SharinganTH1422

One of my cousins is on a similar budget and he sent me this list...

Motherboard (£31) : http://www.ebuyer.com/product/126739...ctype=extended
or (£70) http://www.ebuyer.com/product/136370...ctype=extended

Processor (£115) : http://www.ebuyer.com/product/139967

Ram (£26) : !2 x http://www.ebuyer.com/product/106114

DVD Drive (£17) : http://www.ebuyer.com/product/131151

Graphics Card (£73) : http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127345

Case (£15) : http://www.ebuyer.com/product/105809

Total = £317

£277 with 31 pound mother board

(Case doesn't really apply to you, and also, I got this list ages ago so prices and links/products may have changed since then).

I'd suggest this RAMn and this GPU, which is an overclocked 9600GT and is actually much cheaper than the 8800 GT you posted, for a closer level of performance due to the overclock (also, both parts I suggested come with lifetime warranties, which is excellent).

On the PSU, I don't think there's a coincidence that this 500W PSU made my OCUK, is the exact same price as the other cheapest one I could find on OCUK, which is this one made by Antec. OCUK have made their one to compete with the cheapest, and even though having a named, trusted and reliable brand is important when it comes to a PSU, looking at the statistics, they've purposefully made a PSU that is better than the Antec, for people like yourself on a budget. That efficiency is quite incredible, and personally, I'd go with the OCUK/Huntkey one.

__________________
Anger is a gift - Malcolm X

...If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same...

Obi

Thank you everyone for you help so far! It has been very much appreciated.

PNY GeForce 8800 GT 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 2.66GHz (1333FSB) - Retail
OcUK Huntkey 500W PSU
OcUK Value IP35-S Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Samsung SpinPoint S 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD161HJ)
OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2 (OCZ2G8004GK)


Does anyone see any complete howlers? The only reservations I'd have would be with Motherboard brand, although all the reviews of it were good.

Bamboo

I would never by a generic MB. One of the reasons you pay more for a good name brand is the support, warranty, and the driver updates. I am sure you can find one made by ASUS, Gigibyte, ABIT or others for very near that price.
And again, when are you buying. If it is this week, the e8200 is o.k., but in the next couple of weeks that e8400 should fall in price now that stocks are returning to normal. Newegg even has a steady supply in stock. It's MSRP is like $180, so you should find it cheaper soon.

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Bamboo

For instance, I just noticed this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128059
Look how good the reviews are for it.
And it is only $10 more on that site you link to above.
Also interesting is how cheap that memeory you posted above is on newegg after rebates
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...pk=OCZ2G8004GK

Too bad they won't ship overseas.

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10th Tactical Guard
Server Rules and SOP * Kicked? Banned? READ THIS FIRST!*
Contact an Admin * Nominate your teammates for a ribbon

Stoop and you'll be stepped on; stand tall and you'll be shot at.

-Carlos A. Urbizo-

SharinganTH1422

It's good OCUK have a lot of "This Week" offers.

That 8800GT for that cheap seems good. Try and maybe get it ASAP before the offer goes away, because I don't think you're going to get a better price, and same for that RAM.

You could wait for the E8400's as Bamboo suggested, but the only difference there seems to be is the Clock speed difference, where the E8200 = 2.66GHz, and the E8400 = 3GHz, and I'd say you can make this up in overclock...?

Also, I suggest you do get a case like this , as it has easy installation, looks OK and, most importantly has good cooling which should save you some hassle in watching how hot your system gets if you want to overclock. Although, the reviews do state a few minor problems with the case, you still get a lot more than you pay for with it (To put it in perspective, if you buy this, the thing that houses all your components and stops them from imploding with heat, and also makes them last longer, will cost less than any other component of your PC except the hard drive...)

Also, like Bamboo said, that mobo wouldn't be the best choice. The 3 things to try and not to skimp out on too much is the mobo, the cooling, and the PSU (IMHO), because those are basically the foundations for a well run PC, that will last you a decent while. I think that PSU and case are actually good quality without spending too much, but with a mobo there's not may ways around the problem of paying for quality.

P.S. The lack of warranty on that OCUK PSU does slightly worry me...although I'd say the quality of that PSU for the price is too much to give up, if it arrives at your door broken, there's not much you can do...

__________________
Anger is a gift - Malcolm X

...If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same...

Obi

Well I finally ordered it. Thank you all so much for your help, it's been invaluable.

You'll probably see me around a bit more this summer because by then I'll have a nice little computer to play nasty shooty games on.

Thanks again!

Acreo Aeneas

I believe Vista frees up some of that .5 GB of used RAM when you run a full screen application.


At this point, you might as well call this a new build. You're basically replacing most of your internal components.

__________________

SharinganTH1422

Hope it works out man. So did you go with that list you posted in the end?

__________________
Anger is a gift - Malcolm X

...If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same...

Obi

Nah this is what I ended up getting.

Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 2.66GHz (1333FSB)
OcUK Huntkey 500W PSU
Samsung SpinPoint S 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD161HJ)
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
PNY GeForce 8800 GT 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2

I'm sure I'll be calling for help again when the inevitable problems arise.

SharinganTH1422

Nice motherboard.

Looks good.

__________________
Anger is a gift - Malcolm X

...If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same...

Switch

Obligatory link to Toms Hardware
http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/03/...lder_marathon/

Here they built 3 systems and gave reviews of performance per price point.

The low end system should be a good guide.

---

oops, too late, i just noticed.

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