I'm building a new computer for a friend who's given me a budget of 500-650. He's unlikely to do a ton of gaming, but wanted the ability to try some things to see if he likes it. I'm considering the following:
SAMSUNG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model SH-S222A - OEM $30.99
Antec Sonata III 500 Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply $109.99
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM $69.99
The CPU is from microcenter.com, everything else from Newegg. Total system cost is $658 with shipping. My other thought was to build basically the same system but with a phenom II X3, and save him $150 or so. Thoughts?
His monitor is a 21" LCD, and I doubt he'll ever switch to anything gigantic.
The majority of his use will likely be web, internet, and data processing for work. I imagine he'll morph into using his computer as a media center as well, so there may be a bit of recoding, etc. I doubt he'll ever tax his computer heavily, but he does want it to be something that would be considered mainstream for a few years at least.
He won't be overclocking his system, although I may give him a very modest overclock if I end up going for the Phenom II system instead of the I5, especially since it will be IN a desk and not have a lot of airflow.
I'd like it to be a quiet, reliable system, since he won't want to tinker with it much.
I know, it's a pretty killer price. Frankly, it's the whole reason I'm thinking about building him an I5 system, which is probably overkill for his needs. I happen to be in Boston, so can just pick it up -- don't know if it's the same price at all microcenters, or if it's the same if it's internet only.
SAMSUNG DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223L LightScribe Support - OEM
Item #: N82E16827151188
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
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I know, it's a pretty killer price. Frankly, it's the whole reason I'm thinking about building him an I5 system, which is probably overkill for his needs. I happen to be in Boston, so can just pick it up -- don't know if it's the same price at all microcenters, or if it's the same if it's internet only.