How cheap? Challenge

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nlr

nlr

nlr

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If I wanted to build a pc for someone who wont play games or do anything which is intensive on the hardware and just normal browsing, msn, basic world processing etc..

It must have windows and not linux.

How cheap could I achieve this build?
 
In all Honesty, pretty cheap. This is all from here, but this isn't a site for low end components really.

Not sure if this motherboard comes with graphics but I assumed it did, if you really wanted it cheaper you could drop the extra stick of ram, and go to a smaller hard drive, but this isn't advised as the machine isn't exactly speedy in the first place.


Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition 32-Bit - SP3 - OEM (N09-02215) £79.99
(£68.08) £79.99
(£68.08)

Asus M4A78L-M LE AMD 760G (Socket AM3/AM2+) DDR2 microATX Motherboard £46.99
(£39.99) £46.99
(£39.99)

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5600+ 2.90GHz (Socket AM2) - OEM £35.24
(£29.99) £35.24
(£29.99)

Kingston 2GB (1x2GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C5 667MHz Single Channel Memory Module £34.06
(£28.99) £34.06
(£28.99)

Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-400CXUK) £29.99
(£25.52) £29.99
(£25.52)

Western Digital Caviar Blue 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (WD1600AAJS) £29.99
(£25.52) £29.99
(£25.52)

Kingston 1GB (1x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C5 667MHz Single Channel Memory Module £19.96
(£16.99) £19.96
(£16.99)

OcUK Athena Tower Case - Black £18.99
(£16.16) £18.99
(£16.16)

Sub Total : £251.24
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.00
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £45.72


Total : £306.96


Edit: Oh and add a DVD burner to that
 
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Will they be needing monitor, mouse, keyboard or speakers as well as the base unit?

Also, do they have a windows XP or Vista license they no longer use? If they do, they could either just use that (so long as it isn't an OEM licence) or get the cheaper upgrade version of Windows 7 and do a fresh install.

Finally, are there any existing spare components that can be made use of (eg. decent PSU, DVD drive, HDD, case etc.)?
 
Buy a second hand system of some auction site for less than £100 and whack a new copy of Windows 7 on it if it's just for web browsing and word processing. Or get a cheap laptop for less than £300 with windows 7 (or some other version of windows) included.
 
No I will not need a monitor or any peripherals and I have a bunch of licenses.

Thats a big shock I was expecting a smaller price because my mum will rarely use the pc but when she does its just for browsing and word processing and previously she went to the local computer shop who charged her £300 for a pc which is slow on XP.
 
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Vista or 7 does work fine with 1GB, Just use Basic and not Aero for the windows style. Another GB of RAM is probably the only upgrade you might be advisable doing, however it puts the price up by another £15. But as said it should be fine with just a gig aslong as you are using 32-bit as for 64-bit 2GB is recommended (for 7 at least).
Vista Specs are here.
7 Specs are here.
 
To be honest I wouldn't touch Vista even if it was free but I just assumed you would get more from performance wise from XP vs Windows 7 at a lower spec?
 
I'm not sure really, although I have used both an a low spec PC (Athlon 2600+ Skt A, 1GB ram, Built in Gfx) and both performed as well as each other the few times I used them. I'd say 7 would be a better bet as both those specs are as good as the rocomended and 7 is quite a bit better than XP, just set the windows style to Basic and it should be fine, perhaps turn of indexing.
 
I can't even recommend Windows for higher end rigs, but since i managed to do pretty much everything you're talking about on a PII rig running Slitaz i'd say pretty cheap. £200 max?
 
All i'm trying to achieve is something basic for my mum which wont be slow and choppy for her tasks and occasionally my sister would go on msn etc..

I don't even think overclocking the cpu would be a option since the case/cooling would be cheap.
 
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UberTiger said:
Buy a second hand system of some auction site for less than £100 and whack a new copy of Windows 7 on it if it's just for web browsing and word processing. Or get a cheap laptop for less than £300 with windows 7 (or some other version of windows) included.
Click to expand...

I saw a HP base unit containing an Intel E8400 with 4GB of RAM go for 122 on ebay... shockingly cheap
 
The Acer Aspire Revo R3610 contains these specs for £299

Intel Atom 330
4GB RAM
500GB HDD

How much would similar components cost?
 
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