Office Desktop Spec £200-400 please

[TreeUK]

Hi all,

I need a spec for a machine for my Dad, he has a 1.4 gig, 256mb RAM.
His main complaint unsurprisingly is that it's hella slow.

Ideally a desktop spec (the flat kind that sit on the desktop) not sure what they're called. But a midi tower would be fine if not.

He mostly uses it for accounting packages so a gig of ram would be the minimum.
No monitor needed, onboard sound is fine, dual layer dvd writer preference.
Other than that, he won't be using it for gaming so no hardcore graphics cards needed. Could go to £500 if it's a huge performance benefit, otherwise the cheaper the better really.

I'm fine for building it, just don't keep abreast of components so I'm appealing to all your greater collective knowledge.

Would really appreciate the help

Tristan

 

[iain.turner]

My bash at it ;

CA-037-AN Antec Minuet II Piano Black/Silver Slimline Case - 220W SmartPower PSU (CA-037-AN) 1
£39.95 £39.95
CP-137-AM AMD Sempron 64 3000+ 1.8GHz (Socket 754) CPU - Retail (CP-137-AM) 1
£49.95 £49.95
MB-043-GI Gigabyte K8U ULI1689 (Socket 754) Motherboard (MB-043-GI) 1
£29.95 £29.95
MY-004-OK OcUK Value 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit (MY-004-OK) 1
£48.95 £48.95
GX-047-XF XFX GeForce 6200 256MB DDR TV-Out/DVI (AGP) - Retail (PVT44AWAH6) (GX-047-XF) 1
£39.95 £39.95
HD-024-SA Samsung SpinPoint P HD160JJ 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-024-SA) 1
£41.95 £41.95
CA-002-XP X-PRO 350W Silent Power Supply (CA-002-XP) 1
£29.95 £29.95
Subtotal £280.65
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £8.95
VAT £50.68
Total £340.28

 

[ps2wizz]

yeah i think that is a sweet system. cheep too

 

[Aidoscuz]

Yeah, that's a nice system for the price. I think you forgot a DVD drive though - stick something like an NEC 4570 in and you'll be grand

 

[tickle me elmo]

if all he does is accounts, buy a gig of ram to replace the 256 in there. will be a lot faster and you wont need to buy a new system

 

[iain.turner]

Forgot the drive sorry, you can use the floppy out of the old one and if you need to save a bit to you can knock down the graphics card. But for the money its not a bad little runner... You would also need windows which I didnt include incase you already had a copy

 

[Mortah]

Upgrade existing system to 1gb RAM and do a fresh windows install. That will most likely do the trick for what it sounds like you you'll be using it for.

 

[Energize]

No need for a gfx card if its not for games.

 

[TreeUK]

Thanks everyone, seems like a great spec

Can anyone recommend a cheaper compatible graphics card to afford for that DVD drive?
NEC ND4571 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Silver) - OEM (CD-032-NE)
£27.95 (£32.84 Including VAT at 17.5%).

As Energize says he doesn't need a good graphics card, don't suppose the mobo has onboard graphics? It didn't look like it.

Tristan

 

[N3M]

The motherboard doesnt have onboard from what I can see...

OcUK sell a Connect3D ATI Radeon 9550SE 128MB DDR TV-Out/DVI (AGP) - Retail (GX-027-CO) which is £35inc VAT. That would run fine....

 

[Scottie2004]

To be honest if the machine is only for office work etc then there is some unbelievable deals on the go from one of the largest computer manufacturers out there. Not going to name them but only to emphasise that if your not looking for a gaming pc with quality components then there are some deals to be had.

 

[pcoltrane]

Instead of the Minuet II have a look at antecs new NSK2400 case. It's a really nice design, price is excellent too considering it has a 80%+ efficient power supply included. Can't wait for the Fusion HTPC version.