Newbie Needing Help - Looking to build a cheap pc!

dazednconfuzed

dazednconfuzed

dazednconfuzed

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11 Jan 2010
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I'm looking to either upgrade my current pc or buy a new one to run as a 2nd pc on my LAN at home. I only really need it to physically connect to the network via my router, play music and high-def videos and possibly some low spec games (not overly fussed about that bit though).

I've got an old pc that's on it's last legs that I want to transfer the case, DVD drive, HDD and RAM from to save costs but I'm not sure what's the best option? Either a bare bones kit, motherboard / graphics card / RAM combi offer or buy things seperately?

Looking to spend £200 - £250

Any and all help is very gratefully received!

Cheers
 
oqyuk6.jpg


best i could do for now :D
 
Hi, that's brilliant, cheers.

I (hopefully) wont need the HDD, RAM (maybe), case, possibly even the power supply as that may transfer across. I'm just thinking of a new motherboard, processor and graphics card.

As well as the casing I've currently got:
- 550W PSU
- DiamondMax Plus 9 80GB SATA 150 HDD
- NEC DVD+-R/RW
- 1Gb 184DIMM PC3200 CL3 NP RAM

How do I know if they will be compatable with the new equipment?
 
I think I know the answer already, but is this worth a cheeky £200 or dont touch with a ****ty stick?

DELL PRECISION 470 WORKSTATION AND GAMING COMPUTER


- THIS IS A GREAT GAMING COMPUTER AS IT CAN TAKE UPTO 16GB MEMORY AND HAS SPACE FOR UPTO 4 GRAPHICS CARDS AND CAN ALSO TAKE SEVERAL HARD DRIVES
- WITH 2 X INTEL XEON 3.2GHZ PROCESSORS = 6.4GHZ
- WITH 2048MB (2GB) MEMORY (CAN TAKE UPTO 16GB RAM)
- AND A DVD/CD DRIVE (CAN TAKE 2 DRIVES)
- WINDOWS XP PROFESSIONAL PRE-INSTALLED

'The Precision 470 is built to last with its extremely accessible tool-less case and handy Front USB ports. The Precision 470 is a great foundation to build on with its simple tool-less component system for easy removal or addition of drives. Complete with 10/100 integrate Ethernet, DVD/CD drive, Floppy, and expandable PCI AND PCI EXPRESS slots make this desktop/tower computer a great solution for your casual computing needs
 INTEL ZEON 2 X 3.2GHZ PROCESSORS
 2048MB MEMORY
 80GB HARD DRIVE
 DVD/CD DRIVE
 GRAPHICS CARD, may vary from Nvidia 280s, Radeon 7000, Matrox 450 or similar
 8 X USB PORT
 PARALLEL PORT, 2X SERIAL PORT
 ETHERNET PORT
Integrated Input/Output Ports USB 2.0 x 8 • Serial Port x 2 • RJ45 Lan Port x 1 • PS/2 Mouse x 1 • PS/2 Keyboard x 1 • Parallel Port (ECP/EPP/SPP) x 1

2 x 5.25" (External Access) • 1 x 3.5" (External Access)


One PCI Express x16 Graphics slot with support for 150w graphics cards
One 32-bit/33 MHz PCI slot
One 64 bit/100 MHz PCIx slot
One PCI Express slot wired as x4 (2GB/s) but with a x8 connector. A x8 card installed in this slot will function at x4 speeds'

Was hoping it will do what I need now but is upgradable in the future?
 
At the moment I've got:

- 2.00 gigahertz AMD Athlon 64
- 550W PSU
- DiamondMax Plus 9 80GB SATA 150 HDD
- NEC DVD+-R/RW
- 1Gb 184DIMM PC3200 CL3 NP RAM
- ASUSTeK Computer INC. A8N-SLI 1.XX
- NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT

I can e-mail you over the full spec if that'd help? I'm just going round in circles, I like the fact I've got options, but I think I've got too many!
 
I've Been quoted £200 for:

INTEL PENTIUM 4 [2 CPUS] RUNNING AT 2.93GHZ
MSI rc410 sb450 motherboard
ATI RADEON SAPPHIRE HD3450 512MB PCI-EXPRESS GRAPHICS CARD
1gb RAM
80GB WESTERN DIGITAL HDD
Speakers and a 19" monitor

Looks good to me, been assured it'll do everything I need it to but I've been lied to before!

Any thoughts?
 
dazednconfuzed said:
I've Been quoted £200 for:

INTEL PENTIUM 4 [2 CPUS] RUNNING AT 2.93GHZ
MSI rc410 sb450 motherboard
ATI RADEON SAPPHIRE HD3450 512MB PCI-EXPRESS GRAPHICS CARD
1gb RAM
80GB WESTERN DIGITAL HDD
Speakers and a 19" monitor

Looks good to me, been assured it'll do everything I need it to but I've been lied to before!

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Will barely be any quicker than what you have at the moment tbh. You can pick those sort of machines up for 40-50 quid on the mm.
 
if your psu is of good quality, i'd re use that and your case and optical drive, then buy the cpu, motherboard, hard drive that siumatfung suggested but get 4 gb of ram with the case and psu money you'd save
 
chipps101 said:
if your psu is of good quality, i'd re use that and your case and optical drive, then buy the cpu, motherboard, hard drive that siumatfung suggested but get 4 gb of ram with the case and psu money you'd save
Click to expand...

That's my thinking too, I'm getting some old parts from work which will help too!

How do I know if my psu is any good though? It was a **** Value 550w PSU I bought 5 years ago so I'm thinking it might be needing replacing?
 
To be honest i think you should just start afresh with something like what siumatfung sugested.

That way you know exactly whats in your rig instead of using a mixture of odds and ends that may or may not go together.

Oh and ditch that value PSU, please for the love of....... :D
 
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