Cheap Computer

[bodhi]

Hi,

Just a quick question. My mate has just moved into a new flat with his missus and she is studying for some exams and needs to write essays etc. They want me to build them a computer which is fine, but not sure what the best way to spend their £500 is. They don't want to play games (although we all know that she will never be off solitaire dont we!!), all they really want to do is use word and excel etc. and probably get on the internet in a few months once they are settled.

So, long story short, how would you best spend £500 to make sure they get something good, which is upgradable in the future? Oh yeah, think they want a TFT monitor to save space as well!!!!

Cheers.

 

[ChristopherP]

TFT monitor (15") is £180 inc vat. that gives £320 to play with...my suggestion is as follows:

AMD Athlon 2500
Abit KV7
256Mb PC2700 generic RAM
FX 5200 128Mb
80Gb SATA 7200rpm
NEC DVD writer 8x
Floppy drive
Arianet case with 420w PSU
Rounded IDE and FDD cables
Arianet cordless optical USB desktop

you might even have change

chris

 

[KGB-911]

I agree with Chris but,

Do they need a DVD-RW?
And 512 MB RAM would be better.
I like P4, but i don't think that will be needed!

Hope it helped, KGB

 

[Reefsmoka]

You can build a very nice PC on the Dell website for that price, P4 2.8 Ghz , 256 DDR, 80 Gig HD etc etc.

But if you HAVE to build it on your own, then i see nothing wrong with what chris has built up. (good job chris)

 

[ChristopherP]

thanks guys...

BUT - i logged back on because i realised an error in my own speccing. I'm so used to speccing up for upgrades that people want that i forgot as these people are aparently first time buyers, they would also need a copy of Windows XP and also MS Works/office...

They will be very tough to fit in.

KGB - you will find that AMD are usually the best to go with when building Budget computers because the intel equivelent is the Celeron. Eurgh - never touch em!

Also, 256Mb of RAM will be just fine for word etc - thats actually a very similar spec to the computer i build for my nan (AMD, KV7, 256mb, 5200) and when i used it i was pleasantly suprised at the speed. Runs colic mcrae rally 3 and also toca race driver fine on high settings so it would hack word and excel fine!! Therfore because of that i think a DVDrw would be more usefull for backing up important stuff etc etc - it would raise the price by a little to if adding another 256mb.

 

[KGB-911]

I have always been told that you should never build your own, they have to many problems, crash so often etc...

Is this true?

 

[KGB-911]

Office 2003 is about £358, and XP is about £160. I know office is very expensive unless you are a student / teacher

KGB

(all prices from amazon)

 

[ChristopherP]

Reefsmoka - i think dell are not an option with this.

I modified that configuration on the dell site to as near as i could get it to the AMD one i put above (with the 15" monitor, DVD-rw) and it comes to over £800.

The hard drive is not SATA, the CPU is only 533fsb and they charge you £23.50 for a standard floppy drive! ridiculous tbh.

The graphics are also integrated so you can immediatly knock i would guess 64mb off the amount of system memory thats installed.

I have no problem with high end dell systems - the budget ones are just really not worth it - they cut corners, big time, the system would be far inferior.

 

[ChristopherP]

Office 2003 is about £358, and XP is about £160. I know office is very expensive unless you are a student / teacher

KGB

(all prices from amazon)

Windows XP is about £50 inc VAT when bought OEM with components.

I would advise buying Works with that budget.

NOOOOOO!!!! home build PC's do not crash - whoever told you that must not be good at building them at all then?!!?!!?!!

I build my computer, my parents computer, rebuilt my sisters computer, build my tech teachers computer and my nans computer.

None crash unless you i dunno download viruses. None have yet crashed on me.

My old Dell Dimension Desktop crashes more!!

 

[Freestyler122092]

i personally think dell computers r 2 expensiv and hav 2 many problems from wut i heard

 

[ChristopherP]

i have heard mixed opinions on Dell - Not sure about them myself.

What i will tell you though is not to buy one of their budget systems unless you have really low expectations or money to immediatly upgrade it!!

 

[Kenny]

A home-built computer is no worse than a shopbought/ built system, as long as the builder has a basic knowledge of what bits work together and at what speed.

E.G. theres no point buying an AMD XP 3200+ with 256 PC2100 memory. etc

 

[floppybootstomp]

I have always been told that you should never build your own, they have to many problems, crash so often etc...

Is this true?

Absolutely true. I have four here I built myself and they crash every other day

Seriously, whoever told you that's been telling you porkies mate.

And I like the system Chris put together apart from the FX5200 vid card, it's absolute tosh. For same price some flavour of the ATI 9600 would be a better option. In my opinion.

 

[ChristopherP]

the ATI 9600 is about £20 more expensive - and thats for the SE version.

i chose the 5200 because it will be used for nothing more than solitaire and considering the budget i think that was a wise choice

 

[Spooky Mouse]

Bodhi ive been looking at the Tiny.com site i was trying to see if there were any cheap ones there but the price seems to shoot up if there not useing a celron chip

 

[ChristopherP]

ive heard bad things about Tiny

 

[Spooky Mouse]

Chris is it the after sales service that youve heard bad things about?
or the systems?

 

[floppybootstomp]

the ATI 9600 is about £20 more expensive - and thats for the SE version.

i chose the 5200 because it will be used for nothing more than solitaire and considering the budget i think that was a wise choice

On reflection, I think you're right Chris.

However, considering you said they'd have change left, forking out another £30 or so for the vanilla flavoured 9600 could pay dividends later down the line.

Just wait til one of 'em wants to play a 3D game

 

[ChristopherP]

On reflection, I think you're right Chris.

However, considering you said they'd have change left, forking out another £30 or so for the vanilla flavoured 9600 could pay dividends later down the line.

Just wait til one of 'em wants to play a 3D game

After adding an operating system and a copy of works i think they would be pushing their budget to the extreme - if not breaking it

ah...update.

turns out im a bit over budget on that system...

£610.84 it comes to...

Abit KV7 Socket A Motherboard
AMD Athlon XP 2500 333fsb Retail
Corsair Value 256mb PC3200 RAM
Seagate 80Gb SATA 7300/8mb
NEC Dual Layer DVD-+RW 8x
Floppy Drive
GeForce FX 5200 128mb
Rounded IDE Cable
Rounded FDD Cable
Black and silver MIDI tower (front USB/Audio)
420w Arianet PSU (with case)
Windows XP Home Edition
Microsoft Works 2004 Edition
15" Acer TFT Flat panel Monitor

Oooooops... seems like even that comes to too much, mind you Works is £55 and XP is £65 and the monitor is £188!

Flops: dont think theres room for a 9600...

what d'yall think?

 

[floppybootstomp]

what d'yall think?

You're right about the video card - stick to the 5200, for budget reasons.

It's a shame they insist on a TFT monitor.

That's a fine system for the money.

Acer aren't a particularly good brand, but for the money, well, ya gets what ya pays for....