£700 build for a friend

[DougMcDonald]

Hi Guys, looks like I've potentially been roped into building a pc for a friend who has £700 to spend. His priorities are (and i quote) "A flashy case and big monitor" - he wants to be able to play basic games, watch dvd's etc and ideally watch TV on the monitor. I've specced some stuff, but unfortunately he hasn't got much to re-use so we're potentially talking from the ground up.

So far, I was speccing the following:

case: NZXT Classic Series (looks srubbishrubbishrubbishrubbishy for him (he's not interested in a 'good case' just something which 'looks good')) (I have a feeling the guy will want bells and whistles instead of refinement...what a tool) - £82

processor: Core 2 Duo E4300 - ermm, can't quite remember £88 or something?

cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro - £12

ram: 2Gb (2X1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC5400 - £43
or possibly GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC5300 at £8 more (looks nicer :s )

hdd: Samsung SpinPoint 250GB - £37

mobo: Asus P5B-E Plus i965 (Saving cash (he doesn't want any o'clocking)) - £88 or something? may end up going with nightshadows suggestions of the DS3 for more like £60

gfx: 256MB XFX 7950GT, XXX, PCI-E (x16), Mem 1600MHz, GPU 610MHz - £114

psu: Hiper HPU-4M580 Type R 580W (he likes mine) - £43

Currently speccing the box @ approx £500

As I say he wants a nice big monitor 20-25 inch as desired which can be acquired for around £200

Should roughly hit £700 overall.

Any advice on where to cut a few corners etc? he wants something at least a little pokey, which i figured this build would do (i'd o'clock a little before giving to him)

Also, any advice on monitors 20" + for £200 ish?

[alsenior]

all of the p5b family overclock quite well anyway

[Steve B]

try www.memoryconfigurator.com
they do some really cheap memory, ordered from them a few times!

[frosty15]

Hi Doug,

Cost-cutting:

The stock hsf should see you ok temps-wise to 3GHz

Asus P5B-E Plus i965 (Saving cash (he doesn't want any o'clocking)

In that case, why not the likes of Gigabyte's DS3?

he's not interested in a 'good case' just something which 'looks good'

looks good as in bling or elegance? for bling, what about Antec's Nine Hundred, for elegance, a Lian Li PC-7B Plus - http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/98529

If you use Aria.co.uk and ebuyer.com and buy in bits, you can save £10 per order through Google Checkout!

Don't forget the o/s!

Hope this helps

[staffsMike]

Perfect monitor I'd say..

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/336251...I/Product.html

Will leave you £450 which is plenty for a half decent pc.

If you don't need to overclock and want to save yourself the bother of having to fix it for him everytime it breaks you can get a half decent dell dimension for that money. E6600 etc.. then maybe drop a decent gfx card in..

If not my spec would be as your is but i'd drop that PSU whether he likes it or not..its overkill.

[DanceswithUnix]

SOUnds to me like you want a Shuttle. They look fantastic, and are so small it will make the display look even bigger Would require a single slot graphics card though.

[JimNastics]

Seriously, get the Corsair HX 520w PSU... it's pretty much a no-brainer at the moment unless you want to spend a bit more on an Enermax. Either would be a much better choice over the Hiper.

[DougMcDonald]

Shuttle is an interesting concept certainly, I'll look into it.

Corsair PSU may well be a good plan too, I think he was just attracted by the silver attachments on the hiper, will have another look about

[DanceswithUnix]

Looking at that monitor on Play.com, there was a variant that looks better (8 bit per colour vs 6 bit+dithering) for 10 quid less in the "coming soon" section.

[DougMcDonald]

I did indeed look at that monitor with built in tv tuner etc, it does look really good. It's just the price that is off putting.

Seeing as his main requirements is looks and monitor, I'm trying to see where I could save approx £100 overall.

The corsair PSU seems a good £20 more than the hiper on scan and although I could justify that for myself, he's not interested in a £60-70 PSU.

Does seem like ebuyer/aria and google checkout could save me a few quid so I may price some stuff up via that later on.

Do you think it's worth spending a little less on the GFX potentially? or are the cost savings not worth the performance drop. The 7950 seems a nice card and £115 ish seems a good price.

I will certainly take a look at the DS3 boards as an alternative to the P5B's but again, we're probably only talking about saving £10 or so.

[NightshadowUK]

Motherboard - Gigabyte GA 965P-S3 - £61

Solid motherboard and it can even overclock should the guy change his mind.

Graphics card - ATi X1950XT - £109

Kills the 7950GT and it's just £100 if you use Google checkout.

[DougMcDonald]

Good suggestions indeed,

I was maybe thinking of getting a lower priced PSU, trying to find a low cost enermax or something similar, maybe 400watts or so.

Ideally he wants something quiet - any ideas?

[staffsMike]

Yeah consider the ATi Graphics card for a saving. You could also try a seasonic silent 400w or there abouts for the PSU.

You've specced a nice motherboard and it is decent for overclocking if you feel that way inclined but you could probably save a little on it.

If he wants to watch tv and stuff that monitor is the way to go, it's HD ready, you can plug xboxes etc.. in. Perfect imo.

[NightshadowUK]

380W Seasonic S12-380 - £40

Should fit the bill nicely.

[DougMcDonald]

Although it does make sense, the one i had specced initially is only £3 different.

Doesn't seem like I can make much of a saving on the PSU

Thanks for the Mobo suggestion though, that would knock £20 off.

[NightshadowUK]

Could you add prices to the original post please? It'd help us to help you.