Spec Me Cheap and Small

Soldato
Joined
19 Dec 2006
Posts
9,260
Location
Saudi Arabia né Donegal
Hello all,

I was wondering if the hardware boffins of OcUK would perhaps help me in finding the smallest, cheapest system capable of running XP, DVD playback (I'll supply my own player so no need to include that in the cost) and has at least one pci slot.

Also no need to include a hard-drive or OS as I'll organise those myself, either running it off a pen drive or old hard-drive lying around.

The winner will be the one who can best meet the requirements at the cheapest possible price and will receive 1 x eCookie.

Thanks in advance,
Antar.
 
Associate
Joined
12 Mar 2009
Posts
605
Cheapest is this:

Gigabyte GA-GC330UD Intel Atom 330 Mini-ITX DDR2 Motherboard £65.99
(£57.38) £65.99
(£57.38)
OCZ Platinum Revision 2 XTC 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Series (OCZ2P800R22GK) £29.99
(£26.08) £29.99
(£26.08)
Sub Total : £83.46
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £7.25
VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £13.61
Total : £104.32

No idea what PSU is needed and you get a spare stick of RAM, however without someone more knowledgable this spec is a touch risky.

Cheapest 'typical spec' is this:
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 245 2.90GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £50.99
(£44.34) £50.99
(£44.34)
Gigabyte GA-M52L-S3P nForce 520LE (Socket AM3/AM2+) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £39.99
(£34.77) £39.99
(£34.77)
OCZ Platinum Revision 2 XTC 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Series (OCZ2P800R22GK) £29.99
(£26.08) £29.99
(£26.08)
Sub Total : £105.19
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.25
VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £17.02
Total : £130.46


Hope that helped!
 
Associate
Joined
12 Mar 2009
Posts
605
The Intel Atom isn't exactly a fast chip. I would go for a 'complete' processor setup over an Atom any time for anything but a netbook or maybe a small HTPC. The main riskyness factor though is the power supply for it, I really have no idea if a regular PSU is what it is after as all the HTPC cases (that the board is intended for) come with said power supply. I'd spend the little more and have it definately working!
 
Soldato
Joined
16 Nov 2003
Posts
9,682
Location
On the pale blue dot
Most Atoms feature normal ATX power sockets, though a lot of people pair them with pico-psus to save on the size. If you're just using to to watch DVDs and browse the Interwebs an Atom will do fine, but don't expect it to win any awards for speed.

The Nvidia-Ion based Atoms (not the one suggested above + a lot more expensive) are even capable of playing Blu-Ray :eek:
 
Associate
Joined
12 Mar 2009
Posts
605
Most Atoms feature normal ATX power sockets, though a lot of people pair them with pico-psus to save on the size. If you're just using to to watch DVDs and browse the Interwebs an Atom will do fine, but don't expect it to win any awards for speed.

The Nvidia-Ion based Atoms (not the one suggested above + a lot more expensive) are even capable of playing Blu-Ray :eek:

Thanks for that, learn something new every day :)
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
19 Dec 2006
Posts
9,260
Location
Saudi Arabia né Donegal
Unless you want a Media Center or Low powered server, dont get an Atom.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=91&p2=96

It really does lack in everything desktop-wise.

As said, just some java code and play DVDs. I'll probably try and strip as much from XP as possible and, if I'm feeling very adventurous (depending on how things go) I might even try a lightweight linux os.

Thanks guys for all the help, muchy appreciated.
 
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