Custom built PC for £450... help!

[JimNastics]

My bro has asked me to build him a PC with a budget of £450, and I'm struggling a little as I'm used to spending a bit more on my own PCs. He'll mainly use the PC for work (MS Office apps basically), maybe some gaming every now and then, and for his iPod addiction. Now he could probably spend less and have a PC that would still do what he wants, but hey he might as well get the best he can afford... a theory I've often heard on here. I would like some guidance as to what components I should be looking at, any help appreciated!

I've been an AMD boy since I built my first ever machine, so will more than likely go down that route. Should I be looking at old Athlon XPs (Ebuyer have lots of 2500+ still in stock) or the current range of Semprons (SoA)? Any recommendations for good budget socket A mobos?

What's a good budget GFX card these days? I'm an Nvidia fanboy if it helps

Is there any point getting 1gb RAM or will 512mb be plenty?

And finally, can anyone recommend a good range of budget cases - all the leading retailers seem to stock hundreds of their own brands, anyone had any good experiences with any of them?

Thanks for your help in advance,
Tim

[ed^chigliak]

a64 3000+ £90
an8-v £70
original game bomb £20
enermax 370w £40
6600gt £110
HDD £60
RAM £60

= £450

[menthel]

You wil have to add the price for the operating system, office etc too.

[Jonny]

Do you need monitor/keyboard/mouse?

[autopilot]

a64 3000+ £90
an8-v £70
original game bomb £20
enermax 370w £40
6600gt £110
HDD £60
RAM £60

= £450

Spot the missing componant But otherwise a good selection. I would probably get a cheap Case with PSU. Aria did one for £15 (yes yes, cheap PSU's, i know). Then spend the extra on more RAM. But if he needs a mouse/keyboard/monitor then that throws a spanner in.

But to be honest, thats the price bracket i think it's better to take a look at prebuilt systems from Dell etc. Or even some of the systems my local Tesco had in the other day. Silly deals, almost bought one myself.

[Firelord]

Ignore what dom just said about using a case with an included '400w' PSU and instead get something a little more decent.

Do you need OS/Office etc?

Product Name

Price

Total

512MB DDR400 PC3200 RAM
Biostar iDEQ 210P Barebone system nForce3,
AMD Sempron 2800+ Retail Box inc Fan
Powercolor ATI Radeon 9250 128MB DDR 8xAGP
160 GB Maxtor DiamondMax 10 SATA
NEC ND-3540 16x16 Dual Layer Black DVD +/- R/RW

Comes to £330 inc VAT and you could prob get a TFT included into that. I have built plenty of these types of systems (15+) for friends and clients and work so well as office machines and the 310p is a nice upgradeable system

[JimNastics]

Thanks for the replies guys! Yes I forgot to say, he would like a 17" TFT built into that - I'm looking at the Aria £120 jobbies. Also the mouse and keyboard need to be included in the £450 as well, although he wouldn't be too fussy about those. Software isn't a problem though, he's already got everything he wants.

I'll have a good look at all your suggestions, but like some of you said the fact that it needs to include a monitor / keyboard / mouse kinda mucks things up a bit!! Keep 'em coming...

[darrensen]

If he could stretch £50 you could get this......not a bad deal i think

http://www.meshcomputers.com/updated/matrix_1_1.htm

[Wyoming]

As your brother is not likely to be overclocking (I assume as this is not a high performance system) then buy unbranded RAM, as more expensive RAM is only useful for overclocking giving an unproportional increase to speed to the money spent. Therefore you can have 1GB of unbranded RAM for £50.

My PC (not the one I'm using) was built by myself for about £300 so I'm no stranger to budget buying. I suggest the Coolermaster Centurion 5 (about £40) would be the way to go if your brother is planning on upgrading as it is very builder friendly. Otherwise, if this will all be put together and then left, a cheaper case could be used.

I think a GeForce FX5200 128MB (about £30) would be most suitable for this system, especially if your preference would be Nvidia (I am not biased on this issue, my PCs and consoles contain a mixture of ATI and Nvidia chips).

I think a Sempron would be most suitable for the applications your brother is hoping to run and £70 of your budget would be best spent on the specific model of your choice.

I think the rest is pretty basic, just choose a compatible motherboard which is cheap and reliable. Any drives you might need (about £40), an 80GB HDD and Windows XP home should be £80. The Hiper 425W Gold Dual Fan PSU is reliable for a stock system and is only £40 and would support future upgrades.

I make that £350 and the motherboard. So there should be a remainder of £50 for accessories and/or possibly software.

[Mike Fishcake]

Feh. Spend £350 on PC components and buy an Xbox for the gaming

[webbyman]

blah ignore them go for second hand components and you get get a nice set up for £450 also can't you share your xp version with your bro?

[Dougal]

also can't you share your xp version with your bro?

Not legal, not allowed to discuss.

[mosherben]

AMD Sempron 2800 RET
MSI K7N2 Delta2 Platinum
512MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (DDR400)
nVidia GeForce FX 5200 128MB DDR
15" Digimate Widescreen TFT
200GB Seagate Barracuda7 SATA[8MB]
Sony 52X32X52X16 Combo Black
Generic Multimedia Keyboard - Black
Generic PS2 Scroll Mouse Black
Alpine EZ Cool Midi Case Black 400W

Total: £448

For me, this is a good system for the budget, You get a DVD player as well. Used Aria for it.

EDIT: Typo..

[ed^chigliak]

nforce 3 - £50
a64 2800+ £70
9800pro £80
hdd £40 80gb
ram £30 512mb
game bomb £20
enermax PSU £40
TFT £120

Prices rounded up so enough for a cheapo keyboard and mouse. It's ATI but hey they're cool too.

= £450

[theuncharmed]

nforce 3 - £50
a64 2800+ £70
9800pro £80
hdd £40 80gb
ram £30 512mb
game bomb £20
enermax PSU £40
TFT £120

Prices rounded up so enough for a cheapo keyboard and mouse. It's ATI but hey they're cool too.

= £450

Thats what I've recently put together for a friend - works a treat and plays HL2 at mid to high settings quite happily