500 squid 2 pc's

[Russ]

ok, i need 2 full systems, and have no more than 500 to play with, so 250 for each

the gfx aint gotta be spectacular, as its only for basic game playing and web design.

[Austin]

I'd imagine you'd want something like this...

CPU: Duron (266FSB) or slow TbredB AthlonXP.
MOBO: nForce2 IGP or cheap KT400-600 / SiS748 (with seperate gfx card).
RAM: 256MB (512MB if you eant to pay double) PC3200 (slower stuff hardly saves anything).
GFX: nForce2 IGP or GF4MX440, GF-FX5200, GF3, Rad9000-9200 or bargains GF4TI4200 (way better)
HD: 80GB (anything less has minimal savings)
CDRW: Anything with Buffer-Underun Protection

I think that's the main parts taken care of, £250 is a low budget!

[Loyal]

That is a tiny budget, would the the intergrated graphics on a Nforce2 be okay?

Please tell me you do not need moniters!!!!

Shuttle XPC SK41G (GPU & Sound inc) - £142
256mb of RAM - £31
Excelstor 60Gb 7200rpm - £43
AMD ATHLON XP1900+ 266MHz FSB - £37 (OEM fan with case)

£253 all from Ebuyer

You can save £10 by getting a duron, another £10 by getting a 20GB Harddisk! and maybe a few pence on some cheap ram.

You still need to get a OS, Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers and Moniter) I think £250 is just not realistic for a new system.

[Russ]

it aint gotta be amazing, that spangly duron from cpucity would be fine, and a mobo that is just good enough etc.

[Knoxville]

easy to do without screens

2 * JNC 4JA 8626 Blue ATX Midi Tower Case £35.70
2 * Asus A7N266-VM-SE SKT A Motherboard £67.98
2 * AMD DURON 1.6 £52.98
1 * Coolermaster Premium Thermal Compound kit £3.82
2 * Coolermaster DP5-6J31C Fan AMD Approved Upto XP & MP 2100 £8.40
2 * Crucial 256 DDR266 PC2100 £57.98
2 * Excelstor 60Gb 7200rpm ATA100 OEM IDE with 3year Warranty. £73.98
2 * Benq DVD Rom/16xDVD-ROM 48xcd-rom Ide Internal £43.60
2 * Inno3d ATI Radeon 7000 AGP 64MB DDR DVi With TV-Out £45.08
2 * All New Standard PS/2 Keyboard for Windows UK Version £3.10
2 * Kensington Scroll Mouse 2Btn PS2/USB £9.02

Grand total of.............. £482.75

inc vat + shipping

Add in 2 decent 17 inch monitors and it comes to £635.00

[Russ]

thats more like it knoxeh, i might be able to get cheapish monitors anyway.

[Knoxville]

Couple of refurbs from here might be worth a look - http://www.accomputerwarehouse.com/p...ished+Monitors

[malfunction]

I'd use basically the same stuff as Knox - but I'd drop the Duron down to a 1.4 and use the onboard GFX so that I could upgrade the HDD to a western digital and the case to an antec

2 x Asus A7N266-VM-SE                                                    £67.98 (ebuyer)
2 x Western Digital Caviar 60Gb 7200rpm UIDE Hard Drive - OEM            £79.98 (ebuyer)
2 x AMD DURON 1.4 - OEM                                                  £43.72 (ebuyer)
2 x Samsung 16x48 IDE DVD-ROM Drive - OEM                                £37.78 (ebuyer)
2 x Panasonic Floppy Drive 1.44mb - OEM                                  £ 9.38 (ebuyer)
2 x Coolermaster CP5-8JD1F-0L Upto XP3200+ Silent Skt A Heatsink & Fan   £11.98 (ebuyer)
2 x Corsair 256 DDR266 PC2100 DIMM                                       £53.88 (komplett)
2 x Antec Solution Slk1600 - Mini Tower - Beige - Power Supply 300 Watt  £78.00 (ebuyer)
2 x Memorex MX4000 2Btn PS2 White Box                                    £ 2.38 (ebuyer)
2 x Keyboard TS1098 105 Key PS2+Serial connectionsWindows - Retail Boxed £ 5.04 (ebuyer)

Total = £396.94 + VAT = £466.41

That's excluding delivery though - and gettting the RAM from komplett won't save you anything unless you're already ordering from them as you'll have more postage and packing to pay (for what it's worth you could order 2 x 256MB PC2100 from www.crucial.com/uk and save a whole £2 +VAT on the eBuyer price)

As has already been said you could bring the price down a bit by going for a 20GB HDD (would save you £19.98 + VAT to go to 2 x 20GB Seagate HDD on ebuyer) and if you ditched the FDDs you could get the price down by another £9.38 to £367.58 + VAT. If you add 2 dirt cheap monitors to that (2 x 15" Relisys TE555) The total *excluding* VAT is £484.06. Add VAT onto that though and you're still over £500 -- £568.78 -- and you'll still need an OS and other software.

[Austin]

Knoxville you did well to bring it in below £500. Rad7000 is abysmal even for basic gaming though as it offers perf below the GF2MX. Rad7500 is more in line with a GF2TI/GF4MX440 while Rad9000/9200 although roughly the same speed do add DX8.1. I would suggest looking to a Rad7500 (DX7), GF4MX (DX7), FX5200 (DX8&9), Rad9000-9200 (DX8) or if you can live with inferior stuff outside of gaming the GF2 or GF3. 64MB is well worth having too. You can get Crucial PC2700 for £33 or PC3200 for £34, it makes sense. It would only cost you an extra £12 to get TWO the nForce2 400 (400FSB Single Channel) from Dabs, they would allow you to really get great perf out of those Durons.

[malfunction]

Originally posted by Austin
Knoxville you did well to bring it in below £500. Rad7000 is abysmal even for basic gaming though as it offers perf below the GF2MX. Rad7500 is more in line with a GF2TI/GF4MX440 while Rad9000/9200 although roughly the same speed do add DX8.1. I would suggest looking to a Rad7500 (DX7), GF4MX (DX7), FX5200 (DX8&9), Rad9000-9200 (DX8) or if you can live with inferior stuff outside of gaming the GF2 or GF3. 64MB is well worth having too. You can get Crucial PC2700 for £33 or PC3200 for £34, it makes sense. It would only cost you an extra £12 to get TWO the nForce2 400 (400FSB Single Channel) from Dabs, they would allow you to really get great perf out of those Durons.

Austin - are you talking about those Biostar nForce2 mobos? I've just checked dabs and they're only £37.50 including VAT which makes them even cheaper than the nForce1 mobo Knox and I were pimping. Have you actually tried one out - any good? The reviews I've read seem to like it and for that price I'm very tempted to try one out.

[Knoxville]

After looking at a couple of suggestions and browsing ebuyer -

2 * MSI 745 Ultra Skt A D = £43.98
2 * AMD DURON 1.6/266FSB = £52.98
2 * Excelstor NEW ESJ340 40gb 7200rpm ATA100 OEM IDE with 3year Warranty = £69.90
2 * Samsung 16x48 IDE DVD-ROM Drive = £37.78
2 * Crucial 256 DDR333 PC2700 CL 2.5 DIMM = £59.22
2 * JNC 4JA 8850 Nokia Style Grey ATX Midi Tower Case 300w PSU = £30.22
2 * Hercules 3D Prophet 7500 128MB Dual Display With Games Package = £82.22
Antec Thermal Grease = £1.94
2 * Coolermaster CP5-6J31C Socket A Upto XP3000 AMD Approved = £9.92
2 * All New Standard PS/2 Keyboard for Windows UK Version = £3.10
2 * Belkin Combo Mouse USB & PS/2 With Scroll Wheel - White = £10.74

£480.47

[Austin]

malfunction unfortuantely I haven't had the personal pleasure of those cheap nForce2. However they are certified for 400FSB so even if they lack multiplier control (which I doubt) they shouldn't really limit your o/c esp since AGP/PCI can be locked. Of course you do lack Dual Channel ability and that knocks you 5%ish, but you're still as fast as KT600 and SiS748. I'm sure you won't get nVidia's full sound implimentation either but for UNDER £40 that's still amazing value. If I was building a budget-end PC for anyone that's what I'd personally choose, for the price I don't see how you can lose! I would however be cautious and choose a CPU with a good stock multiplier and voltage just in case the mobo is lacking in anything o/c'ing wise.