$500 Home PC Build Help?

[jeguzik]

Need to build a machine for my father / Mother for their home, and I have a budget of about $500. This will not be a gaming rig, I just need a good workhorse home PC for daily use and photo editing. I would like to overbuild this so it will suit their needs for a few years to come. Please let me know where I should get started, or if anyone knows of some killer deals on Bare Bones kits?? Your help is greatly appreciated. Is it possible to build a solid Pentium I5/7 machine with this money? Else, what are my options?
- Video (Onboard is OK)
- Sound Card (Onboard is OK)
- HD (200 Min)
- Need OS License (Win 7)
- CD Burner (Salvaged)
- DVD Burner (Salvaged)
- Multi Card Reader Required

 

[MadAdmiral]

Not getting an i5/i7. The CPU and board alone will run you nearly $500.

Check out link to the Recommend Builds by Usage thread in my signature. The cheap build will be all you really need, and all that will fit the budget. You will be getting integrate video and sound, but they won't need discrete for either of those.

I'd almost recommend you go to Dell or HP. For a basic, low budget computer, you can't beat their price. If you're not planning on drastically adding to the computer, then you'll have no problem with a pre-built. Keep in mind buying Win 7 yourself will cost $100, so you're really trying to build on $400.

 

[deadlockedworld]

I'm thinking this system would be best built around an Athlon X4 620($99) or 630($112). It offers a great performance for the price.

Processor clock speed isnt as important to you, since they will never perform demanding tasks with it--and quad core is the best way to ensure that it ages well as more and more new programs take advantage of the multiple cores.

I was recently facing a similar decision and ended up just buying my father a model similar to this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883241017&cm_re=zt_systems-_-83-241-017-_-Product
It was a little over budget--but I couldn't really build a system much cheaper since the OS costs so much. Their Q9300 model is a pretty good deal too.

You can configure the Dell 546 with a Athlon II x4 630, 4gb ram, and 64bit win 7 for $529... The only bad thing is that you cant control the PSU they use...