Compact, Cheap PC build.

[Sheeepman]

Hello!

To get this out the way asap, sorry if this is in the wrong place or I'm asking some really stupid questions. I'm new to all this stuff.

 

So for my other half's birthday I've decided to build her a PC. Most of the time she's playing rather basic games (things like TF2, Portal, Minecraft, Terraria and the like) and the rest of the time she'll be using things like MS word or Chrome. Here is the list of stuff I've come up with and I was wondering if anyone could find any issues with the build or have any suggestions to make it cheaper/faster. I'm trying to keep everything under £500 so with the build I've currently got I've got a small bit of cash to play with.

 

Thanks!

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G4400 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor  (£52.25 @ CCL Computers) 
Motherboard: MSI B150I GAMING PRO AC Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard  (£88.57 @ Amazon UK) 
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  (£35.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£45.78 @ Misco UK) 
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB Superclocked Video Card  (£115.00) 
Case: Thermaltake Core V1 Mini ITX Tower Case  (£35.48 @ Amazon UK) 
Power Supply: EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply  (£34.99 @ Novatech) 
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM 64-bit  (£44.00 @ Amazon UK) 
Case Fan: Cooler Master R4-S8R-20AK-GP 28.9 CFM  80mm Fan  (£8.93 @ Amazon UK) 
Case Fan: Cooler Master R4-S8R-20AK-GP 28.9 CFM  80mm Fan  (£8.93 @ Amazon UK) 
Total: £469.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-30 01:11 BST+0100

[brob]

If you can stretch the budget to 520, replace the 275GB ssd with a 480GB unit. Unless of course 1TB is really needed (from the description I doubt it.)

 

I'm suggesting a more powerful cpu. Will make browsing and wp much more responsive. As will the ssd. A 1x8GB memory module to allow for a memory upgrade. The loss of dual channel memory operation will not be noticed. The psu is built by Seasonic. Generally a very reliable builder.

 

This is not a heavily loaded system, so the stock 200mm fan should be sufficient.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor  (£105.59 @ Novatech) 
Motherboard: MSI H110I Pro Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard  (£62.79 @ Amazon UK) 
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  (£32.78 @ Amazon UK) 
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£62.99 @ Ebuyer) 
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB Superclocked Video Card  (£115.00) 
Case: Thermaltake Core V1 Mini ITX Tower Case  (£35.48 @ Amazon UK) 
Power Supply: XFX XT 400W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (£31.82 @ CCL Computers) 
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM 64-bit  (£44.00 @ Amazon UK) 
Total: £490.45
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-30 02:33 BST+0100

[Captain_WD]

7 hours ago, Sheeepman said:

~snip~

Hi there Sheeepman Welcome to the community! 

 

@brob gave you a great alternative to  your system. Your plan is also good. 

A few things you could consider revising on your plan:

- check if the case comes with any pre-installed fans and consider if you need additional ones.

- you could go with a single 8GB memory stick instead of 2x4GB for budget and expand-ability reasons. You shouldn't be able to feel the difference. 

- the WD Blue is a great choice for such a build. One thing I would recommend is to consider adding a SSD for the OS and the most used applications as this greatly improves the overall responsiveness of the system and decreases dramatically the boot/loading times. 

 

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

Captain_WD. 

[Sheeepman]

8 hours ago, brob said:

If you can stretch the budget to 520, replace the 275GB ssd with a 480GB unit. Unless of course 1TB is really needed (from the description I doubt it.)

 

I'm suggesting a more powerful cpu. Will make browsing and wp much more responsive. As will the ssd. A 1x8GB memory module to allow for a memory upgrade. The loss of dual channel memory operation will not be noticed. The psu is built by Seasonic. Generally a very reliable builder.

 

This is not a heavily loaded system, so the stock 200mm fan should be sufficient.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor  (£105.59 @ Novatech) 
Motherboard: MSI H110I Pro Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard  (£62.79 @ Amazon UK) 
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  (£32.78 @ Amazon UK) 
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£62.99 @ Ebuyer) 
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB Superclocked Video Card  (£115.00) 
Case: Thermaltake Core V1 Mini ITX Tower Case  (£35.48 @ Amazon UK) 
Power Supply: XFX XT 400W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (£31.82 @ CCL Computers) 
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM 64-bit  (£44.00 @ Amazon UK) 
Total: £490.45
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-30 02:33 BST+0100

 

2 hours ago, Captain_WD said:

Hi there Sheeepman Welcome to the community! 

 

@brob gave you a great alternative to  your system. Your plan is also good. 

A few things you could consider revising on your plan:

- check if the case comes with any pre-installed fans and consider if you need additional ones.

- you could go with a single 8GB memory stick instead of 2x4GB for budget and expand-ability reasons. You shouldn't be able to feel the difference. 

- the WD Blue is a great choice for such a build. One thing I would recommend is to consider adding a SSD for the OS and the most used applications as this greatly improves the overall responsiveness of the system and decreases dramatically the boot/loading times. 

 

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

Captain_WD. 

Thank you to the both of you. I've only been messing around with the idea for a month now so was unsure of a few things and this has made it a bit easier. Once again, thank you