[Self Build] Recommend a COMPLETE system for ~£500

Hi guys,

Just abit of background before we get to the nitty gritty...I previously had a desktop consisting of these specs:

AMD Athlon XP 2800... and recently the PC decided to 'blow up' thus rendering it useless. The system was unstable for the past weeks with random crashes/freezing even during tasks such as youtubing. But one day it just died with 2 boom sounds coming from the system. I thought about repairing it but to be honest the components are so outdated I questioned whether this was worth doing...

I have about £500 to spend (ideally lower bound) and wish to assemble a system myself from scratch. I'm not an "expert" so to speak in this sort of field although I did build my previous system but that was a long time ago...hence I am out of touched with the current state of the PC world.

The User Requirements:
- Internet
- Streaming
- Gaming (Wishing to try out games like COD4 and above if budget of £500 allows...)
- Music/Video (Not editing)
- General office stuff...

Components Required:
- Case (Something that has a easily accessible layout)
- Motherboard (Built in soundcard, ethernet etc preferred)
- CPU
- Ram
- Hard Drive
- Monitor
- Graphics Card
- Ethernet
- PSU
- Keyboard (I have a good mouse already)
- 2.1 Speakers

Components I have already:
- 250GB MAXTOR IDE
- Mouse
- 17inch CRT
- DVD / CD Drive IDE

A quick question: As my prevoius PC went bust, I am unable to extract my personal data from the 250GB. Once a new system is built, would I still be able to access the data in that hard drive because newer mobos will surely not support IDE connection anymore for HD?

Another note, I am not really a perfectionist in PC systems hence if I had a choice of performance or value I would pick value so activities like overclocking would be out of the question for me. Btw, I'm open to suggestions on "PRE BUILT" systems exc monitor if price is right and has decent reviews...

Woah, this was a long post, thanks for reading and looking forward to all your expert advice!

LT

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LTP

A quick question: As my prevoius PC went bust, I am unable to extract my personal data from the 250GB. Once a new system is built, would I still be able to access the data in that hard drive because newer mobos will surely not support IDE connection anymore for HD?

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You would be surprised how many motherboards still offer IDE and Floppy support, to my knowledge at least the only boards i've seen that don't support them are intels own range :)

Do you need to purchase a copy of an OS??

- Case:
Casecom 6788 for cheapness and quality, check Pob255's review to see if it's right for you
Casecom 6788
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/172779
£24.99

- Motherboard (Built in soundcard, ethernet etc preferred)
Pretty much every mobo comes with built in sound and ethernet.
MSI 770-C45
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/165438
£46.57

- CPU
You won't really need a quad core or anything so a high end dual core will be good. As you won't be overclocking this will do very good:
AMD Phenom II X2 545
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/168972
£64.80

- Ram
4GB will be easily enough.
Crucial 4GB DDR3 1333Mhz CL7
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/179278
£74.98
(You should be able to find better RAM than this but sourcing from different websites is not exactly the best idea)

- Hard Drive
Not sure how much you want.
WD 500GB Blue - £35.42
Samsung F3 1TB - £66.68

- Monitor
Not sure what screen size you're looking at. Could go with 19" or there's some good value 22" monitors too.
Digimate L-1935WD 19" - £77.99
Philips 220SW9FB/05 22" - £111.99
LG W2242S-PF 22" - £113.52

- Graphics Card
ATI HD5770 will be very good for you. Not the best bang for buck atm but it's hard right now as Nvidia haven't really been good value lately and the high end ATI 4000 series is being phased out. It will be able to play every game you throw at it on the best settings though mostly, especially things such as COD4 easily.
PowerColor HD 5770 Play Edition 1GB
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/185910
£113.39

- Ethernet
Not sure what you mean as pretty much every motherboard has onboard ethernet.

- PSU
OCZ StealthXStream 500W will definitely be enough
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135159
£49.05

- Keyboard (I have a good mouse already)
Not sure what exactly you're looking for in a keyboard but try this:
OCZ Alchemy Series Elixir
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149237
£12.99

- 2.1 Speakers
I'm not familiar with speakers at all but here's some budget ones:
Logitech X-210 25W RMS - £24.99
Logitech Z323 30W RMS - £39.99

Total price: £525.17 if you take the cheapest options (so that's 500GB, 19" monitor and the weaker speakers. Up the monitor, HDD and speakers and it'll be £605.43

If you wanna get it down more you could go for AMD Athlon X2 245 2.9Ghz at £43.89 and the total will be £504.26.

If the HDD is not destroyed, you can easily just copy the data from the HDD as motherboards nowadays still have an IDE connector but only 1 usually. However that means you're gonna have to leave your DVD drive unconnected for now.

Hope this helped.

EDIT: Forgot about the OS. Will leave it to the hands of CAT as he is here now :)

If I think about it, you should be able to reuse your old OS hopefully, provided it isn't Windows 98. XP is better than Vista in my eyes although Windows 7 takes the good from both worlds in my opinion. IDE drives are pretty slow though and if you wanted to upgrade to an OS later it's quite a lot of hassle as there's lots of backing up involved in my opinion.

Hi m8,

This list includes a Windows 7 HP hence, went over the your budget by 10%

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l1...1/Untitled.jpg

Edit: Added AMD Build

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l123/eCka21/2.jpg

P45 is way overkill for non overclocking system. He wanted a new monitor too I believe as it was under his required parts although he had a CRT monitor but honestly nowadays who uses CRT monitors?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ulti

- CPU
You won't really need a quad core or anything so a high end dual core will be good. As you won't be overclocking this will do very good:
AMD Phenom II X2 545
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/168972
£64.80

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Fair enough, but I'd go for the Athlon II X4 620 for just over a fiver more from Scan...a quad core might be overkill and somewhat slower on some games but I'd say it's the smarter choice for the future as more games will be designed to make use of more cores.

To be fair though, I don't game, so my knowledge is limited.

E6300 Is over-priced as well IMO - may as well stick with the E5xxx range.

Third attempt, no OS tho :( You also might be lucky enough to unlock 2 more cores that is dormant on that Phenom II X2 550BE :D

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l123/eCka21/3.jpg

This is what I would get:

AMD Phenom II X3 710 ~ £84

http://www.svp.co.uk/technology/comp...etail-box.html

OR

AMD Phenom II X4 945 ~ £114

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

MSI 770-C45 ~ £47

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/165438

4GB DDR3 ~ £75

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173933

Corsair HX450W ~ £52

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

Casecom 6788 ~ £25

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/172779

HD5770 ~ £113

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/185910

Samsung F3 500GB ~ £37

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/500Gb...-Cache-8ms-OEM

Windows 7 ~ £70

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173791

The OP also should check out the free postage they can get from Scan for being a Hexus member with over 20 posts.

With the Phenom II X3 710 the build should be around £500 excluding a keyboard. I would be looking to get a triple or quad core processors if the build is meant to last a few years without any CPU upgrade.

I would also look to get a monitor at a later date as it would be better to get a decent build spec first.

I agree with Cats and Ultis idea to go AM3 to let you upgrade processor in the future. Andtech have a benchmark to compare most processors that you might find handy.

http://anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=84&p2=105

Seeing as you dont do any video editing or rendering the Phenom II X3 710 that Cat suggested is a better idea for gaming. I carnt complain with the performance of mine.

The OP isn't even playing the newest games though so I doubt anything more than a fast dual core is needed.

Unless he wasnt playing the latest games as the previous computer could not handle them? But somthing better than a fast dual core might come in handy further down the line if you dont upgrade often. But if you do upgrade often then mayby it is better to go for a fast dual core and then upgrade to somthing more beefier 6 or 12 months down the line.

Thank you guys for the quick and informative advice! Looking at all these components just makes me feel so outdated lol.

Gona have an indepth read through at all the options before I commit to a purchase but its been a good read so far...

On the subject of O/S and Gaming, I already have a genuine copy Windows XP which I intend to use. Not sure whether it's worth forking out the 60 or 70 odd quid for windows 7 (software compatability issues?). If its worth it, I might get my uni friends to get it for me as MS are doing a £30 for students!
As for gaming, wouldn't consider myself a hardcore gamer, just the occasional boot up to release some stress really...

I'd say it's worth it for W7, especially if you can get it for £30.

Considering the OP has an XP2800 it indicates they probably want to keep the system for at least three to four years at least before a major upgrade.

If the OP is only gaming occasionally then even this graphics card will do the job:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/512MB...-DVI-I-HDMI-DP

Also getting an el cheapo monitor is not worth the effort IMHO. A decent 20" or 22" monitor which has DVI is over £100 so it would be not worth downgrading the spec of the PC to incorporate the cheapest possible LCD monitor.

Didn't think about leaving the monitor upgrade for later.

To be honest, I don't know anything about monitors, I "thought" I read somewhere that DGM were ok though but I guess they're not.

Well if the OP won't upgrade in a long time then a quad core would be good I guess.

Personally, I like CRT monitors and I'd suggest you hold on to yours until it plain stops working - in which case you could even go for a HD4670 for ~ £50 and get an adequate gaming experience on your existing monitor. You could then review the options for both a new monitor and a GPU upgrade to go with it in a year or two.

If you get a new monitor now, then I'd definitely second CATs suggestion of a 512MB 5750 - they're very good value @ £85