[dontfollowme]

I've seen the following bundle on Scan which I am close to buying:

    Coolermaster Elite 334 Mid Tower Case, Black, with Coolermaster Elite 460w PSU
    Intel Core i3 540 Dual Core Clarkdale 32nm, 3.06GHz, 4MB Cache, 73W, Integrated GPU @ 733MHz, Retail
    Gigabyte GA-H55M-D2H, Intel H55 Express, S 1156, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR3 2200+, SATA 3Gb/s, MicroATX
    1TB Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.9ms, NCQ
    4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 Classic DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, 1.5V
    Pioneer DVR-S19LBK 24x DVD±R, 12x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, RAM x12, SATA, Black, Retail Labelflash

Does this look a good base to start with? I mainly use the PC for browsing and listening to music. It would be nice to be able to edit the HD files that come out of my LX3 camera which I am hoping this will allow me to do. In the future I would add an SSD and maybe a separate graphics card.

Cheers

[iain]

I've actually just built a system with almost the same components.
I think it's worth getting the latest intel i3 processors. There's a significant performance difference with the first generation, particularly with regards to the onboard gpu graphics performance (and therefore your HD video editing), with only a small cost difference between i3 540 (1st gen) and i3 2100 (2nd gen).
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sandy-bridge-core-i7-2600k-core-i5-2500k,2833.html

Just so you know, the initial 2nd gen motherboards with the 1155 chipsets had a flaw which is is fixed in B3 revision boards.

I got my components individually from Ginger6. Stupid name but by far the cheapest site I could find and excellent customer service:
http://www.ginger6.com/

I didn't need a case or dvd drive, but the following came to £203 which means free delivery:
Core i3 2100
Patriot 1333Mhz 2x2GB ram
Seagate 250GB 7200rpm Sata 3gb hard drive
ASUS SKT-1155 P8H61-M LE motherboard.

(I got a power supply elsewhere)

I reckon you could upgrade the hard drive and add a decent case with power supply and a DVDRW drive for around the same or less than the Scan bundle?

[dontfollowme]

Thanks for the tip on the CPU and motherboard. I thought Coolermaster were a good brand for cases? Also on the Scan site for Intel motherboards it lists the following options: H61, H67, P67, Q67 - which of these would be compatible with the Core i3 2100?

[iain]

They all are.

H61 - Budget end board without Sata 6GB and USB 3, (although confusingly some more expensive boards have the ports). Single PCI-Ex16 slot
H67 - Allows use of on board graphics and overclocking of graphics card with a single PCI-Ex16 slot. Doesn't allow overclocking of CPU.
P67 - Enthusiast/gaming chipset. Requires a discrete graphics card, (doesn't allow use of onboard graphics.) Allows overclocking of CPU and multiple graphics cards.
Q67 - Bells and whistles business version allowing remote management

If (like me) you're planning to stick in the parts and leave them be then I'd say an H61 or H67 board is fine and the cheapest. It will allow you to add a graphics card later and upgrade the cpu if you want.
About Sata 6GB, from what I've read although it does speed things up a bit the jury is still out on whether it's cost effective. What I've got is quick although I don't do much disk intensive stuff. I do however run lots of virtual machines and it handles that well.

My decent case comment wasn't intended to detract from the Coolermaster one  , merely to say that if you were to buy from Ginger6 I'm sure you could get a decent case there too.

I'm not being paid by Ginger6 btw, I just thought they were a good find.

[Jim]

i found inwin cases excellent quality and value for money