Yet another recommendation thread...

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
9,598
Location
Sunderland
Looking at spending £250-300 to build a base unit for a mate, really not fussed on graphical capabilities but looking more at building a solid system with decent storage and CPU. Also looking to future proof as much as possible.

Really been out of the loop for a couple of years since I last built my system, just when 939s were starting out.

Hes not a heavy PC user, no gaming hence the lack of need for graphic card, happy enough with onboard video and sound but wondering what board/CPU/RAM combination to go with.

Will be adding a relatively cheap case, DVD writer so what do people recommend? Should I go the AM2 route but stick to a 64 bit chip? Would a board that takes that chip allow future upgrading to a X2? And whats the RAM to pair it up with? Dual DDR2?

Any help appreciated, looking at buying a few bits and bobs tomorrow hopefully.

Thanks :)
 
Something like this might be suitable, it isn't going to be great overall but for the budget it will be a very capable PC.

Crucial 512MB (2x256MB) DDR2 PC2-4200C4 Dual Channel Kit (CT2KIT3264AA53E) (MY-080-CR) £33.99
(£39.94) £33.99
(£39.94)
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 1.80GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-162-AM) £44.99
(£52.86) £44.99
(£52.86)
Asus M2NPV-MX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-149-AS) £44.99
(£52.86) £44.99
(£52.86)
Samsung SH-S182D 18x18 DVD±RW ReWriter (Black) (CD-078-SA) £16.95
(£19.92) £16.95
(£19.92)
Asus TA-212 Series Midi Tower (Silver) - 360W PSU (CA-005-AS) £31.95
(£37.54) £31.95
(£37.54)
Samsung SpinPoint P SP1654N 160GB ATA-133 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-030-SA) £33.50
(£39.36) £33.50
(£39.36)
Sub Total : £206.37
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 : £37.86
Total : £254.18
 
Spot on mate, thanks for taking the time to put it together. Might force him to spend a little extra pushing the RAM up to 1 gig but thats a great starting point. Much obliged :)

Hes probably only going to be watching "videos" knowing him :p
 
No worries at all, you could probably go for a dual core Intel system based around an 830 chip and an ASRock mATX motherboard for maybe £20 more but it may well be wasted given the uses here. :)
 
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