£400 Spec

Ender · 14 Aug 2006 at 17:08

My friends got roughly about 400 quid to spend on a new computer , would be used for gaming and general surfing etc. His Screens 1440x900 so he would need a graphics card capable of running most things at that. It doesn't have to be mATX but if possible that would be great

Oh no need for Windows/Screen/Speakers/Keyboard etc

My Attempt:
CP-150-AM AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-150-AM)
£53.49 £53.49
MB-042-GI Gigabyte K8N51GMF-9 nForce 6100 Micro ATX (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-042-GI)
£41.95 £41.95
MY-004-OK OcUK Value 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit (MY-004-OK)
£56.95 £56.95
GX-025-BG BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 7600 GT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-025-BG)
£74.95 £74.95
HD-023-SA Samsung SpinPoint P HD080HJ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-023-SA)
£25.95 £25.95
CA-053-AN Antec NSK2400 Desktop Case - 380W SmartPower PSU (CA-053-AN)
£49.95 £49.95
HS-005-TT Thermaltake Blue Orb II Socket 939/754/775) CPU Cooler (CL-P0257) (HS-005-TT)
£15.95 £15.95
CD-015-SO Sony DDU-1615 DVD-ROM (Silver) - OEM (CD-015-SO)
£12.00 £12.00
Subtotal £331.19
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £10.95
VAT £59.88
Total £402.02

Can anyone improve on that? And would the blue orb fit in this case (never used the heat-sink but its meant to be pretty big)

-Edit Had a go at a Socket AM2 System, not sure on heat-sink though, aren't the stock heat-sinks the same ones as skt 939 fx's?

GX-025-BG BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 7600 GT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-025-BG)
£74.95 £74.95
HD-023-SA Samsung SpinPoint P HD080HJ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-023-SA)
£25.95 £25.95
CA-053-AN Antec NSK2400 Desktop Case - 380W SmartPower PSU (CA-053-AN)
£49.95 £49.95
CD-015-SO Sony DDU-1615 DVD-ROM (Silver) - OEM (CD-015-SO)
£12.00 £12.00
CP-164-AM AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-164-AM)
£54.95 £54.95
MB-145-AS Asus M2NPV-VM Micro ATX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-145-AS)
£49.95 £49.95
MY-030-GL GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX21GB5300DC) (MY-030-GL)
£51.95 £51.95
Subtotal £319.70
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £10.95
VAT £57.87
Total £388.52

Edit- Had a go at a Skt AM2 System with Dual core, would it be a lot better for the money? Didn't have enough to budget in a cooler though, will the stock one be ok?

GX-025-BG BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 7600 GT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-025-BG)
£74.95 £74.95
HD-023-SA Samsung SpinPoint P HD080HJ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-023-SA)
£25.95 £25.95
CA-053-AN Antec NSK2400 Desktop Case - 380W SmartPower PSU (CA-053-AN)
£49.95 £49.95
MB-145-AS Asus M2NPV-VM Micro ATX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-145-AS)
£49.95 £49.95
MY-030-GL GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX21GB5300DC) (MY-030-GL)
£51.95 £51.95
CP-166-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-166-AM)
£89.95 £89.95
Subtotal £342.70
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £10.95
VAT £61.89
Total £415.54

taz488 · 14 Aug 2006 at 18:09

what you use it for? if gaming then might as well get the 3800+ single core because dual core 3800 is like 2 x 3200+, and if you go single core you can upgrade to a better dual core when you have the money as its socket am2. if video editing and redering then go dual core, if for general use get dual core. but gaming will be better on a single 3800+ to upgrade later on.

GhostRider · 14 Aug 2006 at 18:17

Agree, for gaming i think the first choice is best.

I would get this cooler for the CPU tho

Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)

Price: £13.95 (£16.39 Including VAT at 17.5%)

taz488 · 14 Aug 2006 at 18:24

no go for am2, otherwise you wont be able to upgrade just the cpu in future, stock coolers are fine unless you are planning on overclocking.

Ender · 14 Aug 2006 at 18:32

plan to over-clock the thing moderately, to about 2.4ghz - think the stock cooler will be up to that? without sounding like a tornado?

taz488 · 14 Aug 2006 at 18:44

dont overclock, just buy this, and yes for only 100 - 200 mhz overclock stock cooler should be fine.

CP-165-AM AMD Athlon 64 3800+ 2.4GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-165-AM)
£68.95
MB-145-AS Asus M2NPV-VM Micro ATX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-145-AS)£49.95
MY-030-GL GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX21GB5300DC) (MY-030-GL)£51.95
HD-023-WD Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 80GB 800JD SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-023-WD)£27.50
GX-025-BG BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 7600 GT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-025-BG)£74.95
CD-020-SO Sony DDU-1615 DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM (CD-020-SO)£10.50
CA-053-AN Antec NSK2400 Desktop Case - 380W SmartPower PSU (CA-053-AN)£49.95
Subtotal £333.75
VAT £58.41
Total £392.16

edit: plus delivery it would come just a few quid over your budget =]

Ender · 14 Aug 2006 at 18:55

would it be worth splashing the extra cash and getting 2gb of ram?

roid · 14 Aug 2006 at 21:01

I'd say yes.

j00ni · 14 Aug 2006 at 21:20

If you are willing to spend extra on RAM, I'd go conroe (well allendale) instead

Ender · 14 Aug 2006 at 21:24

ok ive narrowed it down to -

GX-025-BG BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 7600 GT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-025-BG)
£74.95 £74.95
HD-023-SA Samsung SpinPoint P HD080HJ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-023-SA)
£25.95 £25.95
CA-053-AN Antec NSK2400 Desktop Case - 380W SmartPower PSU (CA-053-AN)
£49.95 £49.95
CP-135-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - OEM (CP-135-IN)
£109.95 £109.95
MY-030-GL GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX21GB5300DC) (MY-030-GL)
£51.95 £51.95
MB-163-AS Asus P5VD2-MX Micro ATX (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-163-AS)
£37.95 £37.95
CD-015-SO Sony DDU-1615 DVD-ROM (Silver) - OEM (CD-015-SO)
£12.00 £12.00
Subtotal £362.70
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £10.95
VAT £65.39
Total £439.04

Hows that look? is the asus mobo any good? it has to be mATX and i cant seem to find many of them that support Conore in my budget. I Could then later on upgrade to 2gb when i have the money spare

taz488 · 14 Aug 2006 at 21:35

well i dont know that much bout intel so id say it looks pretty good

j00ni · 14 Aug 2006 at 21:44

Yeah, no idea about that mobo, but it looks nice

Ender · 14 Aug 2006 at 21:45

well i just realized i choose the oem version of the chip, but it seems to be the best i can get for the money overall.

j00ni · 14 Aug 2006 at 21:48

Ender said:
well i just realized i choose the oem version of the chip, but it seems to be the best i can get for the money overall.

Yeah, that's the problem with budgets

I would advise to get the oem chip and get a separate cooler (like the arctic cooling freezer 7) which should lower temps and/or run quieter

GhostRider · 14 Aug 2006 at 21:54

You've choosen an OEM proccessor so you will need either find a fan or buy the retail version.

this will do the job

Arctic Cooling Alpine 7 CPU Cooler (Socket 775) (HS-021-AR)

Price: £6.25 (£7.34 Including VAT at 17.5%)

but you might want to get a better one if your overclocking

edit: opps to slow :confused:

j00ni · 14 Aug 2006 at 21:55

GhostRider said:
You've choosen an OEM proccessor so you will need either find a fan or buy the retail version.

this will do the job

Arctic Cooling Alpine 7 CPU Cooler (Socket 775) (HS-021-AR)

Price: £6.25 (£7.34 Including VAT at 17.5%)

but you might want to get a better one if your overclocking

It took you 6 minutes to figure out something covered in the two posts above

GhostRider · 14 Aug 2006 at 22:39

shut up

Ender · 15 Aug 2006 at 15:53

Sorry To Bring This up again but im just about to order- Which would give best bang for buck- indecision is a curse

HD-023-SA Samsung SpinPoint P HD080HJ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-023-SA)
£25.95 £25.95
CD-039-NE NEC CB-1100B CDRW/DVD Combi Drive (Beige/Black) - OEM (CD-039-NE)
£13.50 £13.50
CP-164-AM AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-164-AM)
£54.95 £54.95
MB-056-GI Gigabyte GA_M51GM-S2G Micro ATX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-056-GI)
£49.95 £49.95
GX-044-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO)
£126.95 £126.95
CA-053-AN Antec NSK2400 Desktop Case - 380W SmartPower PSU (CA-053-AN)
£49.95 £49.95
MY-030-GL GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX21GB5300DC) (MY-030-GL)
£51.95 £51.95
Subtotal £373.20
VAT £65.31
Total £438.51

GX-025-BG BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 7600 GT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-025-BG)
£74.95 £74.95
HD-023-SA Samsung SpinPoint P HD080HJ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-023-SA)
£25.95 £25.95
CA-053-AN Antec NSK2400 Desktop Case - 380W SmartPower PSU (CA-053-AN)
£49.95 £49.95
MY-030-GL GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX21GB5300DC) (MY-030-GL)
£51.95 £51.95
HS-031-AK Akasa AK-955 Copper Base Low Noise CPU Cooler (Socket 775) (HS-031-AK)
£8.95 £8.95
CP-135-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - OEM (CP-135-IN)
£107.95 £107.95
MB-004-AK Asrock Conroe945G-DVI (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-004-AK)
£44.95 £44.95
CD-039-NE NEC CB-1100B CDRW/DVD Combi Drive (Beige/Black) - OEM (CD-039-NE)
£13.50 £13.50
Subtotal £378.15
VAT £66.18
Total £444.33