ScoobyJawa

Anyone know where to find a cheap workhorse of a pc.

Doesn't need anything special gfx wise but 4gb ram and quad core needed. Don't need screens, keyboards etc but if a good bundle thats ok.

Wanting to run a vmware based lab on it

Any good deals around?

staffs Mike

Best deal I've heard of isn't exactly cheap but it's the dell Studio XPS (or XPS studio).

It's £700 which is why I said not cheap but it does come with an i7 quad core, 4 -6GB of RAM (i'd go for 6GB for triple channel personally) and is reasonably quiet etc. Also has a blu ray writer I believe.

The performance of these things is rediculous.

Use this site, might get a better deal
Dell Studio XPS Deals, Evalue Codes and Coupons

ScoobyJawa

Thanks Mike, a bit pricey though, was hoping to spend half that!! Which I know could be hard for quad core.

Wondering if I could build one myself for that price?

staffs Mike

Not an i7 PC that's why it's such good value

You can build a very nice PC on that budget though.

Antec NSK3480 + 380W earthwatts (ebuyer) ~£53
4GB PC6400 ~£35 (ebuyer or scan, corsair XMS2)
Asus M3A78-CM (ebuyer or scan) ~£53 (strong onboard graphics)
Western Digital 640GB AAKS ~£47
AMD Phenom 9950 Black Edition ~£135 (2.6Ghz but unlcocked multiplier and allows easy overclocking to 3.0GHz)
DVD Drive ~£15

~£338.

Blu ray capable graphics (and light gaming). Display port too so all next gen monitors supported.

Quiet and powerful.

Intel wise it can be done on the same budget.

Q6600 ~£145
G31 based motherboard (crap graphics but does the job, don't expect overclocking though) ~£35


The Q6600 and 9950 trade blows but generally speaking the intel is the faster chip. Overclocking they will both hit around 3.2GHz. The Q6600 will make little work of running that speed but the phenom is easier to get there even on a naff overclocking board due to it's unlocked multiplier.

I'm actually building a similar AMD machine in the week. Two reasons I wen't for AMD. The first is the cheaper outcome, not needing a dedicated card for blu ray etc.. which I will be using it for on occasion and 2, the AMD upgrade path (with this motherboard) is a lot better. It allows for new AM3 chips which are coming.

Intel's upgrade path is limited due to i7 being on a new socket.

ScoobyJawa

Top stuff - cheers Mike, top info and that looks a good bet, I'm an Intel boy through and through though so I'd go down that route. It also doesn't need any expandability or upgradeability and it won't ever be used for gaming/blu-ray etc.

One thing I am thinking is that my main household pc is running a Core 2 Duo E6600 which would be powerful enough to run what I want, might be worth sticking that in the new pc and the replacing the E6600 in my main PC with a quad core instead.

I don't believe I'd have to re-install windows with a cpu change would i?

staffs Mike

Nope no changes necessary unless it's OEM vista and it doesn't want to let you upgrade..

The E6600 is always good for a bit over overclocking (mine runs 3.6GHz ) if you need the extra grunt but yeah that sounds like a good plan.

There's a basic G31
Asus P5KPL-AM iG31, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 1066(OC)/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX, VGA - Scan.co.uk

obviously you can add in graphics card but it's more than enough to run a desktop/2D stuff. You'll need a DVI/VGA adapter if your monitor only supports DVI.

Oh and make sure if you change the mobo idea, make sure either it is uATX (as the case is small and only takes uATX) or you change the case to a full ATX.

ScoobyJawa

sorted cheers chap!

staffs Mike

*****'d up a bit.. small edit in bold. The board is ONLY VGA not DVI. Same idea though with the adapter.