Basic Build - £250 Budget

[DanFerret]

Hey was looking to put together a basic system for my brothers bedroom, was wondering if anyone had any recommendations?

Could I even go cheaper than the £250?

 

[DanFerret]

Just basic stuff really. I think watching HD video would be the only real thing it would need to have so he could watch movies and stuff.

Was also gona see if it was possible to choose components that would be easily upgradable in a few years time.

 

[DanFerret]

Thanks mate will look into what components now.

Anyone got any recommendations?

 

[DanFerret]

Can anyone help?

All I need is a tower I have a keyboard, mouse, monitor and speakers already.

 

[Silvune]

Sorry mate, I saw your thread before, but because you didn't provide much info I didn't come up with anything.
If you look at the sort of info that is preferred from this thread: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/261222-13-build-advice then you are more likely to get more responses.
In the meantime I would suggest looking at something like this:
CPU: AMD Athlon X2 240 2.8GHz Socket AM3 £45
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-MA78LMT-S2, AMD 760G £53
Case & PSU: Coolermaster Elite 330 with Coolermaster eXtreme Power 460W £52
RAM: Kingston 1GB DDR3 1333MHz i5 Memory Module CL9 1.5V £23x2 £46
Optical disk drive £20
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB £37

Total: £253

I really hope that you don't need an OS included in this budget.

 

[DanFerret]

Thanks for your reply mate I appreciated it

In regards to the OS I can get them for free through my Uni so thats no problem.

See one thing Im worried about with such a low budget is building something that doesnt really perform very well.

 

[Silvune]

Depends what it will be used for. It will be pretty limited in gaming and video editing and such. Until recently I was using a machine that only had 1GB of DDR 400mhz RAM I think it was, I used it for web browsing and listening to music and some gaming pretty happily, so dual channel 1333mhz memory won't be horribly slow for that kind of thing. And you can always upgrade some of the components if you/your brother feels like it. The CPU can be upgraded without hassle, the power supply would probably have to be upgraded if a dedicated graphics card was added, depending on which one. And then the RAM can be upgraded easily as well. The Samsung harddrive uses a 500GB platter which makes it one of the fastest mechanical harddrives around, and it's not overpriced. If you/your brother isn't happy with an aspect of it then I'm sure that even only one upgraded component could be chosen to make him more satisfied with it.