Need advice on new system, please help

gflande1

July 29, 2006 4:15:31 AM

Mother in law has a Compaq that she bought 6 years ago. This thing is a piece of crap and is getting slow. She only has 256 megs of Ram. In order to add more she would have to buy two sticks of RDRAM, which would cost her arounc $200 for 512 megs. Anway, my advice to her is to upgrade to a new system (I know, pretty obvious).

Anway, I havent been keeping close tabs on computer hardware as of late. I would like to build her a basic system (she primarly uses it for internet, Microsoft Office, AOL IM, etc). Just wanted to get a general idea as to where to start. I would like the best bang for the buck...however there is too much to choose from. I saw this Intel Pentium D 840 processor for sale, is this a good choice for a basic computer.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you

More about : advice system

The_Prophecy

July 29, 2006 6:58:39 AM

For the uses you listed, a socket 939 system would probably be ideal. I know some will say go AM2 because it's a newer socket, but in this case it doesn't matter.

Suggestions:

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (Socket 939)

Mobo: Asus A8N5X

RAM: OCZ EL 512MB (2 x 256MB) DDR400

Video Card: eVGA Geforce 7300GS

Power Supply: Antec Truepower 380W

Total before taxes and shipping: $361.46

shadowduck

July 29, 2006 2:22:26 PM

Quote:

For the uses you listed, a socket 939 system would probably be ideal. I know some will say go AM2 because it's a newer socket, but in this case it doesn't matter.

Suggestions:

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (Socket 939)

Mobo: Asus A8N5X

RAM: OCZ EL 512MB (2 x 256MB) DDR400

Video Card: eVGA Geforce 7300GS

Power Supply: Antec Truepower 380W

Total before taxes and shipping: $361.46

Nice system for a limited budget. However, I would in the case go with the AsRock 939Dual board. I have that motherboard, and its actually a pretty nice board. It will have SATA II (which the A8N lacks) and can be upgraded to AM2 for $30 later.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157081
Its only $67 too.

Plekto

July 29, 2006 6:16:27 PM

I'd suggest Ebay - just get a pair of 256Meg RDRAM-800s for about $100 or so. Wait till Vista comes out and the whole Core Duo/whatever and direct X 10 all get hashed out. Then you'll know the playbook.

As it is, we're um - this is exactly like the period of time in the past when Win 98 was coming out. Win95 was okay, but Win 98 brought about massive changes.