Cheap Basic System

[pandaking]

Making a PC for my dads work, will only be used for collect emails (through broadband throughout the day) and for perhaps the odd word document. It will need to have the office suit etc installed so he can obtaing attachments etc is this a good system to go for. He wanted a cheap system that will be on XP for the minum price as it will only be used for email recieving and web brousing. Is this a good spec (ps. he also wanted a cheap TFT as it looks good in an office, doesnt need to have great responce time/veiwing angle, just a cheap one that will do the job and this 17" has decent reviews and is about the same £ as 15")

Casecom KG-201 In Silver And Grey With USB/Audio No PSU - Case £11.74
Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe - Mobo £59.98
AMD Athlon XP2500 - CPU £65.33
Western Digital Caviar SE 80GB - HDD £45.97
Samsung 52x32x52x IDE Black Drive - CD-R Drive £15.99
Samsung 512MB PC2700 DDR333 - Memory £56.39
Sony Oem 3.5 Floppy Drive Black - Floppy £4.57
Antec SL350PGB 350W ATX P4 2.03 - PSU £38.97
AG Neovo F417 17ins TFT 20ms Monitor £211.49
USB2.0 Firewire PCI Card with 3xUSB Ports and 2xports IEEE 1394 - USB/FireWire Card £16.97

All from http://www.ebuyer.com. This is open to changes if you think they are needed or better prices and shops. Please give your opinions...

 

[pandaking]

Forgot to add total price = £527.40 and all the prices listed are including VAT

 

[raildogg]

might wanna use PC3200 memory, 512 is enough however

 

[pandaking]

OK, but this is a very basic system, is there much price differance?

 

[yELLOthar]

Big PSU for a "basic system" to me. My comp has better/more stuff than that and is only 200PSU, runs fine...

 

[RaistlinZ]

I'd stick with the Antec 350w PSU. Saving a few bucks by dropping down to a ~200w generic PSU doesn't make much sense. A good PSU = stability, and it isn't something you want to skimp on.

 

[footbal07]

what about a vid card? correct me if im wrong but doesnt the a7n8x-e only have agp?

 

[pandaking]

Really? Is there a decend mobo that has onboard graphics? There will be no vids watched so onboard is fine.

 

[pandaking]

Also, if the mobo has a monitor port would that mean it was good to go?

 

[splice]

I'd go for a VIA KM400 or nVidia nForce2 IGP based motherboard that has onboard video.

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: pandaking
Really? Is there a decend mobo that has onboard graphics? There will be no vids watched so onboard is fine.

The NF7-M is a comparable mobo w/onboard graphics. I would think Asus has one too, just I don't know the version off the top of my head.

EDIT: Why the firewire/usb card?, that mobo offers both features already built-in

 

[raildogg]

Originally posted by: pandaking
OK, but this is a very basic system, is there much price differance?

not a great price difference but u will see noticeable performance diff by going with pc3200

 

[Tea Bag]

Originally posted by: Fern

The NF7-M is a comparable mobo w/onboard graphics. I would think Asus has one too, just I don't know the version off the top of my head.

A7N8X-VM/400 (NForce 2) and A7V400-MX (Via KM400A). Used both -- good basic system boards.

 

[pandaking]

Ok guys, thanks, will be going for one of the mobo's you suggested thanks. Also just realised that I don't need the card. THanks for all your help guys...