£500 new pc build budget

4743hudsonj

Mobeer wrote: »

Why not DDR2 - you could spend £40 on 4GB of ram (and specify a DDR2 compatible motherboard) and save a lot of money to put towards a better processor.

-edit: I think 4743hudsonj should have said an AMD processor given your choice of motherboard

my bad lol!

i didnt really look at the motherboard in that post

Marty_J

timbim wrote: »

Even better, take the 4gb DDR2 out of the old system and use it in the new, if the old system is being stepped down to more mundane tasks, then you could replace that with 2gb or even 1gb, saving even more cash. Reuse, Reduce, Recycle! Green MSE.

Or even better, get a new graphics card for the old computer, fit some extra USB ports, stick a few 1 TB HDDs in it, and you're done. :cool:

timbim_2

IMHO DDR3 without an i7 is a bit of a waste, DDR3 only really hits the sweet spot with the newer technology on the i7 chips. Hold fire until the price drops significantly. Can photoshop do OpenGL stuff, because that's the only justification I could see in getting a 1gb card.

Paradigm

saadz2k5 wrote: »

hiya, i am about to build a pc for a friend who has a budget of £500

she says she must have 8gb ram and 2TB storage, and a HD graphics card so that it can be plugged into a lcd tv etc

also she wants as many usb ports as possible

How about this approach, ask her to source the bits for £500 & you will build it?? It's quite an eye opener when you actually see the prices of components in black & white!

My guess is she would tone down her requirements

el_gringo_3

Yeah, or do a build based on what parts are going cheap at the time on ebay!

U've_been_framed

32 bit windows (which is used by just about everybody) will only take 4Gb or ram. 64 bit windows will take more but you may find that some programs are incompatible.
If your friend wants to use DDR3 that almost certainly means an Intel i7 processor. Processor, motherboard and memory together will take up, and probably exceed, her budget.
Look at an Intel Q6600 or something similar from AMD, get a decent motherboard to match, and go from there. Save money by taking the ram from the old computer.

pault123

Heres what I would go for,

Seperate case and PSU = around same cost but better overall quality

forget DDR3 its expensive and doesn't offer any real performance gains on 775 chipset.

4gb is more than ample, go for 1066 speed.

the q6700 is a cracking quad core chip and at £114.95 would be rude not too.

the samsung F1's are better than the western digi's

all in with processor for £578!




edit. add £10 ish to this price for a freezer 7 pro cooler as CPU is OEM.

jaydeeuk1

To add to pault123's post, if its not used for gaming etc, I'd swap for a lower end 4000 series ATI card with HDMI. Other than that, the price isn't too bad.

pault123

good call Jay,

ATI card added, PSU tweaked slightly, and cooler added. All in for £525! this machine would eat photoshop for breakfast

jaydeeuk1

Notepad should fly IMO.

I'd have kept the PSU you had in your first post, even if it is a bit more expensive. £500 well spent though!