150 Euro Challenge!

Bonesy.

First off! I am not taking the piss :P I'm just looking for a cheap PC not a 1TB HDD Gaming speed machine! Just something basic to test my abilities at PC building.(Would help if it could play an Age of Empire or two though!) Second hand parts welcome. I would aslo appreciate a list of cheap equiptment I could look for on Adverts
1. What is your budget? 150 euros-250 only if it could play Minecraft or Sims
2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Winter project, play some games.

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? Yes

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? I don't have any old computer etc but if that means second hand parts definately!

5. Do you need a monitor? not related to this budget

5a. If yes, what size do you need. 15-20" if it can fit in budget

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Yes

8. How can you pay? Cash, Internet

9. When are you purchasing? Anytime between now and the next 3 months would be nice

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? South Dublin, 10 minutes from Dundrum.
Thanks!

ShadowHearth

in all fairness you dont need much training for it. it wont be long project as you might think.


i newer ever built PCs in my life. all i did was swaping GPUs.

a week ago with a help of a few lads here i built a system from a scratch.

Building PC took me few hours ( i am slow, okay?! ) and now my "hobby" of building PCs ended again. I am back here looking in to other biulds and having chat and opinion clash with the rest of the lads here. sharing my own experience and trying to help out the rest, or get a good advice myself.

If you want to biuld proper Pc, then dont waste money on cheap components which will be useless when you decide to build decent system.

if you are still serious on building 150eu challenge pc, then finding parts yourself is part of the challenge. it wont be a challenge if we will find you parts, which you need put together.

Serephucus

How's this look?

Item|Price
Total build cost: €197.17 (inc delivery Free!)
ASRock S1155 Intel H61M DDR3 mATX|€49.19
Intel Celeron G530 2.4GHz LGA1155 2MB|€42.66
Best Value 723 Midi-Tower with HD Audio + 500W PSU|€25.91
Corsair 430 Watt CX430 V2 Builder Series 80 Plus Power Supply|€39.84
Patriot Memory Viper II Sector 5 Series 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz CL8 DIMM 240-pin|€23.41
Samsung 22x DVD-RW SATA Black|€16.16


It's an 1155 motherboard, so you have a host of upgrade options down the road.
You can easily throw another 4GB of RAM in if you want.
The PSU will support some decent graphics cards too (560 Ti is probably your limit) if you want to do some serious gaming.

The only thing I couldn't include is a hard drive. Hopefully you have something you can use. If not, try find something on Adverts for €20 or so. There was a guy selling 250GB drives for just that a while back.

As for Windows: On a ~€200 budget, get Ubuntu. :P

Spunge

Windows ?
You've already blown your budget

Bonesy.

Spunge wrote: »

Windows ?
You've already blown your budget

What do you reccomend so?

Tar.Aldarion

well i got it free in college if you can avail of that. and if not they have it cheaper for students. Otherwise it's quite expensive. Ubuntu is free, would take ylou a bit of getting used to but is the best linux to begin with anyway.

Serephucus

Spunge wrote: »

Windows ?
You've already blown your budget

No, he hasn't. Windows Home Premium can be had for €45.

Bonesy.

Also, is there such as thing as a Wi-Fi card or something i can put into the computer e.g connecting it to building wireless internet? I'm a complete noob with computer parts etc. sorry!

Tar.Aldarion

ye you can get one, they are cheap.

Serephucus

There is, yeah. You can get a small USB yoke to connect to a wireless network, but for a desktop, you want an ethernet cable if you can at all. You plug it from the back of your router, into the motherboard.

Bonesy.

Serephucus wrote: »

There is, yeah. You can get a small USB yoke to connect to a wireless network, but for a desktop, you want an ethernet cable if you can at all. You plug it from the back of your router, into the motherboard.

is there none that can pick up wireless networks rather then havin to plug it into the router?

Tar.Aldarion

dont get a usb one, they are generally muck, get a card for inside your pc. No you dont need any wires.

ShadowHearth

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

dont get a usb one, they are generally muck, get a card for inside your pc. No you dont need any wires.

nope they are not. I got one from soundstore for 20 quid. pluged it in to my second PC and has same speeds as my PC which has modem connected directly.

best thing about it, you get small usb wire too, you can then put up the wireless yoke higher and get better reception.

Serephucus

The USB ones are fine, but wireless - even wireless N - is going to be far, far slower than a cable connection.

If you want one:

http://www.dabs.ie/products/tp-link-300mbit-wlan-n-usb-stick--atheros-chip-7TF5.html?refs=4294946965-50060000&src=3

Tar.Aldarion

I have had 4 that were terrible! Never had a good one, even though they are respected brands.

especially as you game shadow how can you! so many lag spikes

ShadowHearth

Serephucus wrote: »

The USB ones are fine, but wireless - even wireless N - is going to be far, far slower than a cable connection.

If you want one:

http://www.dabs.ie/products/tp-link-300mbit-wlan-n-usb-stick--atheros-chip-7TF5.html?refs=4294946965-50060000&src=3

it depends what you need wireless for.

if you will be transfering files between PCs then it might be ****, but if he is using it only for internet and router, then its WAAAAAAY more then enough. he wont see difference between integrated and usb one.

Bonesy.

Online Gaming and Facebook

ShadowHearth

Bonesy. wrote: »

Online Gaming and Facebook

thats why i would go for USB one. when i puted it in directly i was getting very bad connection, then i connected USB cable and connected USB wireless adapter in to it, droped adapter on top of TV - BANG full awesome speed. If you will have integrated thing, then i really doubt you will be able to put your PC above TV.

P.S. take my word for what it is worth to you, other lads are bigger tech heads then me so they might right and i am wrong, i only give a tip, if i did had experience with in in real life.

Bonesy.

Serephucus wrote: »

How's this look?

Item|Price
Total build cost: €197.17 (inc delivery Free!)
ASRock S1155 Intel H61M DDR3 mATX|€49.19
Intel Celeron G530 2.4GHz LGA1155 2MB|€42.66
Best Value 723 Midi-Tower with HD Audio + 500W PSU|€25.91
Corsair 430 Watt CX430 V2 Builder Series 80 Plus Power Supply|€39.84
Patriot Memory Viper II Sector 5 Series 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz CL8 DIMM 240-pin|€23.41
Samsung 22x DVD-RW SATA Black|€16.16


It's an 1155 motherboard, so you have a host of upgrade options down the road.
You can easily throw another 4GB of RAM in if you want.
The PSU will support some decent graphics cards too (560 Ti is probably your limit) if you want to do some serious gaming.

The only thing I couldn't include is a hard drive. Hopefully you have something you can use. If not, try find something on Adverts for €20 or so. There was a guy selling 250GB drives for just that a while back.

As for Windows: On a ~€200 budget, get Ubuntu. :P

So everything mentioned here is all I would need for a fully functioning PC?

Serephucus

No. As I mentioned, you'd have to get a hard drive from somewhere. There's plenty for sale on Adverts though.

You'd also need to download a copy of Ubuntu (or some other free OS) to use with the machine.

Bonesy.

Is 20 euro a good price for this pre-owned?Maxtor MaXLine Plus II 250GB 7200RPM 8MB IDE. And would it go with everything listed on the first page? Thanks