£400 system

aspirins

aspirins

aspirins

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4 Nov 2006
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373
Hi guys,

I was hoping someone, somewhere, may be able to help.

I'm looking to build a new computer, something which I've not done before, but more than happy to attempt.

I have monitor/keyboard/mouse/speakers etc. I just need a complete base unit, for under £400. I'm not sure if I need an OS or not, but if we include it for now.

I'd like it, to be as good as possible, obviously, and would hope to play some relatively new games on it, so I would like it to be able to handle them.

If I need to give you any more information to help, let me know.

Thanks for your help.
 
Hello Mate,

Your in luck, just brought a £360 system a few days ago and its a dream

E7200 Core 2 Duo
Gigabyte P35-S3G
Cosiar XMS2 800Mhz DDR2
Zotec 8800GT 512MB
250MB Samsung Spinpoint Hard Drive 16mb Cache
Antec Sonata III with 500 Earthwatts PSU.

I already had a dvd player and don't need memory readers but they are a negligable cost anyway,

Let me know what you think
 
Antec NSK 6580 Super Midi Tower Case - 430W Earth Watts PSU Antec NSK 6580 Super Midi Tower Case - 430W Earth Watts PSU £57.99
(£68.14) £57.99
(£68.14)
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £49.99
(£58.74) £49.99
(£58.74)
Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail £101.99
(£119.84) £101.99
(£119.84)
Samsung SpinPoint S 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD250HJ) Samsung SpinPoint S 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD250HJ) £27.99
(£32.89) £27.99
(£32.89)
Samsung SH-S223F/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM Samsung SH-S223F/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
(£17.61) £14.99
(£17.61)
Intel Core 2 Duo E2180 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.00GHz (800FSB) - Retail Intel Core 2 Duo E2180 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.00GHz (800FSB) - Retail £38.99
(£45.81) £38.99
(£45.81)
OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) £24.99
(£29.36) £24.99
(£29.36)
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (66I-01939) Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (66I-01939) £58.99
(£69.31) £58.99
(£69.31)
Sub Total : £375.92
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £67.70
Total : £454.57


Slightly overbudget with the operating system. If you find out you dont need the os then it will be fine.
If you do need the os then you could drop the 4850 down to a 3850. That would be a serious drop in fps in newer games though.
 
Thanks, probably put an order through tomorrow. The "amazing what you can get" comment makes me feel happy about this.

Is that absolutely everything I will need?
 
Read the spec for graphics card Lozza wrote not sure it can work with PSU. I am no technical expert but official website says a 500watt psu is needed with 75w something or other - I'd quickly give it a read.
 
EDIT: I just found the super spec at every budget thread. I shall explore that instead. Thanks for the help.

ATI website says

"450 Watt or greater power supply with 75 Watt 6-pin PCI Express® power connector recommended"

So let's say we make the budget £500, and replace the case/PSU combo with something that'll work? Any suggestions?

Thanks
 
Last edited:
ok for £500:

Capture-47.jpg


a little OC to about 2.8GHz and you will be flying :)
 
500quid, now that will be easy,

Pioneer DVR-215DBK 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM Pioneer DVR-215DBK 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
(£17.61) £14.99
(£17.61)
Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 2.53GHz (1066FSB) - Retail Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 2.53GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £69.99
(£82.24) £69.99
(£82.24)
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £49.99
(£58.74) £49.99
(£58.74)
Samsung SpinPoint S 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD250HJ) Samsung SpinPoint S 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD250HJ) £27.99
(£32.89) £27.99
(£32.89)
GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 800MHz Black Dragon DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GB24GB6400C5DC) GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 800MHz Black Dragon DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GB24GB6400C5DC) £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
Tuniq Tower 120-LFB CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775) Tuniq Tower 120-LFB CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775) £31.99
(£37.59) £31.99
(£37.59)
HIS ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail HIS ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail £107.99
(£126.89) £107.99
(£126.89)
Sub Total : £362.93
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £65.08
Total : £436.96


you got 64left for PSU+case.
 
I'd save the dosh and go for an Antec case and PSU bundle. They offer excellent value and performance. Spend the money elsewhere at this price point.

450W is plenty for a 4850.
 
My graphics card cost £400 and the PC's being specced in here are not much slower than my entire system, its crazy what you can get on a budget now!

A system like the ones specced in this thread would have been nearer 1000 pound not long ago.
 
Strife212 said:
My graphics card cost £400 and the PC's being specced in here are not much slower than my entire system, its crazy what you can get on a budget now!

A system like the ones specced in this thread would have been nearer 1000 pound not long ago.
Click to expand...

People say this every time the budget chips arrive, but you are right. I think it's most obvious at the moment due to RAM losing 80% of it's value in the space of a year and ATI's new graphics cards being priced so competitively.:)
 
Think i'm gonna go with shaffaaf27's spec, but I'm going to leave the OS for now and use the XP disk I've got. I vaguely recall having problems trying to share drives and getting frustrated with Vista last time I had it on a pc... so that's £430... thanks guys

and to be certain, that's everything i need? not done this before...
 
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aspirins said:
Think i'm gonna go with shaffaaf27's spec, but I'm going to leave the OS for now and use the XP disk I've got. I vaguely recall having problems trying to share drives and getting frustrated with Vista last time I had it on a pc... so that's £430... thanks guys

and to be certain, that's everything i need? not done this before...
Click to expand...


Go with mine and you won't regret it.


I wish I've spent extra 40quid and took e7200 when I was getting my E2200 :/.

wolfdales are sooo much better.


Also tuniq tower and those geils will allow you for high clocks, ill be expecting 3.6ghz+ with that setup if your airflow is decent ;).

4gb of memory is advised as well for this kind of system, even for 32bit it's still fine, you will have 3.5gb to use.
 
PhoenixUK said:
Go with mine and you won't regret it.


I wish I've spent extra 40quid and took e7200 when I was getting my E2200 :/.

wolfdales are sooo much better.


Also tuniq tower and those geils will allow you for high clocks, ill be expecting 3.6ghz+ with that setup if your airflow is decent ;).

4gb of memory is advised as well for this kind of system, even for 32bit it's still fine, you will have 3.5gb to use.
Click to expand...

lol its not a contest.

once he OCs the CPU he wont notice the differnce in REAL life between the CPUs, so why not get the cheaper one. i doutb with £400 one ones to try and get the best 3dmark etc.

Tuniq tower is uncessecary as he wont be going for mental clocks on a high end board. its harder to install and can be anoyying to put on thermal paste.

and the RAM is rated at 400 (800 effective)

SO 400 x 10 = 4GHz, IF he does want to push the CPU (which wont reach that far), so no need to paymore for what he wont use.

but i do agree with the 4GB, but seeing as he is using XP, (most likely 32 bit) then 2GB is it.
 
shaffaaf27 said:
lol its not a contest.

once he OCs the CPU he wont notice the differnce in REAL life between the CPUs, so why not get the cheaper one. i doutb with £400 one ones to try and get the best 3dmark etc.

Tuniq tower is uncessecary as he wont be going for mental clocks on a high end board. its harder to install and can be anoyying to put on thermal paste.

and the RAM is rated at 400 (800 effective)

SO 400 x 10 = 4GHz, IF he does want to push the CPU (which wont reach that far), so no need to paymore for what he wont use.

but i do agree with the 4GB, but seeing as he is using XP, (most likely 32 bit) then 2GB is it.
Click to expand...

There is nothing of a contest, I'm just not happy with the E2xxx series (had both e2180 and e2200), wolfdales clock easier, higher, stay cooler and provide better performance.

And 4gb is the way to go, even with 32bit he still will have 3,5gb with that card, if you compare this to vista 64 it will be same performance due to vista eating tons more memory than XP he will have about same for app usage.

I've moved from 2 to 4 in XP 32 and there is tons of difference.


4gb 6400 C4, E7200 and 4850 is win in that price range, if he wants to save money than go with p31 e2160 and 3850 for 300quid.


---
Ahh and on memory side, it's not only about pushing the fsb, timings come into action as well, while the OCZ might run 400mhz at 5-5-5-15, the 10quid more geil can do it on 4-4-4-10 which will give a nice performance boost.


I've learnt one thing, don't be too greedy with money if you got it, it's better to pay extra 50quid and be happy in the long run than save that 50 and not be.
 
Last edited:
As I said earlier, I went with shaffaaf27's spec, and it arrived this morning.

Put it together and it fired up first time, and seems to be running very nicely.

Thanks for your help.
 
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