Not another spec me thread...

monkeysmith

monkeysmith

monkeysmith

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Hi guys,

Mate has asked me to build a computer for him, on a tight budget but wants the ability to upgrade at a later date. Wants a decent machine, not really for gaming, but the option of beefing it up at a later date with a gfx card and then handle some games. At the moment, on board will do.

Budget is £250 to include keyboard and mouse.

I have a monitor for him. Also have XP Home for him too, so not needed.

I've been looking at the latest prices of the cpu's and not really sure how the Core 2Duo lower range compare with say AMD x2 5000? He isn't going to be overclocking.

AMD is probably the best option for the price, but how limited is this for future upgrades? Is AM2 on its way out?

Any help will be great, thanks.
 
Something like this should just about do, if the budget is really tight then you could drop to 1gb Ram if required.

Antec NSK4400 Mini Tower Case - 380W SmartPower PSU £39.99
(£46.99) £39.99
(£46.99)
Microsoft Black Value Pack 2.0 - OEM (S82-00029) £12.99
(£15.26) £12.99
(£15.26)
Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 80GB 800JD SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM £23.99
(£28.19) £23.99
(£28.19)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail £35.99
(£42.29) £35.99
(£42.29)
Abit AN-M2 Micro ATX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £43.99
(£51.69) £43.99
(£51.69)
NEC AD5170 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
(£17.61) £14.99
(£17.61)
Crucial 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C5 Dual Channel Kit (CT2KIT12864AA667) £44.99
(£52.86) £44.99
(£52.86)
Sub Total : £216.93
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £39.70
Total : £266.58
 
Looks excellent thanks.

How does the 3800 x2 compare with the Core Duo E2140 - any idea?

Toms Hardware cpu chart has changed a bit, all naffed up now.
 
I'm not at all sure since I haven't looked at any figures but I'd guess it will probably be about equal at stock speeds or at least not different enough to be worth worrying about. :)
 
Garyj881 said:
No "just" about it , it would pee all over it when overclocked to 3ghz +
Click to expand...

Hardly stock speeds though, is it? If you are going to compare then like for like is the fair way. Not everyone wants to or is able to overclock their system and you do tend to need a good motherboard, Ram and CPU cooler to do so - mATX doesn't offer as many options for overclocking and if you go full ATX then you need a discrete graphics card which bumps up the budget as do the decent Ram and CPU cooler. :)
 
monkeysmith said:
but how limited is this for future upgrades? Is AM2 on its way out?
Click to expand...

I think the AM2 socket will last for few more years. It will be compatible with AMD's new phenom cpus which I think are released later this year. It will also be compatible with AM3 cpus as well.
 
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