Help me spec a pc for £200 (for my dad)

[aeronic]

Ok, so I have a lovely (albeit quite old now pc) that comprises antec psu, asus p5k mobo, and intel Q6600, hdd, dvdrw etc.

My dad has an OLD amd XP2100+ system that is in need of updating. For approx £150 if it can be done.

No problems with the case
I think he'll need a psu upgrade from his tsunami 350W.
The 160GB hdd (IDE) he's got will be fine.

So we need:

Mobo - onboard gfx or cheapy pci-e, must have IDE.
CPU - nothing fancy (retail fan is fine - no oc here)
PSU - I dont think an upgrade path is necessary, so was thinking of about 400W but a decent make/efficiency
DVDRW - I know these are dirt cheap (£15-20)

Thank you in advance for your suggestions.
ps. are those ebuyer bare-bone pc's terrible?

[mrt9888]

I am going to make a similar PC and I found some cheap motherboards that should be what you are looking for;

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Sapph...-RAID-mATX-VGA

or for a 780 G chipset:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/160999...oduct_overview

they both have one IDE port so should enough for that old hard drive, and since you will be getting a new drive get an SATA one.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

This is what I would get:

Athlon II X2 240 ~ £43

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-A...che-65W-Retail

Asus M3N78-VM ~ £49

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

There is also Abit A-N78HD for around £46 but support is probably quite poor now.

4gb PC2-8500 DDR2 ~ £34

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

SATA DVD rewriter ~ £16

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

Coolermaster Elite 340 and 460w PSU ~ £50

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=944400

The total cost should be under £200.

[staffsMike]

I wouldn't buy barebones if you're capable of building a PC, plus you already have a case.

The saphire board from above is obviously dirt cheap and is reasoanbly good, the only limiting factor is the graphics being a bit basic. That's not to say they aren't capable of everything a general user will need to do but for things like HD playback (which it will do have no fear) it will lean quite heavily on the CPU.

Nvidia 8200 or AMD 780G boards are far better in this respect but if HD is not on the cards then the sapphire is a good way to go.

CPU wise, a nice Athlon II will do the job brilliantly
http://www.scan.co.uk/Index.aspx?NT=1-0-10-626-0

Pick to suit your budget really although the cheapest is still a great CPU.

I have one of these running a very similar PC to you
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/450W-...PLUS-certified

but I would prehaps go for this instead,
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152509

It has modular cabling and a great swap out warranty

Stick to LG dvd writers imo, they are very reliable and quiet in my most recent experience.

[aeronic]

Thanks for the help - I think ill go for a 780 chipset, as my dad just got a HD video recorder - and it would be nice to be able to play stuff back

My only concern is the PSU - I don't want to under-spec it.

Thanks.

[staffsMike]

Anything over 300 Quality watts wouldn't be underspeccing

I would get CATs board from above or this one then
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-...-uATX-VGA-HDMI

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Thanks for the help - I think ill go for a 780 chipset, as my dad just got a HD video recorder - and it would be nice to be able to play stuff back

My only concern is the PSU - I don't want to under-spec it.

Thanks.

The Nvidia 8200 has better video decoding capabilities than the 740G,760G and 780V. Make sure you go for the 780G and the motherboard staffsMike suggested is excellent.

The 460w PSU in the Elite 340 will be fine for a low powered build like this. Anything over 300w will do the job too as long as the unit is decent.

Here is a review of the PSU:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/550