Is it possible to build a decent comp with £200 (my mum) O.o suggestions for hardware

[jasonjman]

My mum's given me a budget of £200. I wanna prove her wrong that you can build a better comp than the one's you get in shops :/ but i have absolutely no clue on waht to buy and where to start. THis is my first comp build also. =] i hope i'll get turned haha be a challenge

 

[markkleb]

I think over there parts are a bit more than over here. But if you shop around it is very possible.

What are the specs of her comp now?

 

[jasonjman]

haha its for me but my mum gave me a budget

erm *scratches head* lol

Intel pentium 4 HT 3GHz 1Gb Ram

NVIDIA GeForce 6200SE TurboCache(TM)

 

[markkleb]

have you thought about adding a bit to your comp? It seems that memory is very cheap now and an upgrade for your video card is easy (as yours is at the bottom)

 

[jasonjman]

ermmm, i havent thought about adding, but am not sure if its upgradeable cause its a HP Pavillian media centre.

 

[markkleb]

it seems like using 2 gigs of memory and popping in a video card would be a quick fix and help a LOT.

Of course it matters on the mobo. Do you have a model # of the comp and mobo?

 

[jasonjman]

whats the mobo?

EDIT:

Model #m7240.uk EDIT: (used belerac and got HP Pavilion 061 EJ138AA-ABU m7240.uk 00w0114RE101LITHI00)

Mobo Board: ASUSTek Computer INC. LITHIUM 1.05

Bus Clock: 200 megahertz

BIOS: Phoenix Technologies, LTD 3.17 04/20/2006

 

[markkleb]

Im sorry, the motherboard. If getting the model # of it is hard than just the model# of the comp may help.

That way we can find out what may be added to your comp.

 

[jasonjman]

found it, edited the post above

 

[markkleb]

Looks like you can fix it up quite nicely.

First it probably has two 512mb sticks of memory, so removing them and replacing them with two 1 gig sticks will speed things up. (the HP spec says DDR2 667 @1.8V is the memory to look for)

I like two 1 gig sticks better than four 512s as it can cause less probs and you can sell the 512s to get a little cash.

For a video card its up to you. The stock PS can easily run a 8600GT (dosent need extra power) but you could probably add a high end video card if you were willing to upgrade the Power supply as well. However a 8600GT and 2 gigs of memory would speed up things quite a bit. (thats what I use)

I use 2 of these, but 1 would work nicely

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.aspx?sku=334592

 

[jasonjman]

thanks very much

Just wondering how much moeny would i need if i was to builda good gaming pc?

 

[markkleb]

that would be a "good" gaming computer..

To build a "Very Good" one here in the US its about $700 to $1000US.

 

[jasonjman]

ahh so around £350-500

 

[Brooksie]

I'm selling my old PC soon

http://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?t=12552 there the rig gallery for it..

Err £180 I think i'll be asking for...

Played Crysis on low at about 25fps iirc.. so will play cod4 fine