Spec for a mate £400ish
- Thread starter JustinB
- Start date
I don't think it's possible. Here is my conservative approach. Gives him an E6300 and a 7600GT. Not really sure how good the mobo is or the PSU. I just picked the cheapest ones that would do.
Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £114.99 (£135.11)
Asrock ConroeXFire-eSATA2 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £53.99 (£63.44)
Corsair 1GB DDR2 Value Select PC5300 Dual Channel Kit (2x512MB) (VS1GBKIT667D2)
£72.99 (£85.76)
BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 7600 GT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
£89.99 (£105.74)
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 80GB 6V080E0 SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM £24.99 (£29.36)
Samsung SH-S182D 18x18 DVD±RW ReWriter (Black) - OEM
£16.99 (£19.96)
Antec SLK3800BUK Black Quiet Midi Tower Case - 400W SmartPower PSU £59.99 (£70.49)
Logitech Cordless Desktop EX-110 - Retail
£17.99 (£21.14)
OcUK Gamer Extreme 178GP 17" LCD Monitor
£99.99 (£117.49)
Total: £661.36 incl VAT and delivery.
I think that covers everything but way over budget. Not sure how good the monitor is either.
If the mobo, monitor and PSU are good then it's a decent enough system and will get him by for quite a while especially if he doesn't need to play the latest games on max settings.
I'm using an Antec Truepower 2 PSU so I think their smartpower PSU I specced with that case should be good. It's the mobo that I'm really sketchy about. The monitor should be fine for what he needs.
Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £114.99 (£135.11)
Asrock ConroeXFire-eSATA2 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £53.99 (£63.44)
Corsair 1GB DDR2 Value Select PC5300 Dual Channel Kit (2x512MB) (VS1GBKIT667D2)
£72.99 (£85.76)
BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 7600 GT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
£89.99 (£105.74)
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 80GB 6V080E0 SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM £24.99 (£29.36)
Samsung SH-S182D 18x18 DVD±RW ReWriter (Black) - OEM
£16.99 (£19.96)
Antec SLK3800BUK Black Quiet Midi Tower Case - 400W SmartPower PSU £59.99 (£70.49)
Logitech Cordless Desktop EX-110 - Retail
£17.99 (£21.14)
OcUK Gamer Extreme 178GP 17" LCD Monitor
£99.99 (£117.49)
Total: £661.36 incl VAT and delivery.
I think that covers everything but way over budget. Not sure how good the monitor is either.
If the mobo, monitor and PSU are good then it's a decent enough system and will get him by for quite a while especially if he doesn't need to play the latest games on max settings.
I'm using an Antec Truepower 2 PSU so I think their smartpower PSU I specced with that case should be good. It's the mobo that I'm really sketchy about. The monitor should be fine for what he needs.
As close as i could get.....
NEC AD5170 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.99
(£22.31)
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3000BPBOX) AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3000BPBOX) £38.99
(£45.81)
2 x GeIL 512MB PC3200 Value CAS2.5 (GE5123200B) GeIL 512MB PC3200 Value CAS2.5 (GE5123200B) £69.98
(£82.22)
Antec NSK4400 Mini Tower Case - 380W SmartPower PSU Antec NSK4400 Mini Tower Case - 380W SmartPower PSU £42.99
(£50.51)
OcUK Gamer Extreme 178GP 17" LCD Monitor - Black OcUK Gamer Extreme 178GP 17" LCD Monitor - Black £99.99
(£117.49)
Logitech S100 10W RMS Speakers Beige - OEM Logitech S100 10W RMS Speakers Beige - OEM £5.49
(£6.45)
BFG GeForce 7300 GS OC 256MB DDR2 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail BFG GeForce 7300 GS OC 256MB DDR2 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £39.99
(£46.99)
Logitech Cordless Desktop EX-110 - Retail Logitech Cordless Desktop EX-110 - Retail £17.99
(£21.14)
DFI LanParty UT RDX200CF-DR Crossfire (Socket 939) Motherboard DFI LanParty UT RDX200CF-DR Crossfire (Socket 939) Motherboard £24.99
(£29.36)
Sub Total : £359.40
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.95
Vat : £65.16
Total : £437.51
Not the most awesome spec, but tight budget.
You could save more by going for a secondhand monitor, local paper or comp fair, always monitors knocking around secondhand. Just a suggestion if you want to keep to the budget.
NEC AD5170 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.99
(£22.31)
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3000BPBOX) AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3000BPBOX) £38.99
(£45.81)
2 x GeIL 512MB PC3200 Value CAS2.5 (GE5123200B) GeIL 512MB PC3200 Value CAS2.5 (GE5123200B) £69.98
(£82.22)
Antec NSK4400 Mini Tower Case - 380W SmartPower PSU Antec NSK4400 Mini Tower Case - 380W SmartPower PSU £42.99
(£50.51)
OcUK Gamer Extreme 178GP 17" LCD Monitor - Black OcUK Gamer Extreme 178GP 17" LCD Monitor - Black £99.99
(£117.49)
Logitech S100 10W RMS Speakers Beige - OEM Logitech S100 10W RMS Speakers Beige - OEM £5.49
(£6.45)
BFG GeForce 7300 GS OC 256MB DDR2 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail BFG GeForce 7300 GS OC 256MB DDR2 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £39.99
(£46.99)
Logitech Cordless Desktop EX-110 - Retail Logitech Cordless Desktop EX-110 - Retail £17.99
(£21.14)
DFI LanParty UT RDX200CF-DR Crossfire (Socket 939) Motherboard DFI LanParty UT RDX200CF-DR Crossfire (Socket 939) Motherboard £24.99
(£29.36)
Sub Total : £359.40
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.95
Vat : £65.16
Total : £437.51
Not the most awesome spec, but tight budget.
You could save more by going for a secondhand monitor, local paper or comp fair, always monitors knocking around secondhand. Just a suggestion if you want to keep to the budget.
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yikes.. I forgot the speakers.
Either way though you can't get a good system for £400. Even if you did you'd probably end up with outdated hardware that would make upgrading the system later on a pain in the ass.
I'd recommend for him to save up more money and buy something for around the £6-800 range. He won't be disappointed then.
Either way though you can't get a good system for £400. Even if you did you'd probably end up with outdated hardware that would make upgrading the system later on a pain in the ass.
I'd recommend for him to save up more money and buy something for around the £6-800 range. He won't be disappointed then.
Sure i remember reading there's going to a 32bit vista, so hows it gonna be outdated quickly?......
Nothing wrong with a 939 system, they're quick enough for the cash, a lot of people spend even less on a PC.
Not everyone wants to spend 600+ on a PC, which is fair enough, and in which case a custom built a64 system is nicer then any crappy pre-built PC World rubbish or the like for £400.
Nothing wrong with a 939 system, they're quick enough for the cash, a lot of people spend even less on a PC.
Not everyone wants to spend 600+ on a PC, which is fair enough, and in which case a custom built a64 system is nicer then any crappy pre-built PC World rubbish or the like for £400.
That's pretty ridiculous to say you don't think it's possible to get a decent PC for under £600 
From my experience, most peoples PC requirements are a huge distance away from all that top of the range stuff, see the recent thread on this subject as an example.
You could very easily build a socket 754/939 system within that budget, including monitor, peripherals, etc. Look around, there's plenty of places you can pick up cheaper components.
From my experience, most peoples PC requirements are a huge distance away from all that top of the range stuff, see the recent thread on this subject as an example.
You could very easily build a socket 754/939 system within that budget, including monitor, peripherals, etc. Look around, there's plenty of places you can pick up cheaper components.
I said for £400 you can't get an anyway decent PC. Hell you need to spend £120 on a monitor for a start. Case, PSU, keyboard and mice are another £100 almost. That leaves you £200 at most for the internals?? You're not going to be able to get anything good for that. You can barely get any kind of RAM for that.
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Depends what you define as good, the average joe wants a PC to do what they use it for, in some cases thats browsing and listening to tunes.
If it wasnt the case do you think Curry's, PC World and the like would still be in business?
I could build the other 2 PC's in the house for £400 easily because they are outdated, but the people using them find them plenty fast enough for what they want.
I think you're confusing what you see as a good system, to what other people need from a system.
If a having a decent PC meant spending £600 a pop, do you think we'd have half as many PC users?....... this is why people buy from places like PC World, they have money but they don't want to spend silly amounts.
All the people i know personally that are not 'pc savy' generally say to me, what can i get for £300 - £400, because they want to get on the net but not be ripped off by places like PC World.
That said, if you still are not convinced £400 can make a suitable system then you have a lot to learn about computing. Thats not to say i don't suggest spending more, but not everyone can afford £600+ systems.
See this thread http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17653307
Not everyone needs the latest and greatest.
If it wasnt the case do you think Curry's, PC World and the like would still be in business?
I could build the other 2 PC's in the house for £400 easily because they are outdated, but the people using them find them plenty fast enough for what they want.
I think you're confusing what you see as a good system, to what other people need from a system.
If a having a decent PC meant spending £600 a pop, do you think we'd have half as many PC users?....... this is why people buy from places like PC World, they have money but they don't want to spend silly amounts.
All the people i know personally that are not 'pc savy' generally say to me, what can i get for £300 - £400, because they want to get on the net but not be ripped off by places like PC World.
That said, if you still are not convinced £400 can make a suitable system then you have a lot to learn about computing. Thats not to say i don't suggest spending more, but not everyone can afford £600+ systems.
See this thread http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17653307
Not everyone needs the latest and greatest.
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