Hello,
First, a congratulations and general 'thank you' for the good work done here - it's refreshing to see so much expertise shared so readily and less-than-knowledgeable newcomers made to feel welcome.
I've been using my old Pentium 4 for over eight years, and would have done so happily for more if it hadn't given into old age. But constantly having to fight with it to work is getting tiresome, so it's time for that overdue new machine.
It's probably best for me to start with the set questions and list some other requirements after that:
****
1. PC Use/Must-Haves: A Home/Office set-up with an emphasis on watching video, I will also want to do some basic video, audio and photo editing occasionally; burning CD's and DVD's is an absolute requirement. Not one for gaming, save for the occasional Civilization or Football Manager, nothing graphically intensive. No excessive tinkering or maintenance, reasonably quiet, reliable and with longevity. Front panel USB 3.0.
2. Budget: A ceiling of ~£1000, but as much under this is good, without compromising too much speed or reliability. I'd like to be able to weight the spend in favour of a quality monitor.
3. Country: UK
4. Vendors: Few biases in who I buy from (apart from Dabs!) - I don't mind doing the work to try and find deals, knowing that I'm not buying the wrong parts.
5. Brand Preference: Apart from the Intel CPU, my only other fanboy tendencies come from having read a mountain of reviews of components, e.g. Samsung SSD's. Absolutely ready to be persuaded about Brand-X.
6. Existing Parts: Keyboard, mouse, speakers, Win 7 64
7. No overclocking
8. Resolution: 1920*1080 or 1920*1200.
9. When: I want this asap, certainly have my shiny new computer working before the end of August.
10. No software purchases necessary immediately.
****
A parts list that I've put together after too much reading - e.g. I don't think I have the willpower to read about another case. I'm more confident about the merits of some components than others in here, e.g. are "basic" memory modules sufficient? I've listed two monitors but only need one - will the Dell suffice for the usage I've outlined above, or does the Asus definitively show off the extra £100? Is there something else at a similar price point that I've overlooked? CPU cooling - is stock enough for me?
CPU: Intel Core i5-4670 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£167.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Asus H87-PRO ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£87.44 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Kingston 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£55.00 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£71.99 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£48.36 @ CCL Computers)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case (£75.98 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£76.26 @ Scan.co.uk)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Full (32/64-bit) (£0.00)
Monitor: Dell U2412M 60Hz 24.0" Monitor (£203.99 @ Aria PC)
Monitor: Asus PA248Q 24.1" Monitor (£314.44 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1101.45
(Generated 2013-08-15)
There's also a Pioneer DVR-S20BK writer for about £20 that I couldn't show on the list - it's cheap and my previous Pioneer has outlasted the PC without a problem.
Thanks in advance for reading all of this...any advice about better options or things I've missed will be very welcome!
First, a congratulations and general 'thank you' for the good work done here - it's refreshing to see so much expertise shared so readily and less-than-knowledgeable newcomers made to feel welcome.
I've been using my old Pentium 4 for over eight years, and would have done so happily for more if it hadn't given into old age. But constantly having to fight with it to work is getting tiresome, so it's time for that overdue new machine.
It's probably best for me to start with the set questions and list some other requirements after that:
****
1. PC Use/Must-Haves: A Home/Office set-up with an emphasis on watching video, I will also want to do some basic video, audio and photo editing occasionally; burning CD's and DVD's is an absolute requirement. Not one for gaming, save for the occasional Civilization or Football Manager, nothing graphically intensive. No excessive tinkering or maintenance, reasonably quiet, reliable and with longevity. Front panel USB 3.0.
2. Budget: A ceiling of ~£1000, but as much under this is good, without compromising too much speed or reliability. I'd like to be able to weight the spend in favour of a quality monitor.
3. Country: UK
4. Vendors: Few biases in who I buy from (apart from Dabs!) - I don't mind doing the work to try and find deals, knowing that I'm not buying the wrong parts.
5. Brand Preference: Apart from the Intel CPU, my only other fanboy tendencies come from having read a mountain of reviews of components, e.g. Samsung SSD's. Absolutely ready to be persuaded about Brand-X.
6. Existing Parts: Keyboard, mouse, speakers, Win 7 64
7. No overclocking
8. Resolution: 1920*1080 or 1920*1200.
9. When: I want this asap, certainly have my shiny new computer working before the end of August.
10. No software purchases necessary immediately.
****
A parts list that I've put together after too much reading - e.g. I don't think I have the willpower to read about another case. I'm more confident about the merits of some components than others in here, e.g. are "basic" memory modules sufficient? I've listed two monitors but only need one - will the Dell suffice for the usage I've outlined above, or does the Asus definitively show off the extra £100? Is there something else at a similar price point that I've overlooked? CPU cooling - is stock enough for me?
CPU: Intel Core i5-4670 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£167.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Asus H87-PRO ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£87.44 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Kingston 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£55.00 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£71.99 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£48.36 @ CCL Computers)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case (£75.98 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£76.26 @ Scan.co.uk)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Full (32/64-bit) (£0.00)
Monitor: Dell U2412M 60Hz 24.0" Monitor (£203.99 @ Aria PC)
Monitor: Asus PA248Q 24.1" Monitor (£314.44 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1101.45
(Generated 2013-08-15)
There's also a Pioneer DVR-S20BK writer for about £20 that I couldn't show on the list - it's cheap and my previous Pioneer has outlasted the PC without a problem.
Thanks in advance for reading all of this...any advice about better options or things I've missed will be very welcome!
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