Cheap Rig ~£300

Ryan111

Ryan111

Ryan111

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29 May 2009
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Plymouth, United Kingdom
Right, my Dad is using one of the oldest PC's going. Wont even go into specs, something like a celeron 1.8 with 256mb ram :P

Anyway, ive been challenged by him to build a rig for £300, i was going to use the hard drive, with the operating system (XP home, old but he is used to it) in his new computer, and maybe adding another HDD for room? He currently has an 80GB IDE HDD :)

Anyway, heres the spec i came up with...



He doesnt need keyboard, mouse, monitor and he wont be using it for gaming, so the on board VGA will be fine as the graphics.

Any thoughts?
 
Hairybudda said:
Why mini itx?
Click to expand...

He only has a small desk space, so mini ITX is easier, but a full size/mid case is still and option.

Superewza said:
Do you really need after market cooling? And besides that, will it fit in the case?
Click to expand...

I already have that cooler, ive ordered a Titan fenrir for myself, so have the cooler already. I put it in just to show what would be there....

And i dont know if it will fit, and i hope it does, i was going to do a small overclock, 3 ghz maybe :)
 
I regularly build mATX budget PCs for friends + family just to get them off ancient machines.

AMD athlon X2 7850+ (+stock cooler)
Asus mATX 760G mobo
2x2GB 800MHz DDR2
320/500GB WD HDD (depends what they need)
460W coolermaster PSU
22x DVD R+W
cheap'n'cheerful case

Comes in about £230-£250 and works really well. Can add a basic graphics card in too if budget allows.
 
Is Intel a must-have?
After all, AMD are considerably cheaper, and I find them nicer to work with most of the time.
Have you looked at AMD over Intel to save a few quid if its a tight budget?
 
Intel isn't a must, but id prefer intel because ive always had a good experience with them, and it makes parts interchangable with my computer :)

Id rather build the computer myself and it means i get to do my first mini ITX build :) :P
 
No, if you have an AMD system, you have an AMD motherboard...

You can swap an intel CPU into an AMD board....
 
Nobody was talking about keeping motherboards or processors. Since he referenced them in his build i assume that the parts he would want to keep would be the HDD, Optical Drive, Network Card etc.
 
Ohh okay then, my mistake.

Im pretty standard parts, the only thing im slightly worried about is heat, and if the AC freezer pro will fit into the case.

Anyone got the case/used the case?
 
Is that a definite no? I was hoping to squeeze it in :P

And, the optical drive... slimline? I have 1 HDD and 1 drive going in it...
 
Okay, ive added a slimline drive to the shopping list and this

All good?



Then, using his keyboard, mouse, monitor, HDD (with OS) I should be okay?
 
Last edited:
it is a definite no cause the cooler height is 107mm and the case out side height is 112mm let's say the metal is 1mm think the mobo tray will sit 3mm off the otherside of the case and you've got the height of the mobo pegs to include.
107 cooler
2 each side panel
3 motherboard tray sitting off the other panel
4mm mobopegs
______
116mm
4mm short
 
you won't be able to run that ram at full speed because the motherboards maximum ram speed is 800 mhz
and that slimline freezer 7 is out of stock.
 
Ive currently got that ram and CPU, and run the ram at 933mhz, which is still quick.

I know the slimline freezer is out of stock, im going to give OC a call to see if they know when next delivery will be :)
 
To be honest with you.. if your dad is using an ancient machine, any platform will be a massive upgrade for him. AMD is more value/performance.

I see what you mean by swapping parts over to upgrade your dads computer at a later date... but wouldn't that result in you wasting your money buying him the stuff now? for example, you will result in having 2x E5200!!

I suggest you spend the money and upgrade your own rig instead. Then give your dad your cpu, motherboard etc. Besides, it is very unlikely you can gain much from selling off his old system.
 
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