Spec me a cheapo PC

man_from_uncle · 8 May 2007 at 14:32

Hi all,

I've got to put together a basic PC (just the tower) for my brother while he's at uni. I want something that's entry level, but upgradable. It's not going to be a gaming PC, but if it can play most things reasonably on a 17' monitor, all the the better. I couldn't deny him joining in with LAN games over the uni network.

I am thinking of something based on a core 2 duo (probably an e4300), 1 or 2 gigs of cheap ram, maybe a DS3 motherboard, a sub £100 gpu and generic everything else.

I am hoping to keep it in the £300-£400 mark if possible.

Many thanks,

Uncle

man_from_uncle · 8 May 2007 at 15:00

It was also be handy if it was reasonably transportable. So the smaller the better.

Participant · 8 May 2007 at 15:18

E4300 - £78
2Gb Geil - £65
Gigabyte S3 - £70
Radeon X1950 Pro - £90
Lian-Li PC7+II - £50
Akasa Ultra Quiet 500W - £55
___
£408 without P&P

?

Jonny L · 8 May 2007 at 16:59

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3P (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £74.99
(£88.11) £74.99
(£88.11)
OcUK Huntkey 500W PSU £32.99
(£38.76) £32.99
(£38.76)
Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail £65.99
(£77.54) £65.99
(£77.54)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) £56.99
(£66.96) £56.99
(£66.96)
Akasa AK-ZEN-01-BK Zen Black Case - No PSU £24.99
(£29.36) £24.99
(£29.36)
OcUK GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £66.99
(£78.71) £66.99
(£78.71)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) £15.99
(£18.79) £15.99
(£18.79)
Sub Total : £338.93
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 : £61.05
Total : £409.93

The freezer 7 should allow a good overclock, and the ds3p will let you upgrade to penryn if he ever needs a performance boost in the future.

Energize · 8 May 2007 at 17:21

I wouldn't risk overclocking with an "ocuk huntkey" psu tbh.

If you want portable a shuttle would be an excellent idea, though ocuk only sell crap ones.

truebluecfc · 8 May 2007 at 17:40

Was what i was thinking, a good PSU is the backbone of any stable pc and should be chosen carefully. Personally i think the Corsairs are amazing http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-005-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=

Jonny L · 8 May 2007 at 17:49

I know that the ocuk psus aren't uber psus like the corsairs and others, but for a budget system they are stable and provide good value for money.

man_from_uncle · 8 May 2007 at 19:17

Wow, thanks for the help guys. I'd have written sooner, but they don't call it 'work' for nothing.

I like the input so far, but I'm still trying to cut down to sub £400 and preferrably by more than a couple of quid. I also note that no opticals or hard drives have been suggested and that's £50 right there for even entry level goods. Does a standard PC build these days consider the disk drives to be like 'keyboard, monitor and mouse'?

Anyway, the Gigabyte boards look good. Is there any reason to get a DS3P over a normal DS3 or even just an S3? I can see that the DS3P does a higher FSB as a native speed, but does that matter? And what does the S3 lack that the other boards offer? I also spotted a micro board, the Abit IP-95, which, though it doesn't have SATA-II does seem to overclock ok and have a x16 PCI-e slot (though i don't think it's got onboard sound, which i suppose is a necessity).

As for the memory I think i'll get away with Geil PC5300, which can be had for an even cheaper price than the Geil that's on offer. As far as I can tell, it's not like the DDR days when good ram was almost essential for a good overclock; most overclocking boards these days let you separate RAM speed for CPU speed. Is the extra overhead of running asyncronously with slower memory that much? I think i may well have to drop to 1 gig.

The 8600gt looks like a very good bet for that price. Should be plenty for 1280x1024. But what's the minimum PSU i'll get away with?

The cpu looks like a foregone conclusion. E4300 is it.

As for case and PSU, I'm hoping that some combo deal like Antec offers. The reviews look ok on both the 380w mini tower and the 430w midi tower, but will either of those be enough for a 8600gt/X1950pro?

Thanks.

Participant · 8 May 2007 at 19:46

man_from_uncle said:
I like the input so far, but I'm still trying to cut down to sub £400 and preferrably by more than a couple of quid. I also note that no opticals or hard drives have been suggested and that's £50 right there for even entry level goods.

So now you need opticals also? You didn't mention these in your original post. A classified list of every item you need may help to stop people wasting their time. You will be lucky to get a decent E4300 system including opticals etc for less than £400 new.

man_from_uncle said:
Anyway, the Gigabyte boards look good. Is there any reason to get a DS3P over a normal DS3 or even just an S3? I can see that the DS3P does a higher FSB as a native speed, but does that matter?

Well, you can't afford one so forget that idea...but as it happens the DS3P has support for the 1333 C2D chips which aren't even out yet.

man_from_uncle said:
And what does the S3 lack that the other boards offer?

Firewire, dual GPU capability, solid state capacitors, guaranteed support for 1333FSB, etc...

man_from_uncle said:
I also spotted a micro board, the Abit IP-95, which, though it doesn't have SATA-II does seem to overclock ok and have a x16 PCI-e slot (though i don't think it's got onboard sound, which i suppose is a necessity).

Yes, you need onboard sound for your budget.

man_from_uncle said:
As for the memory I think i'll get away with Geil PC5300, which can be had for an even cheaper price than the Geil that's on offer

Agree.

man_from_uncle said:
most overclocking boards these days let you separate RAM speed for CPU speed

Most? Nope, especially not in your budget.

man_from_uncle said:
But what's the minimum PSU i'll get away with?

That depends what else you're running, but I'd say no less than 450W and a decent-ish brand. Yes Corsair are good but for your budget and requirements people shouldn't really be recommending the high premium brands.

man_from_uncle said:
the 380w mini tower and the 430w midi tower, but will either of those be enough for a 8600gt/X1950pro?

The 430W may just be enough depending on quality and current deliverance.

Energize · 8 May 2007 at 19:50

Judging by the fact my pc runs on a cheapo 350W fine at full load I would say 430W is more than ample, psu calculators actually say my pc only needs 280W as long as the psu provides enough current on the 12v rail for the gpu.

man_from_uncle · 8 May 2007 at 20:57

I appologise for my lack of clarity.

Well after doing a bit of digging on PSU requirements for the 8600gt, it seems they are similar to a 7600gt, so even the 380w 'smartpower' supply should be enough. That said, as I plan to overclock if possible, 430w might be a good idea.

So here is what i've got so far:

CPU: E4300 £78
Mobo: Gigabyte S3 £70 (or IP-95+cheap s/c)
Memory: 2gig Geil Value 5300 £55
HD: 80gig Hitachi £29
Optical: DRD-RW £20
GPU: OcUk 8600gt £79
Case/PSU: Antec NSK6500 £69

Total £400 (inc VAT) + P&P

Now that's not a bad little gaming PC at 1280x1024, even without an overclock. If I can find a cheap sound card I might even be able to shave £10 or so by going with the IP-95, and get the whole thing deliverd for £400.

Nymins · 8 May 2007 at 21:10

The Gigabyte S3 has onboard HD ports for audio. The IP-95 will not overclock your E4300 very well, so i would stick with what you have listed. Its a pretty damn good build for the price.

man_from_uncle · 15 May 2007 at 20:57

Well, I went with the above build, but shaved the case and PSU of the NSK6500 for an NSK4400 (which has only a 380w PSU) as the 8600gt, and even the 8600gts for that matter, are extremely power friendly. It might blow out after a year, but some people have been getting away using this PSU to power a 8800gts, so I'm optimistic. I also added a 80mm intake fan and a 80mm side fan for £8. I'll think about an aftermarket heatsink if temps become a problem. So, including delivery I got it all for £382.

Sadly I'm waiting on an OS so the overclocking/playing hasn't begun yet, but I built the thing in about 1.5 - 2 hours and it POSTed first time. I even jury-rigged a couple of Fan-Mates that I got with my Zalman vf900s to control the airflow of the fans while sitting tastefully at the front of the case in a 3.5' drive bay.