desktop challenge

[jimmymac]

Friend is looking to upgrade his system, nothing special needed, just a new system as his old one is pretty much old and out dated in every department.

System is used for cd burning, internet....virtually no gaming but it would be nice to have the option...happy with low level graphics though

Intel or AMD, not sure that the budget would allow for a C2D system but if it can then fire away

Budget is approx £400


lets see what you wonderful people can do

 

[Jet]

For that budget, I would go with AMD because Nvidia's 61xx series of integrated graphics is only available to AMD.

 

[jimmymac]

yeah was thinking of going for a single core Athlon, reckon it would probably suffice seeing as an Athlon 64 4000+ can be picked up for around £65 now.

It would be nice to have a half decent gfx card in there though, nowt special just something. any suggestions?

 

[Jet]

yeah was thinking of going for a single core Athlon, reckon it would probably suffice seeing as an Athlon 64 4000+ can be picked up for around £65 now.

It would be nice to have a half decent gfx card in there though, nowt special just something. any suggestions?

The 61xx series (6100 or 6150) of integrated graphics is the best integrated graphics out there, and is on par with $25-$35 graphics cards. It can play games on low settings, etc. If you want more information on how they perform, Lord_of_the_Ming has the 6100, and you could PM him.

 

[Archangel]

those work great for CD burning.. and are cheaper than the usual writers too .

but seriously.. get 1Gb of RAM (ddr2), a A2M motherboard and a 3800+ X2. you can reuse the HDD and opticals you currently have, and even the case (altough i couls immagine if you would want a nes one )
a geforce 7300 on pci-e would do good to i think, and for the PSU.. well, nothing really fancy would be needed, but i gues someone will come with a good advice there

 

[jimmymac]

cheers for the tips

jsut spoken to him and he said his budget would stretch to £600 max so reckon its possible to get a fairly tidy system for that, gonna have a look but any build suggestions welcomed

 

[g4m3rof1337]

what about a monitor?

 

[jimmymac]

no monitor needed, he has a 17"TFT


Ok so heres my first build...thoughts and changes welcomed, if we can lower the price a bit i'm sure he be happy

Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86ghz - Skt775 Fsb1066 2mb Cache Boxed In
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/112704/rb/23563236631
£117.35


Innovision GeForce 7900GS 256MB DDR3 256Bit PCI-E
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/119692
£124.59


MSI P965 Neo-F SKT775 Conroe ready PCI-E SATA 7.1 channel audio ATX
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/114958
£68.75


OCZ (OCZ26671024V) 1GB DDR2-667 PC2-5400 CL 5-5-5-15 VALUE SERIES MODULE (LIFETIME WARRANTY)
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/105972
£73.01


Pioneer DVR-111DBK 16x DVD±RW Dual Layer Internal IDE (Black) - OEM
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/105824
£20.91


Seagate 7200.10 320GB SATAII/300 8.5ms 7200rpm 16MB Cache - OEM
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/115418/rb/23563406075
£64.36


CoolerMaster Centurion 5 Silver Trim With Side Window - NO PSU
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/85282
£39.99


Antec TruePower Trio 550W PSU - With 3x 12v Rails and 120mm Fan
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/114931
£65.90


Total : £587.07 shipped

have i missed anything?