Challenge: Best PC on a shoestring budget

PiKe · 23 Apr 2009 at 15:30

I challenge you, the OcUK community to build the best performing PC for the absolute least amount of money possible, I've seen threads in the past for unlimited budgets, but don't recall any for shoestring budgets.

Doesn't have to include a screen/keyboard/mouse/os.

Go!

95thrifles · 23 Apr 2009 at 15:31

You'll have to define "shoestring", you can build a cheap one for about £250 but it aint gonna be any good, and as you state best performing also, that means we'd need an actual budget

PiKe · 23 Apr 2009 at 15:32

What could it be based on? 3dMarks per £?

icey_haj · 23 Apr 2009 at 15:34

shoe⋅string [shoo-string]

–noun
1. a shoelace.
2. a very small amount of money.
3. shoestrings. shoestring potatoes.

–adjective
4. consisting of or characterized by a small amount of money: living on a shoestring budget.

Who's that in your sig thrifty?

icey_haj · 23 Apr 2009 at 15:35

PiKe said:
What could it be based on? 3dMarks per £?

Do you want a system that will just run word? Or the cheapest gaming system?

PiKe · 23 Apr 2009 at 15:37

Would I have suggested 3dmarks for word processing?

Ben M · 23 Apr 2009 at 15:40

why? what's the point?

icey_haj · 23 Apr 2009 at 15:42

Ben M said:
why? what's the point?

Yeh, I actually don't understand this thread. Does he actually want a spec for himself or is it just to see who can come up with the best spec?

Fledge · 23 Apr 2009 at 15:44

I am amazed at how much elaboration one person can do in a single thread.

PiKe · 23 Apr 2009 at 15:49

Just to see what's possible for relatively little money.

icey_haj · 23 Apr 2009 at 15:52

PiKe said:
Just to see what's possible for relatively little money.

*scratches head*

I'll have a go next week, after I've handed my dissertation in.

Btw Ben, it's going to be sad to see you go

"andy" · 23 Apr 2009 at 15:53

if you need a reason you can do it for me ! could do with a cheap pc at moment!

Glaucus · 23 Apr 2009 at 15:56

PiKe said:
Just to see what's possible for relatively little money.

Well seeing as we can't test any scoring systems, as we can't afford to buy everything. What are you expecting from this thread?

Ben M · 23 Apr 2009 at 16:02

So basically it's a pointless make believe thread which is almost as bad as kids coming along and sayinf "i got 10 grand and i wanna buy a comouter plz spec me"

=\

icey_haj said:
Btw Ben, it's going to be sad to see you go

lol thanks ^_^

Amnesia · 23 Apr 2009 at 16:04

e5200 cpu £62.09
4850 graphics card £98.99
ocuk 2gb memory £16.09
p43 gigabyte motherboard £74.74
corsair 450w psu £57.98
antec 300 £45.99
500gb hard drive £43.99

thats a decent spec that should play most of todays games at full whack £399.87

"andy" said:
if you need a reason you can do it for me ! could do with a cheap pc at moment!

..edited to include hard drive

PiKe · 23 Apr 2009 at 16:11

You missed off a hard drive

I came up with:

Antec NSK 4480B Mini Tower Case - Black (380W Earth Watts PSU)
OcUK GeForce 9600 GT 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
Gigabyte GA-M56S-S3 nForce 560 (Socket AM2+) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 7750+ Black Edition 2.70GHz (Socket AM2+) - Retail AMD
Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD3200AAKS)
Corsair XMS2 DHX 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C4 TwinX Dual Channel

Total : £337.31

Fledge · 23 Apr 2009 at 16:40

I'd say Pike is winning so far

Amnesia · 23 Apr 2009 at 16:56

yup but i would prefer mine

shadowscotland · 23 Apr 2009 at 17:04

**B Grade** Asus Vintage V3-P5G31 Barebones System - Intel Core 2 (psu+mobo+case)
Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 "LGA775 Core 2" 2.50GHz (800FSB)
**B Grade** Gainward GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI
OCZ Platinum Revision 2 XTC 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Series
**B Grade** Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache
Total : £285.59 inc VAT

Audigex · 23 Apr 2009 at 17:43

I just came up with this for a competitor's forum, so the pricing might be slightly off and there might be slightly cheaper components over here... the basics are the same though.

Basic DVDRW
CoolerMaster 334
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ (2.7gHz AM2)
Biostar MCP6P M2+ (AM2+)
(Competitor own brand) 2gb PC2-6400 (single stick)
Xilence 420W gaming PSU
160GB Hitachi CinemaStar (SATA-2, 7200RPM)
PowerColor ATI Radeon HD4650 512MB

Total cost including VAT is a smidgen over £245 and it'll quite happily run Call of Duty 4, Counter Strike: Source and that generation of games no problems. It'll even manage crysis on 25-30fps on medium at 1440x900 (based on similar rigs at the time of release).

Personally I think it's not a bad rig for less than most netbooks...