PC on a budget...or Mac Mini?

[mattdanielc]

Hello,

I have around £550 to spend on a new PC. I need it mainly for Dreamweaver and Photoshop - and would like to be able to play games like Starcraft 2, Total War Rome 2 that sort of level.

I'm tempted to buy a Mac Mini as my PCs always seem to die very quickly - the mac mini spec is 2.6GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 / 8GB 1600MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM / 1TB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm. I have an iPhone and Ipad so I'd have them all syncing - but obviously for the money £512 - can I get a better PC?

I'd like to afford Intel but looks unlikely. Also keen on a SSD for fast boot up - always fancied this.

Case
STYLISH PIANO BLACK ENIGMA MICRO-ATX CASE + 2 FRONT USB
Processor (CPU)
AMD A8-6500 Quad Core APU (4.1GHz) & Radeon™ HD 8570D Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® A58M-E FM2+ (M-ATX, DDR3, USB 2.0, 3Gb/s)
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ R7 240 - DVI,HDMI,VGA - DX® 11
1st Hard Disk
120GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 350W VS SERIES™ VS-350 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe AMD CPU Cooler (£19)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
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 3 to 5 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £539.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/amd-fm2-richland/WnOZg54_GS/

 

[keynes]

I would drop the SSD and get a better cpu and gpu (FX-6300 and r9-270 gpu), the spec you posted will struggle with gaming

 

[jacmur692]

Pretty sure the mac mini's dont even have a dedicated graphic card only intel graphics.
I'm not too familiar with those game specs but i bet the mac would struggle to play them.

I would make the changes Kaynes suggested if you want some of the gaming power

 

[mattdanielc]

I would drop the SSD and get a better cpu and gpu (FX-6300 and r9-270 gpu), the spec you posted will struggle with gaming

Thanks - I can see the r9-270 gpu - but where is the fx 6300 in the list?

Also, would people recommend buying a monitor through PCS - or can I get better / cheaper though amazon etc. I'm after a new 24" monitor

I'm going to stick with the SSD though and go over budget for better CPU / GPU - I've been keen on one for ages for faster boot up and most used games etc.

By the way - is this spec more powerful than my old PC? (AMD Phenom X4 965 | 4GB DDR3 1333 | Nvidia GTX 460)

 

[keynes]

Thanks - I can see the r9-270 gpu - but where is the fx 6300 in the list?

http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/view/Fusion-650-gaming-pc/

Also, would people recommend buying a monitor through PCS - or can I get better / cheaper though amazon etc. I'm after a new 24" monitor

you should be able to check prices online. I found PCS good value for money.

I'm going to stick with the SSD though and go over budget for better CPU / GPU - I've been keen on one for ages for faster boot up and most used games etc.

From experience, for the games I play, I haven't noticed a significant or noticeable improvement in loading times. I wouldn't sacrifice the cpu and gpu for your budget. If you are able to spend more I would push for a better cpu/gpu, you can always add an ssd later on.