PC for £200 whats the best i can get

Chronictank · 1 Jun 2006 at 23:58

A friend has roughly £150-200 to spend, he can go a bit over.
All he needs is a mobo, psu, processor and ram
the current pc is a 1.4 Ghz, so thats the minimum (the current mobo is crap so needs upgrading and the psu barely handles the load Packard bell ***)
I have told him its a waste of time, but he is adament

I was thinking

AMD Sempron 64 2800+ 1.6GHz (Socket 754) CPU - Retail (CP-138-AM)
Price: £39.95 (£46.94 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Abit NV8 nForce4 4X (Socket 754) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-080-AB)
Price: £37.95 (£44.59 Including VAT at 17.5%)

OcUK Value 512MB PC3200 184pin DDR Memory (MY-002-OK)
Price: £23.95 (£28.14 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Total: £119.67

need to find a reasonably cheap, relable psu yet

mojojoejo · 2 Jun 2006 at 01:03

So his current PC has a PCI-e graphics card and a comptaible PSU?

(thought I'd check before you get into a mess)

Chronictank · 2 Jun 2006 at 01:48

mojojoejo said:
So his current PC has a PCI-e graphics card and a comptaible PSU?

(thought I'd check before you get into a mess)

If possible a AGP card would be better but reading reviews this board seems to be pretty sound, i have a spare pci-e lying around i could donate (but rather wouldnt, i like to have a spare for testing purposes).
He needs a psu because his old one went bang, and he is using a crappy one in the interim

semi-pro waster · 2 Jun 2006 at 08:27

This might be suitable if he has an AGP card currently although you should check if the AGP card is at least 4x or 8x compatible.

MB-002-AK Asrock 939Dual-SATA2 (Socket 939 & Upgradable to AM2) AGP & PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-002-AK)
£36.95 £36.95
CP-117-AM AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3000BPBOX) (CP-117-AM)
£59.95 £59.95
CA-004-SK FSP Sparkle FSP400-60 Blue Storm 400W ATX2.0 PSU (CA-004-SK)
£39.95 £39.95
MY-002-OK OcUK Value 512MB PC3200 184pin DDR Memory (MY-002-OK)
£23.95 £23.95
Subtotal £160.80
VAT £28.14
Total £188.94

kmistry · 2 Jun 2006 at 08:52

I agree as above, good spec, and you kept it under £200

hp7909 · 2 Jun 2006 at 08:52

Might help to know what he has & wants to keep, e.g. GFX, hd, DVD, etc? & also what he intends to do with the pc - gaming, etc?

My quick suggestion:

**B Grade** Gigabyte K8N51GMF nForce 6100 Micro ATX (Socket 754) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-054-GI) £34.95
OcUK Value 512MB (2x256MB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit (MY-005-OK) £21.95
AMD Sempron 64 3400+ 2.0GHz (Socket 754) CPU - Retail (CP-135-AM) £57.95
Antec SLK2650BQE Black Quiet Mini Tower Case - 350W SmartPower PSU (CA-051-AN) £32.95
Subtotal £147.80
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £9.95
VAT £27.61
Total £185.36

melchy · 2 Jun 2006 at 11:05

Have you checked to see that the power supply, current motherboard and case are fairly generic. Sometime the large system builders use non generic parts which may mean that putting the new supply and board into the current case may be a bit more difficult than you think.

Explicit · 2 Jun 2006 at 11:15

semi-pro waster said:
This might be suitable if he has an AGP card currently although you should check if the AGP card is at least 4x or 8x compatible.

MB-002-AK Asrock 939Dual-SATA2 (Socket 939 & Upgradable to AM2) AGP & PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-002-AK)
£36.95 £36.95
CP-117-AM AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3000BPBOX) (CP-117-AM)
£59.95 £59.95
CA-004-SK FSP Sparkle FSP400-60 Blue Storm 400W ATX2.0 PSU (CA-004-SK)
£39.95 £39.95
MY-002-OK OcUK Value 512MB PC3200 184pin DDR Memory (MY-002-OK)
£23.95 £23.95
Subtotal £160.80
VAT £28.14
Total £188.94

This gets my vote

Mul · 2 Jun 2006 at 12:37

Sure the packard bell takes ATX motherboards? Most of the packard bell towers i've handled only take Micro ATX.

Mul

comradpoplin! · 2 Jun 2006 at 12:46

in my oppinion he should take his £200 sit on it for a couple of weeks and bare with his current pc, save a couple more quid and look at spending around £350 on ebay and he should walk away relativly pleased with what he gets compared to the current list

Chronictank · 2 Jun 2006 at 12:50

comradpoplin! said:
in my oppinion he should take his £200 sit on it for a couple of weeks and bare with his current pc, save a couple more quid and look at spending around £350 on ebay and he should walk away relativly pleased with what he gets compared to the current list

exactly what i said to him, but he wants none of it, guess some people just dont listen to reason

I havent had the chance to go look at his case yet (work etc), but he is keeping all except his mobo, cpu and ram (current gfx card is a tacheon radeon 9600 pro)