Really really really budget build!

[Waynos_Face]

Hi all,

Have been tasked with building a budget PC for a "skint" friend of mine, he already has monitor/Operating system. It doesn't have to look pretty, but hopefully will use decent parts. My absolute max is £265.

It will be used for everyday use, moderate gaming and a little DVD authoring.
It will run XP Home.

So far i am considering:

Intel Pentium 4 (945) Dual Core 3.4Ghz
Gigabyte GA-73VM-S2
2GB Corsair XMS 800mhz
Palit 8600GT 512mb
Seagate 250GB HDD 7200rpm + 16MB cache
ASUS DVD/CD Lightscribe

And this case
http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=811001

Total £263

I should know better but is the 400Watt PSU that comes with the case gonna be any good? Will it last until xmas, when i make sure someone buys him a good one?

And the other thing i'm not sure about is the CPU, its a MASSIVE Dual Core and i can get it new for £60, but would he be better off with a newer 2.4ghz C2D for £75?

Any other suggestions and advice greatly appreciated as i'm struggling.

 

[murdoch]

Check out this SITE

 

[murdoch]

Should have added that it may be cheaper to buy a complete system than building one!

 

[floppybootstomp]

The PSU is a gamble, sometimes you get lucky but mostly you don't.

The Core2 Duo is a much better bet, it's superior technology and a 2Ghz Core2duo will outperform/equal old technology at 3.4Ghz.

Easy to build a system with integrated graphics at that price, harder to feature seperate graphics card.

I came up with the enclosed system which is £273.00 inc postage.

Features a quality 500W PSU and nice case.

(EDIT: Dang - forgot the hard disk..... oh well.)

 

[Abarbarian]

Already built ,

http://www.aria.co.uk/Systems/Special+Offers/AriaNet+Value/Arianet+AMD+Dual+Power+?productId=32045

£176.19 inc vat

an comes with a fully upgradeable mobo,

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Comp...IH+AMD+780G+AM2++Motherboard+?productId=31229

an you could just about afford one of these to go in it ,

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Comp...a+GeForce+9600GT+512MB+PCI-E+?productId=30589

£88.60 inc vat

 

[Waynos_Face]

Okay, thanks for the input guys, the reason why it has to be cheap is that my mate...well he married the devil. Now said devil is cleaning him out. He is renting a bedsit at the mo that has internet but she has smashed his PC.

As his wife is now "seeing his boss" he has lost his job.

So friends have chipped in what they can and our pot is at £265, my mate who works at a ditribuition centre got his boss to donate a copy of XP home and my girlfriend has "borrowed" a monitor from her school, so we are getting there.

Thanks again.

 

[Abarbarian]

Try your local Freecycle group for everything you need .
I have had all sorts of pc parts from them including 19" monitors and a 40 GB hdd and comlete pc's .

http://www.freecycle.org/group/UK/?noautodetect=1

 

[Waynos_Face]

Cheers will try that,

Am nearly sorted now, donations from my work collegues today is £39.73 so i can stretch to the case and PSU that Flopps suggested.

Who knew it was this easy to get people to give you money. Since monday i have raised £304 for a PC for a mate in need and most people who gave cash don't know him. What a nice world we live in.

Thanks again guys.

I might hold out til monday and see if i can get some more money and buy myself 2 more Gig of RAM.