Budget Performance Build

ssc456

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Hi Guys,

I'm looking for a good "bang for ya buck" machine.
I'm nothing of a gamer, never played anything more intensive than the SIMS or Age Of Empires. So graphics is irrelevant.

I'm looking for a good multi tasker, Visual Studio, MS SQL, Management Studio, Photoshop, Outlook, Excel, Word, Virtual Box. It's not uncommon for all of these to be open at the same time with multiple instances.

Heres what I have so far:

CPU: Intel Core i5 4440 3.10GHz Socket 1150 6MB Cache.. | Ebuyer.com
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-H87-HD3 Socket 1150 VGA DVI HDMI ATX.. | Ebuyer.com
RAM: Kingston 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz HyperX Blu Memory.. | Ebuyer.com
HDD: WD 2TB Green Desktop Hard Drive SATA 3.5 | Ebuyer.com
Case: OEM-735 Case with HD Audio + Alpine 500w 12cm Blue Fan.. | Ebuyer.com

The onboard sound and graphics will do fine for me.
I may consider getting an SSD for the OS.
I have a couple of DVD drives and a card reader I can put in it.

Any suggestions / reccomendations?

**Re graphics, can someone recommend the cheapest way to get a 4 monitor setup on that machine? Would it be two budget graphics cards or 1 card? As before performance for graphics is not an issue. Just display 4 (1080 would be nice) but any 4 respectable resolutions on 4 monitors.
 
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An SSD is fantastic for decreasing boot up times. I just got my SSD and my boot up times went from ~2 minutes to under 15 seconds. If you can afford it, I highly recommend getting an SSD for your OS and the 2TB for all your other programs and files.
 
Yes an SSD is very tempting.
I will see when my final parts list is together how much cash I have left.
 
What are you doing for an OS?

I'm very fortunate to have an MSDN account so I can keep my options open.

Strangely enough despite my major hating a couple of months ago I think i'll just stick Win 8 on there, I may dual boot with Win 7 but honestly I've got a dual boot setup on my laptop and I never touch 7.
 
I'm very fortunate to have an MSDN account so I can keep my options open.

Strangely enough despite my major hating a couple of months ago I think i'll just stick Win 8 on there, I may dual boot with Win 7 but honestly I've got a dual boot setup on my laptop and I never touch 7.

Yeah go for a dual boot setup.. When I had Windows 8 installed on my laptop in a dual boot with 7 I rarely used 7. Unfortunatley I removed 8 as it was the preview, I am going to buy 8 soon..

Be nice to have MSDN..
 

Hmmmmmm I appreciate the case and PSU are "bog standard" but keep in mind that I'm not looking into adding an additional graphics card, not overclocking the processor so really taking very very little power.

I've done this previously (on my 16th birthday in fact so 6 years ago) I bought a case and PSU combo for £25 and although it is very very outdated it still runs today and for 2 years of it's life it ran 24 hours a day 7 days a week, probably had a handful of shutdowns during that time period. And it was also "abused" for several months powering my car stereo and 12v Car Neons during a project I was doing.

So whilst I appreciate that sub standard goods can delivery sub standard performance it's also worth mentioning that this £25 PSU and Case combo has served me beyond it's duty for 6 years.

I guess I was lucky with that one but it's a risk I will take again.

P.S Thank you for your response and advice, I do appreciate it despite me asking for advice and then completing ignoring the advice given :facepalm:
 
Ok but i warned you....lol

I bought a cheap psu, it went kerplow and took my mobo with it. Is it worth risking it for the sake of £35? Really? lol

The PC is only as good as the weakest part.... £35? thats nothing? surely.... Lol bet you spend double/triple that on a night out..
 
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