What do you guys think?

[Harsh!]

A mate has asked me to look out for a cheap system, what do you guys think of this for the money (£478)?
z.

Jesus!!...
that works out to be about $1500 NZ

[lynx]

Jesus!!...
that works out to be about $1500 NZ

1265 NZD. Your conversion is out by almost 20%.

[clocker]

A mate has asked me to look out for a cheap system, what do you guys think of this for the money (£478)?

PROCESSOR - AMD 2800:

What flavor of chip is this? I'd be willing to bet that it's a Sempron, AMD's new budget CPU.
Basically a gutted Athlon XP, AMD is attempting to pass these dogs off as the "next greatest thing" when in fact, they are simply a stopgap between socketA and the a64 platforms.
Socket A is an attractive option today IF you realize that it's basically at the end of it's life and are willing to forgo 64-bit architecture for a while. The platform has matured and there are several very good boards still available. Just be sure that you are getting a real Athlon and not it's dumbed down sibling.

[Formula1]

Wtf , my system (look in sig) only cost 730 USD ( exluding shipping ) and that's like only 400 GBP ?? You can definetely get alot more with 478 GBP .... I'd look into atleast an AMD Athlon 64 2800/3000, another motherboard (a good one around 80$, which would already come with a sound card) and of course, a better video card (atleast 9550, or even 9600)...

[Peerzy]

Parts are more expensive in the UK. That price seems about right but i would push for an AMD64 bit as thats the way to go, anything 32bit thats AMD will be out of date soon enough.

[zacspeed]

Thanks for the advice you guys! I knew your vast knowledge wouldn't let me down