Viewing Thread:
"What's the best possible computer I could get for £400?"

£400 to £450, anyway.

Ready built, separate components, whatever, with a 17inch LCD screen.

Thank ye

Mac Mini?

Eurgh.

Memorandum! wrote:
> All of that stuff is of good build quality apart from the RAM.
> Anyway:
>
> GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS2.5
> (GE1GB3200BHDC) (MY-005-GL)
> £59.95
> AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3000BPBOX)
> (CP-117-AM)
> £92.95
> Abit AN8-V nForce4 (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-078-AB)
>
> £59.95
> Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU
> (CA-040-AN)
> £65.00
> Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 120GB 1200JD SATA 8MB Cache -
> OEM (HD-009-WD)
> £46.95
> PowerColor ATI Radeon X800 128MB DDR TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) -
> Retail (GX-040-PC)
> £94.95
>
> Subtotal £419.75
> VAT £73.46
> Total £493.21
>
> With less RAM/a slower graphics card you could get inside the
> £450 fairly easily.

That looks like a good spec...is it?

Ebuyer?

It's pretty good, but if you have a bit more money an increase in CPU would be a good idea.

Don't forget to budget for the OS...

If you own a pirate version of windows you get a discount ^_^

monkey_man wrote:
> That looks like a good spec...is it?
>
> Overclockers

It's a pretty decent spec. If I was going to spend more anywhere it'd be on the graphics card rather than the CPU. That X800 is roughly equivalent to Geforce 6600GT (faster in some cases, slower in others) but it's not particularly great. Given the choice I'd take the 6600GT, but the X800 was cheaper.

Yeah, upgrade the graphics and overclock the CPU.

If your not bothered about gaming you don't need that great a graphics card and if your not video editing there is not much point filling it up with ram. Why anyone who isn't piratein' dvds needs a 120g h/d is beyond me.

Here is where I would start:

1x AMD SEMPRON 2600+ (1.833GHZ) SCK A CPU RETAIL+FAN
1x MACASE VIRGO II BLACK 350W P4 READY MIDI TOWER
1x ASROCK K7VT4A PRO SCKA 8XAGP DDR400+5.1SND +10/100
1x 512MB PC2700 333 DDR DIMM MEMORY MAJOR
1x 80GB MAXTOR 7200RPM IDE HDD ATA133

£164.44 inc vat

Only thing is i've heard sempron's play 'catch-up' but the athlon is fine

Marzman wrote:
> If your not bothered about gaming you don't need that great a graphics
> card and if your not video editing there is not much point filling it
> up with ram.

If I know down, it will be primarily for games.

> Why anyone who isn't piratein' dvds needs a 120g h/d is
> beyond me.

I could fill a 120G hard drive quite easily without any warez of any kind.

> Here is where I would start:
>
> 1x AMD SEMPRON 2600+ (1.833GHZ) SCK A CPU RETAIL+FAN

You should now be looking at 64bit, otherwise you'll only end up upgrading again soon.

> 1x MACASE VIRGO II BLACK 350W P4 READY MIDI TOWER

Cheap and nasty PSU. STAY AWAY!

> 1x ASROCK K7VT4A PRO SCKA 8XAGP DDR400+5.1SND +10/100

Again, AGP. PCE-Express would be much better.

> 1x 512MB PC2700 333 DDR DIMM MEMORY MAJOR

Only PC2700. Should be looking at PC3200.

> 1x 80GB MAXTOR 7200RPM IDE HDD ATA133

I'd get through that easily =)

> £164.44 inc vat

He said £400-450 for a reason.

> Only thing is i've heard sempron's play 'catch-up' but the athlon is
> fine

It wont be fine for long. Never get stuff because it's cheap. All it will lead to is an upgrade sooner therefore not saving any money.