Spec Me ... a cheap as chips PC!

[A.N.Other]

MMM I never thought I'd be doing a spec me thread - let alone for a cheap as chips PC ! Anyway, here goes...

This PC will be used for internet, word processing etc - no gaming (it's for my parents !). So, it doesn't need to be amazing, although I would like it future-proofed for a while to come if at all possible. I've chosen a lot of these components for silence as well. I have a monitor , keyboard, mouse and all software already.

What I've come up with:
Mobo - Gigabyte K8N SLi nForce4 - £59
CPU - AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (retail) - £73
RAM - GeIL Value 1Gb (2 x 512) - £65
HDD - WD Caviar 80Gb - £34
GFX - Sapphire ATI Radeon X1300 256Mb - £52
Case & PSU - Antec P150 & 430W PSU - £80
= £363 (inc VAT)

The mobo and gfx are passively cooled (I'm not bothered about the SLi obviously). RAM was chosen as GeIL Value is excellent stuff, likewise the HDD. For price sake, I had to get a case-PSU combo, and this is nice and silent. CPU - because it was the cheapest one!

So, what are your thoughts people? Is there anyway to take that price down a bit?

 

[A.N.Other]

Those specs are fair enough, thanks for your ideas.

Although neither of those have graphics, so add £52 (if I were to keep the one I speced), which would give £334 and £345. Well done for getting them cheaper !

 

[A.N.Other]

Thanks for that Raikiri, I hadn't even really thought about going AM2 - just assumed it would be more expensive tbh .

I'll take a look through that stuff - seems to be a good setup.

 

[A.N.Other]

Sorry, I forgot to mention the CD / DVD drives etc ... I have enough to start a small shop, so that isn't a problem. The PC that just died (hence this spec) had 3 by itself.

I do like the look of Raikiri's setup though ... motherboard and graphics are passive as well, which is a plus

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (Socket AM2) Retail - £79
MSI K9N Neo-F nForce 550 (Socket AM2) Motherboard - £59
Patriot Signature 1GB (2x512MB) PC5300 - £66
WD Caviar Special Edition 80GB - £34
Antec NSK4400 Mini Tower Case & 380W SmartPower PSU - £41
MSI ATI Radeon X1300 Pro 256MB - £59
= £338

I will report this to the powers that be and poke them appropriately . It's surprisingly hard to spec a cheap PC - I could do a high-spec rig easily though - go figure .

// EDIT //

Thats a good spec although I personally think the 805 is only worth it if you areoverclocking, otherwise it is a bit of a waste (they do fly @ >3.5ghz).
Certainly worth considering over my spec as they tend to be faster in windows and for general use (3200+ @ 2.5 vs 805 @ 3.7)

I would indeed like to have one of these to 'play' with - sometimes my X2 3800 just isn't enough - but as it isn't mine I can't really do this. That, and tbh I have AMD written right through me I'm afraid.

 

[A.N.Other]

Onboard graphics dude

Yer I only noticed that afterwards . I'm not used to looking at boards with onboard graphics , it's against my religion you know .

/ excuses

 

[A.N.Other]

Those are decent and I did look at them. Tbh though, I think the extra cache on the Athlon 64 3000+ compared to the Sempron 3000+ might sway it.

Saying that though, I could get a Sempron 3500+, still for less money than the Athlon.

Decisions decisions ...

 

[A.N.Other]

Right I've done some reading about the performance differences between semprons and athlons. It was as I thought ... having the lower cache (128 or 256 L2 compared to 512 in the athlons) does compromise their performance significantly. Not even a 3400+ sempron will outperform an athlon 3000+ in testing.

Admittedly, this was with the S754 set-up vs the S939, but the comment about the cache still stands, and this hasn't changed with the move to AM2.

Here's my source btw ... I think it's fine to link to it. I AM A LINK

Probably going to go for the Athlon 64 3000+ I feel - unless anyone follows with something to blow me out of the water

// EDIT // Forgot to say ... unfortunately overlocking is not an option here. We're talking stock

 

[A.N.Other]

@ hp7909 & pmdelany
I did say that it didn't need to be amazing, and I am indeed aware that a sempron would be easily adequate for word processing etc . However, I don't want it to be that bad - and I'm going to be using it when I don't have me PC with me .

Anyway, about the future-proofing thing. It may be AM2, but in a year or so, when Vista becomes main-stream, I'll probably stick that on it. I don't particularly want it to be donkey-slow when I do.