All round PC for £200?

[wzix]

Right guys, thanks for all the feedback!

Think I will start to buy tomorrow night, giving me time for a few last minute changes.

CPU:
AMD Athlon A2 X2 245 2.9GHz £46 or AMD Athlon II 425 X3 £54
Asus M4A78-VM, AMD 780G £48 I need the hdmi out, plus i presume the built in gfx on this are more than enough for it? (Im not use to buying built in mobo's)
2GB PC2-9200 DDR2 RAM £39 - Thanks for spotting this looks great, will the 9200 be ok on the mobo etc?
Coolermaster Elite 330 Case with PSU £51.99 - Thanks this looks perfect for my needs. Although I really wanted a small a case as possible?
Western Digital WD3200AAKS 320GB £33
Samsung SH-S223 22X £14.99

About £230 then, also will Windows 7 work fast on this?

thanks alot

wzix

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Right guys, thanks for all the feedback!

Think I will start to buy tomorrow night, giving me time for a few last minute changes.

CPU:
AMD Athlon A2 X2 245 2.9GHz £46 or AMD Athlon II 425 X3 £54
Asus M4A78-VM, AMD 780G £48 I need the hdmi out, plus i presume the built in gfx on this are more than enough for it? (Im not use to buying built in mobo's)
2GB PC2-9200 DDR2 RAM £39 - Thanks for spotting this looks great, will the 9200 be ok on the mobo etc?
Coolermaster Elite 330 Case with PSU £51.99 - Thanks this looks perfect for my needs. Although I really wanted a small a case as possible?
Western Digital WD3200AAKS 320GB £33
Samsung SH-S223 22X £14.99

About £230 then, also will Windows 7 work fast on this?

thanks alot

wzix

Get the Samsung F3 500GB it is a newer generation drive than the one you have chosen and is faster. I have one myself and it is a fantastic disk.

The X3 425 is well worth the extra outlay especially if you are multitasking!

Given a choice between the hard disk and the Athlon II X3 I would go for the X3 425.

The 8200 integrated graphics should be fine for HD video decoding:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/product...0_mgpu_us.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...eo,2030-7.html

[wzix]

Ok didn't realise the hard drive was new tech, in which case I'll include.

As for the 2 core vs 3 core, won't the 2 with 2.9 be quicker in general usage than the 3 with 2.4ghz?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Ok didn't realise the hard drive was new tech, in which case I'll include.

As for the 2 core vs 3 core, won't the 2 with 2.9 be quicker in general usage than the 3 with 2.4ghz?

The X3 425 is running at 2.7GHZ IIRC but the advantage of more cores is that if two are taken up with applications one will be free to do other stuff.

Also image editing,video encoding and audio encoding programmes seem to run better with triple and quad cores unless the dual core is clocked massively higher.

This review is useful to read and compares the X3 425 with the X2 250:

http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/cpu/am...25-435-p3.html

[dirky]

Plus, if you go with the recommended ASRock you *MIGHT* be able to unlock the other core on the 425

[wzix]

Thanks everyone once again.

Still unsure on the motherboard, as it looks like I'll be getting a large/normal size case a normal size motherboard is all thats needed. Ideally I'm looking for HDMI/Best GFX available/for sub £50 no need for overclocking.

thanks

[wzix]

Thinking now that I would prefer a smaller case.

Antec NSK 3480 MATX Micro with Eathwatts 380W £57.89 Looks Great http://www.coastwaycomputerstore.co....9%7D+micro+ATX

[dirky]

Scan have a good selection of Antec cases on todayonly

[Domestic_Ginger]

Thinking now that I would prefer a smaller case.

Antec NSK 3480 MATX Micro with Eathwatts 380W £57.89 Looks Great http://www.coastwaycomputerstore.co....9%7D+micro+ATX

there may be additional postage ontop; watch out!

[dangel]

Get the Samsung F3 500GB it is a newer generation drive than the one you have chosen and is faster. I have one myself and it is a fantastic disk.

So right - grabbed one for the media centre and just order two new ones for the main rig as a result.

[wzix]

Custom build or prebuild?

Currently my build
AMD Athlon II X3 425 / 2.7 GHz processor
ASUS M4A78-VM 780G Socket AM2+*
Samsung SH-S223 22X DVD
2GB Ram
Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB
Antec New Solution NSK3480-UK(case and psu)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium

is £314, before keyboard/mouse and delivery.

The main reason for the high cost is the £70 for an OEM Windows 7.

Meaning that this all inclusive http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/to...hs1&l=en&s=dhs for £299 delivered, saves the hassle.

Any other good pre-builds out there, or ideas on how to get windows cheaper?

thanks alot

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Custom build or prebuild?

Currently my build
AMD Athlon II X3 425 / 2.7 GHz processor
ASUS M4A78-VM 780G Socket AM2+*
Samsung SH-S223 22X DVD
2GB Ram
Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB
Antec New Solution NSK3480-UK(case and psu)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium

is £314, before keyboard/mouse and delivery.

The main reason for the high cost is the £70 for an OEM Windows 7.

Meaning that this all inclusive http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/to...hs1&l=en&s=dhs for £299 delivered, saves the hassle.

Any other good pre-builds out there, or ideas on how to get windows cheaper?

thanks alot

The Dell has a much smaller and slower hard disk and the X3 425 is a better choice for day to day use as it has an extra core. Also the custom build has a better case and probably a bigger PSU too.

If you are a student or work for the NHS you can Windows 7 cheaper IIRC!

[wzix]

The Dell has a much smaller and slower hard disk and the X3 425 is a better choice for day to day use as it has an extra core. Also the custom build has a better case and probably a bigger PSU too.

If you are a student or work for the NHS you can Windows 7 cheaper IIRC!

I'm a student, i'll look into it

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/128021

This looked great, but as you can see its gone!

any similar alternatives?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

This is the closest for a similar price:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/142405

The F3 is also out of stock on Ebuyer but available this weekend from Scan for a similar amount:

http://www.scan.co.uk/todayonly/index.aspx

Also the X3 435 is around £58 too this weekend on Scan. The 200MHZ higher clockspeed of the X3 435 is worth the extra £4 over the X3 425 IMHO.

You should also set up your free postage with Scan if you have not so already:

http://forums.hexus.net/scan-care-he...tup-guide.html

http://forums.hexus.net/scan-care-he...0-07-08-a.html

[wzix]

This is the closest for a similar price:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/142405

The F3 is also out of stock on Ebuyer but available this weekend from Scan for a similar amount:

http://www.scan.co.uk/todayonly/index.aspx

Also the X3 435 is around £58 too this weekend on Scan. The 200MHZ higher clockspeed of the X3 435 is worth the extra £4 over the X3 425 IMHO.

You should also set up your free postage with Scan if you have not so already:

http://forums.hexus.net/scan-care-he...tup-guide.html

http://forums.hexus.net/scan-care-he...0-07-08-a.html

Ok thanks,

the windows 7 student deal ended, other similar ones elsewhere sell an upgrade version. Not sure how well this would work for me though

[wzix]

Any cheaper RAM out there as its getting quite expensive?