PruritusAni Posted March 15, 2010 Posted March 15, 2010 Hey guys, I've just about had it with mom's computer. That thing is running on way too old and needs to be taken out back and hit with a shovel, just once. Since she is too used to daily computer usage she's going to need a cheap replacement. She uses the computer for internet access, the occasional Photoshop/Corel and she watches movies on it as well, all while refusing to play Crysis (or any other game) , so it need not be a beast. Would I be better off taking her to best buy and getting her a cheap dell (around 6-700ish for core2duo or i5 type things) or should I just try to assemble something myself? If I do decide to build something myself, I'm planning on reusing the e-machines case that came with this old computer, and reusing the cd-rom drive. Let me know what you think. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savan Posted March 15, 2010 Posted March 15, 2010 (edited) I reused a gateway case once, and while the motherboard fit, I had to rip part of the side off with tin snips and pliers to put in a new psu. And from what it sounds like you could probably build her a dual core athlon for pretty cheap. probably 300 - 400 and have it be about the same performance as a store bought 600 - 700 one. Edited March 15, 2010 by Savan Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CheeseMan42 Posted March 15, 2010 Posted March 15, 2010 I reused a gateway case once, and while the motherboard fit, I had to rip part of the side off with tin snips and pliers to put in a new psu. And from what it sounds like you could probably build her a dual core athlon for pretty cheap. probably 300 - 400 and have it be about the same performance as a store bought once It's unlikely you could reuse the emachines case. I had to take a hammer to an old Dell case to make a different motherboard work. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr_bowtie Posted March 16, 2010 Posted March 16, 2010 Hey guys, I've just about had it with mom's computer. That thing is running on way too old and needs to be taken out back and hit with a shovel, just once. Since she is too used to daily computer usage she's going to need a cheap replacement. She uses the computer for internet access, the occasional Photoshop/Corel and she watches movies on it as well, all while refusing to play Crysis (or any other game) , so it need not be a beast. Would I be better off taking her to best buy and getting her a cheap dell (around 6-700ish for core2duo or i5 type things) or should I just try to assemble something myself? If I do decide to build something myself, I'm planning on reusing the e-machines case that came with this old computer, and reusing the cd-rom drive. Let me know what you think. If you want to be nice to mom then order her a Dell Studio PC you can get something configured pretty nice in your budget and get the extras as well plus you can find Promo code pretty easy...which help.... Or... you can build something for Dear Mom and she will call you every time she has an issue...something Dell make take care of for here if you got her the Dell.... If you opt to build do you have any issues with buying used...? lots of good stuff right here in the forums to put a nice powerful rig together fairly cheap.... or you cqan tell us which way you like to go and we can price new...? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PruritusAni Posted March 16, 2010 Posted March 16, 2010 you can build something for Dear Mom and she will call you every time she has an issue...something Dell make take care of for here if you got her the Dell.... I live with mom, so tech support is pretty much a given. I'd like to buy new parts, as there's always the RMA in case of untimely death. So it is looking more and more likely I will be assembling her a new PC. Was looking at these processors, just now. Anyone have any recent cheap builds they put together that they'd like to share with me? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr_bowtie Posted March 16, 2010 Posted March 16, 2010 the E8400 C2D is a great CPU but for a few dollars more the i5-650 is a much better CPU.. you'll need a P55 socket 1156 board and ddr3 ram... I think this would give you the best route and far as still being upgradable in the near future.... once you settle on a CPU we can build a rig around that.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PruritusAni Posted March 16, 2010 Posted March 16, 2010 the E8400 C2D is a great CPU but for a few dollars more the i5-650 is a much better CPU.. you'll need a P55 socket 1156 board and ddr3 ram... I think this would give you the best route and far as still being upgradable in the near future.... once you settle on a CPU we can build a rig around that.... As cheap was what I had in mind I think the i3-530 might be the one for this project. Thanks for your help so far. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PruritusAni Posted March 17, 2010 Posted March 17, 2010 Thank you all for your inputs ... as I was planning and deciding my mother's computer decided it would up the ante a bit more and completely die on its own. There was no need for the shovel out back after all. So the decision making process did get a lot easier after that, and the budget got nailed down to 600-700 tops. I've been newegging some wishlists and I've come up with a few tentative PCs. I've obtained 2 intel builds so far, and am still trying to put together the equivalent AMD builds (have little to no experience with AMD so it's taking me a while to do the research). Tentative Intel Build 1 Tentative Intel Build 2 The AMD builds will be the same components, with the mobo and CPU being different. I'm looking at the Phenom II X4 955 Black and the Phenom II X2 555. What do you guys think? PS I'm not going to be overclocking her computer, but I will be using a GeminII S cooler that I have laying around on it so temperatures are not really a concern. PPS. I'm currently looking into acquiring a NZXT Beta EVO case to go with one of these. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bp9801 Posted March 17, 2010 Posted March 17, 2010 No offense, but your mom does not need a Phenom II processor. An Athlon II would be cheaper and offer great performance for everything that she would do with it. If you want AMD, then go with something like this.. AMD Athlon II X4 620 - $99.99 Gigabyte GA-770TA-UD3 - $94.99 Corsair 550VX - $79.99 G.Skill DDR3-1333 4GB - $104.99 ATi Radeon HD 5670 - $119.99 Plus a case, hard drive, and optical drive of your choice. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cchalogamer Posted March 17, 2010 Posted March 17, 2010 No offense, but your mom does not need a Phenom II processor. An Athlon II would be cheaper and offer great performance for everything that she would do with it. If you want AMD, then go with something like this.. AMD Athlon II X4 620 - $99.99 Gigabyte GA-770TA-UD3 - $94.99 Corsair 550VX - $79.99 G.Skill DDR3-1333 4GB - $104.99 ATi Radeon HD 5670 - $119.99 Plus a case, hard drive, and optical drive of your choice. No offense with the direct quote here but you made a VERY valid point about not needing the PII over the AII CPU, heck MOST benchmarks show that the lack of L3 makes so little difference that it's hard to justify the extra money for most anyone. In the same way I don't understand why you would go with a 5670 for this build at all. A 785G board will do the same tasks needed and in a board that costs less money minus the whole video card cost. ASUS M4A785TD-M EVO (love it's big brother, supports core unlocking and has enthusiast features IF you want to use them) AMD Athlon II X3 435I don't think a quad or even tri core is needed here, but at the price-point and the chance to POSSIBLY unlock it my mother would prob be getting one of these. Memory above looks good though most any 4GB kit should do here Anything over a 400w power supply is just silly here a system like this, using this PSU calc my main rig is ACTUALLY within 20w of what it says it should be. I overestimated this entire system to get a 272w requirement. With that said I would likely end up with a 400-500w PSU of a reliable brand that has some crazy rebate making it something like $30-50 (there are plenty for <=$50 before rebates I would consider too) If you watch the shellshocker deals you can usually get a $25-50 case that will be much better than trying to re-purpose that emachines "thing". That stuff puts you in the $350 neighborhood, add in a HDD that suits her needs, reuse the DVD/CD drive(s) and you've got a VERY nice system for mid level usage. Honestly this is a bit thrown together and I'm SURE there are better values around for some of the parts but it doesnt take a ton of cash these days to build a VERY reliable system. Also everything here has a longer warranty than you'll get from an OEM to top it off. If you're like me the tech support thing matters not as even if you give her a 24/7 support line she's still gonna call you first. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bilcliff Posted March 17, 2010 Posted March 17, 2010 CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 240 $58.99 Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA785GT-UD3H $94.99 Ram: Kingston 2x1GB DDR3 1333 $52.99 HDD: WD 500GB Green Power $54.99 PSU: Antec earthwatts 500W$69.99 Total $332 without shipping I'd use the motherboard's onboard video. i doubt she'll need 4Gb of ram so 2gb should be fine. cant see her needing more than a 500gb hdd. And that powersupply works great in my sisters build which is very similar specs + a 4670. do you need an operating system disc too? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrewr05 Posted March 17, 2010 Posted March 17, 2010 If you want to be nice to mom then order her a Dell Studio PC.Best advice yet. For low low end builds you can not compare to a low end pre-built, sure it might have a little bit of bloatware but that is nothing a few minutes of tweaking can't fix. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now