Cheap PC feasible?

koolpc

koolpc

koolpc

Soldato
Joined
2 Dec 2004
Posts
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Location
Under The Desk, Wales
Is it possible to build a cheap pc these days? I mean for around or under £300?

Basic setup. Onboard GPU, 8gb ram, dvd writer, wireless card. Looking to put together one for my daughter. Just for school work, internet, word processing. I have win 7. Have a monitor (DVI/VGA Interface), have a keyboard and mouse.

She games on her PS4 Pro.

All the basic prebuilds are around £420 ish.

Just after a decent, cheap PC.
 
 
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AMD Build with SSD, slightly better PSU, but older Motherboard than @nkata's build

My basket at overclockers uk:


Total: £345.14 (includes shipping: £12.30)
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Or Intel Build - again with SSD, but only a Dual core processor and worse onboard graphics, but crucially under £300

My basket at Overclockers UK:


Total: £296.14 (includes shipping: £12.30)
​
 
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Armageus said:
AMD Build with SSD, slightly better PSU, but older Motherboard than @nkata's build

My basket at overclockers uk:


Total: £345.14 (includes shipping: £12.30)
​

Or Intel Build - again with SSD, but only a Dual core processor and worse onboard graphics, but crucially under £300

My basket at Overclockers UK:


Total: £296.14 (includes shipping: £12.30)
​
Click to expand...

Intel one look great
 
Could look at a Pentium My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £88.69 (includes shipping: £8.70)​
​

Higher clock speed and added hyperthreading compared to the Celeron basically the same as older gen i3, though unfortunately seem to be out of stock here.

Though I would also have a look at the Athlon 200ge, not for sale here :( They can be had for about the same price as the Celeron mentioned above but has same performance as the Pentium though with slightly better graphics chip (vega 3) would slot into armageus AMD build above.
 
billysielu said:
I'd only give a Celeron to someone I hated tbh.
i3 minimum
Click to expand...

For school work and general web browsing it will be fine though - the SSD is a more important component imo in a responsive PC at this price range than any processor.

Both of @StarShock's recommendations are good ones as well - that pentium is equivalent to I3's that people wouldn't have hesitated to recommend until recently (I3's used to be dual core+hyperthreading, but are now quad core).
The Athlon 200GE would be fine, as being slightly cheaper than the Ryzen 3 2200G I listed would allow an AMD build to be ~£300, the only downside being slightly worst graphics (e.g. for gaming), but a separate graphics card could be added later if it became necessary.
 
Didn't build one, but I bought a used dell optiplex 3050 for £200, it's micro form factor, i3 7100, 8gb ram (upgradable), doesnt have an internal dvd drive though.

It'd my go to sort of suggestion over a new build, but probably against the grain of your request haha
 
Any ex corporate Dell off eBay with a half decent spec and add in an SSD will be less than £300. My current work machine is an Optiplex 9020 which has an i7 4790. Huge overkill for basic use for school work.
 
 
how about this? I couldn't recommend anything worse than this tbh. People do give away cases, psus, dvd drives, and wifi cards, so u can shave money off if you can 'find' those items.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £353.90 (includes shipping: £11.10)
​
 
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Stick up a wanted thread in members market for some components would be your best bet. I just built my son a rig from some of my old gear. 2500k and 970. Sure some guys will have bits and bobs lying around.
 
 
koolpc said:
Needs to be under £300. Dont mind Intel or AMD.
Click to expand...

You cant get AMD option for under £300, Intel is only an option for under £300.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £295.33 (includes shipping: £0.00)
​
 
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