- http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/seagate-internal-hard-drive-st2000dx001

 

[RCoon]

dual hard drives will inevitably lead to problems when my parents manage to save everything on the wrong drive!

Set defaut shortcut location for Documents and Windows' Libraries to the Data drive. Also set default Download location in browser to data drive Granted, where there's a will to bugger up, they will find a way.

In case anyone is wondering why I have so many HDD's - feelsgoodtobegypsy. Either way I can't legally sell them on through work, but I can't use them as all machines in my workplace use SSD's only. Literally we hand them out to anyone who asks.

 

[jamesa917]

with that in mind, I recommend the same SSHD drive I'm using- http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/seagate-internal-hard-drive-st2000dx001

I think that'll end up being the best balance of space/speed/value.

 

[ne6togadno]

I think that'll end up being the best balance of space/speed/value.

and you will make a mistake.
for about 20 more you can have 120gb ssd+2tb hdd
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3lg0W
sorry for delay but i didnt got tagging notification

edit:
if you really want snappy system for long time invest in 8gb+ ram and make ramdisk.

 

[arskatb]

oh dam some of those pc components are expencive in uk if I pay attention to exchange rate of the euro