Recommend Yours: Budget System

[mac124]

Buget system builders i would recommend something along these lines.

Motherboard Gigabyte GA-945GZM-S2: - £33 (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Socket+775+%28Intel%29/Gigabyte+GA-945GZM-S2+775+Motherboard+?productId=26546)

Cpu Intel Pentium Dual Core E2140: - £42 (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/CPUs+%2F+Processors/Intel/Core+2+Duo/Intel+Pentium+Dual+Core+E2140+1.6GHz+%28775%29+?pr oductId=27106)

Elixir 1GB PC2-6400, either a single stick or 2 if you can afford it, or add another later: - £18 per stick (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Memory/DDR2/DDR2+800+%28PC6400%29/Elixir+1GB+PC2-6400+?productId=24474)

80GB Samsung SATA2 8MB, not a huge hard drive but its easy to add more storage later: - £27 (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Hard+Drives/Serial+ATA/80GB+Samsung+SATA2+8MB+?productId=24012)

ATi Radeon HD 2400 PRO 256MB, graphics cards are dependant on what you want to do with the pc, this one should be a reasonable alrounder for browsing, watching dvd's etc and can be connected to a tv as well as some light gaming: - £30 (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/PCI-E/ATI+Radeon+2000+Series/ATi+Radeon+HD+2400+PRO+256MB+Support+1GB+PCI-E+?productId=27968)

PSU, often the most overlookd component, DO NOT buy the cheapest psu you can find just because its \"rated\" at 600watt for £9 you will get a possible time bomb, buy a reasonable branded one, its worth it in the long run. Xilence 420W Gaming PSU : - £27 (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Power+Supplies/200w+to+449w/Xilence+420W+Gaming+PSU+?productId=19868)

19'' AriaNet Vista WideScreen TFT, should be a reasonable all round monitor and widscreen too so good for watching films on. : - £97 (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Displays/Monitors/TFT+19%22/19%27%27+AriaNet+Vista+WideScreen+TFT+5ms+?product Id=26228)

I have deliberately left out a case because they are a subjective choice, what i like might not necessary be to other peoples taste, likewise the optical drive, i might choose a black one and the builder might choose a sliver case. I will say check the details on the optical drives as not all come with software, some are also sata and some ide, check to see if its the one you want.

Keyboard and mouse can be purchased for a few pounds up so again i left this choice to the system builder. Also remember you will need an operating system

Total for the components above should come to approx £275, remember this DOESN'T include a case / keyboard / mouse or operating system, case / keyboard and mouse could cost around £50 so call it £325 + os and you have a decent buget system with scope to do some good upgrading later.

[Amie]

ok thats a start, anyone else have any thoughts. Post your recommendations so i can get some average.

[Ken Toole]

Honestly Guys/Gals, the thought of a completely new build "Rather than a re-vamp my mates existing PC" were in the back of my mind right after I'd posted this thread, in fact Iv'e said as much to my mate.
I know this from my own reading (Micro Mart) etc and my build experiences that Gaming Machine's take the Lions share of generaly expensive components.
However its nice to Know you lot are up-to-date and on the ball as far tight budgets are concerned,in particular mac124s ideas are relevent to what I will suggest to My Mate who will no-doubt relay this information to his Lad. Many Thank for All your Suggestions.
All the Best for Christmas "not to early is it" Ken Toole.

[Micky007]

not at all, Christmas is everyday for me :p

[John LG]

Motherboard Gigabyte GA-945GZM-S2: - £33 (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Socket+775+%28Intel%29/Gigabyte+GA-945GZM-S2+775+Motherboard+?productId=26546)

Cpu Intel Pentium Dual Core E2140: - £42 (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/CPUs+%2F+Processors/Intel/Core+2+Duo/Intel+Pentium+Dual+Core+E2140+1.6GHz+%28775%29+?pr oductId=27106)

Elixir 1GB PC2-6400, either a single stick or 2 if you can afford it, or add another later: - £18 per stick (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Memory/DDR2/DDR2+800+%28PC6400%29/Elixir+1GB+PC2-6400+?productId=24474)

80GB Samsung SATA2 8MB, not a huge hard drive but its easy to add more storage later: - £27 (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Hard+Drives/Serial+ATA/80GB+Samsung+SATA2+8MB+?productId=24012)

PSU, Xilence 420W Gaming PSU : - £27 (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Power+Supplies/200w+to+449w/Xilence+420W+Gaming+PSU+?productId=19868)
.

I've blown my old psu, and with it my motherboard, therefore I have some components I'd like to reuse if possible. Could you help review these and make further comments?
I have:
a 17inch TFT
cheap pci-e16 256mb graphics
2 maxtors IDEs (120, 200GB) but fancy a SATA drive, and will use one of these as a second?
Elixir 2x512mb pc3200/400 - do I have to ditch these?
Black dvd rw and floppy drives
PCI wireless and PCI firewire cards- so mobo needs 2x old pci - unless firewire was onboard
1 black optical mouse

I need mobo, cpu (as above??), is a cheap intel better than a cheap amd at the moment? Suggestions to fit the my components appreciated...
1 black keyboard - canyon £2 job will do.
1 case - aria verbose midi should do? £21
I suppose Vista Home Premium 64 is what I need? £53

Any comments or observations?
Cheers,
John

[coiler]

I've blown my old psu, and with it my motherboard, therefore I have some components I'd like to reuse if possible. Could you help review these and make further comments?
I have:
a 17inch TFT
cheap pci-e16 256mb graphics
2 maxtors IDEs (120, 200GB) but fancy a SATA drive, and will use one of these as a second?
Elixir 2x512mb pc3200/400 - do I have to ditch these?
Black dvd rw and floppy drives
PCI wireless and PCI firewire cards- so mobo needs 2x old pci - unless firewire was onboard
1 black optical mouse

I need mobo, cpu (as above??), is a cheap intel better than a cheap amd at the moment? Suggestions to fit the my components appreciated...
1 black keyboard - canyon £2 job will do.
1 case - aria verbose midi should do? £21
I suppose Vista Home Premium 64 is what I need? £53

Any comments or observations?
Cheers,
John


Hi John,

I would go for this

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Socket+775+%28Intel%29/Asrock+ConRoe1333-DVI%2FH+Soket+775+Motherboard+?productId=28570

It has a 1333mhz front side bus so is nice and futureproof (will take E6850's etc expensive at mo, cheap in a year), also has the x2 PCI you wanted.

1. You will have to lose your memory as decent boards now take DDR2. Go for a stick of this (or even x2 as its such a good price!)

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Memory/DDR2/DDR2+667+%28PC5300%2F5400%29/Kingston+1GB+PC2-5300+CL5+?productId=23582

2. and a tasty dualcore intel CPU to run it

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/CPUs+%2F+Processors/Intel/Core+2+Duo/Intel+Pentium+Dual+Core+E2140+1.6GHz+%28Retail+775 %29+?productId=27106

3. Other issue is IDE which is now becoming obsolete, new baords only have ONE IDE socket. So fit your old 200gb hard and on other end of cable fit your DVDRW.

Treat yourself to a 320gb Sata2 16 mb cache for main drive

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Hard+Drives/Serial+ATA/320GB+IBM-Hitachi+Deskstar+SATA2+16MB+?productId=24793


4. Arianet Verbose case is good choice

5. I would go for Vista 32 see here for reason why

http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/1426/vista_64_bit_or_32_bit_version_x64_vs_x86


£201.66ex I make it and thats WITH the 2gb memory! for a monster home pc! :)



Thanks


I accept paypal or reputation 8)

[John LG]

Thanks, I'll have a look at that! I like Asrock boards. I hadn't thought of the 1 ide issue, although isn't mixing hdd and optical a bit dodgy? I suppose it won't really matter as I won't use either that much anyway! I can't believe how cheap a dual core is! Spending less than £250 means the wife might approve too!
Cheers,
J

[Aaron]

Just be careful that if you want to use an IDE drive in there, alot of new mobos only have one IDE, and that IDE socket can ONLY be used with optical drives - Hard Drives may not work.

[coiler]

If 320 gb will be enough don't bother with your old drive, and get a SATA dvdrw as well. So no IDE is needed.

You could always get a sata 80gb for backing up pics etc for about £20ish ex

[tystar]

why's everyone recommending purchasing an extra drive for backing up onto? If you have an existing ide drive that you wanna use for backups then just purchase a icy box and use your existing drive. a little cheaper than an extra drive and you dont have a ide drive sat round gathering dust.

[John LG]

To be honest I'm struggling to fill 60GB even with all our music, pictures and game files! So to cut the cost, I'm thinking of going for a Samsung Spinpoint 160GB sata2 drive, at £30. Need to be careful not to spend more than I can afford, for a change! This needs to be as budget as possible. As long as I can get the data off my old ides, I can then leave them for a rainy day!

Current thoughts are:
Verbose case £21
Canyon kbd £2
Vista Home Prem 32bit £52
Asrock conroe1333-dvi/h £33
Kingston 1gb x1 (for now) £10
Intel e2140 1.6ghz £35
Xilence 420w £23
160gb samsung spnpt sata2 £27
VAT £36
Ship £9
£248 total.
Reuse my dvdrw, floppy, 17inch tft, optical mse, case fan, firewire and wireless pci cards, cheap pci-ex16 256mb graphics...

...unless any more ideas of course, I like changing my mind!

[John LG]

why's everyone recommending purchasing an extra drive for backing up onto? If you have an existing ide drive that you wanna use for backups then just purchase a icy box and use your existing drive. a little cheaper than an extra drive and you dont have a ide drive sat round gathering dust.


Nice idea... thanks

[coiler]

Nice idea... thanks

Also the Verbose case has a PSU 520w I think, probably be just as good as Xilence since your not gaming. The £45 + Psu's are where you start getting the next level of qaulity.

[John LG]

Also the Verbose case has a PSU 520w I think, probably be just as good as Xilence since your not gaming. The £45 + Psu's are where you start getting the next level of qaulity.

Yeah, I considered cutting that out, but my current lack of PC I think is down to the generic psu frying both my motherboards. It's been quite a weekend!

For example: I connect up my motherboard to old case, it doesn't boot. Check all connections, try again, psu (generic 420) blows fuse in house, smoke comes out back of psu. Take board out, connect to spare psu (generic 460w), fans out round on chipset, graphics card and cpu, but no POST beep. Assume motherboard dead. Get spare motherboard and omponents out (that were to be sold on ebay) connect up on antistatic bag, boots up fine. I'm happy. Disconnect, place into case, won't boot up - fans on, no POST beep. Assume case shorting board (but it shouldn't as that board has been in that case for 3 years!). No evidence of shorts, set board up again on antistatic bag, but I seem to have killed it.
Bad bad (and expensive) weekend. I guess I may have zapped it somehow? Not grounding myself properly?

Hence, being forced to look at a new machine.

Thanks for listening - this should have been a different thread - but it seemed an ideal time to let it all out!

[Aaron]

I think setting the Magic Smoke free from the PSU probably had a bigger impact than you not grounding yourself properly..

Its the Magic Smoke that makes things work - if you release it, things break..

;)

[coiler]

yes its safe to say its broke, mobo and psu. :sad:

[tystar]

To be honest I'm struggling to fill 60GB even with all our music, pictures and game files! So to cut the cost, I'm thinking of going for a Samsung Spinpoint 160GB sata2 drive, at £30. Need to be careful not to spend more than I can afford, for a change! This needs to be as budget as possible. As long as I can get the data off my old ides, I can then leave them for a rainy day!

Current thoughts are:
Verbose case £21
Canyon kbd £2
Vista Home Prem 32bit £52
Asrock conroe1333-dvi/h £33
Kingston 1gb x1 (for now) £10
Intel e2140 1.6ghz £35
Xilence 420w £23
160gb samsung spnpt sata2 £27
VAT £36
Ship £9
£248 total.
Reuse my dvdrw, floppy, 17inch tft, optical mse, case fan, firewire and wireless pci cards, cheap pci-ex16 256mb graphics...

...unless any more ideas of course, I like changing my mind!

I have personally had the misfortune of having seen the verbose case in the flesh, now dont get me wrong if you like to look at the case and like the feel of CHEAP plastic, and wont open the front of the case too often in fear of the door falling off. then go for it. other wise go for the Arianet Veil Midi case,

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Cases/MIDI+Tower/Arianet+Veil+MIDI+Case+?productId=27728

this is my personal opinion and not of those who pay my wages ;)

[mac124]

If you want a quality cheap case then look no further than the Akasa Zen

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Cases/MIDI+Tower/Akasa+Zen+Silent-Cool+-+Black?productId=25262

[coiler]

or this

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Cases/MIDI+Tower/Antec+NSK4000+Blk%2FSilverTower+?productId=27192

[John LG]

Thanks for all your responses, it's really useful. Nice to get feedback from Tystar on Verbose, the Veil does look awful, but it's also true that it will be hidden! Now mac's suggestion of the akasa case gets me drooling... £15 for Veil or £60 for Akasa and separate PSU...decisions, decisions. Will the Veil let the magic smoke escape like my last experience!
Got to keep to a budget, so tempting to 'just' spend another £10 on more RAM, another £20 on a better processor etc.

P.S. Fried psu, board, cpu now going out of the window... still not sure why my second PSU won't get spare mobo up and running again. No magic smoke was released from that one! And it worked great when laid out on antistatic bag - something happened in those ten minutes it took to move it into case... another one going out of the window. Will my RAM be OK, or is that likely to be fried as well? What about the graphics card? Wireless card? Could they all be affected by the blow out? Argggghhhh.

[Lynx]

Have you retested it all out of the case on the bag again? if it works there then the board is shorting out somewhere.

[mac124]

Thanks for all your responses, it's really useful. Nice to get feedback from Tystar on Verbose, the Veil does look awful, but it's also true that it will be hidden! Now mac's suggestion of the akasa case gets me drooling... £15 for Veil or £60 for Akasa and separate PSU...decisions, decisions. Will the Veil let the magic smoke escape like my last experience!

Please don't spend £15 on a case and psu, it will probably end in tears. By all means get the cheaper case but spend at least £25 on a decent psu.

[John LG]

Thanks Lynx - yes, I took it back out, all fans kick into action, and no POST. Checked all connections were identical, hadn't plugged in any unnecessary optical drives, extra usb ports etc. Dead as a parrot. A few hundred pounds of mistake x2 it would seem.

Mac - of all my time on forums, one of the universal issues with hardware seems to be dodgy psu's. I'm happy to be persuaded this time (and your avatar is too cool not to listen!) shame I had to learn this way...

[mac124]

Hehe thanks, i have to admit i think my avatar is kinda cool.

We all learn by mistakes unfortunately they sometimes work out expensive as you found out. :(

[John LG]

So, when my psu went pop, is that likely to have damaged ALL components connected? I guess cpu is going, but what about the pci cards? I don't have anything to test them in now! And the RAM? What's normal in this situation?
All this help has been useful, I've got everything lined up in my basket - I'll post back when this budget PC is built, and not hijack thread anymore!

[mac124]

No real way of telling untill you try them. If they were directly plugged into the psu then the chances are alot higher of them being damaged by the psu dieing.

[Micky007]

hmmmm didnt i reply to this topic saying that?

someone deleted my post :(

[mac124]

Not me mate, i have touched any of your posts, apart from that one i "moved"

[Micky007]

lol yea i know about the one you moved dont worry ;)

[John LG]

Just about to click BUY NOW... so my 'final' thoughts are:
Akasa Zen silent-cool-black-£25.95 (I was persuaded in the end)
Vista Home Prem 32bit £52 (thanks again for link disuading from 64bit)
Asrock conroe1333-dvi/h £33 (sooo upgradable and crammed with features)
Kingston 1gb x2 (so cheap I had to!) £20
Intel e2140 1.6ghz £35
Xilence 420w £23 (thanks again for yr advice)
160gb samsung spnpt sata2 £27
VAT £39
Ship £9
£269 total.(including aone dvdx50 for £5)
Reuse my dvdrw, floppy(?), 17inch tft, wireless kbd/mse, extra case fan (not really needed), firewire and wireless pci cards, cheap pci-ex16 256mb graphics (not really needed)
Just hope I don't screw this lot up... should have all cables and stuff I need, shouldn't I? cpu is retail, mobo comes with sata2 cable, psu has sata connections...

Last minute panic, as I don't understand fsb etc. Mobo is 533/677 for RAM, so iI've got ram (677) and Mobo is 533/667/800/1066/1333 for cpu and I've got 800... the fact that RAM and cpu are different fsb is OK isn't it? and these will all go together?

[mac124]

That looks fine John everything should work together just great, go ahead and push the buy button. :D

And keep us posted on the new build, when you do build it just use the bear essentials till you get the os and mobo drivers on, stick your firewire / wifi cards in after everything else is installed.

[mcmouse]

I can 100% reccomend this setup if anyones interested,its about 400 quids worth,works super fast.very quiet,hasnt crashed or moaned once,runs games and cpu/ram hungry music applications perfectly ...been good for everything except my social life in the last few weeks:mrgreen: My first home build,parts chosen with help from the experts here and at custompc.

Akasa Zen Silent-Cool - Black £ 25.95
Corsair 450W VX Series PSU £ 34.95
ASUS P5N-E SLi NF650i 775 £ 59.55
OCZ 2GB PC2-6400 Reaper HPC (2x1GB) £ 49.95
Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 2.2GHz (775) £ 62.25
250Gb Western Digital Caviar SE SATA 8MB £ 34.55
ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB PCI-E £ 65.95

with an old 16" monitor,XP,few old dvd drives,an echo mia 24/96 soundcard and a midisport 2x2 usb.

[John LG]

That looks fine John everything should work together just great, go ahead and push the buy button. :D

And keep us posted on the new build, when you do build it just use the bear essentials till you get the os and mobo drivers on, stick your firewire / wifi cards in after everything else is installed.

Just a bit of feedback.

Excellent PC, really pleased. The PSU is SO quiet I've never 'not heard' anything like it before - being used to generic ones. Hard to make comparisons with speed to my old systems as I've gone for Vista. Boots very quickly, sub 30 seconds. Oh, and firewire and wireless cards worked fine - so not damaged from previously discussed issues.

Thanks for all help and support.

The only downside was that I ended up claiming on house insurance (protected ncb and accidental cover) - but as I'd already ordered this one I only got the difference between this cost and my excess - if I hadn't been so much on the ball could have got a much much better spec one for the same cost (£150 excess)! But maybe that's being greedy, and also far too honest! Cheers everyone.

[mac124]

Glad its up and running fine and that nothing else suffered in the demise of the the other pc :D

[Scottz2002]

Hi I'm new to these forums,

I have been designing a new computer for my brother-in-law who is 16 wants to play games etc.. but only has around £300-£350 to play around with. now I have been on the aria site and priced one up and want to know what you guys think and if any chances could be done. I wan to go buy all these items tomorrow (sunday) if possible.

ProcesserIntel Core 2 Duo E4500 2.2GHz (Retail 775)CPU-I-E4500£72.56Processor compoundMotherboardAsrock CONROE945PL-GLAN Socket 775 MB7-ASR-CONR945PLG£35.19Tower (Case)Arianet Crosstalk MIDI caseCSE-MID-313-52£17.57Hard Drive160GB Samsung Spinpoint SATA2 8MBHDA-160-HD160JJ£30.49DVD-RW20x Samsung SH-S202 20X IDE DVDR-W BlackCDR-DVD-S202JB£15.80Floppy Drive3½'' Black Floppy DriveFLO-35-B£4.22GraphicsMemoryCorsair 1GB PC2-4200 Value Select (2x512MB)MEM-VS1GBKIT533D£16.91SpeakersXPRO 990 2.1 Channel SpeakersSPK-XPRO-990£16.39Keyboard & MouseLogitech S510 Cordless DesktopKEY-LOG-CL-S510£29.90IDE- CableIDE ATA66/100/133 CableCAB-IDE-U66£1.47Floppy Drive CableRound Floppy Drive CableCAB-FLOP-R£1.52Hard Drive CableAkasa Serial ATA 60cm Blue (SATAII)CAB-SATA2-60BLUV£4.11

[Micky007]

you need to sort that out, its really hard to read and understna dhwat it is your buying.

1 thing i would say from looking at that spec is if he is going to use it for gaming, then he has no chance at all. Theres no graphics card in there and if he is going to be playing all the latest games then he will need a good one.

I see you have added speakers and everything in there aswell. Well for £300 he isnt going to get a gaming pc, thats more like a budget PC.

Read this topic as someone else wanted a cheap gaming pc with everything including montiro, XP, keyboard, mouse, sound etc... and i gave him a good gaming pc for somthing like £800.

http://www.aria.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=3502

But i mean theres just no way at all he will be able to play the latest games on a £300 gaming pc which includes speakers, mouse, keyboard etc...

[Scottz2002]

ProcesserIntel Core 2 Duo E4500 2.2GHz (Retail 775)CPU-I-E4500Processor compoundMotherboardAsrock CONROE945PL-GLAN Socket 775 MB7-ASR-CONR945PLGTower (Case)Arianet Crosstalk MIDI caseCSE-MID-313-52Hard Drive160GB Samsung Spinpoint SATA2 8MBHDA-160-HD160JJDVD-RW20x Samsung SH-S202 20X IDE DVDR-W BlackCDR-DVD-S202JBFloppy Drive3½'' Black Floppy DriveFLO-35-BGraphicsMemoryCorsair 1GB PC2-4200 Value Select (2x512MB)MEM-VS1GBKIT533DSpeakersXPRO 990 2.1 Channel SpeakersSPK-XPRO-990Keyboard & MouseLogitech S510 Cordless DesktopKEY-LOG-CL-S510IDE- CableIDE ATA66/100/133 CableCAB-IDE-U66Floppy Drive CableRound Floppy Drive CableCAB-FLOP-RHard Drive CableAkasa Serial ATA 60cm Blue (SATAII)CAB-SATA2-60BLUV

[Scottz2002]

Sorry about the post. basically he isn't a big gamer he is looking to play games from around 2-3 years ago.. nothing top end.. I didn't include a graphics card to use I wasn't sure which one to choose I hope you could help. I would love any help for building a computer for between £300-370. I have monitor. one problem i did notice is that at first i just wanted to build him a P4 3Ghz. I have spare socket 478 board but can't find any processors on your site.

[Micky007]

Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 2.2GHz (Retail 775) (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/CPUs+%2F+Processors/Intel/Core+2+Duo/Intel+Core+2+Duo+E4500+2.2GHz+%28Retail+775%29+?pr oductId=28028)
Gigabyte GA-VM900M Socket 775 Motherboard (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Socket+775+%28Intel%29/Gigabyte+GA-VM900M+Socket+775+Motherboard+?productId=26548)
Corsair 1GB PC2-5400 C4 XMS2 Xtreme Performance (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Memory/DDR2/DDR2+667+%28PC5300%2F5400%29/Corsair+1GB+PC2-5400+C4+XMS2+Xtreme+Performance+?productId=22673)
Xilence 480W Gaming PSU (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Power+Supplies/450w+to+499w/Xilence+480W+Gaming+PSU+?productId=19869)
LITEON DH-20A4P-21C 20x DVDRW - Black (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/CD%2FDVD+Drives/DVD-R%2FRW+Writer/LITEON+DH-20A4P-21C+20x+DVDRW+-+Black+?productId=28914)
''Dominator'' Midi tower with LCD (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Cases/MIDI+Tower/%27%27Dominator%27%27+Midi+tower+with+LCD+?product Id=10016)
160GB Samsung Spinpoint SATA2 8MB (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Hard+Drives/Serial+ATA/160GB+Samsung+Spinpoint+SATA2+8MB+?productId=24013 )
3½'' Black Floppy Drive (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Floppy+Drives/3%C2%BD%27%27+Black+Floppy+Drive?productId=2436)
XPRO 990 2.1 Channel Speakers (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Peripherals/Speakers+%26+Headsets/Speakers+-+2.1/XPRO+990+2.1+Channel+Speakers+?productId=24490)
Logitech Desktop LX 710 Laser (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Peripherals/Keyboards/+Logitech+Desktop+LX+710+Laser?productId=25716)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 PRO (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Fans%2C+Heatsinks%2C+Coolers/Socket+775/+Arctic+Cooling+Freezer+7+PRO?productId=20729)
nVidia GeForce 8600GT 256MB PCI-E (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/PCI-E/nVIDIA+GeForce+8+Series/nVidia+GeForce+8600GT+256MB+PCI-E+?productId=26918)

TOTAL: 364.30 inc VAT

[cleggypdc]

kudos scottz

[Scottz2002]

Thank you for your post, really has helped. Just one more question, does the motherboard support SATA or SATA2 for HD's.. Many Thanks

[cleggypdc]

SATA = yes
SATA 2 = revision 2 of this mobo supports this

Aria sells revision 1

Heres a comparison chart :)
http://www.gigabyte.in/Products/Motherboard/Products_ComparisonSheet.aspx?ProductID=2581,2407

[Scottz2002]

Just wanted to say thank you for the quick reply & if the store is open today I will be driving round to purchase these items

[cleggypdc]

yep, store is open until 4pm :)

[mac124]

I would go with mickys setup with 2 changes, 2gb of memory and swap the cpu down to a 2000 series, the drop in cpu "power" will probably be unnoticable in the real world apps but the increase in memory could make a massive difference to some games.

[Scottz2002]

ProcesserIntel Pentium Dual Core E2160 1.8GHz£46.88HeatsinkArctic Cooling Freezer 7 PRO£14.04Processor compoundArctic Silver V Compound£4.17MotherboardGigabyte GA-VM900M Socket 775 Motherboard£30.96Tower (Case)Arianet Crosstalk MIDI case£17.57Hard Drive 2160GB Hitachi SATA£31.67DVD-RW20x Samsung SH-S202 20X IDE DVDR-W Black£15.80Floppy Drive3½'' Black Floppy Drive£4.22GraphicsnVidia GeForce 8500GT 256MB PCI-E£42.24MemoryPatriot 1GB PC2-5300 Signature£15.22SpeakersXPRO 990 2.1 Channel Speakers£16.39Keyboard & MouseBelkin Wireless Keyboard & Mouse£12.68IDE- CableIDE ATA66/100/133 Cable£1.47Floppy Drive CableRound Floppy Drive Cable£1.52Hard Drive CableSerial ATA Data Cable£1.88

[Scottz2002]

Right I have gone with this set up.. pricing allowed.. just wondering what you guys thought. and if everything will work together. Many Thanks

[cleggypdc]

Processor: Intel Pentium Dual Core E2160 1.8GHz - £46.88
Heatsink: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 PRO - £14.04
Processor compound: Arctic Silver V Compound - £4.17
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-VM900M Socket 775 Motherboard - £30.96
Tower (Case): Arianet Crosstalk MIDI case - £17.57
Hard Drive 2: 160GB Hitachi SATA - £31.67
DVD-RW: 20x Samsung SH-S202 20X IDE DVDR-W Black - £15.80
Floppy Drive: 3½'' Black Floppy Drive - £4.22
Graphics: nVidia GeForce 8500GT 256MB PCI-E - £42.24
Memory: Patriot 1GB PC2-5300 Signature - £15.22
Speakers: XPRO 990 2.1 Channel Speakers - £16.39
Keyboard & Mouse: Belkin Wireless Keyboard & Mouse - £12.68

IDE- Cable: IDE ATA66/100/133 Cable - £1.47 (comes with mobo)
Floppy Drive Cable: Round Floppy Drive Cable - £1.52 (comes with mobo)
Hard Drive Cable: Serial ATA Data Cable - £1.88 (comes with mobo)

you also need a power supply that will run the 8800GT, try this one,
27930

[mac124]

For an extra £30 i would go for an 8600gt + another stick of memory

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/PCI-E/nVIDIA+GeForce+8+Series/nVidia+GeForce+8600GT+256MB+PCI-E+?productId=26918

Better still, for £5 more get this memory its faster and runs tighter timings and a matched pair.

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Memory/DDR2/DDR2+800+%28PC6400%29/Patriot+2GB+PC2-6400+C4+Extreme+Performance+%282x1GB%29+?productId =26802

[Scottz2002]

Arianet Crosstalk MIDI case Quickcode: #27722 This case I selected comes with a 520W PSU? does this not have PCI-E connectors? Also do all PCI-E cards have to have power supplied via the PSU? sorry for all the questions. I have never used PCI-E before and last time I built a machine was 18 months ago.

[cleggypdc]

Yes they need a power supply, especially the newer graphics cards, they eat amps! :)
Usually the psu'swhich come with cases are cheap and nasty, hence their light weight

[mac124]

A common misconception is that all psu's are made the same, fact is they aren't, ask John LG he has recently had to rebuild a pc as a psu let go and took out his motherboard. You might find that psu is fine, on the other hand it might be a time bomb waiting to take out your new pc. Ok i might be being a bit melodramatic but for the sake of £25 for a reasonable psu imho its worth the extra piece of mind.

[Scottz2002]

ProcesserIntel Pentium Dual Core E2160 1.8GHz£46.88HeatsinkArctic Cooling Freezer 7 PRO£14.04Processor compoundArctic Silver V Compound£4.17MotherboardGigabyte GA-VM900M Socket 775 Motherboard£30.96Tower (Case)Arianet Crosstalk MIDI case£17.57Gaming PSUXilence 600W Gaming Edition PSU£46.94Hard Drive160GB Hitachi SATA£31.67DVD-RW20x Samsung SH-S202 20X IDE DVDR-W Black£15.80Floppy Drive3½'' Black Floppy Drive£4.22GraphicsAsus EN6200 Turbo Cache 256MB - 512MB TurboCache PCI-E£17.57MemoryPatriot 1GB PC2-5300 Signature£15.22SpeakersXPRO 990 2.1 Channel Speakers£16.39Keyboard & MouseBelkin Wireless Keyboard & Mouse£12.68

[Scottz2002]

This is what I have gone with.. I thank you for all your advice.. basically no extreme gaming is going to played on the computer. at most World Of Warcraft and lesser games. so was just looking for something which will play that game, but doesn't have to be amazing top end graphics.

[cleggypdc]

make sure you post some piccies up when you get it up and running :)

[Micky007]

yea remember post some pics in the Show Off forum when its built :-)

[Micky007]

but also like Mac said get another 1GB stick of memory as it can make a big diffrence on some games while playing them.

[Scottz2002]

Well just been to the store and picked pull all the bits & bobs.. going to go build it... will take some pictures and post them!.. also got the extra 1gb stick at last min took your advice.. Thank you all :)

[Micky007]

np problem, look forward to see the pc built ;)

take some diffrent pictures IE with just the motherboard in, adding the memory, connecting the CPU fan, End Results. The pictures could be usfull in the future when we come to explain how to build a pc to new members and using them pictures.

[Scottz2002]

Hi Guys wondered if you could help me. everything is connected but I'm getting no picture on the motherboard... Has this motherboard got an onboard graphics?

[Micky007]

have you connected the monitor to the graphics card or motherboard?

[John LG]

A common misconception is that all psu's are made the same, fact is they aren't, ask John LG he has recently had to rebuild a pc as a psu let go and took out his motherboard. You might find that psu is fine, on the other hand it might be a time bomb waiting to take out your new pc. Ok i might be being a bit melodramatic but for the sake of £25 for a reasonable psu imho its worth the extra piece of mind.

Yep I can officially confirm the above!! After years of using generic PSUs I wouldn't ever do so again. It trashed my graphics card too! Bizarre. Buy a proper PSU - they look cool too, and have a wider range of connectors.

[Scottz2002]

Hi guys, Just to let you know I have built the system all working fine, infact on it now! Took plently of pictures will upload them once back home! Just a quick question, they are now after a re-chargeable station mouse can anyone recommend one please. Many Thanks

[alexnifty]

Hi guys, Just to let you know I have built the system all working fine, infact on it now! Took plently of pictures will upload them once back home! Just a quick question, they are now after a re-chargeable station mouse can anyone recommend one please. Many Thanks

Hey thats really cool, look forward to the pics :mrgreen:

[PeterStoba]

10653

[tystar]

Unfortuantly that one does not have a charging station and just takes standard AA bateries.

[PeterStoba]

Rechargable batteries :p

[tystar]

Hi guys, Just to let you know I have built the system all working fine, infact on it now! Took plently of pictures will upload them once back home! Just a quick question, they are now after a re-chargeable station mouse can anyone recommend one please. Many Thanks

looks like they wanted a rechargable mouse not 1 that takes rechargable batteries ;)

[coiler]

Rechargable batteries :p


i like that

[Aaron]

Logitech MX1000 (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Peripherals/Mice/Logitech+MX+1000+Laser+Mouse?productId=16217)

Logitech MX Revolution (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Peripherals/Mice/+Logitech+MX+Revolution+Laser+Mouse?productId=2515 9)
Great Mouses, charging station etc etc.. just depends on budget!

[Scottz2002]

Hi all, finally got those pictures on my computer to upload for you, just wondering, how do I upload on here? ... another question, I have a budget of around £500 pounds, could anyone price me up a computer? I have DVD-rom keyboard mouse monitor etc. Just looking for Motherboard, chip (Pentium pref.) gaphics card and PSU to go with it :)

[coiler]

Go and sign up to www.photobucket.com

upload pics., then make a new post on here and use the IMG link photobucket provides for each pic.

[Altro]

I'm new to the whole PC building thing. i have a lot of friends i have spoken to about getting a new computer and nearly all of them say "build your own."
So i guess its tiime to bite the bullet and actually do it.
But first i would like to run a spec by you guys.

Heres my items.

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Socket+AM2+%28AMD%29/MSI+K9N+NEO-F+V3+Socket+AM2+Motherboard+?productId=28164

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/CPUs+%2F+Processors/AMD/Athlon+64+X2+Socket+AM2/AMD+Athlon+64+X2+Dual+Core+6400%2B+3.20GHz+%28Reta il+AM2%29+?productId=28396

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/PCI-E/nVIDIA+GeForce+8+Series/nVidia+GeForce+8600GT+512MB+DDR2+PCI-E+?productId=27199

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Cases/MIDI+Tower/Arianet+Transformer+-+Red+MIDI+case+?productId=27726

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Hard+Drives/Serial+ATA/250GB+Maxtor%2FSeagate+SATA2+?productId=28704

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Memory/DDR2/DDR2+800+%28PC6400%29/GeIL+4GB+PC2-6400+C5+Black+Dragon+%282x2GB%29+?productId=29676

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/CD%2FDVD+Drives/DVD-R%2FRW+Writer/LiteOn+DH-20A4P-09C+20x+Internal+DVDRW+Reta il+Kit+?productId=29727

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Software/Operating+Systems/Windows+Vista+Ultimate+32bit+OEM+?productId=25912

Have i forgotten anything or missed a compatability issue somewhere?

Many thanks.

[Lynx]

Firstly, what is this pc going to be used for?

Secondly, give us a budget and we will give you a specced system, AMD are not the premium choice atm for performance, and to be honest, we could get you a better GFX card too and also a PSU is a must.

[Altro]

Gaming PC. Nothing hardcore, just some MMO's i play constantly. I have several accounts and my current system can't deal with the load of running them at once. But i am running a AMD Athlon 64 and a Geforce 4 atm, what do i expect. Well miricles of course!

Looking to spend £500

[Lynx]

Okay check out my new thread in about 5 mins.

[toothadash]

Hi I have posted varies threads but now would like to build a budget system as I don't feel the real need to have that good of a system but would definitely want the following:

Budget around £250

Ecute Black ATX Case Side Windows 550W PSU
OCZ 2GB (2x1GB)PC2-6400C4 DC Platinum Rev2 XTC Series DDR2
Samsung SpinPoint F1 500GB (on offer) or 640GB
DVDrw

I would like a microATX board with onboard GPU and sound I have a new Sony LCD on its way so not sure may need a separate card to watch media downloads?

Really want advice on CPU, Motherboard and may need a separate PSU and G/card?

Many thanks!

[wonderlust]

If you are going Intel and want to watch HD content, you need at least a G35 board,

But you will get better performance from a low end PCI-E card like a Radeon HD3650 etc.

[knicked]

Right so people like me are looking for a gaming pc for under £300 found out one that can take cod4,crysis,ut3,gow etc i think it can just waitin to get enough money then buy it well here we go note:all is exc. vat
XFX MG-610I-7059 NF610i Socket 775 Motherboard £ 29.95 (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Socket+775+%28Intel%29/XFX+MG-610I-7059+NF610i+Socket+775+Motherboard+?productId=3323 6)
Arianet 2GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM £ 14.95 (https://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Arianet+2GB+PC2-5300+DDR2+SDRAM+?productId=30175)
Samsung TS-H492C CD,DVD,CDRW Black (https://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Samsung+TS-H492C+CD%2CDVD%2CCDRW+Black?productId=31970) £ 4.99
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 PRO £ 11.95 (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Fans%2C+Heatsinks%2C+Coolers/Socket+775/Arctic+Cooling+Freezer+7+PRO+?productId=20729)
250GB Hitachi SATA2 Hard Disk - 7200rpm - 8MB (https://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/250GB+Hitachi+SATA2+Hard+Disk+-+7200rpm+-+8MB+?productId=30165) - £ 19.95
nVidia GeForce 8500GT 512MB PCI-E - £ 31.95 (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/PCI-E/nVIDIA+GeForce+8+Series/nVidia+GeForce+8500GT+512MB+PCI-E+?productId=29022)
4in1 MIDI Tower,KB,Mse,Spk Silv/Blk (https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Cases/MIDI+Tower/+4in1+MIDI+Tower%2CKB%2CMse%2CSpk+Silv%2FBlk?produ ctId=16278) - £ 24.95

I havnt chose processor recommend a core2duo 2.4ghz

[mac124]

don't bother with the 8500gt, get this gts instead its only a few pounds more and loads better for gaming than the 8500gt http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/PCI-E/nVIDIA+GeForce+8+Series/XFX+GeForce+8600GTS+256MB+PCI-E+Retail+?productId=29713

[alexnifty]

My housemate has an 8600gts its a great little gaming workhorse, couple it with a C2D and you will be a happy enough gamer.

[knicked]

oooh still under my £300 budget thanks hows everything else

[alexnifty]

Buget system builders i would recommend something along these lines.

Motherboard Gigabyte GA-945GZM-S2: - £33 (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Socket+775+%28Intel%29/Gigabyte+GA-945GZM-S2+775+Motherboard+?productId=26546)

Cpu Intel Pentium Dual Core E2140: - £42 (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/CPUs+%2F+Processors/Intel/Core+2+Duo/Intel+Pentium+Dual+Core+E2140+1.6GHz+%28775%29+?pr oductId=27106)

Elixir 1GB PC2-6400, either a single stick or 2 if you can afford it, or add another later: - £18 per stick (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Memory/DDR2/DDR2+800+%28PC6400%29/Elixir+1GB+PC2-6400+?productId=24474)

80GB Samsung SATA2 8MB, not a huge hard drive but its easy to add more storage later: - £27 (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Hard+Drives/Serial+ATA/80GB+Samsung+SATA2+8MB+?productId=24012)

ATi Radeon HD 2400 PRO 256MB, graphics cards are dependant on what you want to do with the pc, this one should be a reasonable alrounder for browsing, watching dvd's etc and can be connected to a tv as well as some light gaming: - £30 (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/PCI-E/ATI+Radeon+2000+Series/ATi+Radeon+HD+2400+PRO+256MB+Support+1GB+PCI-E+?productId=27968)

PSU, often the most overlookd component, DO NOT buy the cheapest psu you can find just because its \"rated\" at 600watt for £9 you will get a possible time bomb, buy a reasonable branded one, its worth it in the long run. Xilence 420W Gaming PSU : - £27 (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Power+Supplies/200w+to+449w/Xilence+420W+Gaming+PSU+?productId=19868)

19'' AriaNet Vista WideScreen TFT, should be a reasonable all round monitor and widscreen too so good for watching films on. : - £97 (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Displays/Monitors/TFT+19%22/19%27%27+AriaNet+Vista+WideScreen+TFT+5ms+?product Id=26228)

I have deliberately left out a case because they are a subjective choice, what i like might not necessary be to other peoples taste, likewise the optical drive, i might choose a black one and the builder might choose a sliver case. I will say check the details on the optical drives as not all come with software, some are also sata and some ide, check to see if its the one you want.

Keyboard and mouse can be purchased for a few pounds up so again i left this choice to the system builder. Also remember you will need an operating system

Total for the components above should come to approx £275, remember this DOESN'T include a case / keyboard / mouse or operating system, case / keyboard and mouse could cost around £50 so call it £325 + os and you have a decent buget system with scope to do some good upgrading later.

Everything in this list apart from the PSU is no longer stocked from aria. Does anyone have new suggestions? Mac? It is your post :p

My suggestion, using Mac's budget of £325 as a guide:

Note sure on AMD or Intel at this price/performance point, for intel I would say:

MSI G31M3-F Socket 775 (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Socket+775+%28Intel%29/MSI+G31M3-F+Socket+775+Motherboard?productId=34506) £36.74

Intel Pentium Dual Core E2200 2.2GHz (Retail 775) (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/CPUs+%2F+Processors/Intel/Core+2+Duo/Intel+Pentium+Dual+Core+E2200+2.2GHz+%28Retail+775 %29+?productId=31076) £54.57

Theres nothing from intel I consider suitable to "light gaming" as Mac says, cheaper than that.

For AMD:

Gigabyte GA M56S-S3 AM2 Motherboard (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Socket+AM2+%28AMD%29/Gigabyte+GA+M56S-S3+AM2+Motherboard+?productId=28840) £50.54

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4800+ 2.50GHz (oem AM2) (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/CPUs+%2F+Processors/AMD/Athlon+64+X2+Socket+AM2/AMD+Athlon+64+X2+Dual+Core+4800%2B+2.50GHz+%28oem+ AM2%29+?productId=34587) £42.49 (Arianet ValuePlus AMD Fan (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Fans%2C+Heatsinks%2C+Coolers/CPU+Coolers/Arianet+ValuePlus+AMD+Fan+%28Socket+754%2C+939%2C+ 940%2C+AM2%29?productId=30225) £4.54 needed as its OEM)

Then its straightforward...

Therefore I am picking the Arianet 1GB PC2-6400 DDR2 SDRAM (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Memory/DDR2/DDR2+800+%28PC6400%29/Arianet+1GB+PC2-6400+DDR2+SDRAM+?productId=26111) £8.57 which will be enough for using windows XP (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Software/Operating+Systems/Microsoft+Windows+XP+Home+OEM+SP3?productId=25139) with. If you want vista then kiss your budget goodbye.

80GB Samsung Spinpoint S166 SATA II Hard Drive (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Hard+Drives/Serial+ATA/80GB+Samsung+Spinpoint+S166+SATA+II+Hard+Drive+?pr oductId=34085) £24.09 Same hard drive as Mac suggested I think, the listing has changed, price is lower.

Asus ATi Radeon HD 3450 512MB PCI-E (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards/PCI-E/ATI+Radeon+3000+Series/Asus+ATi+Radeon+HD+3450+512MB+PCI-E+?productId=33286) £27.54 Hooray for GPU competition, we can now use a 3xxx series gpu instead of the 2xxx

No reason not to stay with the Xilence 420W Gaming PSU (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Power+Supplies/200w+to+449w/Xilence+420W+Gaming+PSU+?productId=19868) £25.44 Note that Aria says a Kettle Lead (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Peripherals/Cabling/Power/Standard+Power+Cable+%28Kettle+Lead%29+With+5A+Fus e?productId=29393) has to be purchased separately.

Hooray for the cheapness of TFT's this 19" Arianet Widescreen LCD Monitor with DVI - Black (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Displays/Monitors/TFT+19/19%22+Arianet+Widescreen+LCD+Monitor+with+DVI+-+Black?productId=33847) £74.69 should check all the budget-builders boxes.

Everything that Mac says at the end still holds true, except that I would recommend only getting a SATA Optical drive, IDE is history.

My grand total, allowing the £50 for mouse, keyboard, and case would be £301.64 for the intel and £307.90 for AMD. What do people think about the AMD/Intel thing? Theres just shy of £20 under budget for buying better processors.

[mac124]

Yours looks pretty good :thumbsup: i'll try to have a look later if i remember / get time but i doubt i could do any better.

I think the idea of these posts was to kinda have a rolling update?? Once every few months ;)

[haroon]

Sata is cheaper, better performance and easier to set up. Win Win Win. IDE is just old technology and you should not really bother with it if it can be helped.

[jonwoad]

All these new people reopening all these old threads :rolleyes:

[Funlester]

All these new people reopening all these old threads :rolleyes:

and no one has welcomed the new people either.

Welcome new people lol

[Will]

Who are these new people? They're like a L4D horde (not boomer jokes please boys) :mrgreen::mrgreen:

[tystar]

Who are these new people? They're like a L4D horde (not boomer jokes please boys) :mrgreen::mrgreen:

Hmm i wonder who all these new peeps are :rolleyes:




























































































Seems to be more Aria staff on here nowadays than anything :lol:

[Aaron]

Seems to be more Aria staff on here nowadays than anything :lol:
Concur...

[jonwoad]

Me and Tystar know who they are, dont we? :)

Edit: and with that post I become the 3rd worst spammer on here after Coiler and Wonder... I've overtaken Micky!

[Funlester]

Me and Tystar know who they are, dont we? :)

Edit: and with that post I become the 3rd worst spammer on here after Coiler and Wonder... I've overtaken Micky!

No you dont....

[jonwoad]

Well I know most of them :P

[Funlester]

Thats better lol

[jonwoad]

good good :)

[mrlars]

The more the merrier, don't you think?

[Dextrovert]

definately

[alexnifty]

Thought I would revive this thread so we can point people at it who are asking for new builds.

With public wish lists it should be easy to spec up builds. Here's my offering based around my recent system: https://www.aria.co.uk/WishList/MKBE-SHnWJ-gDFSIbdKBYA,,

Sans screen, OS, mouse, keyboard.

[Will]

Good idea Alex.

This tend to my stock budget gaming system..

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/7159/23855428.png