The biggest problem I'm having doing it is that win XP needs to get into that budget too. Here's what I'm looking at.
REFERENCE DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE COST REMOVE
OS-001-MS Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk (N09-01528) (OS-001-MS)
£51.95 £51.95
HD-079-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-079-SE)
£52.50 £52.50
MB-071-MS MSI K9N Neo-F nForce 550 (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-071-MS)
£49.95 £49.95
CP-164-AM AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-164-AM)
£65.95 £65.95
CA-000-SS Seasonic S12 430W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply (CA-000-SS)
£39.95 £39.95
CA-054-LL Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Black Aluminium Midi-Tower Case (No PSU) (CA-054-LL)
£48.95 £48.95
MY-012-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR2 LA PC2-5300 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-5400PHU2-2GBLA) (MY-012-GS)
£99.95 £99.95
GX-044-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO)
£136.95 £136.95
CD-030-NE NEC ND4570 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-030-NE)
£21.95 £21.95
FG-000-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
£14.50 £14.50
Subtotal £582.60
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £10.95
VAT £103.88
Total £697.43
While the budget is actually £650 a stretch to £700 is okay (which I've had to do, haha). But the cheapest conroe is £150 whereas the 3500+ is just under £80. Is there some way to tweak the spec to squeeze a E6300 in there or is it just not going to happen?
As I've said, the £700 is already pushed it £50 further than it would be preferred, so another increase isn't really on the cards...
Also, anything particularly wrong with that spec? Good gaming performance at 1024x768 and 1280x1024? If a conroe can't be had for that money, then at least the system is in good shape for a future AM2 processor I suppose. Opinions, thoughts and advice all welcome.
REFERENCE DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE COST REMOVE
OS-001-MS Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk (N09-01528) (OS-001-MS)
£51.95 £51.95
HD-079-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB ST3250620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-079-SE)
£52.50 £52.50
MB-071-MS MSI K9N Neo-F nForce 550 (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-071-MS)
£49.95 £49.95
CP-164-AM AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-164-AM)
£65.95 £65.95
CA-000-SS Seasonic S12 430W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply (CA-000-SS)
£39.95 £39.95
CA-054-LL Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Black Aluminium Midi-Tower Case (No PSU) (CA-054-LL)
£48.95 £48.95
MY-012-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR2 LA PC2-5300 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-5400PHU2-2GBLA) (MY-012-GS)
£99.95 £99.95
GX-044-CO Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO)
£136.95 £136.95
CD-030-NE NEC ND4570 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-030-NE)
£21.95 £21.95
FG-000-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR)
£14.50 £14.50
Subtotal £582.60
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £10.95
VAT £103.88
Total £697.43
While the budget is actually £650 a stretch to £700 is okay (which I've had to do, haha). But the cheapest conroe is £150 whereas the 3500+ is just under £80. Is there some way to tweak the spec to squeeze a E6300 in there or is it just not going to happen?
As I've said, the £700 is already pushed it £50 further than it would be preferred, so another increase isn't really on the cards...
Also, anything particularly wrong with that spec? Good gaming performance at 1024x768 and 1280x1024? If a conroe can't be had for that money, then at least the system is in good shape for a future AM2 processor I suppose. Opinions, thoughts and advice all welcome.
I'd gladly pump more money in so I could get better but nobody around here wants to hire a student for the summer, so I'm stuffed for income. Next chance I'll get for a build is xmas, and I don't think I can stand gaming on a celeron D for much longer...been far too long already!