budget system specs

[okietex]

Opinions please... building a 'cheaper' system for my in-laws ... all they do is e-mail/web and maybe some word processing and looking at photos.

Low budget ... this is probably more than they want to spend but if it's a Dell or HP or whatever, I am the tech support so I'm thinking of trying to build a nice system but not go crazy on high-end, high-performance components.

So- this is what I came up with .. Issue is would it just be as good to go with cheaper CPU/MOBO and find cheaper case/psu combo? I can really only see that I might save about $100 +/- by choosing some different mobo/cpu + case/psu combo.

Thoughts?? TIA - from newegg ...

Antec SONATA II Piano Black w450Watt $109.00

DFI LANPARTY UT nF3 250Gb Socket 754
NVIDIA nForce3 250 ATX AMD $96.00

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Newcastle
800MHz FSB Socket 754 $146.00

Kingston ValueRAM 512MB (2 x 256MB)
184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) $52.77

GIGABYTE GV-R96X128D Radeon 9600XT
128MB DDR AGP 4X/8X Video $85.00

SAMSUNG SpinPoint P Series SP1213C
120GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive $78.00

Windows XP HOME Edition
With Service Pack 2 $88.95

Subtotal: $655.72

--edit-- shoot, i didn't add in floppy or media drive(s) so add in $70+/-


So, value-quality is big ... but lower-end budget. I think they'd go for that if I told them it was fine. Bigger issue is them seeing some BestBuy/CompUSA ad and saying - well, there's a 399 eMachines or a 399 Dell! (until you add everything on)

Guess my main question - and not knowing older AMD stuff ... should I consider Athon XP instead of 64 and go with Socket A?? But, if $$$s is only $50-$75 - I'd rather go with newer proc etc.

Again ... TIA.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by okietex on 07/23/05 06:42 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[fate]

You don't need nearly that high power supply, I would get like 350w max and that's still probably overkill. I would get a lower cpu too, I think a good sempron could handle that. You can save a few more bucks and just go with an IDE hard drive. That should shave off at least another $100 I think.

 

[Rugger]

1. <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-129-127&depa=1" target="_new">Antec Sonata I</A> for $69 more than enough power.
2. <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=property&DEPA=1" target="_new">Sempron 2600+ (Palermo)</A> for $76. More than enough CPU power for them.
3. <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227212" target="_new">OCZ Value VX</A> $47. s754 does not have dual channel for memory so there is no performance hit.
4. <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102289" target="_new">Sapphire Atlantis 9600</A> Integrated video would be enough for them - save $16 and get this.

Total savings: $134 less than your rig.

I would save a little more and go with:
1. <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813186042" target="_new">Foxconn 760GXK8MB-ERS</A> for $60
2. Use integrated video.
Total Savings: $239 less than your rig. All of those are quality parts with the performance that they need for their usage. BTW that will be a very quiet system, too.

__________________________________________________
<font color=red>You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!</font color=red>

 

[okietex]

thanks guys. will take note and look at those options... probably will work well. appreciate it.

 

[Rugger]

Not a prob - good luck with your build.

__________________________________________________
<font color=red>You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!</font color=red>