Need a cheap desktop spec - £200 max.

Joebob · 1 Jan 2010 at 21:40

I have had a DELL XPS M1710 laptop for the last couple of years so I'm a little out of touch with latest desktop spec's etc.

Anyway the gfx card in the dell has gone wonky (stuck it on MM) - I need to build a desktop for £200 or under.

I want a cheap CPU which is overclockable on stock fan. Min of 2GB RAM (more if poss but will be running XP so definately not more than 3GB).

Case needs to be fairly small and tidy.

I can possibly get a DVD drive froma mate who has a spare as well as a couple of quiet 80mm fans.

Guess then I just need a mobo, cpu, ram, case and PSU - wont be using for gaming so gfx card not important.

Any help or advice appreciated.

Cheers.

stoke1863 · 1 Jan 2010 at 21:51

I seriously dont think £200 will get anything on OCUK.

I mean if you take into consideration at the very lowest price for everything on the site it reaches over £200

This doesnt even include a HDD you didnt mention one do you need one?

Also the AMD is not a great overclocker but at 3GHZ you shouldnt need to

EDIT: Just realised that cpu is OEM so you would need to add another £15 or so for a cooler.

Kennysevenfold · 1 Jan 2010 at 21:52

stoke1863 said:
I seriously dont think £200 will get anything on OCUK.

I mean if you take into consideration at the very lowest price for everything on the site it reaches over £200

This doesnt even include a HDD you didnt mention one do you need one?

Would also need a cpu cooler

Kennysevenfold · 1 Jan 2010 at 21:56

Product Name Qty Price Line Total

Zotac Ion Intel Atom N230 Mini-ITX DDR2 Motherboard (IONITX-B-E) £91.94
(£78.25) £91.94
(£78.25)

In-Win BM639 Mini-ITX Case - Black (120W PSU) £55.17
(£46.95) £55.17
(£46.95)

Corsair XMS2 2GB (1x2GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C5 Memory Module (CM2X2G6400C5B4) £39.83
(£33.90) £39.83
(£33.90)

Samsung SpinPoint F1 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD251HJ) £28.60
(£24.34) £28.60
(£24.34)

Sony Optiarc AD-5240S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.38
(£15.64) £18.38
(£15.64) Sub Total : £199.08 Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : FREE
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £36.72 Total : £235.55

stoke1863 · 1 Jan 2010 at 21:57

I never thought about an atom as a home computer, Are they powerful enough? as in can they multi task at all play videos and music sorta thing

Kennysevenfold · 1 Jan 2010 at 22:03

stoke1863 said:
I never thought about an atom as a home computer, Are they powerful enough? as in can they multi task at all play videos and music sorta thing

Are fine for everyday use, office, music, movies etc.
Just would play many games

Joebob · 1 Jan 2010 at 22:12

Kennysevenfold said:
Product Name Qty Price Line Total

Zotac Ion Intel Atom N230 Mini-ITX DDR2 Motherboard (IONITX-B-E) £91.94
(£78.25) £91.94

I like the thought of the intel atom.

I have a couple of spare 2.5" laptop SATA HDD's and a laptop DVD drive so if I could find a case which would incorporate them instead of 3.5" drives that would be ideal.

The most intensive thing I use my system for is probably photoshop - the atom should handle that ok shouldnt it?

Kennysevenfold · 1 Jan 2010 at 22:15

Joebob said:
I like the thought of the intel atom.

I have a couple of spare 2.5" laptop SATA HDD's and a laptop DVD drive so if I could find a case which would incorporate them instead of 3.5" drives that would be ideal.

The most intensive thing I use my system for is probably photoshop - the atom should handle that ok shouldnt it?

The case would do that no problem...

The BM639 houses a standard or slimline optical drive and a standard 3.5" HDD with the option for a 2.5" drive also

stoke1863 · 1 Jan 2010 at 22:19

I dont like the though of using an atom for photoshop i must say. I use to struggle with CS3 with an AMD 4200 X2

DavyBoy · 1 Jan 2010 at 22:23

Isn't there anything going cheap on the MM?

I'd have to agree with stoke, in that photoshop would probably be a terrible experience with a single core atom.

reflux · 1 Jan 2010 at 22:25

I really wouldn't recommend an Atom. For the price, they are disproportionately poor performers. Get a proper desktop CPU.

stoke1863 · 1 Jan 2010 at 22:26

yes id say defo do not go for an atom having read more reviews. Atom is very good for small media center set ups. Computers to go in cars and notebooks but there is no way id want to have one as my main desktop.

For this budget go second hand

Joebob · 1 Jan 2010 at 22:31

I'm thinking now that if I use my existing spare 2.5" HDDs and my laptop DVD drive then it will leave me with more money to get this instead...

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-364-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1436

Like I say though, Im really out of touch with latest desktop hardware - are these atoms any good?

I know what you are saying about it struggling with CS3 - guess I could go back to using an older version of photoshop... I don't really need a very powerful system.

I have my Asus EEEPC 900 hooked up to my 22" monitor at the mo and it's doing the job, albeit it rather slowly - only has a 900MHz cpu though!!!

If not the atom are there any other small form factor setups that will utilise my existing laptop spares?

bifday2k · 1 Jan 2010 at 22:31

Or shop around u can easily build a system for £150-200 using the celly dual core's but would mean using other e-tailers so can't post a spec here lol.

stoke1863 · 1 Jan 2010 at 22:32

seriously just look at getting cheap dual core celeron it will be much better then an atom

RJC · 1 Jan 2010 at 22:33

Pretty hard to spec £200

OCZ Gold Edition 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Series (OCZ2G8004GK) £66.29
(£56.42) £66.29
(£56.42)

AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 240 2.80GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £46.99
(£39.99) £46.99
(£39.99)

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

Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-400CXUK) £40.85
(£34.77) £40.85
(£34.77)

Asus TA-861 Midi-ATX Case - Black/Silver £22.47
(£19.12) £22.47
(£19.12) Sub Total : £190.29 Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.25 VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £35.27 Total : £236.81

Joebob · 1 Jan 2010 at 22:58

The Intel Atom N330 Dual Core should perform alright though shouldnt it?

stoke1863 · 1 Jan 2010 at 23:01

still wouldn't suggest it over a Dual core celeron. Probably cost tmore too.

Joebob · 2 Jan 2010 at 10:13

Ok. I have seen another ITX motherboard (not going to mention where) which has an LGA775 socket on it.

If I bought that (£60) and the BM639 Mini-ITX case then do you think I could get a CPU and RAM to fit for £100?

Also would the stock fan from something like a dual core fit in that case ok (it looks really small) or is it made for the Atom? Is 120W enough to power a dual core system?

Fatboyuk2 · 14 Jan 2010 at 22:08

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6000+ 3.00GHz (Socket AM2) - OEM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6000+ 3.00GHz (Socket AM2) - OEM £48.99

Gigabyte GA-MA74GM-S2H AMD 740G (Socket AM3/AM2+) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard Gigabyte GA-MA74GM-S2H AMD 740G (Socket AM3/AM2+) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £45.99
(
Corsair Value Select 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C5 £41.99

Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply (400CXUK) £40.98
(
Western Digital Caviar Blue 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (WD1600AAJS) ( £29.99
(
OcUK Gangster Case - Black O £28.60
(
(
Akasa AK-CC032 Low Profile Passive CPU Cooler (Socket AM2) Akasa £4.99
(
Sub Total : £205.56
) Shipping : £10.00
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £37.72
Total : £253.28

it is a littel bit over £54 but it is a fall pc (os use Ubuntu or some think like that )