Budget Build - Suggestions Please.

Rip_Uk

Rip_Uk

Active Member
Im putting together a cheap machine for my girlfriend that will be doing basic things:

looking on internet/email/msn etc.
listening to music
watching dvds, .avi's etc.
copying dvds/cds
playing mild games. (cs at the most.)
it will also be connected to a wired broadband router for the internet and networked to my own pc.

I have looked on ebuyer.co.uk and have everything listed except for a keyboard and mouse (Do not need a monitor as of yet). if there are any parts that anyone thinks may be incompatible or parts they can improve on please let me know in this thread. The things im a little bit unsure on are;

DVD Writer
pioneer - decent manufacturer but is it worth getting one - shall i get a cheaper one?

Power Supply
Will this PSU be enough to power the components?

Fans
There is space for 1 80mm fan, should this be enough for cooling?
I can always drill some holes and fit some extra fans ;)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Motherboard

DFI NF4 Infinity SKT939 nForce4 chipset Dual DDR400 PCI-E SATA ATX

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/97310

£47.99


CPU

AMD (Venice) Athlon 64 3500+ 939pin 512Kb L2 Cache 90nm Retail Boxed Processor With 3 Year Warranty and Fan Included.

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X3Jldmlld3M=&product_uid=88107

£52.13


RAM

Crucial CT6464Z40B 512MB 184-pin DIMM DDR PC3200 CL=3 UNBUFFERED NON-ECC DDR400

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_u

id=46420

£40.99


HDD

Seagate ST380211AS 80GB 7200rpm SATAII - OEM

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X3Jldmlld3M=&product_u

id=112116

£27.15


GPU

BFG 7300GS OC 256mb DDR2 PCI-E

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/108301

£42.50


Case/PSU

Casecom LG-779 ATX Midi Tower Case in Beige with 350w PSU

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...hvd19wcm9kdWN0X2dhbGxlcnk=&product_uid=109463

£17.00



Power Lead For PSU

Ebuyer Extra Value AC Power Lead (Kettle Type13A) Suitable For ATX PSU

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X3Jldmlld3M=&product_u

id=106118

£1.17


Optical Drive

Pioneer DVR-111D 16x DVD±RW Dual Layer Internal IDE (Beige) - OEM

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X3NwZWNpZmljYXRpb25z&p

roduct_uid=105823

£20.19


The total price from www.ebuyer.co.uk is £245
 
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If you can afford an AMD Athlon 3200+, it would be a great upgrade and still be a good bugdet machine. The sempron is just a little slow... otherwise i think for a budget machine, that's pretty good.
 
hmm AMD Athlon 3200+ 64 socket 754??

www.ebuyer.co.uk do not have any of those. I could order from another website but it will increase costs because of p&p. Thanks - i will look into that.


An AMD Athlon 64 3000+ is priced at £99.78 at www.savstore.com (£70 more than the Sempron 64 3000+ and extra P&P).
 
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Why a 754? I'd suggest at least a 939.

At ebuyer, the 3000+ is only ~40 euro including VAT and the 3200 is 42 euro. That's for the OEM. For retail 3000+ its 47 euro.
 
yeah true, for a retail AMD Athlon 64 3000+ it is £47.59 and the retail 3200+ is £47.75. £0.16 difference for some reason lol.

Changing the CPU means changing the board. But thanks ill have a look for a cheap 939 board with an agp8x slot.
 
ok so I have upgraded the board to fit a 939 CPU and changed the CPU to an Athlon 64 3200+.

Motherboard

ECS NFORCE3-A939 SKT939 nforce3 250 AGP SATA 6channel audio ATX

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...hvd19wcm9kdWN0X3Jldmlld3M=&product_uid=116265

£29.72


CPU

AMD (Venice) Athlon 64Bit 3200+ Socket 939pin 512k L2cache 90nm Retail Boxed Processor

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/88109

£47.75



thanks for that liquid shadow, for the money worth the upgrade i believe. Keep in mind this is still a budget system so upgraded to allow for PCI-E graphics should not be needed as my girlfriend will not play many games at all anyway. Does anyone have any more ideas or should I go with this?

will the 350W PSU hold out?
 
The PSU, depends on the amps on the rails. You could get PCI-E board also because the price isn't any different anymore to my knowledge. Just get a PCI-E board and a really cheap card like a x300.
 
lol, this will increase the low budget but I will look at the PCI-E boards and maybe a gig of ram. The PSU is a cheap one that just comes with the case, there are no specifications.

thanks for the replies.
 
I have changed the motherboard again to a

DFI NF4 Infinity SKT939 nForce4 chipset Dual DDR400 PCI-E SATA ATX

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/97310

£47.99


and changed the GPU to a

GECUBE RADEON ATI X550 256MB 128bit TV/DVI out PCI-E

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=23560263093&action=c2hvd19wcm9kd

WN0X3NwZWNpZmljYXRpb25z&product_uid=95817

£39.99


now my question is.. is the GECUBE RADEON ATI X550 any good?

Is it better than the old one I had on here;

Connect3d ATI Radeon 9550 AGP 256MB DDR 128 Bit VGA/DVI/TV-out Retail Box

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...m9kdWN0X3NwZWNpZmljYXRpb25z&product_uid=63693

£36.50

P.S I know it is an AGP card, Im just comparing the upgrade from AGP to PCI-E
 
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