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Hello everyone, somehow I ended up in this forum, I have done some reading and I noticed that some members give very thought-out answers with in-depth analysis of the requirements so I want to give you guys a try... I'm fairly experienced, been building my own systems for over two decades, I am a little short on time lately so I would like someone who has spent more time reading the charts to point to the best solution.
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
This will be my main office pc, I have two monitors and main use will be heavy browsing (two browsers, 30+ tabs by midday), photo editing (I use gimp), zipping and ftp-ing. I do web design if it helps.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
I want to spend around 250 euros or less, the current rig is an old P4@3200 with 2Mb RAM, it is very sluggish at times, I don't want top of the line, I want smooth, fluid operation.
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
I live in Athens, Greece. I can buy from EU but with shipping it is not really worth it, as my local supplier issues professional invoices and I don't pay the VAT (23%), plus he's much easier to return something faulty. This is the site (try google translate to navigate)
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
I want mobo, CPU and RAM. Later on an SSD will be added.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
I have some older used PSUs but I have a brand new generic 400W spare which I might use, I won't be pushing it too hard.
6) Will you be overclocking?
No, actually low power consumption will be a plus.
7) 7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
One is 1280*1024 and the other 1366X768.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Once I make up my mind, I wasn't planning on upgrading but seeing the cost of an extra 2Gb of DDR2 ram (my initial thought) I can get 8Gb for the same amount of DDR3 1333 so a full on upgrade actually makes sense.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
USB3, Sata3 for sure. On board GPU seems like a good idea, read on bellow for thoughts.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
It will be dual booting ubuntu and windows 8, 64bit.
Possible scenarios:
1. A10 5800k with 8Gb, the GPU will be more than enough for my needs. Less upgrade options down the line but this will make a decent office pc for many years, easily moved and configured.
2. FX6300 with 8gb, I will use an older pci-e GPU (but what if it doesn't work?, I will go up in budget, but this cpu is much faster). What about the GPU on this mobo? Is it enough for my needs? Both monitors are D-sub, can I use both monitors with an adapter (the site says no, but if I can that is the best solution as I see it)
Both the above are about 250 euros, if you can suggest an equally priced intel build I'm all ears.
In my search I noticed that going for less than the above makes no sense, but if you can suggest an even cheaper solution I would very much like it...
Thanks for reading and for any advice you can provide!
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
This will be my main office pc, I have two monitors and main use will be heavy browsing (two browsers, 30+ tabs by midday), photo editing (I use gimp), zipping and ftp-ing. I do web design if it helps.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
I want to spend around 250 euros or less, the current rig is an old P4@3200 with 2Mb RAM, it is very sluggish at times, I don't want top of the line, I want smooth, fluid operation.
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
I live in Athens, Greece. I can buy from EU but with shipping it is not really worth it, as my local supplier issues professional invoices and I don't pay the VAT (23%), plus he's much easier to return something faulty. This is the site (try google translate to navigate)
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
I want mobo, CPU and RAM. Later on an SSD will be added.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
I have some older used PSUs but I have a brand new generic 400W spare which I might use, I won't be pushing it too hard.
6) Will you be overclocking?
No, actually low power consumption will be a plus.
7) 7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
One is 1280*1024 and the other 1366X768.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Once I make up my mind, I wasn't planning on upgrading but seeing the cost of an extra 2Gb of DDR2 ram (my initial thought) I can get 8Gb for the same amount of DDR3 1333 so a full on upgrade actually makes sense.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
USB3, Sata3 for sure. On board GPU seems like a good idea, read on bellow for thoughts.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
It will be dual booting ubuntu and windows 8, 64bit.
Possible scenarios:
1. A10 5800k with 8Gb, the GPU will be more than enough for my needs. Less upgrade options down the line but this will make a decent office pc for many years, easily moved and configured.
2. FX6300 with 8gb, I will use an older pci-e GPU (but what if it doesn't work?, I will go up in budget, but this cpu is much faster). What about the GPU on this mobo? Is it enough for my needs? Both monitors are D-sub, can I use both monitors with an adapter (the site says no, but if I can that is the best solution as I see it)
Both the above are about 250 euros, if you can suggest an equally priced intel build I'm all ears.
In my search I noticed that going for less than the above makes no sense, but if you can suggest an even cheaper solution I would very much like it...
Thanks for reading and for any advice you can provide!