Help with spec'ing a SFF PC

GSXRMovistar · 20 Jun 2006 at 16:22

A mate at work is looking to buy a new PC and has asked for some help on the spec, I'm completely out of the loop when it comes to new hardware these days so could anyone help spec a SFF based pc on the following requirements:-

* Budget £600-700
* No preference to AMD or Intel
* 2Gb of RAM
* GFX capable of driving dual screen (onboard is fine if it can do this)
* DVD Writer
* Would like to raid data on drives with a min of 300Gb storage
* TV card (Not fussed if built in or external)
* Wirelss apator (again not fussed if built in or external)

System will be used mainly for office apps, media (TV/DVD/Music), and probably not gaming.

Thanks for any suggestions

paul@ · 21 Jun 2006 at 17:24

The budget is very tight, does your friend want a shuttle xpc system or does he/she prefer DVD style cases?

GSXRMovistar · 21 Jun 2006 at 17:40

paul@ said:
The budget is very tight, does your friend want a shuttle xpc system or does he/she prefer DVD style cases?

I think xpc style case is the preference.

paul@ · 21 Jun 2006 at 18:07

HD-047-WD Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 160GB 1600JS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-047-WD)
£41.95 £83.90
FS-026-ST Soltek EQ3801M-300 Barebones System (Socket 754) - Mirror (FS-026-ST)
£110.00 £110.00
CP-135-AM AMD Sempron 64 3400+ 2.0GHz (Socket 754) CPU - Retail (CP-135-AM)
£57.95 £57.95
MY-006-OK OcUK Value 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit (MY-006-OK)
£99.95 £99.95
GX-063-LT Leadtek GeForce 6200 128MB DDR TV-Out/DVI (AGP) - Retail (GX-063-LT)
£32.95 £32.95
CD-020-AS Asus DRW-1608P3S 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - Retail (CD-020-AS)
£24.95 £24.95
GX-075-LT Leadtek Winfast DTV-Dongle Digital TV USB2.0 Tuner (GX-075-LT)
£32.95 £32.95
NW-007-BE Belkin F5D7000UK 802.11g Wireless PCI Adapter (NW-007-BE)
£16.95 £16.95
Subtotal £459.60
VAT £80.43
Total £540.03

You could swap the PCI wireless card for a USB one and upgrade to bigger hard drives to be within your friends budget.

What you think?

GSXRMovistar · 21 Jun 2006 at 19:05

paul@ said:
What you think?

I think that may be a little under spec especially in relation to disk space and the ability to raid the drives.

I've had a bit more of a look into this and put together the following:-

Shuttle XPC ST20G5 Aluminium Barebones System - AMD 64 (Socket 939) (FS-047-SH)
Price: £211.95 (£249.04 Including VAT at 17.5%)

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-147-AM)
Price: £84.95 (£99.82 Including VAT at 17.5%)

OcUK Value 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit (MY-006-OK)
Price: £99.95 (£117.44 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Maxtor MaxLine III NCQ 300GB 7V300F0 SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-096-MD)
Price: £61.95 (£72.79 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Maxtor MaxLine III NCQ 300GB 7V300F0 SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-096-MD)
Price: £61.95 (£72.79 Including VAT at 17.5%)

NEC ND3550 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Silver) - OEM (CD-037-NE)
Price: £20.50 (£24.09 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Hauppauge WinTV PVR-150 Media Centre Edition TV Tuner (GX-027-HA)
Price: £50.95 (£59.87 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Comes to £695 in total excluding any networking gear which may be looked out under a different budget or one of the hard drives above could be dropped if needed for now instead. A couple of questions

1) Would the kit above all work together okay?
2) Should any other CPU/memory combos be considered instead?

Thanks again

paul@ · 22 Jun 2006 at 00:02

I noticed you changed the drives. Another good choice but I'm not really a fan of Maxtor. See if you can get bigger ones from Western Digital.

I think you managed to find a reasonable spec and still within the budget.

Good luck.