need a budget pc/to burn dvd, surf, incredibly upgradeable!!

[ashman]

this will be my first pc build with assistence from a mate.

i need to build my mum a pc for the front room, so it has to be very quiet, oh and cheap.

also it must be cheap yet upgradeable for the near future (to last 3 years really).

to play and burn dvd's, download movies and music, run photoshop, and if its not too expensive be able to support vista media centre upon release.

hard drive no more than 160gb.

im thinking that it needs as good a mother board as possible, but not overkill on the cpu.

also what tools are needed for building pc's.

any suggestions would be much obliged, thanx.

 

[ashman]

please, anyone?

 

[shadowduck]

this will be my first pc build with assistence from a mate.

i need to build my mum a pc for the front room, so it has to be very quiet, oh and cheap.

also it must be cheap yet upgradeable for the near future (to last 3 years really).

to play and burn dvd's, download movies and music, run photoshop, and if its not too expensive be able to support vista media centre upon release.

hard drive no more than 160gb.

im thinking that it needs as good a mother board as possible, but not overkill on the cpu.

also what tools are needed for building pc's.

any suggestions would be much obliged, thanx.

Give us a budget. You did a good job on describing the uses. The reason a dollar amount helps, is "budget" is relative term. Budget to you might mean AUS$1500 while to mean it might mean AUS$750.

 

[ashman]

well i live in the UK, so high prices.

by budget i mean £300 ish.

including tft monitor.
http://www.aria.co.uk/productinfocomm.asp?ID=18459&SpecialStatus=1

barebone system at novatech looks alright, but for upgrading in near future, i dont know.
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?bb-a38615b&P=1

and the HDD,
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?MAX-P80

extra ram is less than £30 for 512mb extra.

what do you think?

operating system i already have xp pro (1st build).

 

[dougie_boy]

steer clear of that monitor.

well clear.

as for the bundle i think this is a better all rounder as u get a better screen.

Foxconn TLM-397 Silver/black 300W
£20.95

Gigabyte GA-K8VM800M £25.60
OR
Asrock K8NF4G-SATA 2 skt754 nVidia NF4-6100 (with PCIx)
£33.43

LG GSA-H10NBAL Black DVD +/-R/RW/RAM £18.56

Kingston® Value Ram 512MB DDR PC3200 £29.90

160 GB Maxtor DiamondMax 10 SATA2 7200rpm £34.10

17" BenQ FP71G+ 8ms Silver TFT £99.45

AMD Sempron 3000+ 64£30.80


(with the gigabyte MB board)
Total Price Excluding VAT £ 259.36
VAT @ 17.5% £ 45.39
Total Price Including VAT £ 304.75

(with the ASRock MB board)
Total Price Excluding VAT £ 262.21
VAT @ 17.5% £ 45.89
Total Price Including VAT £ 308.10



good screen and ample storage. the screen is the thing that u spend most time looking at. dont buy cheap shi.t.
the 745 are old yes but they are cheap. and ur not going to be able to put together a system with a screen AND a 939 socket or a AM2. on this budget its not possable. the graphics are on board..

id go with the ASRock board cos its got 6100 biult in graphics and a PCIx slot but it will pump the price of the PC up by a few pounds...

also its SATA hard drive is good for a few years and the 300w PSU will do you fine at the moment.

..


and im done..

 

[dougie_boy]

ok a lied.


Foxconn TLM-397 Silver/black 300W
£20.95

LG GSA-H10NBAL Black DVD +/-R/RW/RAM £18.56

160 GB Maxtor DiamondMax 10 SATA2 7200rpm £34.10

17" BenQ FP71G+ 8ms Silver TFT £99.45

BUT

with

Asrock ALIVENF4G-DVI motherboard GF6100 £36.45

AMD AM2 Sempron 3000 AM2 £29.56

Corsair® Value Select 512Mb DDR2 PC4200 £26.50


Total Price Excluding VAT £ 265.57
VAT @ 17.5% £ 46.47
Total Price Including VAT £ 312.04

oh yeah.

there we go. AM2 set up. with DDR2. and pcix.

if u wanted to go faster, for £324.93 you could get the 3200+ instead of the 3000+. only £12 quid more.


all price are from micro direct. WITHOUT delivery.
[/b]

 

[ashman]

thanx for the help. is this setup easy to build though. as i said i have never built a complete system before, but my friend can help. what tools are neede for the job/ any youd recommend?

will the mobo allow for hdmi connection in about a year, and to put twin freeview tuner card for recording tv?

any additional component connector cables needed?

do you know any places to get good cheap wireless keyboard and mouse?

 

[dougie_boy]

the motherboard is not HD compliant. u would need a seperate GPU for that. for at at least another $200 for a good one... and a TV tuner will go in no plroblems.

tools.

screwdrivers. phillips and a flat head.
thats about it.

read the manual and THG for giudes to how to set it up.

cheap wireless keyboard arnt worth it cos the cheap parts will be the signal recivers making the lag between hitting keys and it regestering more noticeable.

dont skimp on ur keyboard and mouse. put $40 min aside for them. id recomend $50. they arent cheap.

stick with wires until you have the cash.