Ok here we go, not going to be as much detail as the first system list I done as you all understand by now from the first system list why I pick the components I do, but as a brief refresher this is why;
Warrenty period
bang per performance - overall system performance (read: no real weakness)
Overclocking headroom / potential
Quality
With the basics aside lets get to it.
System 1: "superbudget" Socket 775
I'm sure most of us have been here, a shoestring of a budget for a new PC. Just because you don't have a lot to spend doesn't mean you have to put up with some mass produced piece of kit made with all the cheapest, crappiest components the manufacturer could find to throw in it. So, heres my top pick of components for a superbudget system.
Mainboard: Asus P5Q Pro Turbo. This board is basically the standard P5Q Pro. It makes its appearance yet again due to its 3 year warrenty, excellent feature-set and gobs of overclocking options. The P5Q Pro Turbo can be found for around the £80-90 mark. Utilising the stalwart P45 chipset with ICH10R, the P5Q Pro Turbo also isn't too short on futureproofing with PCI-E 2.0, dual GPU (ATi only) capabilities and a whole hoast of other handy features, making it a fantastic superbudget mainboard to build a system around.
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400. Some may instantly wonder why I haven't chosen a E7200 or E8500 or similar. The reason is simple, the 2 former options are almost the same price as the Q8400, with the obvious disadvantage of lacking the 2 extra cores of the Q8400. The Q8400 can be had for around £115 (whereas in contrast the E7200 costs around £90, and the E8500 about £130). With the onset of Quad computing and more and more software being programmed for Quad CPUs, it makes it very hard to justify buying a Duo, even if you do save £25.
RAM: 2GB G.Skill DDR2 PC2-8500 (5-5-5-15) PK Series Dual Kit (8-layer PCB). "Only" 2GB it may be, but in this case its quality over quantity. For PC8500 this RAM has excellent timings, a 8 layer PCB instead of the commonly found 6 layer PCB with cheap and no-name memory kits. At £41, its also very affordable to upgrade to 4GB of this if you need to as well. Operating at 2v, you also don't have to worry about the RAM getting hot under heavy use - it should stay quite cool.
Graphics: ATi HD4830 512MB. Do not underestimate this card, despite it having a little age under its belt now it packs a lot of performance for its price. 256bit memory bus, DX10.1 support, crossfire capable, and cool running. Incredibly I've seen this card for as little as £30 NEW from oyyy.co.uk
LINK. Initially people may wonder why this card is so great for its price - its simply down to what it offers and its potential. Stock performance wise you will feel this card is perhaps slightly underwhelming, but dig a little deeper and overclock it, and you will find its still quite the powerhouse. To put this into perspective, with a overclocked PC (CPU, RAM, GPU) this card is happy to play games even like Crysis warhead with incredible detail settings and resolution with aplomb.
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB. Still the undisputed champion in my book. For £44 you are getting a HDD thats
just as good as a WD Velociraptor in the performance stakes. Thats a hell of a hard drive.
PSU: Corsair VX 450. Not the ultimate PSU of course, but hey this is a budget system we are building here not a supercomputer. The Corsair VX 450 can be had for around £50, providing quality and reliability even in your new superbudget PC ensuring you have no phantom instability often caused by cheap generic PSUs.
Total: £370-400 + postage.
Overview
This system can naturally be made cheaper by buying a cheaper CPU if your content with a dual regardless of how PCs and the software industry are progressing, as can it be made cheaper by choosing a cheaper (read: less capacity, slower performing) HDD. Graphically I wouldn't recommend choosing anything less powerful than a HD4830 if you want to have any kind of longetivity in that area, but of course if your not a gamer then its another area you can save some money on. This superbudget system has been configured to represent best value for money while providing the necessary muscle to provide a enjoyable PC experience regardless of if your gaming, file archiving or encoding, or simply wanting to watch a HD movie with H.264 hardware acceleration.
Next: Mainstream.