Mini ATX Build Advice

[mopman94]

Hello. My Dad wants to build a new computer as his is 10 years old and the Hard Drive packed up today. I don't think that 128mb of RAM will be missed.

He wants to build a PC that for now will cater for all of his office needs, mainly spreadsheets using Open Office. However in the future, perhaps in 8 months - 1 year he wants to buy the remaining components to turn it into something that games can be played on. I have put together the parts list below, I am in the UK, the budget is as low as possible my justifications for the chosen components are also below as well as a parts list showing what could potentially be added. Any final questions are at the end.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor (£107.99 @ Aria PC)

Motherboard: MSI 760GMA-P34(FX) Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£39.31 @ Scan.co.uk)

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£34.08 @ Scan.co.uk)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£43.94 @ CCL Computers)

Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£32.28 @ Amazon UK)

Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£53.54 @ Amazon UK)

Optical Drive: Pioneer BDC-207DBK Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer (£40.00 @ Aria PC)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - OEM (64-bit) (£79.14 @ Amazon UK)

Total: £430.28

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-25 23:19 GMT+0000)

I have chosen FX8320 processor as I think its a great deal for just over £100, I have the FX8350 and there has been nothing it has even remotely struggled with.

PC Part Picker didn't give me much choice for mini atx motherboards, I went with this one because it has USB 3 header and SATA 3 ports.

I went with 1 4GB stick of ram so another could be added later

Your standard 1TB HDD

The power supply is a 600W to allow for more components to be added, he does not want to be removing components to add new ones as you waste more money in the long run doing that.

The Optical Drive is a bluray for the same reason as above

OS is Windows 8

Questions:

1. The motherboard has a VGA and a DVI output, does this mean you can get picture without the need for the graphics card with this processor? This would just be to do simple office work. If you cannot what is a good cheap as shit graphics card that can be put in and thrown away later just to do this job.

2. Is that motherboard any good, there were not a lot of choices for mico atx.

3. What are your thoughts on this build generally?

4. Does Open Office work fine on Windows 8?

This is a parts list with the extra components that can be added later:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor (£107.99 @ Aria PC)

Motherboard: MSI 760GMA-P34(FX) Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£39.31 @ Scan.co.uk)

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£64.99 @ Amazon UK)

Storage: Corsair Force LS Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£76.74 @ Aria PC)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£43.94 @ CCL Computers)

Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 280X 3GB Video Card (£269.14 @ Scan.co.uk)

Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£32.28 @ Amazon UK)

Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£53.54 @ Amazon UK)

Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer (£17.95 @ Amazon UK)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - OEM (64-bit) (£79.14 @ Amazon UK)

Total: £785.02

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-25 23:30 GMT+0000)

Just an extra thing I forgot to mention, the games he want to play would be the new Wolfenstein that is coming out, possibly Battlefield 4 etc. He also isn't likely to upgrade again for another 10 years..... yeah....

[Shd0w2]

Look's pretty nice

[WoodenMarker]

I wouldn't recommend using a micro atx mobo for a 8320. 

What kind of games are we talking about? 

[mopman94]

I wouldn't recommend using a micro atx mobo for a 8320. 

What kind of games are we talking about?

One of the requirements is as small a case as possible.

I have updated the end of the OP to answer that second point.

[WoodenMarker]

Edits: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2Hyq3

[JohnnyGrey]

I wouldn't recommend using a micro atx mobo for a 8320. 

What kind of games are we talking about? 

 

This suggestion is ueless without an explanation as to why. Is it something with the VRM's on a mATX motherboard?

 

Also, to the OP, careful with your form factors, there is Mini ITX and Micro ATX, but no mini ATX

 

And yes, the motherboard does have onboard video.

[dizmo]

Same as @WoodenMarker but with a few alterations to fit your now price.

 

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU:  Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£129.90 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard:  MSI H81M-E33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£33.29 @ Ebuyer)
Memory:  Crucial Ballistix Smart Tracer 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£29.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage:  Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£42.97 @ Amazon UK)
Case:  Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  (£32.28 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply:  Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£53.54 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive:  Lite-On iHDS118-04 DVD/CD Drive  (£10.78 @ Scan.co.uk)
Operating System:  Microsoft Windows 8.1 - OEM (64-bit)  (£79.14 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £411.89
 

[mopman94]

Same as @WoodenMarker but with a few alterations to fit your now price.

 

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU:  Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£129.90 @ Amazon UK)

Motherboard:  MSI H81M-E33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£33.29 @ Ebuyer)

Memory:  Crucial Ballistix Smart Tracer 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£29.99 @ Amazon UK)

Storage:  Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£42.97 @ Amazon UK)

Case:  Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  (£32.28 @ Amazon UK)

Power Supply:  Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£53.54 @ Amazon UK)

Optical Drive:  Lite-On iHDS118-04 DVD/CD Drive  (£10.78 @ Scan.co.uk)

Operating System:  Microsoft Windows 8.1 - OEM (64-bit)  (£79.14 @ Amazon UK)

Total: £411.89

How good is that I5, I've only ever used AMD and is that CPU speed going to be future proof? It seems a few games are already requiring 3GHz. I would like to keep the Bluray as it saves £10 not throwing out an old DVD drive to replace it with a bluray later. Also how good is that RAM for gaming? tbh I've never actually seen it before.

[mopman94]

I wouldn't recommend using a micro atx mobo for a 8320. 

What kind of games are we talking about?

 

 

Edits: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2Hyq3

Could you provide some explanations please?

[dizmo]

The i5 is good. I have a low powered one in my ultrabook and I can play every game I've thrown at it so far. I also don't have a video card and I'm running on last gen integrated graphics with only 4gb of RAM.

 

RAM won't make as much of a difference on an Intel system as it can on an AMD. 1600mhz is pretty average. You MIGHT notice 0.5 fps increase with high speed RAM. Not worth it imo.

 

Intel integrated graphics can be pretty beastly.

 

What IS your budget, btw? I don't think you really mentioned it yet.

[mopman94]

The i5 is good. I have a low powered one in my ultrabook and I can play every game I've thrown at it so far. I also don't have a video card and I'm running on last gen integrated graphics with only 4gb of RAM.

 

RAM won't make as much of a difference on an Intel system as it can on an AMD. 1600mhz is pretty average. You MIGHT notice 0.5 fps increase with high speed RAM. Not worth it imo.

 

Intel integrated graphics can be pretty beastly.

 

What IS your budget, btw? I don't think you really mentioned it yet.

For the initial build he is happy with the parts list above which is £430. However I expect that will increase a bit as an i5 will be a better option looking at it because of course initially it has to run without a GPU. I will only want to buy from one retailer for convenience (Either SCAN or Amazon) so I will expect to pay about an extra £10 on what ever total prices are shown due to variations in prices.

[brob]

Hello. My Dad wants to build a new computer as his is 10 years old and the Hard Drive packed up today. I don't think that 128mb of RAM will be missed.

He wants to build a PC that for now will cater for all of his office needs, mainly spreadsheets using Open Office. However in the future, perhaps in 8 months - 1 year he wants to buy the remaining components to turn it into something that games can be played on. I have put together the parts list below, I am in the UK, the budget is as low as possible my justifications for the chosen components are also below as well as a parts list showing what could potentially be added. Any final questions are at the end.

. . .

Just an extra thing I forgot to mention, the games he want to play would be the new Wolfenstein that is coming out, possibly Battlefield 4 etc. He also isn't likely to upgrade again for another 10 years..... yeah....

 

To start a very good office system - 128GB should be more than enough (it's likely more than he had on his old hdd):

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU:  Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£129.90 @ Amazon UK)

Motherboard:  Asus B85M-G Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£53.60 @ Ebuyer)

Memory:  Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£59.99 @ Amazon UK)

Storage:  Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk  (£58.47 @ Amazon UK)

Case:  Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  (£32.28 @ Amazon UK)

Power Supply:  Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£53.54 @ Amazon UK)

Optical Drive:  Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer  (£11.96 @ CCL Computers)

Operating System:  Microsoft Windows 8.1 - OEM (64-bit)  (£79.14 @ Amazon UK)

Total: £478.88

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-26 00:33 GMT+0000)

 

When it's time to turn it into something capable of playing BF4 add a good gpu - R9 280X, GTX 770, GTX 780, or R9 290; and more storage, something like a 1TB Barracuda. The psu will handle the added load without a problem.

[dizmo]

To start a very good office system - 128GB should be more than enough (it's likely more than he had on his old hdd):

 

When it's time to turn it into something capable of playing BF4 add a good gpu - R9 280X, GTX 770, GTX 780, or R9 290; and more storage, something like a 1TB Barracuda. The psu will handle the added load without a problem.

 

I was thinking the same thing, but figured if he's had the computer for more than a few years he probably has a bunch of stuff he'd like to keep.

[WoodenMarker]

This suggestion is ueless without an explanation as to why. Is it something with the VRM's on a mATX motherboard?

Could you provide some explanations please?

There just aren't any great (or even arguably good) well-built am3+ matx motherboards for an fx 8 core. 

[tk421]

I wouldn't recommend using a micro atx mobo for a 8320. 

What kind of games are we talking about? 

This suggestion is ueless without an explanation as to why. Is it something with the VRM's on a mATX motherboard?

 

Also, to the OP, careful with your form factors, there is Mini ITX and Micro ATX, but no mini ATX

 

And yes, the motherboard does have onboard video.

 

 

Could you provide some explanations please?

There just aren't any great (or even arguably good) well-built am3+ matx motherboards for an fx 8 core. 

 

Also, you're going to want a 9XX deries chipset for the 8+2 phase CPU VRM.  I'm no engineer and no expert, but I've tried a 7XX series with an FX 8-core and it was not stable even at stock speeds.  I had to undervolt the chip just to be stable.  Aftyer doing some research, it turns out that while the FX 8320/8350 CPUs are physically compatible with 7XX chipsets, they aren't recommended to be used together.

[mopman94]

This is what I think the final parts list will be. He is planning on actually buying the rest in a weeks time now when I pay him rent (he is an odd fella) so he is likely to add to the parts below another 8GB stick of RAM, a R270 GPU and a 1TB HDD.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor (£129.90 @ Ebuyer)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-D2V Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£42.25 @ Amazon UK)

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£34.08 @ Scan.co.uk)

Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£69.00 @ Amazon UK)

Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£32.32 @ Aria PC)

Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£53.54 @ Amazon UK)

Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£11.96 @ CCL Computers)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - OEM (64-bit) (£79.14 @ Amazon UK)

Total: £452.19

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-26 12:00 GMT+0000)

[mopman94]

Hey guys another update. Thanks for the help. The final parts list is below, its all going to be bough of Amazon. It will be ordered in a couple of days, could you let me know if I have missed anything out please.

The final price is £462.79 + £1.99 delivery on the case.

[brob]

This is what I think the final parts list will be. He is planning on actually buying the rest in a weeks time now when I pay him rent (he is an odd fella) so he is likely to add to the parts below another 8GB stick of RAM, a R270 GPU and a 1TB HDD.

 

 

Not a great idea buying 4GB memory now and an 8GB stick later. Better would be an 8GB now and an identical 8GB later. Or a 4GB now and an identical 4GB later.

[mopman94]

Not a great idea buying 4GB memory now and an 8GB stick later. Better would be an 8GB now and an identical 8GB later. Or a 4GB now and an identical 4GB later.

I meant to say another 4GB stick later

[brob]

I meant to say another 4GB stick later

 

wipes brow in relief, Ah, should have realized.

[JohnnyGrey]

I meant to say another 4GB stick later

 

Much better, and I'm sure some people would disagree, but I think 8gb of RAM is more than enough for awhile now.

 

Now, if only Samsung didn't discontinue their miracle RAM, I would have gotten a second 8gb kit