Advice for Building non-gaming computer for < £500

[ross_mitchell]

Hi I am building a new system for a friend who is not into gaming but wants a very fast computer.

These are the parts I have chosen :

Intel Core i5 2500K (overkill but i am determined to get this processor) - £158
ASRock H67m-Ge - £80
Kingston ValueRAM KVR1333D3N9K2/4G - £29
OCZ 500W StealthXStream 2 PSU - £46
DVD RW Drive - £17
Hitachi 3.5" HARD DRIVE 1000GB/1TB SATA II 32MB - £40
Coolermaster ELITE 335 - £25
Windows 7 home edition - £70

Cost = £465

I am wanting to cut the cost down a little. Does anyone know where i can cut costs without affecting performance Much. e.g. case, PSU, Harddisk, ect

PS : my friend will be using the computer for Music(itunes), photos, videos, browsing the web and office work.

PPS : what brands of ram offer similar performance to the kingston but at a lower cost

 

[yummerzzz]

CPU to i3-2100 since he won't be doing anything demanding, or a i3-2120 if you like, a some H61 motherboard, PSU to a XFX 450W core edition or even a Corsair CX430, will be MORE than enough if he isn't using a dedicated GPU.

Upgrade RAM to some Corsair Vengance 1600Mhz RAM, RAM affects PC speed quite a lot. I'm not sure, but with the money saved, you should be able to get an SSD, which is MOST important for computer speed and snappiness, loading times and boot-up times.

 

[ross_mitchell]

Thanks for the reply i have changed the ram and the PSU, but do you have any specific ssd in mind.

 

[yummerzzz]

Have you changed the processor and motherboard also?

Well, you have two choices here, either get a small (64GB) SSD and install WIn7 and a few programs on it, and use the 1TB HDD for mass storage.

OR get one of these : http://www.scan.co.uk/products/320gb-seagate-st93205620as-momentus-xt-hybrid-ssd-25-95mm-sata-3gb-s-7200rpm-32mb-cache-11ms-ncq which is faster than a 10000RPM HDD but slower than a SSD, whilst have quite a large amount of data storage, and once again, use the 1TB HDD for mass storage if you need it.

 

[ross_mitchell]

I have changed the Motherboard and am now looking into an ssd, but I think that i am sticking with the processor.

PS if you know of any good value 64gb ssds can you tell me.