EZ-52 on 5/12/2008 at 21:53
Ok, I'll cut to the chase.
I need a pc but the one I mainly use is, well past its best.
I'd like it to be fairly modern in spec - the main reason is that it will be used mostly for Uni work. So for the most part it will be running things that Visual Studio, Photoshop, Maya.
Now, I've sort of slipped behind what's good or not these days, but I can build a pc up, so getting the parts seperate won't be a problem. Basically what I need is assistance on what to get.
Things that don't need to be included: Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse and Speakers. Hard drive space I'm not sure. I've got a 500gb external which most of my projects are saved on so really one big enough for the OS and a few programs.
Games wise, well not really required to be used to play games at full settings, but it would be nice to play them at a resonable speed/graphic setting. And a lot of old games too.
Oh, I just remebered the catch! A £300 budget! \o/
Anyone got any ideas?
bikerdude on 6/12/2008 at 15:13
Quote Posted by EZ-52
Ok, I'll cut to the chase.
I need a pc but the one I mainly use is, well past its best.
Oh, I just remebered the catch! A £300 budget! \o/
Anyone got any ideas?
What parts from your old pc can re-use as this will keep costs down..?
biker
EZ-52 on 6/12/2008 at 15:25
Realistically nothing.
PSU is old (and on the verge of breaking I think), motherboard is a hp affair that can't really do much more than what it already came with, memory is old ddr pc2700, and don't even get me started on the graphics card (an old 256mb agp geforce). CPU is a intel single core pentium 2.66ghz that's just a little tad slow. So really, the case and optical units.
EvaUnit02 on 7/12/2008 at 16:06
Are you prepared to overclock? Budget Core 2 Duo's like the E2180 can be pushed quite far. Else Athlon 64 X2's are good budget CPUs.
* 2GB DDR2-667 or 800 should be enough.
* 450-500W power supply (still get a reliable brand, you don't want to skimp out and get some generic trash).
* A budget motherboard that's a good overclocker.
* 9600GSO or 9600GT 512MB are great budget GPUs.
EZ-52 on 12/12/2008 at 14:35
Hrm. Okay then. My prefered retailer doesnt appear to carry the E2180 so how about this:
Intel Pentium Dual Core E5200, 2.50GHz, 2MB Cache, (Retail, 775) £60.00
Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L iG31 Socket 775 Motherboard £45.00
OCZ 4GB PC2-6400 Reaper HPC (2x2GB) £46.00
XFX GeForce 9600 GT XXX 512MB PCI-E £95.00
OCZ 500W StealthXstream PSU £46.00
= £292. Just under budget
This is probably the most stupid setup ever, like I say I know nothing about modern systems, so how would this setup fair? BTW this was just searching for products that seemed to work with the motherboard.
Jason Moyer on 12/12/2008 at 15:41
The sweet point imho for price/performance is an E7200 and an 8800GT. If you're going to be running XP rather than Vista, you also might as well just get 2 gigs of RAM since anything beyond that is useless.
bikerdude on 12/12/2008 at 17:09
Quote Posted by EZ-52
Intel Pentium Dual Core E5200, 2.50GHz, 2MB Cache, (Retail, 775) £60.00
Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L iG31 Socket 775 Motherboard £45.00
The mother is a cheap generic jobbie - but has good onboard raid and gfx, but the cpu is a complete waste of time as its based on old Pentium tech, your better off getting Core2Duo cpu's, see below.
I suggest an either
New:E7200 2.53Ghz, 3mb cache, 1066 FSB - £80 - (
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=36573&source=googleps)
Secondhand:E6600 2.4Ghz, 4mb cache, 1066 FSB - £65 - (
http://www.cex.co.uk/products/Computing/Processors/Processors%20-%20Intel/index.php?sku=SCPUEENA8&name=Core2Duo%20E6600%20(2.4Ghz)%20LGA775&mode=buy)
E6300 1.83Ghz, 2mb cache, 1066 FSB - £32 - (
http://www.cex.co.uk/products/Computing/Processors/Processors%20-%20Intel/index.php?sku=SCPUCENA8&name=Core2Duo%20E6300%20(1.86Ghz)%20LGA775&mode=buy)
EZ-52 on 12/12/2008 at 20:53
Oops. I thought all Intel dual cores were simply the Core 2 Duo - ah well, I'll try to see what I can make of your recommendations.
