Computer Build suggestions --> Good Cause

So I brought up the idea to my youth group at Church that it would be really nice if we did some fundraising and built a kid a computer, a kid who doesn't have enough money.

I'll be building the computer, and they all want kind of a price range on how much its gonna cost.

We're looking at somwhere around $500 including a monitor. It doesn't have to be anything special, just so he can use MS WORD, go online and do some research, and that kinda crap.

Do you guys have any suggestions? I would prefer new parts but use/refurbished would be ok too i guess.

Donations are accepted too....

Thanks guys

$100 AMD Athlon64 3000+ (buy this or a 3200+ used)
$72 Chaintech VNF4/Ultra Motherboard
$54 1GB (2x 512MB) Crucial PC3200 DDR RAM
$64 eVGA GeForce 6200 PCI Express Videocard
$50 80GB WD Hard Drive
$40 Pioneer DVR-110DBK DVD Burner
$52 Aspire Dreamer II ATX Case with 350W PSU
$50 17" CRT Monitor (buy used froma local shop)

clickclickw00t said:

So I brought up the idea to my youth group at Church that it would be really nice if we did some fundraising and built a kid a computer, a kid who doesn't have enough money.

I'll be building the computer, and they all want kind of a price range on how much its gonna cost.

We're looking at somwhere around $500 including a monitor. It doesn't have to be anything special, just so he can use MS WORD, go online and do some research, and that kinda crap.

Do you guys have any suggestions? I would prefer new parts but use/refurbished would be ok too i guess.

Donations are accepted too....

Thanks guys

Click to expand...

If you lived here in Dayton, NV I have a complete system I would give you.

cx323 said:

$100 AMD Athlon64 3000+ (buy this or a 3200+ used)
$72 Chaintech VNF4/Ultra Motherboard
$54 1GB (2x 512MB) Crucial PC3200 DDR RAM
$64 eVGA GeForce 6200 PCI Express Videocard
$50 80GB WD Hard Drive
$40 Pioneer DVR-110DBK DVD Burner
$52 Aspire Dreamer II ATX Case with 350W PSU
$50 17" CRT Monitor (buy used froma local shop)

Click to expand...

He's got a great Idea. BUT....maybe the 1 gig of ram is a little bit overkill? If all he's doing is word and internet stuff, 512 will suffice. Save the rest for lights / fans / cool lookin things, because thats what kids like in a PC, now how fast their awesome 64-bit processor is!

BlackKoala said:

He's got a great Idea. BUT....maybe the 1 gig of ram is a little bit overkill? If all he's doing is word and internet stuff, 512 will suffice. Save the rest for lights / fans / cool lookin things, because thats what kids like in a PC, now how fast their awesome 64-bit processor is!

Click to expand...

I'd normally agree, but that's an excellent price. You can end up paying around $50 for one stick alone. I was also going to suggest cutting the DVD burner too (hey, if you save enough, maybe you can build two computers), but for $40 it's not bad.

Good idea on this click, you're going to make some kid really really happy.

What is the reasoning behind your building it? Unless you are going to be buying used parts, an OEM system would get you a lot more for your money and will include some sort of warranty service in the event something happens to the machine (you won't always be right there to fix it).

I noticed you (the OP) live in NYC.

I'd suggest shopping around on Cragslist for some of the less essential parts. The monitor for example. When my brother moved to D.C., I told him to get a monitor for his laptop. I checked Craigslist and withing 5 minutes had found 2 for $20 each and one that was even free. If you're going to go pick it up yourself, you might as well give a good deal on a CRT a look. If it's crap, don't buy it. Great way to save money though!

DudeItsMe said:

I noticed you (the OP) live in NYC.

I'd suggest shopping around on Cragslist for some of the less essential parts. The monitor for example. When my brother moved to D.C., I told him to get a monitor for his laptop. I checked Craigslist and withing 5 minutes had found 2 for $20 each and one that was even free. If you're going to go pick it up yourself, you might as well give a good deal on a CRT a look. If it's crap, don't buy it. Great way to save money though!

Click to expand...

Ohh yea I love craisglsit so much you have no idea, I spend all my money there

Yea, old parts new parts whatever, we just wanna build some kid a computer who can't afford it. Why not use my gift for something that'll help some kid in life?

The monitor will almost defintely come from Craiglist unless I can get a good one from somewhere else.

** Heres the main thing, I live in Port Washington/Manhasset area of long island. People here are realyl really rich. They'd rather get all new parts than donate like $50 less for used ones.

In response to getting teh system OEM, the whole purpose of this build is to use my skill to build the kid a computer, not to just buy it off the shelf. Anyone can do that, but building it and showing teh kid taht you put some heart into it would really make him happy. And maybe a Windows XP for dummies book too.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. If one computer is successful, we might make it even more.

Good heart man. If its for a younger kid, maybe trick it out with kick ass lights, theyre relatively cheap. For an older one, maybe get some games on it for um.

BlackKoala said:

Good heart man. If its for a younger kid, maybe trick it out with kick ass lights, theyre relatively cheap. For an older one, maybe get some games on it for um.

Click to expand...

I'm not shooting your idea down, but the whole purpose of the build is for the computer to help the kid in school, not so he wastes his time playing addictive games and fails his classes.

The lights are a definite, we want the thing to look cool too. I personally would maybe put some old games !! NON VIOLENT !! games on there. You have to remember, this money is coming from a Catholic Youth Group, I doubt they want the kid playing Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty 2. Maybe Age of Empires 2 or something like that.

I was thinking about building a shuttle system... Any suggestions on that? I've never done a shuttle before so I wouldn't knwo where to start.

Shuttle systems are pretty awesome, but they're quite a bit more expensive then just a normal tower system. I'd personally stick with the tower with your budget. I pretty much agree with what cx323 recommended though. The one thing I might change is the mobo/GPU. For about the same price as the Chaintech, you could pick up this Biostar with integrated video. It's no slouch either, so he'd be able to play games like AoE2 just fine. Plus, you could save ~$60 on the video card.