I built a system several months back so I'm partially up on the latest specs. Obviously the cheapest route is AMD rather than Intel so I'd go with the following quad core which doesn't look bad:
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Socket AM3 3.2 GHz 8MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/190673" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
£122.57
I always get Gigabyte motherboards, the following looks pretty good and is micro ATX so will fit in a smaller case if needed. It's also got HDMI and is aimed at people wanting to make a media centre PC. Here's a review:
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2471" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and there's more info on supported memory etc here:
http://www.giga-byte.co.uk/products/pro ... id=3275#ov" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H 785G Socket AM3 DVI VGA HDMI Out 8 Channel Audio MATX Motherboard
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/170230" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
£63.58
Hard drive prices have come down lately, you can now get a 1tb for under £50.
Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 32MB Cache - OEM
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173804" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
£47.72
Hard drives have gone down in price but it looks like memory has gone up! I got the following for £56 but now it's £90.
Crucial 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz/PC3-10600 Memory Kit CL9 1.5V
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/166995" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
£90.00
I haven't looked at PSU's as the first one I found looks to be pretty good and is only £40.
OCZ Stealth Xtream 500W PSU - 1x PCI-E 6/8pin, 2x SATA 12cm Fan
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135159" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
£39.94
With the mATX motherboard you can get a smaller case, maybe something like this:
Shiny Black Media Center MicroATX Case With Silver Trim and LCD Display - No PSU
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150275" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
£21.99
You might find some other cool cases elsewhere, such as:
http://www.aria.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.novatech.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I'm a touch over budget at £385.50, and that's without a DVD drive, but you could save a bit by getting a dual core processor - an AM3 to go with the motherboard - and 2gb of memory.
