Building a cheap internet pc

[edp33]

Looking to build a cheap pc for £200-300, mainly for internet use, so onboard graphics is fine. Would be great if it could be upgraded easily to play starcraft 2 when that comes out though.

Here's what i've come up with so far (already have keyboard,mouse, dvd rw, 17" TFT + Win XP)

CPU: Core 2 Duo 4400 Retail £74.6
Mobo: Asus P5GC-MX/1333, i945GC, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 400/533 MHz, SATA II, uATX On Board VGA £34.06
RAM: 2GB Corsair Value (533) £40.53
CASE:Akasa Zen - Black £27.94
PSU:400W EZ-Cool pPFC Power Supply £11.15
HDD:400 Gb Samsung HD401LJ Spinpoint 53.45
Total: £241.73

Would appreciate any comments

Thanks

James

[vinnyT]

The obvious weak link in your selection is the psu, do you really want to risk your pcs' parts on a ez-cool psu that costs less than £12? EZ-cool do not have the best of reputations amongst pc builders, you would be better off going for a brand name ie corsair, antec, etc. it will cost more than £11.15, but will be worth it.

Here's a page of psus from scan up to 450W, if you buy a good name brand from here (even if it is rated less than 400W) your pc will thank you for it. http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...Thumbnails=yes Ideally you want to look for a psu rated at 350 - 450W (there's a 370W Enermax Noisetaker for £42.29).

The rest of it looks fine for what you want, you will be able to upgrade the gfx later on for your gaming requirements.

Hope this helps.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Using the Today Only section on Scan I came up with the following:

2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair Value Select, DDR2 PC4300 (533), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12 £31.99 £37.59
1 LN7593 2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair Value Select, DDR2 PC4300 (533), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12
Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2180, S775, 2.0GHz, 800MHzFSB, Allendale Core, 1MB Cache, Retail £46.99 £55.21
1 LN19279 Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2180, S775, 2.0GHz, 800MHzFSB, Allendale Core, 1MB Cache, Retail
Gigabyte GA-G31MX-S2 iG31 Express, S775, DDR2 667/800 MHz, uATX £37.50 £44.06
1 LN19748 Gigabyte GA-G31MX-S2 iG31 Express, S775, DDR2 667/800 MHz, uATX
LN15198
Akasa Zen Case - Black Silent Cool Midi-ATX Computing case w/2 silent 12cm fans w/o PSU £23.78 £27.94
LN15364
400 Gb Samsung HD401LJ Spinpoint T, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ £45.49 £53.45
LN19492
450W Corsair VX Series PSU, ATX, PS/2, UK Version, 80 PLUS® certified £39.00 £45.83
Total cost= £264.1 if you have free postage

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The Silverpower SP400 is not a bad budget PSU too and it can be had for under 25 quid!

For general usage the 1mb less cache of the E2180 will not make any real discernible difference when compared to the E4400.

[edp33]

That's great thanks, i'll go with the cpu and psu's you recommended. The Corsair psu has a strong 12v rail (33amps!) so should be great for adding an 8800 later on if needed.

Here's my revised list

450W Corsair VX Series PSU, ATX, PS/2, UK Version, 80 PLUS® certified £45.83
Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2180, S775, 2.0GHz, 800MHzFSB, Allendale Core, 1MB Cache, Retail £56.39
Akasa Zen Case - Black Silent Cool Midi-ATX Computing case w/2 silent 12cm fans w/o PSU £27.94
400 Gb Samsung HD401LJ Spinpoint T, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ £53.45
Gigabyte GA 965GM-S2 iG965, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, uATX, VGA £53.80
2GB (2x1GB) CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-12 £51.28

£288.69

Managed to squeeze in G965 chipset, and 6400 ram too !

[staffsMike]

I'd go AMD if it were me. You will get more power for less money.

This RAM is amazing stuff for near enough the same price
http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/part...erSept07UKhtml

QTY Price (ea) Ex VAT Total Inc VAT Remove
AMD AM2 Athlon 64 4200+ Dual Core 2.2GHz, 2x 512KB Cache, Retail Energy Efficient £37.99 £44.64
1 LN15182 AMD AM2 Athlon 64 4200+ Dual Core 2.2GHz, 2x 512KB Cache, Retail Energy Efficient
LN19023
Abit AN-M2, NF630a, S AM2, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 800, SATA II, SATA RAID, uATX On Board VGA - DVI/D-Sub £37.89 £44.52
LN15198
Akasa Zen Case - Black Silent Cool Midi-ATX Computing case w/2 silent 12cm fans w/o PSU £23.78 £27.94
LN12077
400W Enermax Liberty Modular Series - ELT400AWT £39.98 £46.98
LN18056
400 Gb Western Digital WD4000AAKS Caviar SE16, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 9 ms £44.99 £52.86

Net Total £184.63
Carriage £10.61
V.A.T. £34.17
TOTAL £229.41

+ the RAM and less the carriage ~£270 (as you apply for free scan delivery)

Great motherboard chipset. The pc would double as a HTPC as is and should overclock a bit too

[peterb]

If you wanyt a small internet machine, you could do worse than by an Asus barebones system. Motherboard, case and PSU are all installed for about £60.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I'd go AMD if it were me. You will get more power for less money.

This RAM is amazing stuff for near enough the same price
http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/part...erSept07UKhtml

QTY Price (ea) Ex VAT Total Inc VAT Remove
AMD AM2 Athlon 64 4200+ Dual Core 2.2GHz, 2x 512KB Cache, Retail Energy Efficient £37.99 £44.64
1 LN15182 AMD AM2 Athlon 64 4200+ Dual Core 2.2GHz, 2x 512KB Cache, Retail Energy Efficient
LN19023
Abit AN-M2, NF630a, S AM2, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 800, SATA II, SATA RAID, uATX On Board VGA - DVI/D-Sub £37.89 £44.52
LN15198
Akasa Zen Case - Black Silent Cool Midi-ATX Computing case w/2 silent 12cm fans w/o PSU £23.78 £27.94
LN12077
400W Enermax Liberty Modular Series - ELT400AWT £39.98 £46.98
LN18056
400 Gb Western Digital WD4000AAKS Caviar SE16, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 9 ms £44.99 £52.86

Net Total £184.63
Carriage £10.61
V.A.T. £34.17
TOTAL £229.41

+ the RAM and less the carriage ~£270 (as you apply for free scan delivery)

Great motherboard chipset. The pc would double as a HTPC as is and should overclock a bit too

I thought the E2180 is faster than a 4200 for most things though!!??

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...px?i=3112&p=11

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If you wanyt a small internet machine, you could do worse than by an Asus barebones system. Motherboard, case and PSU are all installed for about £60.

I agree but the power supplies they contain are not that powerful and hence may limit future upgrades!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If you can afford to go 4 quid over you budget this system has a better motherboard and CPU cooler too!!

I used Today Only as this weekend many of the bits you want are on offer!!

450W Corsair VX Series PSU, ATX, PS/2, UK Version, 80 PLUS® certified £39.00 £45.83
Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2180, S775, 2.0GHz, 800MHzFSB, Allendale Core, 1MB Cache, Retail £46.99 £55.21
1 LN19279 Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2180, S775, 2.0GHz, 800MHzFSB, Allendale Core, 1MB Cache, Retail
Gigabyte GA-P35-S3L, iP35 Express, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 1066/667/800 MHz, SATA II, ATX £47.25 £55.52
1 LN19753 Gigabyte GA-P35-S3L, iP35 Express, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 1066/667/800 MHz, SATA II, ATX
LN15198
Akasa Zen Case - Black Silent Cool Midi-ATX Computing case w/2 silent 12cm fans w/o PSU £23.78 £27.94
LN15364
400 Gb Samsung HD401LJ Spinpoint T, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ £45.49 £53.45
LN11596
2GB (2x1GB) CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-12 £43.64 £51.28
LN13080
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro - P4 up to 4.4GHz - S775 Dual Core / Core2Duo Ready £12.49 £14.68

Total cost if you have free postage is £303.91

If you use the standard included fan then the cost will drop to £289.23


The motherboard has the latest IP35 chipset from Intel and the Artic Cooler cpu fan is better if you intend to overclock.

Remember to use Today Only as you can gte many bits cheaper!!

[staffsMike]

I thought the E2180 is faster than a 4200 for most things though!!??

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...px?i=3112&p=11

That test doesn't really show that and for the same price as the E2180 you can get the 2.3/2.4 version of the AMD which will be better. Sure the intel will probably overclock better but my point is that the PC built on the AMD platform will be more versatile as the board comes with everything you need for it to be a pretty decent HTPC..if that appeals.

Just offering an alternative really. You don't HAVE to go intel afterall... i wouldn't for a cheap build such as this even though I know they overclock well blah blah.. The lower spec AMD's always "feel" faster when you use them especially for basic stuff like browsing.. try them some time if you get the chance you might be suprised.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

According to Scan the equivalent AMD processor would be the X2 4400.

Considering that most e2180 cpus will get to 2.8ghz to 3ghz easily then it makes sense to overclcok them.

Since this will be used for some gaming this wil be useful. If you do not need to game then even a secondhand pentium d805(20-30 quid secondhand) or X2 3800 will make no difference for an office pc.

Even 2gb would be an overkill IMHO and 1gb would be more than enough for the latter purposes.

[scrandman]

I can't believe folks are talking about overclocking to 3GHz for a PC which is going to be used for browsing the internet.

Even a £17 Sempron CPU at stock speed will cope admirably with IE7 / Firefox.

In terms of playing starcraft 2, the likelihood is that it will be down to the graphics card more than CPU, so I'd go for either AMD or Intel - whichever suits your budget best.

Edit: On the original selection of parts, the ASUS board is an MX variant. In the past these were "budget" boards with severely crippled overclocking options, although this may have changed these days. Most folks with 3GHz o/c'd Intel CPUs are using top whack mobos.

[staffsMike]

of course a you can build a really basic pc that's good for just browsing for next to nothing but by chucking an extra £50 at it the pc will be capable of a lot more..such as gaming.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I can't believe folks are talking about overclocking to 3GHz for a PC which is going to be used for browsing the internet.

Even a £17 Sempron CPU at stock speed will cope admirably with IE7 / Firefox.

In terms of playing starcraft 2, the likelihood is that it will be down to the graphics card more than CPU, so I'd go for either AMD or Intel - whichever suits your budget best.

Edit: On the original selection of parts, the ASUS board is an MX variant. In the past these were "budget" boards with severely crippled overclocking options, although this may have changed these days. Most folks with 3GHz o/c'd Intel CPUs are using top whack mobos.

Yep I agree but if any gaming is involved it is better to build a nicer pc for around 50 to 100 quid more INCLUDING a decent psu. The OP is talking of possibly getting an 8800 series card later also!!

A basic pc could be built for around 140-190 quid excluding OS and a monitor of course!!

[Blackmage]

Do you really need 2Gb of ram for internet surfing? and your using win xp 1Gb is fine. i got a rig which i use for internet surfing 1gb and windows vista and on-board graphics too