MORE MONEY than sence !!!

[grayg1]

Is there not a server that could be upgraded?

[KeyboardDemon]

Hmmm.... I went for a not completely all nuts build, but seeing as you're all talking about doing a commodity rig and charging mega bucks for it, this might be out of place now, but here goes all the same:

Case: Corsair Obsidian 900D Super Tower - £289.08
CPU: Intel Core i7 3970X Extreme Hex Core SB-E @ 3.5ghz £824.98
Motherboard: Asus Rampage IV Extreme - £321.35
Memory: 16gb (4x4gb) Corsair DDR3 Dominator GT 2133mhz - £196.99
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i Hydro Series - £91.32
GPU: 2x 6gb Asus Radeon HD 7990 Ares II Limited Edition with Hybrid Cooling - £2389.90
SSD/Boot drive: 256gb Plextor M5 Pro £177.90
HDD/Storage: 2tb WB Caviar Black - £126.24
PSU: 1200W Corsair Digital AX1200i Full Modular - £238.94

This leaves only just enough change for monitor, keyboard and mouse.

Total = £4,699.95 from Scan.

[finlay666]

*Flamehat on*
Buy a Mac
*Flamehat off*

Nah you could make an epic system there with the money, some great options

I'd go with the above but go for a single GPU like a 7990, then spend the rest on a huge monitor set up (2x27" dells say), another SSD as a cache drive so you get really blistering performance

[jimbouk]

then spend the rest on a huge monitor set up (2x27" dells say)

Oooo, good idea. I'd got with a 30" centre screen then a couple of smaller screens rotated on each side.

[finlay666]

Oooo, good idea. I'd got with a 30" centre screen then a couple of smaller screens rotated on each side.

well 2 2560x1440 screens will set you back under a grand on the right day for Dells, then the 30" in the middle, that would be pretty epic when set up given how much space I have on just one with a 22" next to it!

[badass]

What that generally means is you get a lot of large capital spending around this time every year. This is actually *good* the country and the economy, as that money gets ploughed into a variety of retail and service industries. The way to stimulate an economy is not to starve it of money - whatever successive governments may have told us. The bottom line is that there is £5000 in a public service budget that has already been allocated - the public won't get that money back, so yes, it should be spent in the year to help stimulate the economy, and to provide goods and services that will be beneficial to the service spending the money. The OP has already pointed out that he won't be buying a £5000 PC - he'll be recommending other, better, uses of the money. And if he did find a way to spend it all, within the UK, on a super-duper PC? I wouldn't blame him at all.

The same arguments you use can be used to justify employing people to litter the streets and people to follow them picking it up.
What would be far better for the economy would be that money being spent on something more useful.
For example, if this money were not to be spent on something pointless, it could be allocated towards infrastructure upgrades/updates that boost real commerce.
Unfortunately I doubt the OP will want to put their neck on the line any more than their boss will as it won't help their career at all doing the right thing and in these uncertain times, i'd not want to rock the boat too much.