Cheap spec for 720p please

wavid · 10 Feb 2011 at 20:29

Hi my girlfriends macbook is just not cutting it anymore...wont run 720p smoothly and the optical out is faulty so im looking for something quiet and cheap to run 720p on my tv...maybe abit of internet browsing...will consider second hand parts if it makes a big difference....but yea...something cheap enough to handle 720p smoothly that i can plug to my HD tv...i have a soundcard with optical out already....
my budget is how ever low i can go...i will also be running linux....i have a mouse and keyboard so just computer please
looking for something in the 50 pound range if possible...

thanks in advance!

(edit) btw hard drive wont be needed also...so just everything but HD,mouse,keyboard,monitor,soundcard,

RJC · 10 Feb 2011 at 20:35

£50 range?

Crikey, thats probably going to be hard even with 2nd hand parts.

SouthEastBlue · 10 Feb 2011 at 20:42

For £50 you're gonna have to dig around ebay for used desktops, something with an early dual core and a cheapy graphics card.

shadow_boxer · 10 Feb 2011 at 20:55

Even ebay or second hand members markets you are really going to stuggle to get anything at that price. A cheap Athlon dual core base unit will cost in the region of £150-180.

Cookeh · 10 Feb 2011 at 21:00

Frankly, you need at least £180, including case, optical drive, HDD etc!

anuraj · 10 Feb 2011 at 21:10

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-276-OK&groupid=43&catid=1817&subcat= I don't know if this will make a difference but it's £50

shadow_boxer · 10 Feb 2011 at 21:29

anuraj said:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-276-OK&groupid=43&catid=1817&subcat= I don't know if this will make a difference but it's £50

Extract from "ASUS Eee Box Preview & Intel's Atom Benchmarked"

Without hardware decode assist for any of the HD video codecs the Eee Box’s Atom processor is left to do all decoding on its own, and unfortunately it’s not fast enough to decode any high bitrate HD video. In our testing we found that the 1.6GHz Atom was fast enough to decode a 4.5Mbps 720p H.264 stream at around 90% CPU utilization; anything more complex and we started seeing dropped frames. 1080p HD movies are completely out of the question. The CPU is fast enough to play 720p XviD/DivX however.

Add 2GB of RAM and your existing HDD and your away. Personally wouldn't bother with this this thing, however.

wavid · 11 Feb 2011 at 13:54

ah ok thanks...i only thought i could get one for around 50 because my friend just got a computer for 100 that runs most games on full....with the exception of GTA4....so i thought id get something half as good for 50...maybe he was lucky....BUT my dad bought a computer also on ebay...for 100 2 years ago that runs 720p fine.....anyway i will raise my budget if its not posible now....
i found this on gumtree....

SOCKET 775

3.0GHz HT PENTIUM 4 PROCESSOR

80GB SATA HARD DRIVE

1GB OF DDR MEMORY

DVD ROM DRIVE

INTEL GRAPHICS CARD

HIGH DEFINITION SOUNDCARD

guy wants 65 for it but i could try get it down abit....
what do you guys think?...its a DELL 3100

(EDIT) or this guy has this great comp for higher price....of 140 but maybe i can get it down to 100 without monitor
AMD ATHLON 64 2.8ghz Dual Core processor plus screen monitor
NVIDIA GT 220 graphics card worth £70
2gb ram
80 gb hardrive
HDMI PORT
windows 7
kaspersky anti virus
dvdwriter drive, 2 dvd drives
(EDIT2) just contacted him and he will do 100 but without graphics card)

(EDIT4) OK hel do 100 with graphics card now

(EDIT3) or this guy for 90
Intel Core 2 Duo 3.0Ghz Processor
2GB Corsair DDR2 800Mz Dual Channel RAM
Gigabyte Motherboard with onboard VGA, Sound
320GB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM SATA Hard Disk (not shown in image as I was formatting it but is included in sale)
Zalman 460W silent PSU
ATI Radeon X1300 Graphics Card (Dual Head DVI & VGA)
DVD Writer (IDE interface, Pioneer)
All internal connecting cables

shadow_boxer · 11 Feb 2011 at 13:59

No I wouldn't get that.

Try looking around for an AMD AM2+ system 2GB RAM, should be able to get it for about £100 I'd say.

wavid · 11 Feb 2011 at 14:15

ah ok thanks! so all 3 of them are not worth it? out of all of them i think the 3rd one seems like the best deal....il try looking for what you recommended thanks

(edit) damn i thought the 3rd spec was good..i was nearly going to buy it...but if u think i can get better for this price then il keep looking....damn i dont really know what im looking for

6644kp · 11 Feb 2011 at 15:01

wavid said:
ah ok thanks! so all 3 of them are not worth it? out of all of them i think the 3rd one seems like the best deal....il try looking for what you recommended thanks
(edit) damn i thought the 3rd spec was good..i was nearly going to buy it...but if u think i can get better for this price then il keep looking....damn i dont really know what im looking for

the 3rd one is good i'd go for the third one.

shadow_boxer · 11 Feb 2011 at 15:06

Seen the edit. Yeah 3rd one doesn't look too bad at all for £80-90 assuming no faults with RAM or HDD errors. Ask him/her to post the full specs, exactly what CPU and motherboard in particular.

wavid · 11 Feb 2011 at 17:01

ok the 2nd one will do the lot with graphics card now for 100...
i got in contact with the 3rd guy and awaiting his response....
(edit) damn the 3rd one is sold

wavid · 12 Feb 2011 at 17:41

Ok he said 80 for all now... do i do it... he said asap...

(edit) ahhhhhhhhh!!! i dont know wat to do he wants me to get it now...should i?
i wish the 3rd guy still had his....i know this one is not as good...
but is it still a good deal for 80 pounds?
AMD ATHLON 64 2.8ghz Dual Core processor
NVIDIA GT 220 graphics card
2gb ram
80 gb hardrive
HDMI PORT
windows 7
kaspersky anti virus
dvdwriter drive, 2 dvd drives

shadow_boxer · 12 Feb 2011 at 18:48

Ask for the full spec

What motherboard is it? and what CPU?
What make of RAM?
What'd the deal with Windows 7, presumably their'll be no license.

wavid · 12 Feb 2011 at 19:27

its a m2n-vm hdmi motherboard (which will prob suit me well as im using it for 720p watching)
asus 220 gt
and a amd 64 x2 5200+ 2.7 ghz
he didnt mention ram...(but il ask him now)
its never been overclocked he says
but i think im gonna take it...for 80 pounds its not bad

im just annoyed i didnt get the other computer for 90...much better spec
oh well..this will do me fine and its a great price imo...

but i also want your opinions please!!!

(edit) i just found out its kingston ram and windows 7 licensed....

shadow_boxer · 12 Feb 2011 at 20:16

Yeah looks pretty good for £80

The Nvidia GeForce 220 GT goes for around £20-25 and the CPU probably about the same. 2GB Kingston RAM sounds OK too.

Not sure how he can give Windows 7 away for that cheap. Make sure he includes original discs for it which have a corresponding licence. Need to make sure its not a dodge copy!!

Also get him to demo it all working, shutting it down, restarting etc. Perhaps also a couple of benchmarks just to ensure everything is ok and not overheating.

Presumably they'll be a PSU & Case too?

If so, sounds pretty good for £80.

wavid · 12 Feb 2011 at 20:36

thanks for advice! yes its with case and psu....
tbh ive never really testing computers before...or done benchmarks...so if you have any advice on what to look out for ...what program to load..please
thanks so much btw! im so excited about tommorow..