Super Cheap Build Advice

Muel · 8 Aug 2009 at 18:39

I looking to build a new PC, budget is around £250-£300.

It doesn't need to do any gaming really, just GTA:SA on the odd occasion I get bored. (Would be nice if it could run it at fairly decent settings).

I'm thinking P5QL Pro with an E5200? Or should I maybe considor going AMD on this budget?

I've also no idea about graphics cards, I'm thinking it should be about £35 tops, doesn't need to be anything special, so ATI a good choice?

Will the on board sound do alright? I think I'll just try it and if it's not good enough I'll get a sound card.

Also this may sound silly, but whats the norm for hard drive cables? Do they come with the drive itself or the motherboard?

I'm going to do some research and draw up a spec, then if I could post it up here and get it checked over to make sure it will all work together?

Cheers guys!

jak731 · 8 Aug 2009 at 18:58

Here is a spec for you to consider
Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Asus P5QL Pro Intel P43 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £64.98
(£56.50) £64.98
(£56.50)
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4670 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail £54.04
(£46.99) £54.04
(£46.99)
Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5300 "LGA775 Core 2" 2.60GHz (800FSB) - Retail £52.99
(£46.08) £52.99
(£46.08)
Samsung SpinPoint F1 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD322HJ) £34.99
(£30.43) £34.99
(£30.43)
Corsair XMS2 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX Dual Channel (TWIN2X4096-6400C5C) £33.99
(£29.56) £33.99
(£29.56)
OCZ StealthXStream 400w Silent Power Supply £32.99
(£28.69) £32.99
(£28.69)
Asus TA-861 Midi-ATX Case - Black/Silver (No PSU) £21.99
(£19.12) £21.99
(£19.12)
Samsung SH-S223B/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
(£14.77) £16.99
(£14.77)
Sub Total : £272.14
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £42.58
Total : £326.47

For your budget, LGA775 is the best choice, as bang for buck in this price range, the AMD processors are beaten by intels offerings.

Possible changes include getting a 4650 over a 4670, however this will not be advisable, as the 4650 uses DDR2 as oppose to the 4670s DDR3 memory chips.

Getting only 2GB of RAM may also help keep costs down.

Muel · 8 Aug 2009 at 19:14

Hey, thanks for that! Sounds about right.

I was going to go with an E5200/5300/5400, or would it be a better idea to go with an E7400? (Maybe even a Q8200 if I can stretch the budget...)

jak731 · 8 Aug 2009 at 20:05

the CPU question depends on what the main purpose of the PC is. As for playing GTA SA, i doubt quadcore is needed and a quick overclock should give a significant boost to performance should it be needed.

Muel · 8 Aug 2009 at 20:13

Most of the time it will just be used for watching videos (DVD Rips), web browsing and web design.

I do often have a lot of programs open at once though, normally between 5 and 10. (Not counting anti-virus and firewall).

I'll probably just go with an E5200 or E5300 and OC it.

jak731 · 8 Aug 2009 at 20:16

E5300 will be the best CPU then, it gives you a 13x multiplier as opposed to a 12.5x multiplier and has a higher stock speed setting. It is also only £1 more on OCUK.

jellybeard999 · 8 Aug 2009 at 21:18

At this sort of budget, my advice would be to go with a budget motherboard (Asrock or similar - but ensure the chipset is good one). There is no point in wasting money on an expensive motherboard, when the benefits (overclockability, number of ports etc) won't be used.

Muel · 8 Aug 2009 at 23:01

Lets me upgrade though in the future, and I will be overclocking it.

Also I've always wanted a P5QL Pro, dunno why but ever since they came out I've wanted one!

I've got a spec now which is basically the same as the one that jak731 posted, just a few things I might upgrade depending on what my budget will actually be once I've worked out my funds situation.

I changed the GPU to the 1gb version because it was only a few quid more expensive, and changed the case, and I will probably get a bigger HDD or preferably two if I can stretch that far. (80-120gb for OS+programs, 500gb for docs, music etc).