a decent budget spec

[techallenged]

Hi everyone,

It’s been a while since I’ve built from scratch (other than rebuilding older machines).

A friend has asked me to put together a decent yet budget spec machine. He has a budget of £260. The only items not required are an O/S (he already has a retail version of XP), DVD burner, floppy and screen.

I’m a little unfamiliar with the latest technology (I don’t mean very latest just after P4 Socket 478, DDR and AGP)

So…. I have tried to choose components that will sit together nicely without overkill or underspec ( eg using ddr3200 on a board where 2700 would be the max, or using ddr 2100 on a board capable of 3200 (told you its been a while))

So could you guys look over the following bits ‘n’ pieces and give some feedback if something doesn’t fit or is excessive etc? Other than dropping the RAM to 512 I don’t see many options to reduce the price significantly.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ (2.3 GHz) Socket AM2 Energy Efficient L2 1MB (2x512KB) Cache Retail Boxed Processor
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/125197

Kingston 1GB Kit (2x512MB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 CL5 - Non-ecc
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/125136

Western Digital WD1600JS Caviar SE 160GB 7200RPM SATAII/300 8MB Cache - OEM
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/94406

ASUS EAX1550TD X1550 256MB DDR2 Hypermemory supporting 1GB DVI TV Out PCI-E Graphics Card
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/127034

Asus M2N4-SLI Socket AM2 5.1channel Audio ATX
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/116486

As you will notice I have come in approx £65 under budget, that is until I have to source a decent PSU and Case, along with some cheap and nasty Keyboard, Mouse and Speakers.

Also the PC is not likely to ever be really "pushed" with games or other intensive apps, there may be a possibility of some home movie editing, but nothing really heavy!

As per usual, many thanks

Phil

[lgbpop]

The only suggestion I'd make is to go with the KN9-S instead, that CPU will overclock nicely and this mobo is made for it IMHO. I have the KN9 in my office rig, am building a different machine with the KN9-S to take advantage of the better chipset. The one thing to keep in mind is that it's more of an enthusiast's mobo and if you do tweak it, read the manual.

Overall, looks like the start of a nice system.

[techallenged]

Thanks for the thumbs up lgbpop,

I'm not sure about letting my friend loose on O/Clocking it'll just create more work for me in the long run and to be honest I'd rather chip away at the price a bit more rather than up it (rather put a few more of the budget into a decent PSU)

Will bear that abit in mind for a build of my own some time tho'

Thanks again,

Phil

[Shinma]

Not familiar with the pricing over there but following may be of interest,

• GIGABYTE GA-MA69GM-S2H

May be less costs but with better performance and cooler running...

[Philgo]

Just built a machine with this MATX Mobo, worked great. You could then do away with the video card you've chosen.

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/117731

[techallenged]

Both very interesting suggestions Shinma and Philgo, thank you

I have however already ordered the Asus board so I'm gonna have to see how it goes. I did find a better deal on on some components over at Microdirect.co.uk and the savings were used to buy a decent (IMO) PSU http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(11881)...t-ATX-12V.aspx

I should start building it on saturday... and I'll let you know how I progress

Thanks again,

Phil

[techallenged]

Just a quick note,

Assembled PC, up and running sweetly with xp pro on board...

Many Thanks

[Philgo]

Always nice when they fire up for the first time.