Best desktop for £300?

[ChrisFilter]

It's been so long since I built a PC that I've forgotten... will I need to buy a cpu heatsink + fan or will the mobo come with one?

 

[UnderOpenSky]

See if you can find the extra cash for the 8800GT or even the 3870. You want to notice the difference between your laptop and your new machine.

Edit: If you need to save cash elsewhere the get a much cheaper cpu, you will notice the difference far more if you spend it on graphics. Even crysis doesn't max my E6750 which isnt as good as the chip you've speced.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

It's been so long since I built a PC that I've forgotten... will I need to buy a cpu heatsink + fan or will the mobo come with one?

If you buy the cpu "retail boxed" you get it, if you buy it oem you dont.

 

[Bob_the_lost]

NOT the 8600GT if you can avoid it in any way, i'd drop down to a smaller HD to get a 3850, the 8600GT despite the name is a generation old and even when new wasn't very good. A slower CPU would be a good tradeoff if that's required to get something better than the 8600GT.

 

[GarfieldLeChat]

i have put together the following for a mate whcih came to £365

1.8 ome c2d + a fan
500 gig sata
p5kc mobo
2 gig ddr2 800
case with 500 w psu
8400 gt
legit copy xp pro

 

[ChrisFilter]

Righty-ho... top notch advice everyone, thanks

So, what's the minimum spec CPU you'd recommend? Got a c2d 2ghz on my laptop and that's more than fast enough, could I drop down as far as the E2180?

 

[ChrisFilter]

Actually, ignore that... my 3 choices are:

C2D E2200 2.2Ghz @ £55.83 with 8800GT
C2D E4500 2.2Ghz @ £75.95 with 3850

or a bit leftfield:

P4 661 @ 3.6ghz @ £58.99 with 8800GT

Which would you go for? I'm guessing the difference between the c2ds is the 2nd level cache?

 

[ChrisFilter]

Right... I'm all ready to press the buy button on the following:

Kingston 2GB KIT (2X1GB) DDR2 667MHz/PC2-5300 CL5 Non Ecc 1.8V £28.66
Casecom 6630 Black Midi Tower Case With Front Panel USB2.0/Audio £10.99
Casecom Silver 500W ATX Power Supply - 20+4pin ATX12V 4x Molex £12.99
Samsung SpinPoint HD501LJ 500GB SATAII Hard Drive 16MB Cache £60.51
Asus P5B-VM Socket 775 I965G VGA onboard audio FSB1066 mATX £49.81
Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 2.20GHz Socket 775 800FSB 2MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor £75.95
Gecube HD 3850 Pro 256MB GDDR3 Overclocked Edition Dual DVI PCI-E Graphics Card £109.98

Cart total inc vat: £348.89

Final thoughts, anyone?

 

[Bob_the_lost]

I'd probably go with that as it is, i'd prefer a better, branded, PSU but it doesn't make much sense with that budget.

 

[ChrisFilter]

I could drop hdd space for a better PSU if you think it's worth it? On the reviews page for the 3850 it says it needs a 550w PSU, so I'd best adjust that.

 

[Bob_the_lost]

It doesn't, anyone who thinks that should be shot in the face.

The problem is that cheap PSUs lie about the power ratings or use misleading numbers. If you can find the money for the one i found or Globalstoner's case+psu deal then i'd do it. If you're not going to suffer due to smaller HD space i'd do that.

 

[ChrisFilter]

It doesn't, anyone who thinks that should be shot in the face.

The problem is that cheap PSUs lie about the power ratings or use misleading numbers. If you can find the money for the one i found or Globalstoner's case+psu deal then i'd do it. If you're not going to suffer due to smaller HD space i'd do that.

Hmmm, but with that extra money I could go from a 256MB 3850 to a 512MB 3870... what do you reckon?

Haha, I forgot how much of a headfuck this was.

 

[Bob_the_lost]

Heh, tricky one. Stick with what you've got and if you have to buy a new PSU then you've got to buy a new PSU. Odds are that if it fails it will not damage anything, it's happened but it's very, very rare. I've only heard of it happening once.

You know there's a £20 cheaper 3850 on the site, or a 512mb 3850 for the same price?

 

[ChrisFilter]

Bob, would you drop 1MB of l2 cpu cache for a 3870 in favour of a 3850?

 

[Kanda]

Drop the lot and get a Mac Mini

 

[Bob_the_lost]

Yes, although you won't get much benefit out of the 3870 with a 19" monitor.

 

[ChrisFilter]

Might upgrade to a 22" eventually...

 

[ChrisFilter]

Right, all ordered... thanks for everyone's help And massive thanks to Mrs Chris, what a legend

1 x Kingston 2GB KIT (2X1GB) DDR2 667MHz/PC2-5300 CL5 Non Ecc 1.8V
1 x Casecom 6630 Black Midi Tower Case With Front Panel USB2.0/Audio - No PSU
1 x Casecom Silver 500W ATX Power Supply - 20+4pin ATX12V 4x Molex
1 x Asus P5B-VM Socket 775 I965G VGA onboard audio FSB1066 mATX
1 x Samsung SpinPoint HD501LJ 500GB SATAII Hard Drive 16MB Cache - OEM
1 x Gigabyte HD 3870 XT 512MB 256bit Dual DVI PCI-E Graphics Card
1 x Intel Pentium Dual Core E2200 Socket 775 2.2GHz 800FSB Retail Boxed Processor

for £355 is hugely impressive... didn't expect half that.

 

[Sunray]

Heh, tricky one. Stick with what you've got and if you have to buy a new PSU then you've got to buy a new PSU. Odds are that if it fails it will not damage anything, it's happened but it's very, very rare. I've only heard of it happening once.

You know there's a £20 cheaper 3850 on the site, or a 512mb 3850 for the same price?

There is very little difference between the 256 and 512mb versions of the card from a performance perspective. That is also true for the 8800GT 256Mb version.

Be very wary of PSU specifications. You want to have a 100w+ headroom and the 12v rail has to be beefy 25A-30A, the higher the better.

My pc was flakey as fuck with a old but expensive 480w Tagen psu. 28A on the 12v rail is only 2A over the spec for a 8800GT and that was causing it to blue screen all the time. I lost six Vista installs. I got a Corsair 620w (92 quid!) and that has 50A on the 12v rails. Running my Quad Core at 3Ghz now and its stable.

eta: Ditch that shitty PSU. The 3850 requires 12v at 30A. Recent experience tells me that stability is king.

 

[ChrisFilter]

Drop the lot and get a Mac Mini

I feel slightly ill at the thought.. good lord.

 

[ChrisFilter]

eta: Ditch that shitty PSU. The 3850 requires 12v at 30A. Recent experience tells me that stability is king.

Couldn't spend any more money this time around. Pay day (plus bonus payday, woo) on the 29th, might extend to a better PSU and 22" monitor then.

 

[Sunray]

Couldn't spend any more money this time around. Pay day (plus bonus payday, woo) on the 29th, might extend to a better PSU and 22" monitor then.

Its not worth shit if it crashes all the time, which mine was. Got disk corruption 6 times, losing a load of stuff on one disk completely and had to re-install everything 6 times. All down to the PSU.

 

[ChrisFilter]

Its not worth shit if it crashes all the time.

True. We shall see!

 

[Bob_the_lost]

It requires that the PSU says it has 30A on the 12V rail. Those specs are written for use with cheap PSUs in mind. Don't forget that PSUs degrade with age Sunray.

 

[Sunray]

True, it was an oldish PSU.

My motherboard manual reckon 750w for minimum SLI configuration.

The PSU Chris has mentioned has 17A on the 12v rail.......

ps. I can't buy cheap PC components, only once was it a great idea. My PC Chips single chip solution 40 quid m/b out performed my 150 quid VIA (spit) motherboard it replaced. I still have it.

 

[ChrisFilter]

Ah, so the PSU won't run at all then?

 

[Bob_the_lost]

17A is cutting things very very fine. It might work.

 

[ChrisFilter]

Bugger. What's the cheapest ebuyer offering that would work?

 

[ChrisFilter]

Bugger. What's the cheapest ebuyer offering that would work?

Actually, not that much bugger. That PSU can easily handle my old PC, I think, so it can replace that one as it was dying anyway.

Only a tenner whatever happens.

 

[ChrisFilter]

Bugger. What's the cheapest ebuyer offering that would work?

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/124922 This looks ok, but doesn't detail any of the gubbins.