£400 to spend on a pc - help please!

DazedAndConfuzed

Hi All,

I'm looking at building a home pc and have £300-400 to spend so hopefully I can do something pretty decent.

I've already got a monitor, 2GB 800MHz DDR2-SDRAM and hard drive I want to re-use from my existing pc but will be looking to replace everything else.

The main thing it'll be used for is watching high def movies (possibly through a projector) and usual internet-ness. I've built a pc before and am happy putting it all together but need a hand in speccing it up, all help is gratefully received!

Thanks

Duk

I would look toward AMD, each counterpart/competitive model is not quite as powerful as Intel but you get better processor/value ration IMO.

Also It may be worth looking toward getting new Ram as it only costs about £30 for some half decent stuff.

All from Ebuyer and numbers are quick find codes

Case: CIT Black Case with 500W PSU - 273786 - £23.99
Processor: AMD FX-4 4100 - 287683 - £85.06
Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M LX - 269070 - Onboard ATI HD 300 GFX - £36.34

RAM: Corsair 8GB DDR3 1333MHz XMS3 - 247674 - £35.99
GFX: Sapphire HD 5450 1GB DDR3 HDMI DVI VGA Out - 199420 - £28.76

Altogether £181.38

Obviously you may want a DVD drive etc... only about £12

With that processor also, Should be pretty futureproof if you would like to upgrade.

Good Luck

DazedAndConfuzed

Duk wrote: »

I would look toward AMD, each counterpart/competitive model is not quite as powerful as Intel but you get better processor/value ration IMO.

Also It may be worth looking toward getting new Ram as it only costs about £30 for some half decent stuff.

All from Ebuyer and numbers are quick find codes

Case: CIT Black Case with 500W PSU - 273786 - £23.99
Processor: AMD FX-4 4100 - 287683 - £85.06
Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M LX - 269070 - Onboard ATI HD 300 GFX - £36.34

RAM: Corsair 8GB DDR3 1333MHz XMS3 - 247674 - £35.99
GFX: Sapphire HD 5450 1GB DDR3 HDMI DVI VGA Out - 199420 - £28.76

Altogether £181.38

Obviously you may want a DVD drive etc... only about £12

With that processor also, Should be pretty futureproof if you would like to upgrade.

Good Luck

That's excellent, thanks loads!

In addition to topping up the RAM, is there anything else that's worth getting to top it up? I'm thinking if I've set myself a budget I might as well get close to it

I'm also hoping to use the DVD drive from my old pc.

-TangleFoot-

DazedAndConfuzed wrote: »

topping up the RAM

Note: DDR2 and DDR3 cannot be used simultaneously. Most motherboards don't even have the necessary slots.

tweeter

Some years ago I bought a GIGABYTE motherboard GA-P35C-DS3, which I still use today.It takes DDR2 or DDR3 but I never got round to upgrading the memory I had to DDR3 - gamers will think its just a lumbering old heffalump.


click image

Duk

I wouldnt go mixing ram, Due to clock speeds and timings adding ddr2 to that setup will actually diminish the performance greatly.

If you want to spend closer, I would look at getting a better motherboard that supporst AM3+ Socket and DDR3 Ram, Also instead of having 1333mhz ram you could upgrade that to 1866mhz (Make sure the motherboard supports its)

You could also go for a SSD, So along with you normal hard drive a solid state drive is flash memory and will load windows alot faster.

Also you can increase your graphics card/case and Powersupply (500w is pretty low, look for one around 750 or more )

Hope that helps

The-Gaffer

Also aim for a mobo with TWO pci express slots handy for extra usb 3.0 ports the card typically plugs into ure spare pci express slot,

-TangleFoot-

The-Gaffer wrote: »

aim for a mobo with TWO pci express slots

The board in the picture above has three. Unless you're planning on building a computer inside a case the size of a toaster the likelihood of getting fewer than two is infinitesimal.

The-Gaffer

-TangleFoot- wrote: »

The board in the picture above has three. Unless you're planning on building a computer inside a case the size of a toaster the likelihood of getting fewer than two is infinitesimal.

Arnt smaller pcs all the rage? shuttle springs to mind, itx small form factor, or we aiming for server sized for the next millenium,

-TangleFoot-

The-Gaffer wrote: »

Aren't smaller PCs all the rage?

More like a raging inferno if you keep plugging stuff in - my last effort could've doubled as a stove.

Though they are popular they are by no stretch of the imagination as versatile as the venerable combination of x86 and ATX. Even if the likes of the Raspberry Pi are selling like hot cakes there's no need to go chasing the bandwagon just yet.

banger9365

for £400 its cheaper to buy a prebuilt than mess around building one ,
you get operating system with them too ,thats about £80ish for oem