Budget Core 2 Duo System

[AdvWar]

Hello, I'm building a new Core 2 Duo system for a friend on a budget of around £300. It will be for general usage, and will be used for quite a lot of multi-tasking, so I would like it to be fast. I intend to give it a small overclock, but nothing that will drive the temperature too high or put too much strain on the processor. Anyway, here are the proposed specifications.

CPU-Intel Core 2 Duo E4400-£74
HDD-Samsung Spinpoint 250GB-£37
Motherboard-Gigabyte G33-DS3R-£70
Case/PSU-Antec NSK4400-£45
Cooler-Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro-£17
RAM-Corsair Value RAM PC5300C5-£51

Sorry about lack of links. They already have OS, ODD, Monitor, keyboard and mouse. Thanks for any help.

[silentvoice]

Unless you need the onboard video, you can get a P35 for a similar price. If you want to stick with Gigabyte a GA-P35-DS3R would be an alternative for example.

You can also get faster performance RAM for that price too: here

[AdvWar]

I do need the onboard video, and as I'm from Northern Ireland, Scan isn't an option for parts unfortunately.

[dogie]

Ebuyer ship to N.Ireland
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/98708

With a budget that low I can't really see it being worth spending 6% on aftermarket cooling. Stick with the stock for the start, and if it is too noisy or not doing its job properly, then replace it.

[AdvWar]

They do ship to NI, but it isn't cheap.

[Thorsson]

Why C2D? AMD might be a better option at this budget.

[Pob255]

I'd say that's a pritty good list for £300, xms2 ram would probably be better, 1gb should be enough for most general use.

[artaxerxes]

Intel E2160 same as the E4400 with half the cache, around £55. Overclocks just as well with the stock cooler. So that saves another £17.

[Pob255]

No don't the e2xxx are rather bad, it's half the L1 cache as well as L2 cache. they are the celerons of core duo range.

Infact they are called core duo not core 2 duo
Also the e2160 only has a x9 multiplier vs the x10 of the e4400