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  • Wanted: PC for under £600

    My sister is after PC for her PhD. She wants to spend an upper limit of £600.

    She only has two absolute requirements: a TFT display and 512MB RAM.

    I looked into getting her an Asus A7N8X-E, XP2500+, Seagate 120GB, 2x256MB DDR (for dual mode), Radeon 9700 along with a case/psu, kb&m, cdrw etc.. but it came out at around £760ish.

    Can anyone recommend a decent spec for around £600? She is not interested in playing games.

    I have seen reasonable packages from the likes of Dell, but I am sure we can do better!

    Cheers!
    The Welsh support two teams when it comes to rugby. Wales of course, and anyone else playing England

  • #2
    Does she need an office machine, or will she be cranking a lot of numbers?

    Maybe a Via Epia type machine? Small and quiet.

    A 9700 is overkill for what she's doing, look into a 9500 or 9600.

    For someone like her, no you probably can't do better than Dell. Remember that buying from Dell gets her support, rather than leaning on you.
    Gigabyte P35-DS3L with a Q6600, 2GB Kingston HyperX (after *3* bad pairs of Crucial Ballistix 1066), Galaxy 8800GT 512MB, SB X-Fi, some drives, and a Dell 2005fpw. Running WinXP.

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    • #3


      + a cheap tft.

      Will be a whisker over $600 inc. But a RTB warranty isnt amazing.
      Last edited by Fluff; 3 October 2004, 13:31.
      ______________________________
      Nothing is impossible, some things are just unlikely.

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      • #4
        If this is going to be just an office machine, both suggestions so far are total overkill. Rather spend less on the machine, and more on a good TFT (don't forget a nice keyboard if she is going to write lots).

        Some low-end Athlon or even Duron or whatever and any cheap passively cooled graphics card with DVI out, 512MB DDR, a decent HD (and I think noise, price, and reliability would be more important than speed and capacity - I don't think she'll be writing multi-GB word docs ), some kind of Writer (dunno how much they cost nowadays), cherry KB, mouse (I don't think she needs many extra buttons, wireless, or bluetooth...), cheap-ish case (no need for an Antec, Chieftec, Lian Li and those other bling bling cases. It's only a friggin' case!), quiet, reliable PSU (not fanless - too pricey, and you'd need a case fan anyway), nice 17"+ TFT, and you're set.

        AZ
        There's an Opera in my macbook.

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        • #5
          Paddy, If you aren't building yourself, buy from Dell.

          self build: ASUS A7n8x-vm-400 (integrated gfx etc but has agp port), ~2500+, 120GB, 2*256, DVD-RW, case, floppy will cost £320. Just add spkrs, keybd, mouse and TFT from ebuyer and you have change from your £600. For games just add an agp card later.
          FT.

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          • #6
            Have you looked at Dell?

            edit: Tony beat me to it. Just.
            DM says: Crunch with Matrox Users@ClimatePrediction.net

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            • #7
              I agree.. there are some good Micro-atx boards out there with decent chipsets with video, lan, sound, and all built-in and an agp slot.. you just need to hunt them down. I managed to build an imaginary Athlon2000+ system with one of them for about $325 not too long ago. A duron might be a better choice if your micro-atx case has a wussy power supply, though.

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              • #8
                cheers lads.
                Yes I will be building my self... I'll give her a shout today.
                (although I was kind of hoping to flog some of my older kit to her! )
                The Welsh support two teams when it comes to rugby. Wales of course, and anyone else playing England

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                • #9
                  Why not? What is your older kit?

                  AZ
                  There's an Opera in my macbook.

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                  • #10
                    Ah! I see another man making the switch to 64 bit!
                    FT.

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                    • #11
                      I have a7n8x-e, xp3200+, 512x2 ddr, AIW9800se to pro, seagate 120GB SATA x2. To good for her me thinks... I could always sell the mobo and CPU though....
                      The Welsh support two teams when it comes to rugby. Wales of course, and anyone else playing England

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                      • #12
                        Ehh.. here's a buyer

                        (actually, I'm broke What would you want for the CPU or one of the RAM sticks though? The other 512 should be plenty for her )

                        AZ
                        There's an Opera in my macbook.

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                        • #13
                          I'd sell her either both or none of the RAM - I can't run it in dual mode otherwise
                          As far as the CPU is concerned I'd give her retail price
                          She will be getting some of my spares, but anything that I have to replace I'll sell (She earns more than me ATM )
                          The Welsh support two teams when it comes to rugby. Wales of course, and anyone else playing England

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                          • #14
                            She is determined to get a Dell. Can anyone recommend a good one for around £650 all in?
                            The Welsh support two teams when it comes to rugby. Wales of course, and anyone else playing England

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                            • #15
                              www.dell.co.uk
                              FT.

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