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"Building A Pair of Computers on a (Tight) Budget"

Basically, my current budget is £0. But hopefully tommorow that'll change, and I'll have an unspecified ammount, probably around £540.

But my general plan is this, two computers, one for work and one for play. (I tend to get distracted.)

Two computers = a (Work), b (Play)

Reuirement for a:
Silent / Very quiet, Intel CPU (HP Tech.), comfortable keyboard and mouse, 200GB HDD.

Requirment for b:
Powerful : Good GPU, good CPU, 1GB+ of RAM, good speakers, large capacity HDD(s).

Components already: ASUS ig7 mobo (2x SATA, 4GB RAM Capacity, Intel), Intel P4 3.2Ghz, Gigabyte Titan mobo (intel), ATi Radeon 9600XT, Creative Live! 5.1 Sound Card, MS Multimedia Keyboard, PB optical mouse, Speakers, 19" monitor, Coolermaster centurion 5, Tagan TG-U01, Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 200GB HD, Hitachi Deskstar 40GB HD (IDE), 2x CD ROM (48x), 1x DVD-RW.

Components for a:
Intel Mobo*,
Intel CPU*,
256 GEIL Value RAM - £19 (+ 256 already, 512 DC)
200GB HD*,
Keyboard + Mouse*,
CD drive*,
VideoSeven H17PS 17" LCD Monitor - £147

Components for b:
MSI K8N Platinum - £88 (Is Diamond version worth it?)
Athlon 63 3500+ - £158
nVidia 6600GT - £143(Worth buying the 6800GT for £60 more?)
GEIL Value 2x512MB - £71 (+ 2x512 already owned)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 160GB - £63
Altec Lansing 2.1 Speakers - £14 (Can pay more, just not sure. Will be listening to music, however may buy Creature 3s at some point.)
MS Natural Multimedia Keyboard - £12
Logitech MX510 - £29
DVD RW*
Monitor*

* = Owned

Total cost of a: £166
Total cost of b: £568

Total cost combined: £734
Over budget by: £200

Which is a bit much. Any help on cutting it down??

Basically, my current budget is £0. But hopefully tommorow that'll change, and I'll have an unspecified ammount, probably around £540.

But my general plan is this, two computers, one for work and one for play. (I tend to get distracted.)

Two computers = a (Work), b (Play)

Reuirement for a:
Silent / Very quiet, Intel CPU (HP Tech.), comfortable keyboard and mouse, 200GB HDD.

Requirment for b:
Powerful : Good GPU, good CPU, 1GB+ of RAM, good speakers, large capacity HDD(s).

Components already: ASUS ig7 mobo (2x SATA, 4GB RAM Capacity, Intel), Intel P4 3.2Ghz, Gigabyte Titan mobo (intel), ATi Radeon 9600XT, Creative Live! 5.1 Sound Card, MS Multimedia Keyboard, PB optical mouse, Speakers, 19" monitor, Coolermaster centurion 5, Tagan TG-U01, Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 200GB HD, Hitachi Deskstar 40GB HD (IDE), 2x CD ROM (48x), 1x DVD-RW.

Components for a:
Intel Mobo*,
Intel CPU*,
256 GEIL Value RAM - £19 (+ 256 already, 512 DC)
200GB HD*,
Keyboard + Mouse*,
CD drive*,
VideoSeven H17PS 17" LCD Monitor - £147

Components for b:
MSI K8N Platinum - £88 (Is Diamond version worth it?)
Athlon 63 3500+ - £158
nVidia 6600GT - £143(Worth buying the 6800GT for £60 more?)
GEIL Value 2x512MB - £71 (+ 2x512 already owned)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 160GB - £63
Altec Lansing 2.1 Speakers - £14 (Can pay more, just not sure. Will be listening to music, however may buy Creature 3s at some point.)
MS Natural Multimedia Keyboard - £12
Logitech MX510 - £29
DVD RW*
Monitor*

* = Owned

Total cost of a: £166
Total cost of b: £568

Total cost combined: £734
Over budget by: £200

Which is a bit much. Any help on cutting it down??

get a CRT monitor, you'll save yourself about £80, and shop around for your graphics card. You shouldn't be paying £143 for a 6600. You can get a 6800 for £117.

If both computers are for you, how about a KVM switch instead of a second monitor?

Coin wrote:
> Intel P4 3.2Ghz, Gigabyte Titan mobo (intel), ATi Radeon 9600XT,
> Creative Live! 5.1 Sound Card, MS Multimedia Keyboard, PB optical
> mouse, Speakers, 19" monitor, Coolermaster centurion 5, Tagan
> TG-U01, Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 200GB HD, Hitachi Deskstar 40GB HD
> (IDE), 2x CD ROM (48x), 1x DVD-RW.

> Components for b:
> MSI K8N Platinum - £88 (Is Diamond version worth it?)
> Athlon 63 3500+ - £158
> nVidia 6600GT - £143(Worth buying the 6800GT for £60
> more?)
> GEIL Value 2x512MB - £71 (+ 2x512 already owned)
> Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 160GB - £63
> Altec Lansing 2.1 Speakers - £14 (Can pay more, just not sure.
> Will be listening to music, however may buy Creature 3s at some
> point.)
> MS Natural Multimedia Keyboard - £12
> Logitech MX510 - £29
> DVD RW*
> Monitor*

why buy all that new stuff when you could just get a 3.6GHz P4 and a new graphics card?

Anyway, why do you need 2 computers?

> nVidia 6600GT - £143(Worth buying the 6800GT for £60
> more?)

"..."

6600GTs should be about £100, and a 6800 standard is about £120

gerrid wrote:
> get a CRT monitor, you'll save yourself about £80, and shop
> around for your graphics card. You shouldn't be paying £143 for
> a 6600. You can get a 6800 for £117.

Keep up, merm.

Memorandum! wrote:
> nVidia 6600GT - £143(Worth buying the 6800GT for £60
> more?)
>
> "..."
>
> 6600GTs should be about £100, and a 6800 standard is about
> £120

Yep i've ordered one which cost me £102.99...

Two computers, 1 for work, and 1 for games / music / downloading.

So I don't have the distraction of a BF2 etc whilst writing about why Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's use of language increases tension (5 page essay due: tomorrow, 1 page done.)

But yeah.

And LCD takes up less room. I have a tiny work area for it...

And Memorandum! - 6800 is better than 6600, 6600GT is better than 6800, and 6800GT is better than 6600GT. 6600 = £70, 6800 = £110, 6600GT = 140 , 6800 = £200.

See my logic?

Coin wrote:
> And Memorandum! - 6800 is better than 6600, 6600GT is better than
> 6800, and 6800GT is better than 6600GT. 6600 = £70, 6800 =
> £110, 6600GT = £100 , 6800GT = £200.

I think if we're on a budget the 6600GT is the one to go for based on that logic...