Prebuilt budget system (< £500)

My sister is looking for a new comp (well new base unit..shes keeping the monitor etc). Self build is not an option.

this is the best i've found so far at £499
http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=122435&cks=PRL

I cant find out much about that epox mobo :confused: and wonder about the 9200 gfx card. She is unlikely to care much about FPS but I'd like it to have at least *some* futureproofing.
I cant understand why they put 256MB ram on a slow card. Wierd.

I've looked around and it seems the best, I looked on scans site but couldnt find anything comparable. I'm trying to choose somewhere i've bought from myself so I at least know she isnt paying money to some dodgy geezer who has thrown up a website.

Comet are flogging an HP system for £399 inc vat & 17" monitor at the mo (Prolly a Celery, but still damned cheap if you don't want to go the DIY route)..

Linky: http://www.comet.co.uk/comet/html/cache/349_183296.html

I've just built a system for £400 with slightyly better spec to that one from komplett.. Are you positive self-build isn't possible? Because theres a big saving available at that level, even if you get someone else to build it for you.

I can build one myself no probs but my sis lives a few hundred miles away and isnt up to it herself. Plus that way I dont become liable for every little thing that ever goes wrong with it ;)

The comet one is ok but she has a LCD monitor already and wants a bigger HD than that.

cheers guys.

With self build you can avoid that next to useless graphics card and get a half decent system.
£500 is a decent amount and would get you a decent system.

Off the top of my head decent case and board £110, say an Abit NForce2 and case with a decent 400watt PSU
Xp 2500 £60
512mb ram PC 3200 £80 (if you had built this a month ago more like £60 but it will go higher) from crucial can get cheaper but lets not skimp.
DVD ROM www.aria.couk. £20
Cd/RW £25
120gb Hard drive £55

ok what does that come to say around £350 so you have say £120 to buy an FX 5700 Ultra and £30 for bits and bobs such as heatsink fans etc.

This is a far superior pC to that from Komplett the only hole in my argument is that there is no OS but I'm sure with some hunting around you could save the odd tenner here and their on the prices I've mentioned and scrape together £60 for a copy of XP.

But hey it's for your sister and I'm sure you don't want her getting a better system than yours so stick with Komplett after all!!!

Look into building it for her and then shipping it to her...?

no cos hes right, as soon as you do that you are 24-7 tech support on it lol

Been there, done that.

m@

p.s. Dell have some pretty hot offers on right now..... ok so it comes with a monitor, but call them and see if they will take it off and how much you will save....

You guys are great at solving the wrong problem, i;lll give you that much ;)

said in jest so dont flame me :)

oh crap yeah, dell outlet, you can get a pretty decent baseunit there for not too much £££, completely forgot about that.. *doh*

Quote:

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Originally Posted by m@ttz

no cos hes right, as soon as you do that you are 24-7 tech support on it lol

Been there, done that.

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Oh yeah.
I built her last comp a few years ago.
Once she brought it the 200 miles for me to fix it. It wouldnt boot up properly. After reseating all the cards and thereby getting it to work it transpired her daughter had kicked it. She was insistent that wasnt what caused it - yeah right :rolleyes:

not just thier outlet stuff, their normal stuff is speced better than the Komplett stuff and it comes with a 3 yr warranty!!! On site too, dammit Dell you don't make it easy for us system builders....

m@

i'm looking at dell now thanks for the tip. Only thing I cant seem to be able to choose a system without a monitor.

or i'm being a retard lol

no new systems you can't, cos the sites built for people who don;t always have a clue what they want, you know, Dell are afraid of sending people systems and then they get a call saying there is no screen lol

try the outlet, you might need to choose a system online in the normal section and call them and ask them to do it without monitor. I know they do as we got a delivery of 9 boxes and one monitor coming to my mates business, hes got an 'idea' apparently.

www.novatech.co.uk

I think Lidl have some instore bargains, but thats too vague a tip to be worth anything...

Thanks for the comment RE: solving the wrong problem. We do try :D

hehe a little friendly ribbing from me :)

some good info so far. Novatech looks good too.

I had a nightmare with Novatech's customer support when a board developed a fault, then once they had finally sent it board back two months had passed.. then it died again..
The stupid **** that reassembled the unit had just pulled the heatsink off the processor, not bothered to clean the fragtape off, and just squirted some cheap compound in the hole that was left.. one dead cooked processor.. needless to say I've not used them again.

ah ok - duly noted.

Of course it was probably just an isolated incident, but I'd rather not take the chance again..

I flippin well hate shopping for ready built systems because you so totally don't know what you are buying most of the time. I stopped building PC's for other people because it's bad enough keeping my own PC's working. I know exactly where you're coming from with this problem. I suggest you source a PC from a supplier close to where your sister lives because it's less hassle for you and for her. In Leeds I send friends to Evesham, Mesh or CCL not because they have the best PC's but because thay are local and they can simply take the PC back to the shop if they have a problem and it isn't PCworld. Missing days at work for deliveries, dealing with RMA procedures or paying extra for on-site warranty from the likes of Dell is cr4p IMO. If you don't want the monitor on a Dell system they will probably knock £1 or maybe £2 of the price... I find them to be good like that. Hope that helps and if I knew what city your sister lives in or nearest to then I may be able to recommend a supplier.

Will i be flamed if i suggest PC World?

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/sto...fm=0&sm=1&tm=1

Isn't too bad.

&*&^£$ hate session based sites like thiers....you won;t get flamed for suggesting them, you might get poked and laughed at tho :P nah, their units ain't that bad, but you always get at least one component in there you would have to replace immediately just to make it a good system, usually the graphics card....

m@