**URGENT REQUEST** Help with selecting components for a 'budget' build

[villos]

Hey people! Ive been here for a while (both a shopper at OcUK and a forum lurker) but I feel that I need some expertise with a new build I am doing for a friend.

Ok, lets begin.

Never hosted a pic in my life so I hope this works

(Note that I do not need keyboard, mouse, screen)

My friend is no gamer, video editor, overclocker etc, he just wants something very fast and responsive. The budget is a maximum of £470 for parts with VAT. I believe most of the money should be going towards the processor and memory. Not sure what to do for sound & graphics. I reckon we can get away with the onboard sound. As for graphics card, i might be able to salvage what he already has but I'm not sure if its PCI or AGP...or whether that is important in a modern m/b. (he currently has an AsRock P4VM800 so I think its AGP)

If anyone has suggestions/alterations to the parts I have so far (i.e. cheaper brands or less powerful considering what the PC is for) then I'd be more than happy to hear about them. Although I think its best to stick with Western Digital for HDD and ASUS for M/B.

Hopefully, this is a realistic budget which I have set myself. I recently did my own gaming system (parts ocuk) and ended up spending a lot over £1000, so when it comes to budget parts I have no idea what I am looking for. For example, I think I can go for a cheaper PSU but I'm not sure about the reliability of the brands when I go under 50 squid.

Thankyou to anyone who responds to this message.

Cheers....villos

P.S. any chance of squeezing a better CPU fan in there or is the stock one OK?

 

[Hxc]

If you want to go ULTRA budget you can grab this setup, and use his AGP card with the cheapo motherboard.

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Asrock ConRoe865PE (Socket 775) AGP DDR Motherboard Asrock ConRoe865PE (Socket 775) AGP DDR Motherboard £34.99
(£41.11) £34.99
(£41.11)
Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 160GB 1600AAJS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 160GB 1600AAJS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM £32.99
(£38.76) £32.99
(£38.76)
Intel Core 2 DUO E4300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail Intel Core 2 DUO E4300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail £94.99
(£111.61) £94.99
(£111.61)
Corsair 2GB DDR2 Value Select PC5300 Dual Channel Kit (2x1GB) (VS2GBKIT667D2) Corsair 2GB DDR2 Value Select PC5300 Dual Channel Kit (2x1GB) (VS2GBKIT667D2) £89.99
(£105.74) £89.99
(£105.74)
Antec NSK4400 Mini Tower Case - 380W SmartPower PSU Antec NSK4400 Mini Tower Case - 380W SmartPower PSU £39.99
(£46.99) £39.99
(£46.99)
Sub Total : £292.95
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 : £53.01
Total : £355.91



Or if you want to future proof somewhat, you can grab one with a PCI-Express card...

Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 160GB 1600AAJS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 160GB 1600AAJS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM £32.99
(£38.76) £32.99
(£38.76)
Intel Core 2 DUO E4300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail Intel Core 2 DUO E4300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail £94.99
(£111.61) £94.99
(£111.61)
Corsair 2GB DDR2 Value Select PC5300 Dual Channel Kit (2x1GB) (VS2GBKIT667D2) Corsair 2GB DDR2 Value Select PC5300 Dual Channel Kit (2x1GB) (VS2GBKIT667D2) £89.99
(£105.74) £89.99
(£105.74)
Antec NSK4400 Mini Tower Case - 380W SmartPower PSU Antec NSK4400 Mini Tower Case - 380W SmartPower PSU £39.99
(£46.99) £39.99
(£46.99)
Gigabyte GA_965P_S3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard Gigabyte GA_965P_S3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
Asus GeForce EN7300GS-HTD 256MB DDR2 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail Asus GeForce EN7300GS-HTD 256MB DDR2 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £39.99
(£46.99) £39.99
(£46.99)
Sub Total : £357.94
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 : £64.38
Total : £432.27

I have almost the same setup save a more powerful graphics card and it absolutly flys in vista, and in games with my X1950 pro

NOTE: although you wish to stick to ASUS for mobo, the Gigabyte will do just as good a job, the cheaper ASRock will work, but won't be as feature filled.

 

[villos]

wow, thanks for the speedy response. thats why i love these forums...full of thoughtful people.

ok then, a few words

>never used gigabyte for m/b but i'll take your word. the reviews seem good enough
>i'm liking the idea of having the case come with the PSU, but is 380W enough? and how do i know that i can trust it?
>for the memory, I noticed that the corsair modules you selected have no heatsink and are slightly more expensive than the geil I chose. also, you chose PC5300, and I had PC6400...care to shed some light on this choice of mem (pc6400 faster...no?) (what makes yours worth the extra £5)
>Great work with the cheaper HDD but i think with such a small difference in price between the 8mb and 16 mb cache (£4), im sure my friend wouldn't mind paying a bit more for faster access time (if thats what a larger cache does? i have no idea )
>CPU, i reckon i can stick to the 6400 within the budget
>nice that you got the graphics card in there, i'll stick with it. BUT it says dvi...was wondering if it comes with a dvi/vga adaptor as i think he's got a vga display.

my friend ensured me that he didnt mind paying a bit more if it is justified so i think the decision to go with geil mem and intel c2d 6400 cpu are worthwhile

so here is the updated version. once again feedback is much appreciated

thanks again guys

 

[Hxc]

ooh buggery, is that PC6400 really cheaper? Sorry, go the geil you had originally, tis good stuff, got it in my system actully ;p

The 380watt in that antec will be absolutly fine, Antec make good PSUs and the core 2 duos are very power efficient

Looks like a quallity spec, should fly in both vista or xp

 

[villos]

thanks guv'nor

i'll keep you posted on any developments

(just between me and you...how much would you say i should charge to build this thing?)

 

[ste_bla]

(just between me and you...how much would you say i should charge to build this thing?)

"My friend"

Well tbh two choices, do it for free and say he owes you one in the future but tell him if anything goes wrong after you give it to him, its upto him to sort out

Or

£40 but then have him coming back every 3 months when he deletes something and then blames it on the machine you gave him

(my personal experience)