Just put together this...

[Ash]

Case
STYLISH PIANO BLACK ENIGMA MICRO-ATX CASE + 2 FRONT USB
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i3-2130 Dual Core (3.40GHz, 3MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8H61-M LE/USB3 (NEW REV 3.0): M-ATX, USB 3.0, SATA 3.0Gb/s
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
512MB NVIDIA GEFORCE 210 - DVI,HDMI,VGA
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
250GB SATA-II 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
350W Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling
INTEL SOCKET LGA1155 STANDARD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
Sound Blaster® Audigy™ SE (£19)
Network Facilities
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £398.00 including VAT and delivery.

...and I'm wondering if it's an OK machine. Is the power supply good enough? Are the CPU and GPU decent? Are there any unnecessary components in there? I plan on using this computer for surfing the web, college work, iTunes, Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and Adobe Fireworks/Photoshop CS4.

 

[Music Guy123]

What is your budget? I would recommend dropping the sound card and getting a better hdd. I would probably recommend getting a slightly better cpu if you could afford it.

 

[mantadog]

If it's really basic photoshop etc then your current build should do alright. Obviously for that price your getting a lower spec machine but for your everyday user i don't see it as a huge problem.

If you do have any spare cash then an upgrade to the HDD would make your system feel faster. The other route is an AMD build, often you will get a higher spec machine for your money with an AMD build.

 

[Ash]

If it's really basic photoshop etc then your current build should do alright. Obviously for that price your getting a lower spec machine but for your everyday user i don't see it as a huge problem.

If you do have any spare cash then an upgrade to the HDD would make your system feel faster. The other route is an AMD build, often you will get a higher spec machine for your money with an AMD build.

By basic Photoshop, do you mean just making basic images, because yeah, that is all I do tbh. I don't go in to 3D rendering or anything like that. My current AMD 2.2ghz, 1gb RAM laptop runs it OK so I assume the one above would be more than enough.
Why would upgrading the HDD make the system run faster? I chose 250gb as I knew I would never fill it. My current laptop only has 80gb and I haven't filled it.
I'm looking at AMDs now. Aren't Intel better than AMDs though? I have always had AMD computers and was looking at Intels this time as I've always heard good things about them.

What is your budget? I would recommend dropping the sound card and getting a better hdd. I would probably recommend getting a slightly better cpu if you could afford it.

Well I'm buying it on finance as my current budget is only £300. I would say that ~£430 would be my maximum.
The only reason I put the sound card in was because I needed to get the price over £388 for it to be eligible for the finance option. I was going to upgrade the CPU but I didn't because I thought you would have to PSU as well to power it, and that would cost too much. Would the 350w PSU power the higher performance CPUs?

 

[Rakk]

I was going to upgrade the CPU but I didn't because I thought you would have to PSU as well to power it, and that would cost too much. Would the 350w PSU power the higher performance CPUs?

The higher CPU's wont use very much more power, 350W will be good enough for an upgraded CPU , and if you drop the sound card that would free up power anyways (not that you'd need to)

 

[Ash]

The higher CPU's wont use very much more power, 350W will be good enough for an upgraded CPU , and if you drop the sound card that would free up power anyways (not that you'd need to)

Ah right, ok thanks.
I've dropped the sound card and changed the CPU to the i5 2400 Quad Core 3.10GHZ one. Is that a good cpu? What about the graphics card. I'm reading that these CPUs have HD graphics capabilities. Are they good enough to the extent that you wouldn't need a GPU?

 

[Rakk]

What about the graphics card. I'm reading that these CPUs have HD graphics capabilities. Are they good enough to the extent that you wouldn't need a GPU?

The only thing that you may need a graphics card for is the 'Adobe Fireworks/Photoshop CS4' stuff (unfortunately I don't really know how much graphics power these want), because the rest will happily work with the integrated graphics with that CPU.

 

[Ash]

The only thing that you may need a graphics card for is the 'Adobe Fireworks/Photoshop CS4' stuff (unfortunately I don't really know how much graphics power these want), because the rest will happily work with the integrated graphics with that CPU.

Well my current laptop can run both, just quite slowly. It has a ATI Mobility Radeon Xpress 200 graphics card.
My laptop is like 8 years old though.

 

[Music Guy123]

You will be fine without a gpu. The integrated on these cores is really quite good. Yeah, drop the sound card, psu should be fine, that CPu is a very good one. I prefer intel but it is personnal preference really. They Both have good middle range CPUs intel pull away at the top though.

 

[Wozza63]

for £22 id say get a 210 as it includes CUDA cores, which as far as i know, adobe products work well with them or a GT520 is £35 for some improved performance

 

[Music Guy123]

I'd get the 520 out of the two. It is supposed to be good with adobe.