£400 to spend on a pc - help please!

bluesnake

What about this one here for £199 built

- Intel Pentium Dual Core G840 2.8GHz
- 8GB RAM + 750GB HDD
- DVD Writer
- Intel HD
- No Operating System

http://www.ebuyer.com/344622-zoostorm-pentium-no-os-desktop-pc-7873-1057

The-Gaffer

banger9365 wrote: »

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

geez as much as that, i always get mine for free.......

mmmm demonid..... lol

robmar0se

tweeter wrote: »

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.

Please note the above says ddr2 OR ddr3, it can't take both at the same time (either 8gb ddr2 or 4gb ddr3).

Although AMD chips are cheaper than Intel, Intel chips do outperform AMD, and since the CPU/motherboard combo is the last thing one would upgrade, I would go for the best cpu/mobo combo I could afford, possibly with a better quality psu than the cheap ones included with this case.

The good thing about build yr own, is that you will get the 3yr manufacturers' warranty - I know that with systems we build (we tend to use Intel/gigabyte/samsung/wd/
crucial/corsair/ocz quality wise) they all give 3 yr warranty on the cpu/motherboard/hdd/psu plus lifetime warranty on the ram.

PS 500w psu would probably be ample unless into using a high performance graphix card(s), and/or overclocking - use the psu calculator to double check.

-TangleFoot-

bluesnake wrote: »

What about this one[?]

Take a peek at the 'Customers also browsed' section further down the page:

• Zoostorm Desktop PC (AMD A6-3500; ~£229)
• Zoostorm Business Desktop (Intel i3-2120; ~£270)

The only gripe I have with these things is that you don't know precisely what you're getting. Which is why I usually recommend self assembly.

P_V

Intel Quad core with 1tb HD and 4gb memory and everthing else you need for sale at Dixons refurb for £419.00

-TangleFoot-

P_V wrote: »

Intel Quad core [...] Dixons refurb for £419.00

If you're referring to this I'd caution against it - that processor is nearly four years old!

...and now the link is broken.

vettieboo

Personally I'd advise against cheaping out on a PSU, since one bad PSU can destroy a computer and all components in it. It's 100% better to get a lower wattage but higher quality PSU over a high wattage but no guarantee PSU.

Generally better makes are Antec, Seasonic and Be Quiet, depends what models you're looking at. You also are unlikely to need more than 500W unless you're running dual graphics cards or overclocking the system to death. I'd tend towards 80+ efficiencies too, but that's up to you. I went with a 300W supply and I have no problems, just depends on what you're comfortable with.

(Having recently had to go buy new PSUs for a system that blew up due to a case with a '500W' supply that wasn't actually very good (not my system thankfully), I'd never cheap on a quality PSU any more)

I also second the SSD recommendation, they're dropping in price nowadays and having recently changed over myself, have been very impressed at the results.

smos585

Interesting that the Q8300 is rated by Passmark @ 3.56 whereas the AMD 4100 is only a little higher @ 3.98. The i3 2120 rated @ 4.21 is only marginally more expensive than the amd 4100 @ £9O, then there is the i3 2130 £110 rated @ 4.42.

I would certainly take a look the Intel cpu's if I was setting up my own.

Jamie_Cortez

Synthetic benchmarks ....

A computer is a total sum of the parts, every piece has a part to play right down to the case.

This is where i would be looking at.

http://www.dabs.com/products/asus-amd-performance-bundle--includes-m5a97-motherboard--amd-fx-4100---4gb-ddr3-memory--7SY3.html

http://www.dabs.com/products/corsair-500-watt-cx500-v2-builder-series-80-plus-power-supply-7K9H.html

http://www.dabs.com/products/antec-300-three-hundred-case-black-6252.html

For what your using it for the 4100 is perfectly fine as a CPU, 4GB of RAM will also suit your needs.

Corsair is a good solid reliable brand when it comes to PSU's, 500W is more than you will need for a basic PC but there is much to factor into PSU choice such as the actual Wattage vs advertised which usually are not the same.

The Antec case is cheap and reliable whilst delivering decent cooling solutions and cable management at that price point.

Total for the above is 278GBP.

Past this point its a question of do you need a new Operating system, do you need a bigger HDD.

For HD movies and Internet i would suggest the on board GPU from the 4100 is enough and you would not require a stand alone GPU, at least not short term.

Any standard optical drive will do.

AdamJK_2

Try Overclockers for a pre-built AMD system - good value. You could get them to swap out the HDD for a 1GB graphics card at no extra cost if you're planning on using the old HDD.

Keep the old system and you can then rebuild it on the cheap from ebay, add a cheap monitor and you've got a semi-decent internet PC for kids or family.

£333.95
System Specification
- Case: OcUK IMP microATX case - Black
- Power Supply: OcUK Value 500W PSU
- CPU: AMD A4-3300 2.50GHz (Socket FM1)
- Motherboard: AMD A55 Chipset (Socket FM1) DDR3 Motherboard
- RAM: 4GB 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
- Hard Drive: 500GB HDD
- Graphics Card: Integrated HD 6410D Graphic
- Sound: ALC662 6-channel High Definition Audio CODEC
- Optical Drive: LG GH22NS50 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter