Spec me a PC for £200

juicytuna · 11 Aug 2006 at 11:40

A friend of mine is starting uni this september and he has asked me to build him a cheap PC that he can use for internet browsing and running ms office.

He has budgeted £250 for the PC, but this must include the cost of me parceling the PC to him. I've checked with parcel to go and their services seem very cheap and convenient, around £18.99 for next day delivery. Does anyone know of any cheaper / better deals?

Is there any point in trying to build something with an eye on vista recomended specs for a PC with such a small budget? I was thinking, with memory being so cheap, that 1 gig is a must. Also a motherboard with integrated graphics and PCI express slot would be a good idea. That way he can add a beefier graphics card once vista comes out if needed.

ps: won't be needing monitor, keyboard etc., just the case with all the gubbins inside. oh, and a DVD writer will be needed too.

johnno · 11 Aug 2006 at 11:58

CD-020-AS Asus DRW-1608P3S 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - Retail (CD-020-AS)
£24.50 £24.50
CA-001-AR Arctic Cooling T2 Silentium Midi Tower Case - 350W Seasonic Silent PSU (CA-001-AR)
£47.95 £47.95
CP-117-AM AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3000BPBOX) (CP-117-AM)
£49.95 £49.95
MB-134-AS Asus A8N-VM Micro ATX (Socket 939) PCI Express Motherboard (MB-134-AS)
£41.95 £41.95
MY-005-OK OcUK Value 512MB (2x256MB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit (MY-005-OK)
£29.95 £29.95
HD-023-SA Samsung SpinPoint P HD080HJ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-023-SA)
£25.95 £25.95
Subtotal £220.25
VAT £38.55
Total £258.80

best i could do for 250quid. its got a pci-e slot also intergrated graphics. if he wanted a 1gb of ram then he would have to raise his budget to about 300 that way he can also get a better cpu aswell

deadeyedic30 · 11 Aug 2006 at 11:59

Here goes this is over budget a good bit;

Actually this includes 1Gb of ram so maybe not over budget

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3000BPBOX) (CP-117-AM) Price: £49.95 (£58.69 Including VAT at 17.5%)
Asus A8N-VM CSM Micro ATX (Socket 939) PCI Express Motherboard (MB-119-AS) Price: £46.95 (£55.17 Including VAT at 17.5%) Has integrated graphics and HDA audio
Antec SLK1650B Black Quiet Mini Tower Case - 350W SmartPower PSU (CA-023-AN) Price: £37.50 (£44.06 Including VAT at 17.5%)
Samsung SpinPoint P HD080HJ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-023-SA)
Price: £25.95 (£30.49 Including VAT at 17.5%)
GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS2.5 (GE1GB3200BHDC) (MY-005-GL) Price: £64.95 (£76.32 Including VAT at 17.5%)
Liteon DRW-6S160P-05C 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-059-LO) Price: £18.25 (£21.44 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Cost is £274.80 before delivery, but others can probably get it down.

Trigger · 11 Aug 2006 at 12:16

CP-117-AM AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3000BPBOX) (CP-117-AM)
£49.95 £49.95
MY-004-OK OcUK Value 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 184pin DDR Memory Dual Channel Kit (MY-004-OK)
£56.95 £56.95
HD-023-SA Samsung SpinPoint P HD080HJ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-023-SA)
£25.95 £25.95
CA-024-AN Antec SLK1650 Beige Quiet Mini Tower Case - 350W SmartPower PSU (CA-024-AN)
£35.95 £35.95
CD-037-NE NEC ND3550 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Silver) - OEM (CD-037-NE)
£19.95 £19.95
MB-098-AB Abit NF95 GeForce 6100 Micro ATX (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-098-AB)
£38.95 £38.95
Subtotal £227.70
VAT £39.85
Total £267.55

jake000 · 11 Aug 2006 at 12:23

This is over budget but it is more future proof and uses ddr2. For the price, I think it is very good. You could always save £10 as well and get an 80Gb hard drive. Hope this helps

REFERENCE DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE COST REMOVE
CP-162-AM AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 1.80GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-162-AM)
£52.95 £52.95
HD-024-SA Samsung SpinPoint P HD160JJ 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-024-SA)
£34.95 £34.95
MB-149-AS Asus M2NPV-MX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-149-AS)
£46.95 £46.95
MY-030-GL GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX21GB5300DC) (MY-030-GL)
£51.95 £51.95
CD-059-LO Liteon DRW-6S160P-05C 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-059-LO)
£18.25 £18.25
CA-023-AN Antec SLK1650B Black Quiet Mini Tower Case - 350W SmartPower PSU (CA-023-AN)
£37.50 £37.50
Subtotal £242.55
VAT £42.45
Total £285.00