Building computer, looking for advice

[weary]

I have 25,000 baht to build a computer.

Already have the following:

Keyboard, Case, Mouse, Monitor, Hard drives for data (but am considering buying an SSD for the OS).

1 stick of 1 GB RAM.

So what I need is

CPU

Motherboard

Graphics card

Additional RAM

Maybe an SSD for the OS

I am not a gamer, but I do watch/network stream some video and music through the computer.

Given the above, how would you spend the 25,000 baht? I have been out of the loop for 7 years or so, so I don't really know what brands are reliable anymore.

[IMHO]

25K for a desktop PC?

Consider a ~5K Baht Intel Compute stick - it will have the same performance as a run-of-the-mill 7yo desktop PC for only a little more money than a Windows license (which is included in its price)

Edited July 22, 2015 by IMHO

[dave_boo]

Only need 4 things.

Motherboard.

http://www.invadeit.co.th/product/motherboards/asus/a88xm-plus-fm2-a88x-4-x-ddr3-8-x-sata-6gbs-matx-p023761/

Asus so you know it's good. Plenty of SATA ports. 2,850฿

Processor.

http://www.invadeit.co.th/product/cpus-processors/amd/a8-series-apu-a8-7600-with-radeon-r7-series-ad7600ybjabox-p021844/

Plenty of power for your stated workload and no need to purchase a video card. Has 4 "cores". 3,790฿

RAM.

http://www.invadeit.co.th/product/memory/corsair/vengeance-pro-8gb-2400mhz-ddr3-non-ecc-dimm-2x4gb-black-cmy8gx3m2a2400c11-p022954/

Best value on high speed RAM that the APU likes. 2,750฿

SSD.

http://www.invadeit.co.th/product/solid-state-drives-ssd/samsung/250gb-2-5inch-ssd-850-evo-series-mz-75e250b-p022328/

Little difference between modern SSD, I have the 840 version and it runs like a champion. 4,390฿

Total...13,780฿

Forgot the ~4,000฿ Windows licence fee.

Edited July 22, 2015 by dave_boo

[crabdog]

Please don't consider a SSD. GET ONE.

[NeverSure]

Only need 4 things.

Motherboard.

http://www.invadeit.co.th/product/motherboards/asus/a88xm-plus-fm2-a88x-4-x-ddr3-8-x-sata-6gbs-matx-p023761/

Asus so you know it's good. Plenty of SATA ports. 2,850฿

Processor.

http://www.invadeit.co.th/product/cpus-processors/amd/a8-series-apu-a8-7600-with-radeon-r7-series-ad7600ybjabox-p021844/

Plenty of power for your stated workload and no need to purchase a video card. Has 4 "cores". 3,790฿

RAM.

http://www.invadeit.co.th/product/memory/corsair/vengeance-pro-8gb-2400mhz-ddr3-non-ecc-dimm-2x4gb-black-cmy8gx3m2a2400c11-p022954/

Best value on high speed RAM that the APU likes. 2,750฿

SSD.

http://www.invadeit.co.th/product/solid-state-drives-ssd/samsung/250gb-2-5inch-ssd-850-evo-series-mz-75e250b-p022328/

Little difference between modern SSD, I have the 840 version and it runs like a champion. 4,390฿

Total...13,780฿

Forgot the ~4,000฿ Windows licence fee.

^^^ Nice.

In his list I believe he has "additional RAM". He needs all new RAM as you showed.

Also I'll note that he needs 64 bit Windows to use 8GB RAM.

Good job.

[2fishin2]

If the items you already have are 7 years old, ditch them and start new. The days of building computers with the exception of gaming ones are over. Your computer needs are the same as everybody today. Seriously best thing you can do is go purchase an already built, off the shelf model.

[Thailand J]

It's time to pay a visit to J.I.B. Computer shop

Good advice and they would build your mechine with the parts you bought from them at no extra charge.

You will know what you are getting and get excactly what you want.

[innerspace]

If the items you already have are 7 years old, ditch them and start new. The days of building computers with the exception of gaming ones are over. Your computer needs are the same as everybody today. Seriously best thing you can do is go purchase an already built, off the shelf model.

Couldnt disagree more....

Off the shelf are still as un-upgradable as ever and better value innpicking parts, especially in a country where shops assemble free.

Keyboard, mouse, case...if still working and user happy keep them...2k saved.

Monitor, sure cheaper now but if working and happy, save a few k.

Old Hdd for storage when adding new ssd, good move.

RAM...ditch it. 1 Gb stick will be ddr2 probably and not compatible with modern mothboard, just buy all new.

Spec above was good, consider adding a reliable and economical power supply plus a good cpu cooler...even if not a gamer will prolong lifespan and last several pc builds.

Then consider a new screen to run in addition to your existing screen in dual monitor mode...still under 25k and good stable system.

[Thailand J]

If the items you already have are 7 years old, ditch them and start new. The days of building computers with the exception of gaming ones are over. Your computer needs are the same as everybody today. Seriously best thing you can do is go purchase an already built, off the shelf model.

Couldnt disagree more....

Off the shelf are still as un-upgradable as ever and better value innpicking parts, especially in a country where shops assemble free.

Keyboard, mouse, case...if still working and user happy keep them...2k saved.

Monitor, sure cheaper now but if working and happy, save a few k.

Old Hdd for storage when adding new ssd, good move.

RAM...ditch it. 1 Gb stick will be ddr2 probably and not compatible with modern mothboard, just buy all new.

Spec above was good, consider adding a reliable and economical power supply plus a good cpu cooler...even if not a gamer will prolong lifespan and last several pc builds.

Then consider a new screen to run in addition to your existing screen in dual monitor mode...still under 25k and good stable system.

Has anyone tried SSHD such as this one? how well does it work? it's a ssd-hdd hybrid.

http://www.invadeit.co.th/product/internal-hard-drives/seagate/500gb-sshd-2-5inch-sata-6gb-s-st500lm000-p021271/

Edited July 22, 2015 by Thailand J

[TigertheCat]

If your PC is 7 years old then my guess is the RAM will be DDR2 and not DDR3 so wont fit your present motherboard.

Also,the hard drive and DVD-RW drive will be PATA interface and not the newer SATA so also wont be able to fit.

I go with ditching the lot and buying all new,I always even buy a new case for my new builds to freshen up the look.

A decent brand of PSU is very important as already stated.

Go with at least 4gb RAM,cheap nowdays.

An Intel Pentium G-3250 @ 3.2Ghz has graphics onboard so no need to buy a graphics card unless you render HD video or play games.

I can highly recommend the list from invadeit but then you must build yourself.

Good luck !

[TigertheCat]

Forgot to mention,go with an SSD drive 256 Gb,you will never go back to a standard HDD.

I have tried the SSHD and found it makes no discernable difference to boot times or opening programs

[MaeJoMTB]

Only need 4 things.

Motherboard.

http://www.invadeit.co.th/product/motherboards/asus/a88xm-plus-fm2-a88x-4-x-ddr3-8-x-sata-6gbs-matx-p023761/

Asus so you know it's good. Plenty of SATA ports. 2,850฿

Processor.

http://www.invadeit.co.th/product/cpus-processors/amd/a8-series-apu-a8-7600-with-radeon-r7-series-ad7600ybjabox-p021844/

Plenty of power for your stated workload and no need to purchase a video card. Has 4 "cores". 3,790฿

RAM.

http://www.invadeit.co.th/product/memory/corsair/vengeance-pro-8gb-2400mhz-ddr3-non-ecc-dimm-2x4gb-black-cmy8gx3m2a2400c11-p022954/

Best value on high speed RAM that the APU likes. 2,750฿

SSD.

http://www.invadeit.co.th/product/solid-state-drives-ssd/samsung/250gb-2-5inch-ssd-850-evo-series-mz-75e250b-p022328/

Little difference between modern SSD, I have the 840 version and it runs like a champion. 4,390฿

Total...13,780฿

Forgot the ~4,000฿ Windows licence fee.

You forgot the custom heatsink and fan for that processor.

The one that comes with it will allow the cpu to overheat very easily in Thailand.

Then you will need a wider case because the custom heatsink is too big for the standard width case.

Something like this

http://www.invadeit.co.th/product/fans-heatsinks/cooler-master/hyper-d92-cpu-cooler-heatsink-rr-hd92-28pk-r1-p020458/

Edited July 23, 2015 by MaeJoMTB

[Hornyskunk]

I love building computers. If you wanted to build a gaming PC, I'd do it for you for free.

Since you want something basic, however, I recommend buying a pre-built PC. You can save money buying a pre-built PC for students, as they are usually bundled with MS Windows and MS Office. Even with student discounts, I paid $80 for Windows 8 and $160 for Office 2013 when I built my current PC. In other words, I spent $240 on MS products on a PC I built myself when I could have just bought a $300 student PC with those products already installed.

If you are set on building a PC yourself, though, I'll give you my brand recommendations. Keep in mind that I recommend these brands for building a gaming PC; I've never built anything else. I think that all of these brands should have cheaper alternatives to their top-of-the-line stuff. For example, if you buy a basic PSU from the Corsair CX series, rather than the flagship AX-series that I use, I think it should still be very good compared to other brands at that price point.

PSU: Corsair. I find that, generally, price and weight = quality in PSUs. Don't skimp on the PSU, it is arguably the most important part.

Motherboard: MSI, ASUS or Gigabyte, depending on your needs in terms of slots, size, ports, etc. Gigabyte is the most cost-effective.

CPU: Intel > AMD. In recent years, Intel has released several new microarchitectures improving power consumption, heating and performance.

GPU: Nvidia > AMD. In recent years Nvidia has made huge advances in power consumption and performance while reducing heat and noise.

RAM: Corsair, although RAM quality and brand is not as important as it once was. Kingston HyperX RAM is cheap and great.

SSD: SanDisk, for the 10-year warranty. Samsung and Intel are probably marginally better, but only have 3- and 5-year warranties.

Edited July 23, 2015 by Hornyskunk

[weary]

Thanks to everyone. Really appreciate all your viewpoints.

My current computer has decent quality parts, although they were not really high-end for back then, somewhere in the upper middle range for when I bought them I believe? Gigabyte EP45-UD3R motherboard, Intel Core2Duo E7500 CPU, XFX Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 GPU.

Which has been a good thing, because I get frequent power outages where I live, and on occasion throughout the years, I forgot or was too lazy to upgrade the UPS battery, causing complete power cuts, which likely would have killed cheaper parts already. One reason I want to do a new build now is because one of the two RAM sticks I had seems to be fried by now, likely due to those power cuts. (Yes, I have now upgraded the UPS battery again. ).

You are right that the old RAM was DDR2.

I bought a new monitor last year and am really happy with it, it's a Samsung S27C750, and all I require. I have a networked media player set up to stream media from the computer to the TV anyway, so the monitor is not the primary device for movies etc.

Edited July 23, 2015 by weary

[TigertheCat]

Hornyskunk,good comprehensive reply.

[2fishin2]

If the items you already have are 7 years old, ditch them and start new. The days of building computers with the exception of gaming ones are over. Your computer needs are the same as everybody today. Seriously best thing you can do is go purchase an already built, off the shelf model.

Couldnt disagree more....

Off the shelf are still as un-upgradable as ever and better value innpicking parts, especially in a country where shops assemble free.

Keyboard, mouse, case...if still working and user happy keep them...2k saved.

Monitor, sure cheaper now but if working and happy, save a few k.

Old Hdd for storage when adding new ssd, good move.

RAM...ditch it. 1 Gb stick will be ddr2 probably and not compatible with modern mothboard, just buy all new.

Spec above was good, consider adding a reliable and economical power supply plus a good cpu cooler...even if not a gamer will prolong lifespan and last several pc builds.

Then consider a new screen to run in addition to your existing screen in dual monitor mode...still under 25k and good stable system.

OK lets disagree. The OP doesnt even know what kind of case he has and therefore him and none of the people recommending these special parts dont know the correct form factor to purchase. Also, everybody is recommending this and that without asking. So who knows what the OP has??

In his post he said he doesnt game just watch video, hell we can do that on our phones and any kind of off the shelf pad. So, does he really need a special computer built? NO, any off the shelf computer can do that without issue.

Just saying that you dont need a special built gaming computer to watch videos....

Edited July 23, 2015 by 2fishin2

[Crossy]

I have tried the SSHD and found it makes no discernable difference to boot times or opening programs

That was exactly my experience.

To be brutally honest, our OPs existing machine will do everything he mentions (it already is).

Give it an SSD and as much RAM as will fit (as previously mentioned, over 4GB will need a 64 bit OS) and it will be like a new machine.

[drupopuppis]

If you use a PC for streaming video and watch movies you don't need 8GB of RAM, however, you do need a Gigabit network card, possibly with also wireless dual band, 2.4 & 5GHz of the new AC standards and a decent Video card. Also you can have an SSD drive for your Operating System and a normal Mechanical Hard Drive for storage.

Also, if you use torrents and download movies from peer to peer sites, I would not recommend jeopardizing a brand new Windows PC.

You can side load, (best on his own disk partition), a Linux distro such as Ubuntu or Mint and use that OS when downloading / streaming or browsing torrents, while keeping Windows for the everyday tasks.

Sent from my HM NOTE 1S using Nerdico

Edited July 23, 2015 by drupopuppis

[BudRight]

25K for a desktop PC?

Consider a ~5K Baht Intel Compute stick - it will have the same performance as a run-of-the-mill 7yo desktop PC for only a little more money than a Windows license (which is included in its price)

"I am not a gamer."

Get the Intel compute stick. The days of purchasing an entire desktop PC to do things other than play games are over. Spend the rest on beer or something.

Any modern chipset will be able to stream video. It's not an issue.

[IMHO]

25K for a desktop PC?

Consider a ~5K Baht Intel Compute stick - it will have the same performance as a run-of-the-mill 7yo desktop PC for only a little more money than a Windows license (which is included in its price)

"I am not a gamer."

Get the Intel compute stick. The days of purchasing an entire desktop PC to do things other than play games are over. Spend the rest on beer or something.

Any modern chipset will be able to stream video. It's not an issue.

And if you are a gamer, buy a Compute Stick plus a PS4, and still have change left over from the 25K budget

Edited July 24, 2015 by IMHO

[2fishin2]

Even easier....purchase the new Minx box with the Windows operating system. Freakin awesome little computer

[innerspace]

OP follow up confirms what I suggested before...

Unless you want to keep the old machine running or something new and shiny reuse the suitable parts.

Since you dont game I would keep the gpu, case, keyboard, mouse, monitor and hard drive.

That gives you lots more to spend on just motherboard, cpu, ram and ssd.

Since money to spare add a decent powersupply and consider a cpu cooler.

Then choose from a NAS, 2nd screen, tablet or holiday with the leftover budget.

[Bulldozer Dawn]

Quantity Prices
1 3300 ASUS H97-Progamer (has bios to overclock the G3258)

1 2290 Intel Pentium Processor G3258 (3.20 GHz unlocked version) (Item: 156001944) intel cpu cooler included https://www.jib.co.th/web/index.php/product/readProduct/14487/3/CPU-INTEL-1150-PENTIUM-G3258-3.2-GHz

2 2140 Hyper-X DDR3(1600) 8GB. (4GBX2) Kingston (white colour) (Item: 0317049239) https://www.jib.co.th/web/index.php/product/readProduct/14854/10/8-GB-RAM-PC-DDR3-1600-KINGSTON-HYPER-X-FURY--4x2-

1 1920 120 GB. SSD Kingston Now300V (Item: 0432019028) https://www.jib.co.th/web/index.php/product/readProduct/10928/29/120-GB-SSD-KINGSTON-SATA-3

1 1740 1 TB. SATA-III Seagate 64MB (Item: 0456484808) https://www.jib.co.th/web/index.php/product/readProduct/12419/9/1.0-TB-HDD-SEAGATE-BARRACUDA-SATA-3--ST1000DM003-

1 2090 Corsair 650W (VS650) (Item: 2306487020) https://www.jib.co.th/web/index.php/product/readProduct/11585/6/POWER-SUPPLY-CORSAIR-650W---VS650-

1 1450 Case Cougar Archon https://www.jib.co.th/web/index.php/product/readProduct/11752/27/CASE-COUGAR-ARCHON

1 470 DVD RW SATA 24X SAMSUNG (item: 3520080035) https://www.jib.co.th/web/index.php/product/readProduct/17600/8/DVD-RW-SAMSUNG-24X-SH-224FB-RSBS

About 16KTHB. Lightning fast....and pretty

Edited July 25, 2015 by Bulldozer Dawn

[dave_boo]

Only need 4 things.

Motherboard.

http://www.invadeit.co.th/product/motherboards/asus/a88xm-plus-fm2-a88x-4-x-ddr3-8-x-sata-6gbs-matx-p023761/

Asus so you know it's good. Plenty of SATA ports. 2,850฿

Processor.

http://www.invadeit.co.th/product/cpus-processors/amd/a8-series-apu-a8-7600-with-radeon-r7-series-ad7600ybjabox-p021844/

Plenty of power for your stated workload and no need to purchase a video card. Has 4 "cores". 3,790฿

RAM.

http://www.invadeit.co.th/product/memory/corsair/vengeance-pro-8gb-2400mhz-ddr3-non-ecc-dimm-2x4gb-black-cmy8gx3m2a2400c11-p022954/

Best value on high speed RAM that the APU likes. 2,750฿

SSD.

http://www.invadeit.co.th/product/solid-state-drives-ssd/samsung/250gb-2-5inch-ssd-850-evo-series-mz-75e250b-p022328/

Little difference between modern SSD, I have the 840 version and it runs like a champion. 4,390฿

Total...13,780฿

Forgot the ~4,000฿ Windows licence fee.

You forgot the custom heatsink and fan for that processor.

The one that comes with it will allow the cpu to overheat very easily in Thailand.

Then you will need a wider case because the custom heatsink is too big for the standard width case.

Something like this

http://www.invadeit.co.th/product/fans-heatsinks/cooler-master/hyper-d92-cpu-cooler-heatsink-rr-hd92-28pk-r1-p020458/

I've got a laptop with a Core i7 3630QM that I hammer all 8 threads on with handbrake in an un-aircondtioned room and have no problems. Granted it's a 45 watt part and the Kaveri is a 65 watt (that can be forced into a 45 watt tdp) but there's a lot more thermal restrictions on a laptop...

[dave_boo]

I have tried the SSHD and found it makes no discernable difference to boot times or opening programs

That was exactly my experience.

To be brutally honest, our OPs existing machine will do everything he mentions (it already is).

Give it an SSD and as much RAM as will fit (as previously mentioned, over 4GB will need a 64 bit OS) and it will be like a new machine.

Doubt he has a mini-itx setup thus my matx suggestion.

[Pib]

A SSD can really add a lot of zip to an old machine to include a much faster bootup...and a SSD can make a very noticeable performance improvement on a new machine to include a faster bootup. I've installed a SSD in both of my 8 year old Toshiba Pentium laptops and got a big performance boost...and in my new Lenovo i7 CPU laptop which gave it a very noticeable performance boost. But SSDs over 250GB are still way overpriced in Thailand so if you can buy outside Thailand and assuming you can bypass customs you'll save a lot.

Edited July 26, 2015 by Pib

[bkkgooner]

OP I would like to point you in the direction of this forum

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=842

Follow the guidelines there and they will tell you exactly what to buy,they helped me out in 2008 and that computer is still going strong. I am going to be building a new PC next year and that is where I will be asking for advice.

[JetsetBkk]

Thanks to everyone. Really appreciate all your viewpoints.

My current computer has decent quality parts, although they were not really high-end for back then, somewhere in the upper middle range for when I bought them I believe? Gigabyte EP45-UD3R motherboard, Intel Core2Duo E7500 CPU, XFX Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 GPU.

Which has been a good thing, because I get frequent power outages where I live, and on occasion throughout the years, I forgot or was too lazy to upgrade the UPS battery, causing complete power cuts, which likely would have killed cheaper parts already. One reason I want to do a new build now is because one of the two RAM sticks I had seems to be fried by now, likely due to those power cuts. (Yes, I have now upgraded the UPS battery again. ).

You are right that the old RAM was DDR2.

I bought a new monitor last year and am really happy with it, it's a Samsung S27C750, and all I require. I have a networked media player set up to stream media from the computer to the TV anyway, so the monitor is not the primary device for movies etc.

Have a look here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/t/build-your-own/

I built one, once, three years ago. I thought it was mentally hard work, and quite exhausting checking specs on the Internet and figuring out how everything goes together, what goes with what. Anyway, I'm still using it now, although it's well out of date. I did change the main board (mobo) recently and now waiting (hoping) for it to be repaired (under warranty).

Here was my spec from about 3 years ago:

Case Coolermaster HAF 932

MoBo Gigabyte GA-Z77X UD3H

Boot Disk Seagate Barracuda 500 GB 7200 SATA 3

Processor Intel Core i5-3550

PSU Corsair AX850

Graphics Card HIS Radeon HD 6670 IceQ 1GB DDR5

RAM 1 x 4 GB Kingston HyperX DDR3-1600

Monitor Samsung 24" SyncMaster S24B370H

DVD Samsung DVD 24x

All that lot cost about 35,000 baht 3 years ago.

Nowadays the PC has 5 x 2TB HDDs and a Samsung 250GB SSD as the boot drive.

I am seriously thinking of building another, especially since my "ultra durable" mobo went tits-up two weeks ago. Fortunately, I recently bought a friend's old PC which had an identical mobo in it so put that one in my bigger case.

[Bulldozer Dawn]

Thanks to everyone. Really appreciate all your viewpoints.

My current computer has decent quality parts, although they were not really high-end for back then, somewhere in the upper middle range for when I bought them I believe? Gigabyte EP45-UD3R motherboard, Intel Core2Duo E7500 CPU, XFX Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 GPU.

Which has been a good thing, because I get frequent power outages where I live, and on occasion throughout the years, I forgot or was too lazy to upgrade the UPS battery, causing complete power cuts, which likely would have killed cheaper parts already. One reason I want to do a new build now is because one of the two RAM sticks I had seems to be fried by now, likely due to those power cuts. (Yes, I have now upgraded the UPS battery again. ).

You are right that the old RAM was DDR2.

I bought a new monitor last year and am really happy with it, it's a Samsung S27C750, and all I require. I have a networked media player set up to stream media from the computer to the TV anyway, so the monitor is not the primary device for movies etc.

Have a look here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/t/build-your-own/

I built one, once, three years ago. I thought it was mentally hard work, and quite exhausting checking specs on the Internet and figuring out how everything goes together, what goes with what. Anyway, I'm still using it now, although it's well out of date. I did change the main board (mobo) recently and now waiting (hoping) for it to be repaired (under warranty).

Here was my spec from about 3 years ago:

Case Coolermaster HAF 932

MoBo Gigabyte GA-Z77X UD3H

Boot Disk Seagate Barracuda 500 GB 7200 SATA 3

Processor Intel Core i5-3550

PSU Corsair AX850

Graphics Card HIS Radeon HD 6670 IceQ 1GB DDR5

RAM 1 x 4 GB Kingston HyperX DDR3-1600

Monitor Samsung 24" SyncMaster S24B370H

DVD Samsung DVD 24x

All that lot cost about 35,000 baht 3 years ago.

Nowadays the PC has 5 x 2TB HDDs and a Samsung 250GB SSD as the boot drive.

I am seriously thinking of building another, especially since my "ultra durable" mobo went tits-up two weeks ago. Fortunately, I recently bought a friend's old PC which had an identical mobo in it so put that one in my bigger case.

No mental hard work required. Just select your parts on this list and the site will tell you if there are any incompatibilities:

https://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/

[JetsetBkk]

No mental hard work required. Just select your parts on this list and the site will tell you if there are any incompatibilities:

https://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/

Still hurts my head.