If you aer getting a 'developed world' level salary, then probably the best GBP £200 you can spend is on a TechNet subscription. This provides you with all the Microsoft operating systems, server software, and Office. This combination is key to taking hold of your career path. (MSDN can give you more, but at a higher prioce.)

If you think that as a DBA you do not want to know how to install W2008 or configure AD, then you are also missing out on the skills you will need to troubleshoot problems in these areas.

I congratulate Gail on building a Hyper-V monster for trying out what the software can do. This approach liberates you from what an employer can provide, and is another key step in controlling your career.

Back in 2007 I had a 4-core 12 GB box built for about GBP 1800 which now has about 3TB storage spread over 5 disks. If you have got the money, then look at getting a custom-build box with 16 GB memory and at least 8GHz of total processing power (Number of cores x processor speed = total GHz processing power). My experience is that memory and disk space get used up far faster than CPU capacity, and nowadays you should be able to build what you need for under GBP 1000.