Posted on January 20th, 2009 by Mike Jennings

A complete PC package for £250? No problem!

$I\'ll have to find a cheap CPU for my £250 build.$ I’m used to seeing all manner of PC systems turn up the PC Pro Labs. Some cost £3,000, others cost £600, and some choose to include a full range of peripherals – whereas others are simply towers of power that leave you to fork out for the extras afterwards. It really is a study in the sheer amount of variety that there is in the desktop PC market today.

Every machine that we review has two things in common, though: none of them cost £250, and not one of them has suffered the indignity of being thrown together by my unsubtle and leaden hands.

Nevertheless, I’ve been asked to put together a serviceable and usable PC for £250. It didn’t initially sound too challenging, but the more I explored the challenge the more I discovered that huge corners would have to be cut and I’d have to be extremely canny with my purchasing.

However, I do also think that I have an instant advantage over some of my colleagues. For one, I don’t have to include a profit margin in my rig’s spec-list and, for another, I can indulge in some enthusiastic overclocking. I can also seek out parts from big-name manufacturers rather than relying on the lesser-quality, proprietary components that may be used elsewhere. To that end, I spent some time seeking out some of the cheap parts that I’d need for my PC, and came up with several possibilities:

· The processor would be an Intel Pentium Dual Core E2200, costing £57.60

· An Nvidia GeForce 9500 GT is a budget card, and would set me back £44.72

· 2GB of RAM at £16.43

· A 250GB hard disk that I’d found for £31.99

· A 17in monitor for £65.23

After a busy morning’s surfing, my shopping list already totalled £215.97, and I hadn’t factored in a case, keyboard, mouse, optical drive or even a motherboard. It looks as if my ambitions are going to have to be severely reigned in if I’m going to cram everything into this machine.

However, a bit more time on some of the big shopping websites reveal that there are some bargains to be had. I’ve managed to find an Intel Celeron E1200 processor for £36.91 – it may not be a Pentium Dual Core, but it’s still dual core and still very, very overclockable. I’ve paired this with a £32 ABIT motherboard, but I’m still furiously searching for plenty else to install into this super-cheap machine.

And that, dear reader, is where you come in: at the moment, my vision for this PC is as wide and open as the Windows XP default wallpaper, and as malleable as putty. I’m open to any suggestions as to how I can make this rig the best on offer come the end of the £250 challenge – so whether you envisage it being a budget gaming beast or a tiny, silent media centre, please let me know what’s on your mind.

I’m also open to suggestions as to where I can find the multitude of components that I need for this machine – so the cheaper and more reliable the supplier the better. With emphasis on the cheaper, of course, given the stringent budget that’s been laid down by our supreme Editor.

So, if you have any comments or suggestions regarding my machine – any tips on component choices, where to buy them or any building advice – then I’m happy to hear them. I’m looking forward to reading your feedback and proving that you can build a PC on a £250 budget – and get a better rig that can be found anywhere else.

Tags: budget, celeron, challenge, overclocking, pentium, £250 challenge

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27 Responses to “ A complete PC package for £250? No problem! ”

Allan Simpson Says:
January 20th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Also reading your Sister Publication Custom PC I can say that it would probably be wise to invest the extra in the e2200, a good cooler and a good motherboard. You can then send the clock speed shooting to possibly beyond 3ghz with a bit of fine tweaking in the bios.

Also possibly consider case and psu bundles; I know many of the big name brands such as Cooler Master do cheap bundles which include rock solid cases and power supplies.

What about getting rid of the monitor (I think I read it wasn’t required for this) and going for maybe a 160gb HDD to reduce costs. By reducing the size of the hard disk you could probably pick up a bog standard, but branded, keyboard and mouse for the money saved.

Surely the focus for a build of this budget should be well chosen core componenetns that outperform other entries by miles and making sure that other components such as HDD, Case, PSU etc. provide all that would be required by your average user.
Allan Simpson Says:
January 20th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
A basic Spec:
Case&PSU: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Foxconn-TLA-143-Micro-ATX-Midi-Tower-Case-(Black-Silver)-450W-Peak-Power (£35)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L (£40)
CPU: E2200 (£50)
Freezer 7 Pro: (£12)
Your Ram (£16)
Basic 160GB HDD (£30)
Optical Drive (£10)
Radeon HD 4350 (Your card wouldn’t play modern games comfortably-so focus on processing power) (£35)

That all equals £228 with rough estimates on prices. Leaving plenty for the things I have probably forgotten.
John Says:
January 20th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
For the CPU you could always try AMD? On scan.co.uk they have the
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ (2.7Ghz) for only £48. Not bad for a dual core chip. You could always go for the Intel Core 2 Duo E7300/E7400 (2.66Ghz/2.8GHZ) if you need to keep with Intel.
Mike Jennings Says:
January 20th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
Allan – thanks for your suggestions on which components would make for a better machine. I’m sorely tempted to leave the monitor behind and invest that cash on other components, and the fact that a monitor isn’t strictly necessary does give me a bit of leeway there, too. However, I think that I’d be neglecting the ‘average user’ by doing this – by offering a decent core spec (albeit one that will struggle with the relatively modern games) along with monitor, keyboard, mouse and speakers, I think that I’m offering more than just a base unit.

I envisage a PC of this sort of price being bought by someone who isn’t too concerned about power – and more by someone concerned about the versatility of their system. So if I can provide a machine with enough power as well as the requisite peripherals then I’ll try to. Rest assured that I’d be taking all of your suggestions on board if I had £300 to play with, though!

Also, if you could point me towards somewhere I could get an optical drive for £10 and a 160GB hard disk for £30 then I’d be very grateful :p

And another question, if you don’t mind: my current budget is stretching to a £25 GeForce 8400GS graphics card, although if I could re-jig things then I’d definitely consider an HD 4350 which, if I read rightly, is quicker than the Nvidia card. Your thoughts?

John – thank you for your comment. I did consider AMD when I was putting together a basic specification for my rig, but after a bit of reading around online it seems like Intel’s low-end chips are better overclockers than the AMD counterparts. If you have evidence to the contrary then I’d love to see it

Keep the comments coming!
Sharpey Says:
January 20th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Not an easy challenge! Why not build a media centre pc? You can get a hd motherboard with built in Atom processor and sound card for £70! You can easily add a slimline Hyper case which looks smart, memory (2gb), hdd (500gb) and blue-ray for under £250!
Look around on ebuyer and linitx
Grimer Says:
January 20th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
I would definitely go for the Celeron and overclock the crap out of it – I’ve seen reviews where people have hit 3.2GHz on standard voltage and the bundled cooler. I presume the £250 is VAT exclusive (PC Pro magazine always quotes prices in this way)?

Intel Celeron Dual Core E1200 Socket 775 – £32.09
Gigabyte GA-EP31-DS3L iP31 Socket 775 (FSB Max 1600MHz) – £42.62
Seagate Barracuda 250GB ST3250824AS – £23.95
SAMSUNG 20X DVDRW SATA – £10.96
Kingston 2GB, 800MHz, DDR2 – £12.89
Sumvision 450W 20+4pin SATA PSU – £11.30
Aplus CS-188AF ATX Case (NO PSU) inc 250mm side fan – £27.39
HANNS.G HW173AB 17″ TFT Monitor Widescreen 1440×900 – £50.82
RADEON HD 4350 256MB DDR2 LP PCI-E VGA DVI-I TVO HEATSINK – £24.78
Gigabyte Black Wired Keyboard & Optical Mouse Bundle – £5.20
Logitech S-120 Black 2.0 Speakers – 2.3W RMS – £6.07

Grand Total £248.07 excluding VAT & delivery
Mike Jennings Says:
January 20th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
Grimer – that’s a very tempting rig but, unfortunately, our prices include VAT for this particular feature. I know it’s a rarity given that PC Pro always lists prices excluding VAT, but we’ve chosen to do it this way because the vast majority of people who are buying computers will be doing so with prices including VAT. Trust me, my decisions would be far easier if the prices were excluding VAT!

Sharpey – you’ve put an idea in my head. There are some really nice micro-ATX cases on eBuyer and I’ve been drawing up a few price-lists regarding building a small, smart Blu-ray media centre. It’s a marked difference from what I envisioned but definitely an idea I’ll be following up – probably in a blog entry in a couple of days.

Any ideas of how to cut costs when building a media centre? My first price-list has come out at £278.
John Smith Says:
January 21st, 2009 at 12:03 am
Try places like cclonline you can good bargins and they also have a clearance section.
Grimer Says:
January 21st, 2009 at 12:13 am
I don’t know if you’ve definitely decided upon the media centre route, but you can get 17″ TFT monitors very cheap on itauctions.co.uk. That might help to bring things back on budget. Although, you may be straying into the ’second hand brief’ your colleague is tasked with.

If you do want to go with a media centre, they also do second hand Compaq Small Form Factor PC Cases (including motherboard, PSU and 1.7GHz P4!) for £2.76.
buster Says:
January 21st, 2009 at 12:46 am
1. I found three 160Gb Hard drives for less than £30.Inc. Vat.
(www.ebuyer.com) is good value and reliable for parts etc.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/122660
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/129570
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/131271

2. You asked about DVD drives less than £10. again. ebuyer.com
Liteon 52×32x52×16 CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive Internal IDE Black Bare Drive – OEM
(http://www.ebuyer.com/product/96712) Cost inc. Vat £9.99

Both items would have additional delivery charge, unless your total spend is £50+, then you get free delivery too (5 working days). Im sure other components will be priced favorably to get your free delivery (every penny counts on your budget).
David Says:
January 21st, 2009 at 9:52 am
If you look again at Dell, their Vostro starts at 159 + VAT. This leaves a bit of room for a cheap screen (although not from Dell!) and possibly minor upgrades.
Mike Jennings Says:
January 21st, 2009 at 10:06 am
John Smith – thanks for the suggestion of checking clearance sections. I’ve just found my chosen motherboard for £7 less on CCL, so that’s straight onto my spec list!

Grimer – I’ll be putting up a blog talking about the possibility of a media centre system later today, I think. Although I won’t be able to go on itauctions.co.uk as it’ll be stepping on Darien’s toes somewhat. I also don’t think I’ll be buying a monitor as the PC will surely be connected to an HDTV most of the time. I think the money would be better spent on a Blu-ray drive and larger hard disk.

Buster – thanks for the links to hard disks and optical drives. I’ve noted down the hard disks and will be trying to squeeze them in if I get room in my budget. The DVD drive is tempting, too – although I’m wary about the lack of writer in there!

David – Thanks for the suggestion, but I’m afraid I have to build the machine entirely by myself, rather than buying a basic system and then adding to it.
big_D Says:
January 21st, 2009 at 10:46 am
Hmm, Tim’s original blog post says you don’t need to include a monitor in the price. That brings you a fair few quid back into the equation…
Stephen Woolman Says:
January 21st, 2009 at 10:58 am
hi,

i managed to make these 2 systems up from microdirect alone. one of them has a 17″ screen and the other has no screen but the specs have been beefed up to compensate.

they are images so

Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!

or

Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!
Stephen Woolman Says:
January 21st, 2009 at 10:59 am
well that didnt work, if any of the admins know how to make images work, i would appeaciate it
simon Says:
January 21st, 2009 at 11:50 am
why dont you use the on board graphics from your a list gigabyte ma78gm-s2h with a athlon chip
Grimer Says:
January 21st, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Sorry if I didn’t make things clear.

“I don’t know if you’ve definitely decided upon the media centre route, but you can get 17″ TFT monitors very cheap on itauctions.co.uk”

I was referring to my previous post (specs for desktop with monitor) that excluded VAT – £248.07 exc VAT = £285.28 inc VAT

There are a few ways you can cut costs from a desktop system – DVD ROM rather than DVDRW,1 stick of RAM rather than matched pair, cheaper motherboard (but possibly lower overclock), cheaper case, older graphics card.
Mike Jennings Says:
January 21st, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Simon – I’d feel like I was short-changing myself if I relied on integrated graphics, especially when I can cram a Radeon HD 4000-series card into my PC at the moment!

Grimer – I’ve already been cutting costs from my system that included a monitor but I’m now veering towards one of two possible approaches for my PC: ditching the monitor and ploughing the extra funds into making a better desktop PC, or building a Blu-ray media centre. Thanks for the suggestion of itauctions.co.uk, though – Darien has been scouring the site for bargains as well as looking on eBay. Thanks again!
How best to spend my £250? | PC Pro blog Says:
January 21st, 2009 at 1:41 pm
[...] A blog comment from Sharpey made me think last night – every thought about my £250 PC has so far centred on a standard desktop machine. So why not ditch that and build a media centre instead? [...]
My2p Says:
January 30th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
Try getting all the bits from computer exchange (cex) uk. All the stuff will be 2nd hand but ther are some good bargains to be had.
rob fisher Says:
January 30th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Even if you can buy an entire pc in bits for £250 surely you have to factor in a legit copy of windows as well which is probably at least £50 for oem vista basic so really you only have £200 for the hardware
Mike Jennings Says:
January 31st, 2009 at 12:10 pm
My2p – I’ve shopped at CEX before and think that it’s a fine establishment, but I’ve been banned from second-hand goods for this challenge – that’s Darien’s territory!

Rob – I’ve not bothered to budget for an OS. I’ll be using Ubuntu, but also dual-booting with Windows 7 to give the lucky owner a taste of the future.
SImon Says:
March 14th, 2009 at 10:45 am
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=226448

this has most of the stuff you need and its from maplins for just £150

you could upgrade the ram

then you have £100 for any more upgrades, hdd’s, periphals (however u spell it), case and tht type of stuff
jeff wing Says:
March 18th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=21704&tid=gsearch

look at this kit from CC,it only £209 inc vat
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