Budget Suggestions

[Leevis]

Hi Everyone

I have built loads of pcs in the past but looks like nowadays there is a fine line between self build and off the shelf new.

I need to build 2 pcs for my kids, the whole thing, pc, keyboard, mouse, OS, monitor etc but i would like them to be upgradeable and as powerful as possible. Mostly they will be used for general kids stuff, internet/games etc but unlikely they will need to be to gaming specs.

What kinda price should i be looking at for these? is there one that is recommended or is it easier to build yourself?

Budget around £400 for everything (each pc, not for two )

Help please

Lee

 

[Hagar]

BenQ G2222HDL 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £114.98
(£95.82) £114.98
(£95.82)
Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
(£57.00) £68.40
(£57.00)
Options applied to the above product:
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £29.99
(£24.99) £29.99
(£24.99)
Asus M4A78LT-M 760G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £44.99
(£37.49) £44.99
(£37.49)
AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 250 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £43.99
(£36.66) £43.99
(£36.66)
OCZ Intel Extreme XMP 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 10666C7 1333MHz Low Voltage Dual-Channel Kit (OCZ3X1333LV4GK) £29.99
(£24.99) £29.99
(£24.99)
Microsoft Wireless Media Desktop 1000 - Retail (ZHA-00007) £28.99
(£24.16) £28.99
(£24.16)
OCUK EZCool NA-705 Case - Black (500w PSU) £24.98
(£20.82) £24.98
(£20.82)
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £13.99
(£11.66) £13.99
(£11.66)
Sub Total : £333.59
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £17.85
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £70.29
Total : £421.73

Uses on board graphics, gfx card can be added later. Will upgrade to any phenom II CPU and up to 16Gb DDR3. 22" monitor included.

Only weak point is the cheap PSU in the case. For a future upgrade path a better PSU should be specced at the time.

 

[Cookeh]

I would try and get a ASUS 8XX chipset board in there - with a BIOS flash you'll be able to use the new AM3+ cpus.

I wouldn't run a PC off a £5 PSU either While my spec only has 2GB of RAM, it does have an ASUS board with the 880 chipset so can take AM3+; has better onboard; a PSU that will take a new graphics card and uprated cpu when the time comes

BenQ G2222HDL 21.5" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black £114.98
(£95.82) £114.98
(£95.82)
Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
(£57.00) £68.40
(£57.00)
Options applied to the above product:
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £29.99
(£24.99) £29.99
(£24.99)
Asus M4A88T-M AMD 880G (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £59.99
(£49.99) £59.99
(£49.99)
AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 250 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £43.99
(£36.66) £43.99
(£36.66)
Corsair Builder Series CX 430W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUK) £35.99
(£29.99) £35.99
(£29.99)
Xigmatek Asgard Midi Tower Case - Black £29.60
(£24.67) £29.60
(£24.67)
Corsair Value 2GB (1x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Single Channel Module (VS2GB1333D3) £21.98
(£18.32) £21.98
(£18.32)
Sub Total : £337.44
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £19.10
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £71.31
Total : £427.85