$300 budget pc for parents

[Stag1928]

Hello all, I am new to building pc's and I was gonna start by building my parents a new machine. Right now they have a crappy old emachines that they use for work and internet things, no gaming or picture/vid.editing. I pulled together a budget rig for just about $300 and I was wondering if there are any improvements that would make it better for that price or make it cheaper. It seems like a decent build to me for their use, btw they have a hard drive and no need for a dedicated video card. Here are the specs

ECS GeForce6100PM-M2 & Athlon II x4 620-$148 combo on Tiger direct

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=5688236&sku=B69-4189&srkey=ECS%20GeForce6100PM-M2%20&%20Athlon%20II%20x4%20620

2gb of Pqi turbo- $40 on newegg

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820141365&cm_re=pqi_turbo_2gb-_-20-141-365-_-Product

Samsung dvd-r drive- $26 on T.D.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5284882&Sku=S203-8572%20OEM

Coolmax m-500b- $36 on amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Coolmax-M-500B-Supply-Connectors-ATX12V/dp/B0013FIO04/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1267124962&sr=8-1

sabrent card reader-$13 on t.D.

coolermaster elite 342- $36 on amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Elite-342-M-atx-Case-Psu/dp/B002QW7LE8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1267125031&sr=8-1

 

[huron]

That's not bad. Newegg has a Gigabyte case on sale right now for $23 with free shipping

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811233062&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL022510&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL022510-_-CasesComputerCasesATXForm-_-LC6A-_-11233062

Also, I think you can get a dvd drive for a few bucks cheaper.

One final question - do they really need an x4? That's quite a bit more than I would guess they would need. I know it's a combo, but that's half your budget on that.

Otherwise, it looks OK. I would go with a better PSU - at least for my own sake.

You didn't include an OS - that will add another $90-$100 or so onto the total.

I love budget builds. It really pushes you to figure out what you really need and where you can get quality components for less.

 

[Stag1928]

I guess a quadcore is a little much, a decent dual-core would prolly suffice and maybe I could tack on a little more for the psu. The reason i didnt include an OS is because I was going to use their current hard drive in the new one which is already loaded with xp by doing a repair install on the new drives via the recovery discs. I read that you can bypass that lockout feature on windows when changing things that are different than the encryption key by doing a repair install.

Thanks for the insight

 

[huron]

I'd be careful with swapping the HDD into a new machine. If it's an OEM install from a manufacturer (emachines, you mentioned), it may not work. Those licenses are tied to the motherboard and are often difficult. Best of luck on it.

You could check out the Athlon II 240, 245, or 250 if you're looking at something dual core that will work. I'm guess that's about all they'd need.

 

[batuchka]

 

[Stag1928]

Thanks guys