£400 System?

[Hicks12]

Well i know this has been asked alot but is there a good build for £400 or less? My mate if getting a new desktop and wants a monitor and everything but the monitor will be bought seperatly(probably about £100).
So far ive come up with this:

CPU: E7200- £85
Motherboard: Abit IP43- £46
Ram: 2x1gb Corsair 6400 Cas5 - £26(bargin )
GFX: 9800GT Palit- £83 Not sure about this one, is it loud?
Hard drive: 250GB Samsung F1- £33
PSU: Silverstone St50F 500W- £49 not sure if good.
Case: Antec 300- £30? not on scan

Total: £354

Now the PSU i dont know if its good but i know you shouldnt skimp on it, put that one in just to estimate price. Really the cheaper the better, £350 would be better IMO so that he has £150 on a decent monitor. Can you see anything that needs changing? Things that can be swapped with cheaper things?.

The main purpose is basic word etc and gaming, mate wants to play dawn of war 2 when its out and im guessing this system will run it(like compnay of heroes).

ANy help is appreciated.
Thanks.

[staffsMike]

Change the E7200 to an E5200 there's £25.

Get the neovo 22" from scan.. £125 (regular today only price) and as good as it's going to get.
http://scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebPr...s%2c+DVI+Cable

The palit cooler (with the fan running) is a hair drier apparently, best avoided.

With the money saved you could get a better 9800GT or HD4850

I'd get the corsair 450W VX, more than enough power and it's a great PSU. Mine is silent and never misses a beat.

If there is money left over get a WD 640GB AAKS

[PeterStoba]

I've just built this for a friend from aria.co.uk as it was cheapest;



PSU was a bit of a bad choice, but i've used one in the past and it was fine, add a lesser hard drive and a better PSU and it's an excellent rig! E7300 for less than an e7200 is a bargain!

[Hicks12]

Are the e5200's actually bareable in RTS games? my 2 mates have pentium d's at 2.8ghz(dunno model) and they are slow on company of heroes on low.
Revising the build gives me:
CPU: E5200- £56
Motherboard: Abit IP43- £46
Ram: 2x1gb Corsair 6400 Cas5 - £26
GFX: Asus 4850- £116
Hard drive: 250GB Samsung F1- £33
PSU: Corsair 450- £47
Case: Antec 300- £30?

Total: £355, similar price but better performance in terms of graphics. Didnt see the corsair as scan have a bad sub sections for PSU, dont have normal 0-500w etc now.

Might look else where for a e7200 for similar price maybe.

Thanks for the advice guys.

[SiM]

I would get everything second hand... you will get a much better spec that way

[Hicks12]

I would get everything second hand... you will get a much better spec that way

obviously but my friend isnt a tech savy person and will be getting the local shop to build for him(but buy parts online) and second hand=no warranty.

The antec 300 is £40 nearly , any recommendations for a £30 case that uses 120mm fans and cols OK but not crap.

Would like to get him the e7200 as it is better than the e5200 right?.

[SiM]

second hand=no warranty

wrong. second hand = less warranty than new >= no warranty

e7200 is faster than e5200, but the e5200 is better value for this budget

[Hicks12]

I most cases the warranty isnt transferable, i think corsair isnt. I know second hand is probably better but he wouldnt know what todo if it broke lol.

[SiM]

I most cases the warranty isnt transferable

wrong again

[GSte]

E5200s are great and easy to overclock due to the 12.5x multi. I had one at 3.8GHz, and I know some reach 4.0GHz. Pentium Ds are dreadful by today's standards. Don't be fooled by the E5200's Pentium branding, it is a 45nm Wolfdale with slightly less L2 cache than the more expensive models (cache is the expensive part of a CPU), and from what I've seen the lower cache has little effect on gaming performance.

[Pob255]

Umm the Antec 300 is on Scan
http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=811571
£41 which is the price most will be going for, seeing as how the pound has droped against the dolar

Slightly cheaper on ebuyer
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143854
note, ebuyer don't seem to do free delivery on cases, but reduced by 35%

I'd be tempted to up the memory to cas4 the extra cost is about £5, however that said . . .
Crucial, 2x1gb, pc6400, cas6, lifetime warranty, £20.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/139662

Now there's a reason for this coise and that is the e5200, £55 on ebuyer (although will still work very well with the e7200)
The e5200 is only a 200mhz FSB so when overclocked you will hit the limit of the cpu well before you even reach the memories stock speed and underclocking it should alow you to tighten the timeings a bit.
The e7200 being 266mhz FSB will still have plenty of head room before you hit the the memories stock speeds.

PSU
Review here http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/548
(google is a useful thing use it well)
Made by FSP, seem to be a good unit, but beaten by the antec earthwatts 500w and corsair vx450w
Scan have the VX450w for £46

[Pob255]

Case
Akasa Zen £30
http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=723916
or £28 in white
http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=446041

[Hicks12]

Stupid scan have the antec spelt like three not the number 3 . Out weighs it self reall as postage is free and about £2 or more at ebuyer. The e5200 si a wolfdale?? why have scan put it in the pentium d section? is it clever masking by intel or something? going for that then as wolfdale is much better

[Hicks12]

wrong again

Ah, i cant win apart from BFG graphic warranty is non transferable !. I thought corsair was non transferable either, might get secondhand if you are right....

[SiM]

Its always worth keeping an eye out for a 2nd hand bargain. You can check each item for warranty if you are that worried...

[PeterStoba]

Stupid scan have the antec spelt like three not the number 3 . Out weighs it self reall as postage is free and about £2 or more at ebuyer. The e5200 si a wolfdale?? why have scan put it in the pentium d section? is it clever masking by intel or something? going for that then as wolfdale is much better

Antec Threee Hundred is the corrrect name, as are the 900 and 1200, akward, but true. Click

The E5200 is under the Pentium section as it IS a pentium dual core, but it is essentially a stripped down wolfdale