Budget Build: Advice Please.

[smithmr8]

Howdy,
I'm aiming to build a computer for my parents, and was looking for some advice.
The budget is £450. [Not alot, I know].

Anywhoo, I've compiled this selection of goodies, and was hoping to get some advice on alternatives if items I'd suggested weren't great.



The only requirements are that it must comprise of a 17" or larger, monitor.
Preferably all the items will be from eBuyer, for convenience purposes. Unless all the items or similar can be found on scan for cheaper [I haven't looked]

Thanks,
Luke

[360bhp]

Are they going to be gaming with it? If not, they don't really need the grfx card and could use onboard graphics. Save the £55, and use it to get a decent PSU. Also, 500w I'm sure is overkill for that system. 450w should be more than enough..http://www.ebuyer.com/product/131052

Not heard anything good about Seagate HDDs, go for a Samsung.

[Mithrandir]

I think first change would be that PSU.

Theres a bundle offer with the CM 330 case and eXtreme 460w psu for £60.

[staffsMike]

Why not do something like this.

AMD 4850E ~£45
2GB PC6400 RAM ~£30
Asus/Gigabyte 680G mobo ~£50
Antec NSK3480 with 380W earth watts ~£53 (ouch gone up to £66 on ebuyer, maybe the coolermaster above then)
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/s....html?ant-3480

640GB Western Digital AAKS ~£45
DVD-RW ~£15

That's just under £245 (using novatech for the case or getting the coolermaster) leaving tonnes for everything else and unless you need a dedicated graphics card (for gaming) will provide all the performance you could really want, including full HD playback, which might come in handy for
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149662

But the keyboard and speaker would push you a little over budget.

[smithmr8]

The rig will be used for gaming aswell, but nothing serious. I've used that card before, and its served me extremely well in the past. Play's Crysis and COD4 surprsingly well.

I've not touched an AMD cpu for such a long time now. How do they compare to the intel equiv ?

How about this for a revised rig:
Gigabyte GA-G31M-2SL iG31 [£33.07]
Intel PDC E2180 2GHz [£46.63]
MSI 8600GT 256MB Silent Edt [£54.95]
OCZ 2GB Kit DDR2 800MHz [£22.99]
Logitech Cordless Desktop EX110 [£19.67]
Logitech S-120 Black 2.0 Speakers [£6.98]
HANNSG HB171AB 17" Widescreen [£77.11]
Sony DRU-190S DVDRW SATA [£15.88]
Coolermaster Elite 330 [£24.74]
Corsair 450W [£47.99]
Western Digital WD6400AAKS 640GB SATA [£48.80]

Total: £398.81

---

It can cost up to £450, so any other improvements/changes ?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Get a better PSU like a Corsair VX450W or a Seasonic unit. I would also get an E5200 instead of the E2180 as it is faster and has lower power consmption. Do you really need to spend much on graphics?? If they are not gaming an ATI 3450 would be more than enough. Also do you have a copy of XP or are you using Linux??

This is what I came up with from Ebuyer:

Corsair 450W VX 450W PSU - ATX12V v2.2 £47.99

Coolermaster Elite 330 Black Mid Tower Case - No PSU £24.74

Intel Pentium Dual Core E5200 2.5GHz Socket 775 800FSB 2MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor £55.54

Gigabyte GA-EP31-DS3L iP31 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard £43.37

PowerColor HD 3450 256MB DDR2 64bit VGA DVI TV Out PCI-E Graphics Card 140262 £23.81

Samsung SM2032BW 20"TFT Monitor Widescreen 1680x1050 3000:1 300cd/m2 2ms VGA/DVI-D Glossy Black 3 Years Onsite Warrany £119.98

Samsung HD502IJ SpinPoint F1 500GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 16MB Cache - OEM £40.45

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic -SP1- Licence and media - 1 PC - OEM - DVD - 64-bit - English 123051 £58.68

Sony DRU-190S 20X DVD±RW DL & DVD-RAM Serial ATA - Retail Multi Bezel & Nero £15.88

OCZ 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 CL 4-4-4-15 PLATINUM XTC with LIFETIME WARRANTY 116755 £22.99

Gigabyte Black Wired Keyboard & Optical Mouse Bundle - UK Layout - PS/2 Connection £5.99

35% shipping discount» Shipping Charge:£7.06
Total: £466.47

Ebuyer do not do free postage anymore BTW! Also Vista Basic 32 bit was not in stock so the system should cost around £460. The Gigabyte motheboard has all solid capacitors too.

I would personally spec the system up on Scan as you are eligible for free postage and some bits maybe cheaper than Ebuyer too. I would get an HD3850 or HD4670 for gaming as these cost around £50 to £60 and are 2 to 3 times faster than an 8600GT.

[CooperXS]

For 55 quid you can get Radeon HD4670 which is several times faster than 8600GT, consumes less power and able to decode two FullHD streams at the same time

[Mithrandir]

For 55 quid you can get Radeon HD4670 which is several times faster than 8600GT, consumes less power and able to decode two FullHD streams at the same time

I agree, £58 at Novatech.

[staffsMike]

The AMD integrated graphics will game quite happily at low resoltions anyway but a dedicated card is probably better.

I run an AMD 5000+ X2( 2.6GHz) and an Intel E6600 (2.4Ghz) and can barely tell the difference day to day but if you are getting a dedicated card then get intel, the E5200 as mentioned would be my choice.

I also agree about the HD4670 being the better card as it really is unless you want a passive card.. then whatever you can find is best lol

Real improvements/changes hmmm... buy a dell

[smithmr8]

hehe. I considered getting a dell, but you couldn't really get one with a monitor and a decent base unit for a good price.

Anywhoo..
How about this: ..


Gaming wont be anything intensive, but still want a dedicated card.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

You can get an 8600GTS for £45:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/126983

However I have heard that there are issues with the Nvidia mobile 8400/8600 series cards. I don't know if the desktop ones are affected though?!

I would personally buy the 500gb Samsung drive and aim for a HD4670 card for £60. It would push you nearly £10 over budget but will be worth it!!

Review:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_4670/

[Pob255]

Personally I'd not go for a 20" monitor, the jump in resolution will have a big hit on gameing, esp with such low end graphics cards.
stick with a 19"

not sure on the prices but also consider the 9600gt (esp over the 8600gt or gts)

For case have a look at the Akasa Zen, it's a good low cost case.

[Maccer101]

Why not try the Antec NSK 6580 case and 430w PSU combo for around £52 (not persanally used one yet, but am planning to on my next build) would save £20, also the CM 330 isn't too great, because its cheap the tooless stuff isn't good, the PCI retention bracket continually pops open so I had to screw everything in and the HDD & DVD brackets don't fit well so I ended up just using screws on then aswell, although airflow seems good.

If you don't want to go ATI for any reason you could get the pallit passive cooled 9500gt on Scan for £43, I got one for my dad and its nice, better than a 8600gt and less power consumption I think, however ATI probably beats this £ for £.

[smithmr8]

Ok. Well, this is my revised list. Comes in just under budget. If there are any suggestions on similar priced 19" monitors which are better, then advice would be appreciated. .



How does this look ?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Scan are doing an 9800GT for £78 on Today Only(£83 normal price):

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

You are also eligible for free postage from Scan too!

[strike-down]

yeah, was gonna say if you're gonna spend £77 on a 9600gt why not add £5 extra and get the 9800?? makes sense XD