The HeXus Cheapo PC Challenge

[chuckskull]

An old ringbinder or draw works great for a case and both free. Used a draw myself, used to have to open when I played a game

Maybe we can get one of those corsair flash drives that nick was breaking

[chuckskull]

Cheapest hard drive?

1 or 2GB flash drive. A standard Hd is going to take most of the £36 in one big bite.

[staffsMike]

I found (before i saw that it was the one the americans used) a cpu for £10 at pcbuyit ..old socket though

[awm]

Did you look at the price for the screen? $230 for a little touch screen.

[NightshadowUK]

I found (before i saw that it was the one the americans used) a cpu for £10 at pcbuyit ..old socket though

- INTEL CELERON 1.7GHz S478 ~ £11.75

[Pob255]

I was going with mechano..lego...cardboard..errr..a draw..for the case lol

If we ask the store/sender to pack it in a cardboard box, bingo one free case
But we might need to use collection to advoid delivery charges

[tigerboyce]

ok so far its looking like:

case:
Sweex Beige Mid Tower Case - With 300W PSU £13.16

CPU:
INTEL CELERON 1.7GHz s478 £16.52 on straw cooling

PSU:
*in case*

RAM:
128MB PC2100 DDR RAM £8.27

thats:
£37.95


still need :

Mobo (s478, onboard gfx? Ethernet port)
some king of harddrive
gfx card if not onboard
cd drive

[Pob255]

Real problem looks like it's going to be a motherboard.
Celeron s775 £17.36 http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/s...tml?PR-CD26331

cheapest 775 motherboard I could find £25.85 http://www.advancetec.co.uk/acatalog...5f21261%2ehtml don't think that's got onboard vga though

ASRock s478 £29.24 cheapest I could find http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...119412&_LOC=UK (has onboard vga)

Something tells me we are not going to beet the us prices

[0iD]

The object isn't necesserily to beat the yanks, I mean, this IS rip-off britain after all. The exercise is merely 'as cheap as possible' & with some good ol HeXus ingenuity

[staffsMike]

mobo: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=375239 - £26.66

ram: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...roductID=16183 - £9.39

Cpu: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=284218 - £20.73

psu: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=136446 £10.52

Case...motherboard box

£67.30 up to there

the only way to make it cost effective is to avoid the delivery charges or ordering all from one place

just the hard drive and cd to do

**im asuming that cpu works in the mobo

EDIT: Ebuyer with shipping gives the same setup pretty much but with a 1gb flash drive and cd drive for £81.08

[Pob255]

The object isn't necesserily to beat the yanks, I mean, this IS rip-off britain after all. The exercise is merely 'as cheap as possible' & with some good ol HeXus ingenuity

After actually reading that artical I'd like to call Foul!

# ntel SU810 motherboard ($5; centrix-intl.com)
# Two 64MB PC100 SDRAM modules ($4 each; pcprogress.com)
# Intel Celeron 500MHz processor socket 370 ($11; pcprogress.com)
# Intel Socket 370-compatible heatsink and fan (~$5; newegg.com)
# Gateway 4000437 NLX riser card ($25; alancomputech.com)
# 512MB USB flash drive (free; salvaged)
# Momentary, normally open SPST switch ($3.29; radioshack.com)
# Insulated wire for switch (free; salvaged)
# . ATX power supply ($14.50; amazon.com)

On following the actualy links:
mother board = $10
memory = $17 each = $34
cpu = $17.99
hs&f = $5.99
riser card = $25
usb mempory stick = Foul, reused not new!
switch = $3.29
PSU = $31.28
Total = $127.55 (postage not included on any bits)

So the actual target to aim for is £63.58 + a couple of quid for a memory stick

[staffsMike]

I'm pretty close at £80 then taking into consideration how cheap their stuff is and how much better my build would be

[Pob255]

I'm pritty sure I've got a great one at under £70 although I might have to add on a network card.

Just checking on if its 2nd hand or surplus stock.

[Vimeous]

Best so far for me:

CPU: (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=284218) - £20.73 Cel D 2.66GHz
MB: (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=396316) - £26.90 ECS inc RAID
RAM: (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=202603) - £12.38 512Mb PC5300
Case: (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=410271) - £20.53 Scan with 400W PSU
F Drv: (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=353407) - £5.36 512Mb

Total: £85.90

Or with HD: (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=172207) - £25.85 80Gb
Total: £106.39

Sticking with Scan and being a forum member = free P&P!

Still some work to be done here though methinks!

[malfunction]

Not a great way to spend money but it is a complete base unit:

Intel Celeron D 331 Socket 775, 2.66GHz, 256KB Cache, Retail:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=284218

MSI PM8M3-V VIA P4M800CE, S775, AGP 4x/8x, DDR 400, SATA I, SATA RAID, uATX, On Board VGA
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=375239

256MB Elixir Major DDR PC2700 (333), 184 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 3-3-3-8
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...roductID=16183

80 Gb Maxtor STM3802110A DiamondMax 20, IDE (PATA), 7200 rpm, 2MB Cache, 11 ms
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=491999

Samsung Black, 48x CD-ROM 16x DVD-ROM, SATA, OEM
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...roductID=55346

Scan 8027-C43 Black/Silver Case with 400w ATX
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=410271

Total £112.34 inc VAT exc delivery (scan / hexus offer)

[malfunction]

I'd probably advise something like this instead for anyone on a budget. Went AMD because of the cheaper mobos and slightly cheaper dual core chip. Considered a cheap (conroe based) Celeron setup but that's assuming someone's going to overclock it. Also thought about getting 1 x 1GB RAM stick to allow future upgrading (is > 1 GB really needed for a non-gaming non-vista system?)

Samsung SH-S182DB/BEBN 18x DVD±R, 8x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, DVD-RAM x12, IDE, Black, OEM
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=432787

250 Gb Samsung SP2504C SpinPoint P120, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 8MB Cache, 9.0 ms, NCQ
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=247245

1Gb (2X512Mb) Corsair Value Select, DDR2 PC5400 (667), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-15
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=202604

Abit AN-M2, NF630a, S AM2, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 800, SATA II, SATA RAID, uATX On Board VGA - DVI/D-Sub
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=622461

AMD AM2 Athlon 64 3800+ Windsor Core, Dual Core 2GHz, 2x 512KB Cache, Energy Efficient Retail
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=494952

Asus TM982 Black MicroATX Case with 400w PSU
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=624743

Total £203.38 inc VAT exc delivery (scan / hexus offer)