New PC for Mom

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Rydawg5143

Supreme [H]ardness
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Apr 22, 2008
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1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Facebook, email, web surfing, skype
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Under 300, closer to 200 the better
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

US, Denver, CO ( Microcenter about 20 mins away)
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Everything except case
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
I have a Antec 300 case I'm going to use. Samsung DVD drive
6) Will you be overclocking?
Unliekly
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
23" Acer HD
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within 2 weeks
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
Onboard video, wireless would be nice.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
No I would need this :(


I have like 4 Windows Vista keys I havent used but was wanting to get 7 and upgrade to 10, or just 10. But rough spending 100 on an OS

Here is what I have been thinking so far:

Intel Pentium G3260, $45 @ Microcenter
CORSAIR CX series CX500 $45/$25AR @ Newegg
Samsung 120gb $68 @ Egg
GIGABYTE GA-B85M-DS3H $49/39AR
Gskill 8gb ddr2 1600 $46
Win 7 (forums) $50

Total is $303 or 273 after rebates. Thoughts?
 
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Did you consider something really small and efficient like a Beebox or a BRIX GB-BACE-3000?
 
$84 for 8GB is high for a budget build. Look for less expensive ram.

Also since it's for your mom, consider a 250GB ssd instead of a hard drive. Unless she shoots a lot of home video she won't need 1TB.
 
I might speak for only a small minority on this forum, but I can't see how you need a 53 W Haswell chip for Facebook and Skype.
 
the_servicer said:
I might speak for only a small minority on this forum, but I can't see how you need a 53 W Haswell chip for Facebook and Skype.
Click to expand...

It's only $50 and the performance increase in IPC is huge for even everyday tasks, snappiness, etc. And considering he'd only be saving 20 something bucks going with an old school used chip, it makes perfect sense. Unless we're talking about a used i3 or something.
 
rive22 said:
And considering he'd only be saving 20 something bucks going with an old school used chip, it makes perfect sense. Unless we're talking about a used i3 or something.
Click to expand...

Just for the record, I didn't say anything about buying used.
 
the_servicer said:
Just for the record, I didn't say anything about buying used.
Click to expand...

What's cheaper than a $50 chip that isn't AMD? AMD has on average half the performance as Intel at any given clock rate. Intel Atom ain't worth it either for a daily rig even for a regular user. A few bucks saved ain't worth it in either of those scenarios.
 
This is partly an aesthetic decision and only the OP can decide what's right. If this were my situation, I would set my mom up with brand new, high-performance Intel processor designed for mobile.

AMD or Atom? Most likely not, unless we're talking about a Sempron or Athlon at 25 W. I wouldn't even know how to buy an Atom that isn't somehow connected to a touchscreen. Is there something I don't know about in that regard?

Edit: Now that I re-read the part about staying close to two hundred dollars, I can see how my suggestion may not work unless storage and the OS come real cheap.
 
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Here is some Ram cheaper from MicroCenter $49

http://www.microcenter.com/product/..._Desktop_Memory_Kit_(Two_4GB_Memory_Modules)#

And perhaps this MB, also $49 dollars from MicroCenter

http://www.microcenter.com/product/446621/GA-H81M-H_LGA1150_mATX_Intel_Motherboard

Only difference I could see is the Board you picked has a DVI socket and the H model replaced it with a HDMI port.

Pentium G3260 for $45 from MC as well. I dont think you are Overclocking this for your Mom's computer.

http://www.microcenter.com/product/446261/G3260_33GHz_LGA_1150_Boxed_Processor
 
Updated the OP to include updated info/pricing

Intel Pentium G3260, $45 @ Microcenter
CORSAIR CX series CX500 $45/$25AR @ Newegg
Samsung 120gb $68 @ Egg
GIGABYTE GA-B85M-DS3H $49/39AR
Gskill 8gb ddr2 1600 $46
Win 7 (forums) $50

Total is $303 or 273 after rebates. Thoughts?
 
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I would not go with the G3260 since it's a newer CPU which means that there's a higher chance of whatever budget mobo you're getting not being able to support that G3260 out of the box. As such, I recommend getting the G3258. It was released earlier than the G3260 and therefore has a better chance of out of the box support.

That particular motherboard is not that reliable. I recommend getting this Gigabyte H81 motherboard instead as it has a better track record and does support the G3258 right of the box (apparently anyway):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128667

At $68 shipped, that Samsung 850 Evo SSD is just too overpriced IMO since $17 more gets you double the space and more performance:
$85 - Crucial BX100 250GB SSD

I understand that your mom may not need that much space but that Crucial has a fantastic bang for the buck value that you just can't ignore. For comparison, the 120GB version of that SSD is only $60:
http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-BX100...438650592&sr=8-3&keywords=Crucial+BX100+250GB
 
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