LOW budget PC build.

[Cornholio]

I have a list in mind but figured ide see what my friends over at hexus can come up with.

As low budget as possible, ALL from scan too. It has to be M-ATX, and the case will be living in a cupboard...ive told them what i think about that but its the only place for it due to kids/baby/DOG.

Full system inc keyboard, mouse, screen, 17" is plenty.

What can you come up with guys, like i said as low price as possible.

Computer USE :

Ebay
Email
Itunes (ipod)
Pictures

Thats it.....

Look forward to your replies .

Andy

Oh and NO OS needed in budget, not sure whether it should run xp or vista x86

[staffsMike]

Suppose it could be cheaper but I'd feel a bit wrong going any further lol

[Cornholio]

LOL, celeron over a low end am2 ? biostar mobo ? (they not dog sh!te?)

[staffsMike]

Well you said low as possible lol

I would buy an AM2 based system yeah. 760G maybe, 5050e X2. Would probably bump that price £20 - £30.

Bigger HDD as well, that 80GB was a bit of a joke really lol

[Cornholio]

What about this ? I have a spare 320gb sata that i can chuck in, + i collect from scan so dont have to pay postage.

[staffsMike]

looks good to me

[Cornholio]

Was gonna opt for a 19" instead, but i dont think desk space permits. Will see if anything comes on today only tomorrow .

Cheers mike.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

This is what I would get:

Coolermaster Elite mATX case with 460w PSU ~ £54

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Coole...60W-PSU-Fitted

Asus M3N78-VM ~ £52

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-...-RAID-uATX-VGA

There are 760G and 780V based motherboards available at this price but they lack UVD and hence the 8200 will be better for playing HD stuff.

There is a 780G based motherboard which has 128mb of GDDR2 for the onboard graphics for around £55:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/JandW...RAID-uATX-HDCP

120mm fan ~ £5

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

2gb PC2-6400 RAM ~ £26

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/2GB-(...S-4-4-4-12-DHX

Running the RAM in dual channel will advantageous as it will improve performance.

DVD rewriter~ £17

http://www.scan.co.uk/Index.aspx?NT=1-0-7-489-0

Phenom II X2 7750+ ~ £46

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=933803

17" LCD monitor ~ £76

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/17-Ac...d-m-20001-VESA

Wireless keyboard and wireless laser mouse ~ £15

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Kensi...aser-Mouse-Set

With the free Scan postage the total should come to around £291.

[Lanky123]

Just to clarify - will the PC actually be running in the cupboard, or just stored there? If it'll be running in there I think it would be safer to stick with the lower wattage 5050e (45W versus 95W), otherwise it might get pretty toasty. Even with the 5050e it might be risky. If it's just for the tasks mentioned I doubt they'll miss the extra grunt.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If ventilation is a major issue I would go with an Intel based build instead.

You could go for a G41 based motherboard for around £47:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/JandW...TX-Onboard-VGA

The G41 has inferior performance to the 8200,8300,760G,780V and 780G though.

The E5200 can be had for around £52:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Intel...B-Cache-Retail

The X2 7750+ and 8200 will offer better stock performance than the E5200 and G41 IMHO but the E5200 has relatively low operating temperatures and power consumption.

[Cornholio]

Just to clarify - will the PC actually be running in the cupboard, or just stored there? If it'll be running in there I think it would be safer to stick with the lower wattage 5050e (45W versus 95W), otherwise it might get pretty toasty. Even with the 5050e it might be risky. If it's just for the tasks mentioned I doubt they'll miss the extra grunt.

It will be running in the cupboard buddy.

If ventilation is a major issue I would go with an Intel based build instead.

You could go for a G41 based motherboard for around £47:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/JandW...TX-Onboard-VGA

The G41 has inferior performance to the 8200,8300,760G,780V and 780G though.

The E5200 can be had for around £52:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Intel...B-Cache-Retail

The X2 7750+ and 8200 will offer better stock performance than the E5200 and G41 IMHO but the E5200 has relatively low operating temperatures and power consumption.

I still think the 5050e should suffice if cooled correctly, no extra expansion cards in there giving off anymore heat, literally just a HDD, ram, mobo, cpu and psu.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

It will be running in the cupboard buddy.



I still think the 5050e should suffice if cooled correctly, no extra expansion cards in there giving off anymore heat, literally just a HDD, ram, mobo, cpu and psu.

The E5200 still has lower power consumption.

The higher cache E7200 is more power efficient than the X2 5050e:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...er,2259-7.html

Since this is not an HTPC I would either go for the X2 7750+ for stock performance or the E5200 for effiency.

If you are going the AMD route the Nvidia 8200 has better graphics performance(like I said before) with HD acceleration unlike the 760G and 780V.

The 45nm Phenom II and Athlon II dual cores are also coming out next week and it would be usefl to see the power consumption figures for these new processors.

[geezerone]

Have you considered an ITX build?

[Lanky123]

Have you considered an ITX build?

It might end up being a bit expensive for him, if we're going in that direction then why not just a cheap laptop TBH?

[malfunction]

It might end up being a bit expensive for him, if we're going in that direction then why not just a cheap laptop TBH?

Yep - I was thinking the same thing. They can't use a laptop while leaving it to toast itself in a cupboard either.

[geezerone]

Yep - I was thinking the same thing. They can't use a laptop while leaving it to toast itself in a cupboard either.

The OP wishes to keep the machine running in the cupboard though.

An ITX Motherboard can be had for £58 with 1.6Ghz atom processor and a case about the same and so is a low-power option. They could try a netbook too which is a cheap(er) laptop.