£150 build

[mehmeh]

Aye saw that, but its free postage at Novatech too once you hit £50, was gonna add a fan or something cheap and shiney with LEDs to the order. Thanks for the linkys too, hadnt considered the Silverpower tbh as never heard of them before.


Cheers for reply Pob, looked at the bundles, but only 1GB Ram is a bit tight and too many unknowns on mobo, ram and PSU etc to bother chasing it all up. Much prefer to spec it myself.

Say again, I *censored* hate PSU shopping, makes me feel like a noob Am deffo going around in circles here anyway lol (sorry!). Just have zero confidence in my own ablities at choosing one since my last rig and nearly Rob too was proper roasted when the PSU went boom.

Thanks for replies you two ^^

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Silverpower is a part of Tagan hence they are a good brand. 1 gb of RAM would be enough if you are running XP - of course Vista would be better with 2gb of RAM!

[Pob255]

The one I linked too is,
AMD X2 4200 2Gb DDR2 RAM AMD 690V Micro Atx Motherboard 4 Bay ATX Tower Case With 400w PSU

Although the PSU is an utter unkown, likely a El'cheapo supplied with El'cheapo case

[Biscuit]

I have found microdirect to be really good for super cheapo componants however their postage isnt free and a lot of the stuff seems out of stock at the moment

[s3ds]

A cheap case i have used
looks ok ( daughters pc )
but watch your fingers

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135584...oduct_overview
with one of these
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/400w-...ed-cooling-fan

[mehmeh]

The one I linked too is,
AMD X2 4200 2Gb DDR2 RAM AMD 690V Micro Atx Motherboard 4 Bay ATX Tower Case With 400w PSU

Grrr. I seem to be miss reading stuff alot lately, time for an eye test I think! Would deffo be a step backwards going with cheap case and its PSU like you say, I can get one of those from ebuyer or aria for a tenner if I wasnt stressing about it so much. (is what I always used to do!)

I have found microdirect to be really good for super cheapo componants however their postage isnt free and a lot of the stuff seems out of stock at the moment

Havent used them before, will have a look now. TBH everywhere seems to be iffy on stock these days. My first thought was a Sempron LE-1200 I used in a build a few months back, but only ebuyer seem to have any stock of that and for an extra tenner the proper Althon seems better value. Have heard but don't know if theres any truth in it, that its basically a reworked FX55/XP chip and overclocks like mad too, not that thats of any interest in this build.

A cheap case i have used
looks ok ( daughters pc )
but watch your fingers

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135584...oduct_overview
with one of these
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/400w-...ed-cooling-fan

Thanks for the reply. Another vote for the Silverpower then. Will have to double check it'll fit with the fan sticking out at the back, as it looks like I'll be going with one of those little cube cases.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135583...roduct_reviews

Thanks for the replies all. Hopefully by this afternoon I can get this little lot ordered up and just forget about it.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Grrr. I seem to be miss reading stuff alot lately, time for an eye test I think! Would deffo be a step backwards going with cheap case and its PSU like you say, I can get one of those from ebuyer or aria for a tenner if I wasnt stressing about it so much. (is what I always used to do!)


Havent used them before, will have a look now. TBH everywhere seems to be iffy on stock these days. My first thought was a Sempron LE-1200 I used in a build a few months back, but only ebuyer seem to have any stock of that and for an extra tenner the proper Althon seems better value. Have heard but don't know if theres any truth in it, that its basically a reworked FX55/XP chip and overclocks like mad too, not that thats of any interest in this build.


Thanks for the reply. Another vote for the Silverpower then. Will have to double check it'll fit with the fan sticking out at the back, as it looks like I'll be going with one of those little cube cases.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135583...roduct_reviews

Thanks for the replies all. Hopefully by this afternoon I can get this little lot ordered up and just forget about it.

The older ones had the fan sticking out the back. The newer version which I used for the build at work has internal fans like most other power supplies.

Here are some pictures of the newer 400w SP400P2C version:

http://www.maxpoint.de/en/products/p...e_objectID=476


http://www.pc-coolers.ro/produs.php?id=912

[mehmeh]

Ahhh right, thanks for that, will fit fine then. Decisions are all made, just waiting to here back on a question from Scan as might be tempted by a combo they have, but they're gonna have to be quick as wanna try and make delivery for tomorrow.

Cheers all.

[Pob255]

A cheap case i have used
looks ok ( daughters pc )
but watch your fingers

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135584...oduct_overview

I used one of thoes before to rehouse my gf's current pc.
It actually looks quite nice out side, it is very large for a cheap mid tower, but is cheap and nasty inside (like any of thoes cases)
I've been thinking of getting another to totally chop to peicess and rebuild the innards to get the layout I've always wanted at a low cost.

Thanks for the reply. Another vote for the Silverpower then. Will have to double check it'll fit with the fan sticking out at the back, as it looks like I'll be going with one of those little cube cases.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135583...roduct_reviews

Thanks for the replies all. Hopefully by this afternoon I can get this little lot ordered up and just forget about it.

Please please tell me what you think of that cube case, take pic's and start a build thread in the chassis & modding section
I'm currently looking at one of thoes for a HTPC for a friend.

[s3ds]

[
just dont look to close to the insides

[Pob255]

I actually moved the mesh panel to the other side on my gf's one.
The mesh was causing the panel to twist and the whole case was twisted slightly although a bit of brute force and putting the mesh panel on the other side fixed *most* of that.
One foot doesn't quite sit on the floor so it rocks very slightly, I fixed that with a disk of PaxMate sound proofing stuck to each foot, also stopped it sliding on the laminate floor.

Did you have this problem?

What I've been considering is removing the motherboard tray, cutting out the back panel (so I can move the psu to the bottom and fit a removable motherboard tray) then cutting out the hard drive cage so I can fit one that's twisted through 90 degrees (ie you put the drives in from the side)
Probably need to reinforce the whole thing though.
Oh and fitting a sheet of pursplex behind the mesh like in the hipper cases.

[Maccer101]

You could get a HHD of ebay I got a new 80gb Maxtor SataII for £15, If you went for a used 40gb IDE you'd probably find something for £10 or less.

This week I bought a 2nd hand Antec Earthwatts 430w PSU for £17 off ebay (was a low feedback seller though), but its your call if you want a new PSU.

Unforunately people bidding on ebay don't seem to have a clue about CPU prices as a Athlon LE I wanted went for more than new on Scan, crazy.. and most are on "But it Now" for high prices

Case wise keep checking Scan for deals on the CM330 as last week thay had it for £18 on today only, sure it'll come round again.

[mehmeh]

I dont have a problem with secondhand stuff in general, allthough is a pain trying to source bits from all over to put a whole system together. Just really dislike ebay. Used to be a powerseller and regulary got shafted by punters and ebay. Last time I got ripped off, swore it would be the last.

Thanks for everyones help again, case etc is all ordered up now, so hopefully throw this little lot together beginning of next week.

Please please tell me what you think of that cube case, take pic's and start a build thread in the chassis & modding section
I'm currently looking at one of thoes for a HTPC for a friend.

Will do. Not expecting miracles for thrity quid, but should do the job nicely.

[pepsi_max2k]

Ok this probably won't be much use as it's based off partly ebay 2nd hand stuff, but i just bought most of a system for (hopefully) around £150, minus case / psu / HD, but something to think about...

Biostar TF8200 - mobo w/ Geforce 8200 integrated graphics @ £56 shipped on cclonline.com
cheapest decent mobo w/ integrated graphics online atm.

ATI HD8350 256MB - ~£40 on ebay, new, you can leave that out though for the integrated.

AMD 5200+ - £27 from these forums, Arctic Freezer 64 Pro can be had for £8 on ebay. Otherwise ~£40 on ebay.

Best PSU you'll get is FSP700-80GLN for ~£28 on scan, if they ever bring the price down.

Antec 300 can be had for £39.99 on ccl if you ask for it as a C3 deal, it was £34.99 a few weeks ago though. Anyway... Coolermaster Elites go on scan for ~£19 every now n then.

PNY 2GB - sorry, the Play deal's gone up to £14.99, likely to stay there due to current dram prices and credit crunch. Same sticks ~£9 on ebay though.

HDD - no idea, I've got 3 to play with, but < &#163;30 surely.
LG DVD-RW from scan, just got it ~&#163;12.50 on today only.


Sooo...
Case: &#163;20
PSU: &#163;28
Mobo: &#163;56
Athlon 64 ~5000+: ~&#163;35 (if ebaying one, get whatever's most available as it drives costs down)
HDD: ~&#163;30
Optical drive, if you need it, &#163;13
RAM: ~&#163;20 - 25

sooo... cock. oh well, find a spare optical drive, case and HDD and you're sorted... and you still need an os... ok it can't be done. maybe a 939 system? or XP?


>> Say again, I *censored* hate PSU shopping, makes me feel like a noob Am deffo going around in
>> circles here anyway lol (sorry!). Just have zero confidence in my own ablities at choosing one since
>> my last rig and nearly Rob too was proper roasted when the PSU went boom.

check out http://www.jonnyguru.com/ and forums for some excellent psu based education, or http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=108088 for a basic ranking of brand quality. FWIW Jonny isn't the biggest tagan fan (although mine's fine, but it's not like I ever tried to blow it up...), and the cheapest good quality brands you're gonna find are FSP / Fortron, and probably some antecs and enermaxs.

[Maccer101]

Yeah I think the FSPs are the cheapest PSUs of any quality.

Ebay can be a pain you just have to "let the deals come to you" otherwise just spend another &#163;30-&#163;40 for the whole build and buy it new.

Cases are hard to choose plus they don't seem to get any good until you spend &#163;60+, for budget cases I just look for a nice bezel and a 120mm rear fan

[Firejack]

Not sure if this is too late or not. Have you considered a Netbook? Just because they are designed to be mobile doesn't mean you can't use them as a Nettop as that is all your Grandad seems to need. Several offers come along each week offering various models for around the £150. That you can then simply plug your monitor, keyboard and mouse into. I know someone using an EEE PC as a desktop to download overnight. Really cuts down on the power bills!

Such an offer this week: http://www.hotukdeals.com/item/31820...0-ab-netbook-w

Mind you that one is blue. Sure another offer will be along soon though