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What's the best PC you guys can build for £400?

Try the websites ebuyer.com and microdirect.com, Also I'd like to see if anyone can manage to make an i5 or i7 build on this budget.

I already have a case, GeForce 8600GT, 450W PSU and a LGA775 MOBO (ASUS P5N-E SLI), A heatsink for it (3 actually, no idea how I ended up with 3 LGA775 heatsinks) and a DVD drive. All of these are essentially second hand but they all work fine. Don't be afraid to buy a new mobo or whatever I'm just mentioning parts I already have so you know what I'm working with. The computers intention is to play games but I'm not bothered about running everything on superhighultraextremeponyfeverblackeditionmaxgraphics at a billion FPS.

For comparison my current build is thus:

CPU: AMD Athlon X2 4400+ @ 2.2GHz per core
HDD: 240GB
GPU: NVIDA GeForce 8600GT 512MB
RAM: 3GB DDR2 @ 667Mhz
MOBO: Some random dell crap
PSU: 305W

I think that's everything but I tend to forget things so check this every so often.

Oh I need all this info by Saturday evening GMT.

You can't make an i5 or i7 with an LGA 775 mobo. Really, you just need RAM, processor and an HD.

CPU: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148545
Heatsink: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/176157
Thermal Paste: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/126410
RAM: 2x http://www.ebuyer.com/product/142403
HD: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173804
SATA Cable: 2x http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132033

£369.09

I think that a PC building that maximizes efficency versus cost would be a fun contest.

SlappyMcGee wrote:I think that a PC building that maximizes efficency versus cost would be a fun contest.

Except that basically gets reduced to 'build the cheapest PC possible'.

987654321 wrote:You can't make an i5 or i7 with an LGA 775 mobo. Really, you just need RAM, processor and an HD.

I never meant you can't buy those parts I just meant I already had them (As in if you can build an i5 (Even if it's not that good right now anything past 2006 is better than this PC, I can upgrade the parts of it at a later date), Also I have a heatsink, I forgot to mention. (Edits more info in to OP)

Here you go.

Mobo: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/174499
CPU: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/172755
RAM: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/178943
HD: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173804
SATA cable: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132033
Total: £370.26

Actually, in case you don't want to go i5...

RAM: 2x http://www.ebuyer.com/product/142403
HD: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173804
SATA cable: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132033
CPU: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/175618
Total: £376.71

I once saw an article on the web titled 'Build a top-end gaming PC for £400!'

But it was far from top-end.

I had a list of things from Newegg, but just realized you probably can't use Newegg.

Can you?

Sorry guys I had to remove the prize/competition status. I have much less money than I thought I did (budget is same but I can barely afford it now).

scythe wrote:I had a list of things from Newegg, but just realized you probably can't use Newegg.

Can you?

No, he's in the UK.

And built!

Core i5 750
4GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM
GeForce 8600GT 512MB
80GB primary HDD paritioned to two 40GB partitions for OS installation
1TB secondary HDD for everything else
Blue LEDs everywhere
420W PSU

Man, that PSU is weak. You should upgrade it first chance you get.

I was on a 305W previously (no that's not a typo I mean 305) so it's still a nice upgrade. Either way that is the next upgrade, that and GPU.

Yeah, you would need to upgrade the PSU to even [*]consider[*] upgrading the gfx.

With a PSU that small, it's going to degrade quickly. :/