Cheap PC for internetz, kiddie games and light office usage

JimboJet

JimboJet

JimboJet

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Joined
11 Feb 2010
Posts
827
Hey folks, I'm quite able to build the higher end stuff as I'm familiar with those components but I'm not so sure of the cheaper lower end stuff.

So after convincing my gf that she needs to upgrade her 6 yr old sons PC so we can have more than one internet page up at a time in windows explorer (it only has 256mb ram!) I need to come up with a system on a limited budget - the cheaper the better! I won't need a case, PSU, HDD or DVDrom and am not interested in Blueray.

Are the onboard graphics on the Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H any good? I'm well aware that it wont play crysis etc, but would it be ok for HD youtube and iplayer playback? dvds?

My initial thoughts are for:

Corsair Dominator 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMD4GX3M2A1600C9)
£76.36 (£64.99)

Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard
£69.99 (£59.57)

AMD Athlon II X3 Tri Core 440 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail
£60.00 (£51.06)

Sub Total : £175.62
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £32.40
Total : £217.52

I suspect there are cheaper options out there, but looking forward I'm not convinced buying a dual core CPU is good sense any more.
 
Of course a dual core is sensible, heck, a Sempron 140 would be suitable for those uses. How much do you actually want to spend? It's hard to do without a budget...
 
Am now thinking A P5Q based 775 system and an overclocked dual core Intel chip. I have some spare DDR2 that i think will work so can make a saving there. Only problem is I think I'll need a graphics card then... 5750 or 4850??
 
Last edited:
Yep should have a spare license for Win XP around here somewhere! In fact if I transfer her old HDD into the new build then I think I can get away with using that.
 
Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
Corsair Dominator 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMD4GX3M2A1600C9) £76.36
(£64.99) £76.36
(£64.99)
AMD Athlon II X3 Tri Core 440 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £60.00
(£51.06) £60.00
(£51.06)
Asus M4A78LT-M 760G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £48.99
(£41.69) £48.99
(£41.69)
Sub Total : £157.74
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £29.27
Total : £196.51
 
Ok here is a possible buid that has a nice ati mobility radeon hd 3000 which is supposedly better than my intergrated laptops graphics that can run call of duty moderwarfare 2 so it's pretty good.



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This spec should be what your looking for.
 
Stulid you posted what I posted whilst I was typing. I was on this page for a while and forgot to refresh whoops.
 
I've checked the motherboard and it has the correct ports and in the description it is stated it has an onboard graphics cards that was pretty decent. I'm not sure about he -M though I'll have a little look around.
 
JimboJet said:
The "-M" in the motherboard description means it has an onboard graphics card right?
Click to expand...

stands for micro usually, its the G which denotes graphics.

and lets be honest, modern warfare2 would have to be run at minimum settings and res.

these onboard graphics are more tetris and pacman, than anything good.
 
Yep I get that, its always been that way. I'm not expecting anything stellar.

Ok, next question then, I've seen some mobos with onboard HD 3000 and HD 4000, I assume HD4000 is better but where can I see benchmark comparisions so I can get the better of the available on board Graphics? AandATech doesnt have the onboard chipsets listed in their GPU benchies which is where I normally look to choose graphics cards.
 
thanks fellas. I'm amazed it can do 30 fps in COD MW at all! Thats great, I can sneak a few games of my own on there to play when juniors in bed and the gfs watching some mind numbing soap! :D
 
This will do what your asking for and lots cheaper.
The built in graphics will do 720p video but not 1080p thats the job of the 4350.
The other nice thing about this is the board is capable of unlocking the 140 to dual core,
if your lucky and did this then you can even removed the 4350 and let the extra core
do the hard work + another bonus with this is that it is very easy to clock this to
3.2ghz using the stock cooler.

 
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