The £40 Computer Building Challenge!

BrightSpark101

BrightSpark101

BrightSpark101

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17 Aug 2011
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120
Location
Surrey
Hey Guys,

about a year ago I caught the computer building bug and since then I have been wanting to build PC's constantly! After building my own rig (build thread) I built a computer for one of my friends, then another and a few more after that! But times are hard and Christmas is coming :cool:. People don't really want to fork out hundreds of £'s at the moment, so I decided to set myself a little challenge.

The £40 Computer Building Challenge!

Could I build myself a computer with just £40? I'm not massively fussed about this computer being anything other than a little project, as well as giving me an excuse to have a play around with some old computer parts and have a go with Linux! (finally).

So far I have managed to find an old case I had laying around, a AGP graphics card and a PSU (which may be dead). I have also found a company on fleabay who sell reconditioned CPU's (Pentium 4 era) and old motherboards to go with them.

So far the total amount for a CPU, Mobo and CPU cooler stands at a whooping £17.57 :eek:.

Next up an adventure into the loft to try and track down some more dusty cobweb ridden components! :D

Intended Specs:

CPU: Intel SL6WH Pentium 4 @2.60 GHz (Socket 478)
CPU COOLER: Stock
MOBO: MSI MS-6787 VER 2 (Socket 478)
RAM: 1GB 184-Pin 266MHz!!!
PSU: 300Watt
GRAPHICS: ATI Radeon HD9550
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 160GB 7200
OPTICAL: Some old Samsung!
OS: Ubuntu 8.04.4 LTS
 
BrightSpark101 said:
The £40 Computer Building Challenge!

Could I build myself a computer with just £40? I'm not massively fussed about this computer being anything other than a little project, as well as giving me an excuse to have a play around with some old computer parts and have a go with Linux! (finally).

So far I have managed to find an old case I had laying around, a AGP graphics card and a PSU (which may be dead). I have also found a company on fleabay who sell reconditioned CPU's (Pentium 4 era) and old motherboards to go with them.
Click to expand...
I think if you already have some or even most of the parts you need kicking around, it sort of detracts from the value of the exercise - on that basis, I could build several computers for absolutely nothing, just from bits in my parts cabinet I've accrued over the years.

If you set yourself a challenge to actually buy (or scrounge) *all* the parts you need, starting from scratch, and see what you can ultimately come up with given an overall budget of £40, that would be a more interesting exercise. :)
 
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Wow, I really should check my threads more often!

Sorry for not replying until now folks, I've been busy working and playing Skyrim!

@shootersam - Thanks man!

@Doomedspeed - Thanks, nice to know you'd be so generous! ;)

@CaptainCrash - Yeah I was thinking that too but on closer inspection looks like the only thing I can use from the loft is a graphics card and the case! Managed to liberate a 80GB HDD out of an old computer at work. So I'm gonna need to get creative gathering the rest of the parts I need.

@Rik1254 - Sure thing buddy, give it a go!

@PermaBanned - I heard about these a while back, so incredibly cool!

@GTO656 - Thanks chap!

@Tibbz2 - Cheers, more coming soon.

OK so the only problem with all this retro PC building (retro! 2001? doesn't seem like that long ago) is that I have no idea what's compatibly with what. I know about IDE and early SATA and also the 478 socket and AGP graphics but I can't seem to get a definitive answer to whether or not the SL6WH Pentium 4 will fit on the MSI MS-6787 VER 2.

I've tried to do some research on the internet but there are very few web pages about CPU compatibility from way back in 2001. So if any old school PC builders are reading this please could you please advise as to whether or not this CPU and Mobo are compatible. :)
 
I just downloaded the mobo manual for you and it does yes.
MS-6787 M-ATX Mainboard
Mainboard Specifications
CPU
Supports Intel® Pentium® 4/Celeron (Socket 478) processor.
FSB @ 400MHz/533MHz.
Supports up to 3.06GHz.
Chipset
VIA® VT8751A chipset (664 BGA)
- 64bit P4 processors FSB I/F (533MHz).
- 64bit DDR SDRAM memory I/F (200/266MHz).
- 32bit AGP I/F (66MHz) for 4x/2x mode.
- 8bit V-Link I/F (66MHz) with peak bandwidth of 266MB/s.
VIA® VT8235 chipset (376 BGA)
- Dual-channel UDMA 133/100/66/33 master mode EIDE controller.
- 6 ports USB controller (v2.0).
- KBD controller with PS2 mouse support.
- SMBus I/F and ACPI/APM compliance power management.
- LPC I/F for super I/O and 2MB flash ROM (BIOS).
- AC-97 link controller to cooperate w/ external AC97 audio & modem codec.
- 10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet controller.
- Supports HSP modem.
Main Memory
Supports four memory banks using two 184-pin DDR DIMM.
Supports up to 2GB PC2100/PC1600 SDRAMs.
Supports 2.5v DDR SDRAM.
Click to expand...
 
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