£400 Computer

[Haiku32]

A friend of mine wants to build his own computing and has asked me to recommend the parts. He had a budget of around £400, which just includes the computer, no monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc required. It's a tight budget, but he wants to use it primarily for gaming, surfing and listening to music. So far, I have specced:

CPU - AMD Phenom II 3.1gHz - £73.37
Heatsink - Scythe Mini Ninja - £28.16
RAM - 4GB Corsair DDR2 - £36.97
GPU - Gigabyte HD4850 512mb - £123.97
HDD - 320GB Samsung - £33.67
Case - Coolmaster RC-330 - £28.97
PSU - 530W Hiper - £45.99

Which leaves about £30 for motherboard and dvd writer. I'm pretty rubbish at this, what mobo would you recommend? Any changes?

Thanks!

Doh, haven't even thought about an OS, pretty sure he would use Vista 64bit.

[Cornholio]

£30 for a mobo and dvd rw...christ. Thats like £15 for a mobo after the dvd-rw has been bought.

DONT get the hiper psu, there are better things on the market nowadays, go corsair, tagan, silverpower, enermax.

as for gfx...you can pick up a 1gb 4890HD from scan now for around £130 so ide be putting that in instead of a 4850. Dont even contemplate a 4850 at that price.

[Cornholio]

Also, what is he upgrading from, never considered any used components ?

Could pick up some nice bits cheap.

[Haiku32]

Haha should have said, I'm not looking for a £30 mobo, just asking what I can save on to fit in the price of a motherboard .

So 1GB 4890HD - £129.95, 550W Corsair - £63.88.

Hmm, think I'll need to totally rethink this. Probably have to get a less powerful CPU and graphics card if he wants it all for £400.

His current computer is about 5 years old and can barely do anything, couldn't salvage anything from it I doubt.

[Pob255]

The 4850 is fine for the majority of games up to 1680x1050 (22" widescreen)
But don't go for that 4850, it's way too pricy, granted it's a good cooler
Instead look at the xfx £80
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512MB...VI-XXX-EDITION
or Sapphire Vapor-x £86 which is a very good cooler
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/161309
Or even the 4830 which is still good will easly cope with 1440x900 or 1280x1024 (17"-19")
MSI £67
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/168791

For cooler don't bother with the mini-ninja that's not a thin case, instead look ate the Akasa nero AK-967
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Akasa...-120mm-PWM-fan
However the Black edition AMDs come with very good stock coolers, so I not bother with an aftermarket cooler, only get one later if you're not happy with the stock cooler.

That's knocked £65-85 off the total

I'd agree with PSU, look for something else, 400-450w should be fine
I sugest
The FSP Blue storm 2, it's not the newest of psu's but it's still a good one
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/400W-...-plus-dual-12V
Silver storm Strider, again not the newest but still good
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/400W-...an-(22-dBA-min)
Silverpower SP-SS400 (made by seasonic), silverpower is still a new name in the psu market and they commisioned seasonic to make this good value psu
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/400w-...2V-6Serial-ATA

For modular PSU have a look at the new Corsair 450HX
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/450W-...-year-Warranty

Oh and always remember to check scan's today only offers before buying
That memory you listed and the corsair 450HX are both a couple of quid cheaper there atm.

Over on ebuyer again
Enermax Pro82+ 425w
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/144083
OCZ 400w StealthXStreme
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152505
OCZ 400w ModXStreme (modular)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152509

EDIT: cpu, you could probably happly drop down to the 250, 245 or 240 which would save another £17-30
CAT-THE-FITH regulary recogmends the Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3 motherboard (I think that's the one)
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigab...D3-Motherboard
Although the Gigabyte GA-MA770-US3 would be better if you can find it as it's the same but with the better 710 south bridge

[gingerBen]

Here you go.

[AGxM]

Oooh will watch this thread with interest as I think my old machine is wheezing its last, the dvd rw has given up, and it wont boot without going into the boot menu.

Had my eye on a Phenom II 550 and that Gigabyte mobo Pob mentions with a similar budget hopefully.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The 4850 is fine for the majority of games up to 1680x1050 (22" widescreen)
But don't go for that 4850, it's way too pricy, granted it's a good cooler
Instead look at the xfx £80
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512MB...VI-XXX-EDITION
or Sapphire Vapor-x £86 which is a very good cooler
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/161309
Or even the 4830 which is still good will easly cope with 1440x900 or 1280x1024 (17"-19")
MSI £67
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/168791

For cooler don't bother with the mini-ninja that's not a thin case, instead look ate the Akasa nero AK-967
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Akasa...-120mm-PWM-fan
However the Black edition AMDs come with very good stock coolers, so I not bother with an aftermarket cooler, only get one later if you're not happy with the stock cooler.

That's knocked £65-85 off the total

I'd agree with PSU, look for something else, 400-450w should be fine
I sugest
The FSP Blue storm 2, it's not the newest of psu's but it's still a good one
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/400W-...-plus-dual-12V
Silver storm Strider, again not the newest but still good
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/400W-...an-(22-dBA-min)
Silverpower SP-SS400 (made by seasonic), silverpower is still a new name in the psu market and they commisioned seasonic to make this good value psu
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/400w-...2V-6Serial-ATA

For modular PSU have a look at the new Corsair 450HX
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/450W-...-year-Warranty

Oh and always remember to check scan's today only offers before buying
That memory you listed and the corsair 450HX are both a couple of quid cheaper there atm.

Over on ebuyer again
Enermax Pro82+ 425w
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/144083
OCZ 400w StealthXStreme
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152505
OCZ 400w ModXStreme (modular)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152509

EDIT: cpu, you could probably happly drop down to the 250, 245 or 240 which would save another £17-30
CAT-THE-FITH regulary recogmends the Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3 motherboard (I think that's the one)
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigab...D3-Motherboard
Although the Gigabyte GA-MA770-US3 would be better if you can find it as it's the same but with the better 710 south bridge

Great recommendations(as usual) and yep that is the right motherboard and the right revision too. The second revision has the SB710 southbridge and ACC.

I would look at the following:

Phenom II X3 720 ~ £92

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/159071

Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3 revision 2 ~ £56

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigab...D3-Motherboard

4gb PC2-8500 RAM ~ £37

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/4GB-(...S-5-6-6-18-EPP

HD4870 512mb ~ £92

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/167332

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/169206

Samsung 320gb F1 ~ £34

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/320-G...MB-Cache-89-ms

Corsair HX450 ~ £55

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152606

Coolermaster Elite 330 ~ £29

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Coole...Scan-Exclusive

The total comes to around £395 . You will have to budget in a DVD rewriter too so you maybe slightly over budget at around £410 to £415. Remember to check the Today Only and Shop Offers pages on Scan for more offers too.

Also Windows 7 RC1 can be used until early next year for free.

[j.o.s.h.1408]

i would build this. just a tad over budget but good anyway

[Cornholio]

i would build this. Just a tad over budget but good anyway

no......

[marksct]

no......

agreed. why would you spend £100 on a case, when the budget is £400???

stick with the AMD x3 as suggested by cat. i will be building a similar build myself for the same kind of budget in the next few weeks

[AGxM]

I'm looking at this little lot - unsure as teh the GPU as I'm not a gamer.

4GB (2x2GB) CorsairTwinX XMS3, DDR3 PC3-10666 (1333) 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24
Silverstone PS02B Precision Black Mid Tower Case w/o PSU
AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition, Callisto, S AM3, 3.1GHz, 7MB Total Cache HT 4000MHz, 85W, Retail
1TB Seagate ST310005N1D1AS-RK Barracuda 7200.11, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.5 ms, NCQ
450W Corsair CMPSU-450HXUK, Modular, Sli, ATX, EPS12V PS/2, 20/24 pin, 5 year Warranty
512MB Sapphire HD 4870, PCI-E 2.0, 3600MHz GDDR5, GPU 750MHz, 800 Cores, 2x DL DVI-I/ HDTV, HDCP
or
1GB XFX HD 4850, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), 1986MHz GDDR3, GPU 625MHz, 800 Cores, 2x DL DVI-I/ HDTV, HDCP

Comes to approx £440 ish

Is the X3 720 worth the extra £30 or so?

Apologies to OP if hijacking his thread

[Cornholio]

Nowt wrong with the 4870's.