Hi all Right so, I have a few bits and pieces lying about and I thought I would bring it all together, add a few simple bits and then try and sell it or give it to the needy (depending on cash invested) - What I have: Mobo - Socket 478, 800Mhz ASRock which is quite able but SATA controller is out...on board sound is OK'ish. Case - Generic crap but still is a full ATX midi tower and has good ventilation Power Supply - 400W generic HD - Have a choice but basically about 40GB, IDE, 5400RPM CD/DVD Drive - CD-RW at the moment but might be able to get a DVD/CD-RW What I need (this is where I need the advice): Processor - over 2Ghz is nothing less than £15 on eBay. Shall I get a 1.6-1.8 and overclock slightly? Memory - Will two sticks of 256MB PC3200 @ dual channel be enough? Graphics - AGP, I know Radeons are not brilliant but it is enough for me at the moment so I suppose for a basic system it will do. However, I doubt I can get anything worth using for less than £15, right? Have I left anything out? Please feel free to comment. The idea is to spend as little as possible, as usual with me... :doh: Or, am I just better off to sell what I have and get a burger? A veggie one mind.... :O
OS, presumably XP SP2 depending on the OS you may be better throwing a Gig at it (2 x 512meg Edit: or are you putting BSD on it ?
It will either be XP SP2 or one of the *ubuntu's Thanks for looking. I think a gig will set me back too much... no? Update: Got the CPU - P4 2.6GHz, 800Mhz, 512Kb L2.
A Northwood core should do over 2.0GHz easy. In fact, you may very well hit 2.4GHz with it. They seem to do 600-800MHz overclocks pretty regularly. I had 400MHz and 533MHz FSBs, so you might get some different results with your chip should you OC it. For most things, 512MB is fine for XP. If you're into gaming, I'd go with at least 1GB. Making that jump was one of the best things I ever did. As cheap as DVD-RW drives are, the few extra dollars you spend is really nice. If you have something on hand, fine, but if you're purchasing new, I definitely encourage a DVDRW drive, specifically Pioneer.
Thanks BB, As I wrote, I clinched the CPU for £10. I am now waiting to pounce on some RAM. So far not much luck.... As I intend to sell the PC, I am going to try to go for 1Gig and DVD-RW but I will have to see.... I really do not want to spend too much. Otherwise I will be tempted to keep it for myself
What is a good entry level G-Card? One that is simple yet can still play games fairly well? I am looking on eBay for 128MB cards but there are so many makes and models, I reall do not know a hell of a lot about these... Thanks for your help!
256MB GigaByte Geforce 7600GS AGP Silent Graphics Card - eBay Graphics, Video TV Cards, Desktop PC Components, Computing (end time 17-Oct-07 16:18:11 BST) This will be an overkill for a card, it still falls into the high-midrange area. £45 though which is a bargain but its whether your willing to pay that On another note at half the price, this should handle a lot 256MB Elitegroup Geforce 6200 AGP Silent Graphic Card - eBay Graphics, Video TV Cards, Desktop PC Components, Computing (end time 09-Oct-07 19:54:57 BST)
Thanks Rimmer I think you misunderstood me. I need something along the line of the Radeon 9200 series. I wanted to know what would be an nVidia equivalent for example. Or, perhaps, a round about similar chip, perhaps a 'step up from'. My card (9200) plays Far Cry quite happily on lower settings which is really quite good. The idea is to spend the least and still be able to offer a good value for money package. There is hardly any point investing £30 if you are likely to sell for no more than 50-60 squids.... I am trying to limit myself to no more than £10 per component. So far, I am doing quite all right, I have yet to buy a used item for more than my pathetic little limit...
Aaaaah sorry about that, well here I tried again for you, tried my best to keep as close to £10 as possible this time, went a couple of pounds over on some, and here they: (I have listed them from most powerful, to least) Creative TI4800 se 128MB geforce 4 * - eBay Graphics, Video TV Cards, Desktop PC Components, Computing (end time 13-Oct-07 01:04:37 BST) £11.99 + £3.90 P&P Geforce 4 Geforce4 TI4200 64mb 350mhz Graphic Card * - eBay Graphics, Video TV Cards, Desktop PC Components, Computing (end time 10-Oct-07 18:10:29 BST) £7.99 + £3.90 P&P ATI Radeon 9200SE 128MB DDR AGP - DVI TV-out - TESTED - eBay Graphics, Video TV Cards, Desktop PC Components, Computing (end time 16-Oct-07 19:37:02 BST) £12.95 + £1.60 P&P My reccommendation would have to be the Ti 4200, the cheapest but 2nd most powerful card there, but if you require something with a little more umph, try the Ti 4800 with a boasting 128MB of VRAM
Thanks Rimmer! You really did not need to do all this.... but I really appreciate it! All I really wanted to know, which you have kindly stated, is what are entry level chips, i.e. for Radeon it is the 9200, for nVidia it is the Ti4200 or 4800. Cool! Thanks gain for all the advice and help!
Challenge complete! So this is what I have: CPU = Intel P4, 2.6Ghz, 800FSB, 512Kb L2 @ £10.50 Mobo = ASRock P4V88 @ £0 Memory = 2 x 512MB PC3200, 400Mhz @ £13.01 V Card = Gainward, nVidia FX5200 @ £8.99 HDD = 30 - 40GB (cannot remember make and model...) @ £0 PSU = 400W Generic rubbish @ £0 CD-ROM = DVD-+RW (not sure it is a DL one ) @ £8 Case = Biju, black, "microwave dinner" tin @ £0 All this for under £50...... So, any takers? This top of the range gaming monster is yours for a minty £600! A steal if you ask me, hahahah...... :doh: Thanks all for your help and advice! See you 'round
