Cheap as chips mobo, cpu and RAM combo

Amp34 · 24 Mar 2006 at 18:52

I want to make a really cheap pc, i have aall the other bits but need the above.

Im not sure wheather I want an intel or amd system but i was wondering what ideas people would come up with.

For an intel machine I thought of:

MSI 915PL Neo-F Intel 915PL (Socket LGA775) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-064-MS) 1 £39.95 £39.95

MY-014-SA Samsung Original 1GB DDR2 PC4200 533MHz (MY-014-SA) 1 £54.95 £54.95

CP-116-IN Intel Pentium 4 805 Dual Core "LGA775 Smithfield" 2.6GHz (533FSB) - Retail (CP-116-IN) 1 £84.95 £84.95

Subtotal £179.85
Shipping £8.25
VAT £32.92
Total £221.02

Will the board work with an 805? If not whats the cheapest board that will work with it? What about the Asus P5GPL-X Intel 915PL (Socket 775) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-128-AS) as well. Does the memory have to be DDR2 or can it be standard DDR?

And for an AMD system:

MSI K8N Neo4-F nForce4 (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-053-MS) 1 £57.95 £57.95

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3200BPBOX) (CP-118-AM) 1 £91.95 £91.95

Corsair 1GB DDR Value Select PC3200 CAS3.0 (VS1GB400C3) (MY-062-CS) 1 £46.95 £46.95

Subtotal £196.85
Shipping £8.25
VAT £35.90
Total £241.00

Any comments on either would be good thanks, especially the motherboards, they just need to be basic mobos with sata and a pci-e slot

Raikiri · 24 Mar 2006 at 18:55

Asus P5VD1-X VIA PT880 (Socket LGA775) AGP & PCI-Express DDR Motherboard (MB-132-AS)

Cheapest half decent board that supports the 805.

Also get the Corsair value 2x512mb of ddr2 as dual chanel gives a fairly large boost in speed.

The AMD system will out perform the P4 in games, but personally I would want the dual core. I would also OC it as much as I could.

ACESHIGH · 25 Mar 2006 at 05:38

If you want a good & cheap pc then this is your best choice ...

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-147-AM)
£122.14

Akasa AK-860 Low Noise CPU Cooler (Socket 754 & 939) (HS-029-AK)
£5.82

Gigabyte K8NMF-9 nForce4 Micro ATX (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-041-GI)
Expansion Slots PCI Express x16 x 1 • PCI Express x1 x 1 • PCI x 2
RAID Support SATA RAID 0 • SATA RAID 1 • SATA RAID 0+1
Storage Controller Type(s) Serial ATA x 4
Socket 939
£49.29

OcUK Value 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit (MY-004-OK)
£49.94

Total = £227.19 Including VAT

Fantastic CPU for the price.
Good cooler (cheaper to get oem cpu & cooler than retail cpu)
Very good mobo.
1 gig ram is good.

IMO this really does give you the best bang per buck at this price!

Amp34 · 25 Mar 2006 at 14:58

Ok thanks for that. If i swapped the RAM to dual channel and the mobo to the Asus P5VD1-X would there be any compatability issues etc? This Pc will just be for word and internet browsing etc not gaming or anything too intensive.

EDIT: I just had a look at the asus and it doesnt seem to take ddr2. does it work with DDR or DDR2?

Raikiri · 25 Mar 2006 at 17:24

Amp34 said:
Ok thanks for that. If i swapped the RAM to dual channel and the mobo to the Asus P5VD1-X would there be any compatability issues etc? This Pc will just be for word and internet browsing etc not gaming or anything too intensive.

EDIT: I just had a look at the asus and it doesnt seem to take ddr2. does it work with DDR or DDR2?

Yeah it will work with DDR, not DDR2 I knew I had overlooked something. Although this is not a bad thing as you can buy half decent DDR ram for less than DDR2. (Geil value for example)