What's the cheapest you can build a modern system for?

PermaBanned · 7 May 2010 at 22:35

Well, i got to thinking about low level computing. Speccing on a tight budget is always more fun, and doing research with old PII/PIII rigs i've concluded that we don't really need all this cutting edge technology. But some of it can be useful, so here's what i came up with. Note this is all recently released tech from reputable sellers.

AMD Sempron 140 - £25
Asus M4N68T-M - £40
OCZ 2GB DDR3 Reaper HPC - £30
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 320GB - £35
Samsung SH-S223 - £15
Antec Earthwatts Green 380W - £30
Xigmatek HDT-S963 - £12.50
ATI Radeon HD 5450 512MB - £35
Xclio Propeller - £25

Sub Total: £247.50

Peripherals:

Logitech Classic 200 - £10
Logitech LS1 - £10
Logitech LS21 - £15
BenQ G922HDL 18.5" LED Monitor - £85

Which brings the grand total to £367.50! Using a free (in every sense of the word) Operating System it's the cheapest rig i could come up with in half an hour. Can you do better?

David41 · 7 May 2010 at 22:39

I usually do this if I get one of those Dell leaflets that are everywhere. Try and beat the price with the same spec.

Thekwango · 7 May 2010 at 23:15

a small pc shop near to me recently specced a £350 system, that included the whole works, minus a gpu but including windows 7. fekked if i can figure how he managed that.
in fairness it was simply designed for simple browsing and opening word documents. but considering £70+ for windows 7 and a monitor/keyboard and mouse on top, i was quite impressed

VeNT · 7 May 2010 at 23:30

atom anyone?

Thekwango · 8 May 2010 at 00:51

+1 for the atom. but try speccing a desktop for sub £350 to include monitor and windows 7. i think that'd stretch even the best from the miracle workers.

i reckon even CAT-THE-FIFTH would struggle

snowdog · 8 May 2010 at 01:10

EASILY a lot less if you buy OEM parts and 2nd hand parts for some hardware.

Case+ (generic 400w) psu=30€.
RMA asus board = 10€
Q6600 = 75-125€ depending on offer and if quickly reacting to new adverts.
RAM, 70€ for 4gb ddr2 ( stupid silly high ram prices).
2nd hand pcie gfx card= 10-15€
DVD burner= 12€
300gb sata hdd 2nd hand= 20€
Cabling ( not included in oem boards)= 3€

Thats the pc/case for 260 ish €, Q6600/4gb spec...

Perhiperals:

Cheap 1€ ps2 mouse, in the worst case an optical usb mouse from media markt for 5€
Cheap keyboard= 5 euro from media markt.
Speakers= 5€ for the cheapest stereo desktop speakers.
LG W1930S-NF ( 19'' tft) = 79€

So 360 ish € for a quad core, 4gb, 300gb, 19'' spec.
Add 40-50 ish to the buget if you want a semi decent gfx card and a psu that will cope with that, say a ''pc tech 500w'' with native pci-e plugs and an OEM 9800GT 512mb.

Semprons or anything not at least dual core makes me shudder, as does anything with less than 2gb of ram.
If you have a low end gpu card, spending 30 on a psu is a total waste of money, 35 tops for a case+psu combo. Even a 300w q-tec will cope with a basic c2d spec and say a geforce 6200.

Thekwango · 8 May 2010 at 01:46

ahhhhhhhh, shoulda specified, all new parts

snowdog · 8 May 2010 at 02:52

Thekwango said:
ahhhhhhhh, shoulda specified, all new parts

oem is still new, but meh, why new, there's absolutely no reason why to go for new, if value for money is important, with pc's it doesn't matter **** if it's 2nd hand or new, both do the same job...

But ok, fair enough, if only including retail and retail products, then 200 € is the absolute minimum ( just use google, new AMD Sempron 140 pc's are available for just 199€...).

arc@css · 8 May 2010 at 09:43

Thekwango said:
+1 for the atom. but try speccing a desktop for sub £350 to include monitor and windows 7. i think that'd stretch even the best from the miracle workers.

i reckon even CAT-THE-FIFTH would struggle

Never underestimate the CAT.

When I need a new rig I'll be putting out a saucer of milk to entice feedback!

Ordokai · 8 May 2010 at 11:57

Considering that you can build a -much- better rig when stretched to say the 500 quid mark, it would be silly not to save for a bit. When diving this low one is compelled to make nasty compromises indeed.

Also, why do I feel dirty after reading through this ? Oh right, it must be the sudden shift coming from the 'if money was no object' thread. Oh the tricks the mind plays... damn you enthusiast snobs :rolleyes:

- Ordokai