Basic $400 budget; no gaming; no rendering

[CaptainCuidado]

I've been mostly out of touch since I built my own i7 computer 4 years ago, and my dad wants me to help him build one for his own use to replace his laptop. So, I could use the help of some people who are up to date with the current tech.

Here is the best I could find so far: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2Erzr

It is needed only for very basic things, like web browsing, music listening, and watching high-res (1080p) video. No gaming or video rendering or anything heavy like that. We would like it to run at a comfortable, modern speed. A small to medium size case would be best. We do not need an ODD for everyday use; we have an external one for installing the operating system via USB port.

We would like to spend about $300-$400 for everything.

In my opinion, the most money should be spent on the CPU, and optional SSD, with everything else being of minimal monetary consequence. Intel or AMD are fine. Please feel free to make your own informed recommendations. If you can point to specific merchant deals, that would be very welcome, and appreciated.

Questions: Are these prices still good? Can better be done?

Is this a good SSD? I've done a little research and at this price point, there is mixed reception. I was looking at a Kingston drive for around the same price, and it had bad firmware recently. This A-Data drive has had reports of decreased performance over time, and sometimes running slowly out of the box.

Is this a good processor? More money is available to be budgeted towards it or the SSD.

Thanks for your help fellas.

-Cap

 

[E4g1e]

There are better SSDs available than that Adata, even at that price point: That Adata is not only a Sandforce-based SSD that's not from Intel, but also uses slow, cheap asynchronous NAND flash chips. This is why we are recommending a Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD for $89.00 instead at the same Amazon site.

Or, if you are willing to try Intel, you can get a Haswell Intel Pentium G3220-based setup with a B85 chipset-based motherboard instead of the AMD setup: That dual-core AMD would be nearly as slow in real-world performance in everyday apps as a seven-year-old Intel Core 2 Duo CPU-based PC.

 

[tiraides]

Do you have a legal, unactivated copy of Windows? That makes a $400 system a worthwhile pursuit. (Then again, there currently aren't any good deals for prebuilt systems that cost less.)

Also, please answer the sticky questions. I know that you've already answered some of them, but they help us tailor our recommendations to your needs.

A better quality SSD is available for less:

$77 - Crucial M500 120GB SSD

You could also save some money on the RAM:

$39 - G.Skill F3-1600C11S-4GNT 4GB DDR3 1600 RAM

 

[jfolds]

If your not gaming or rendering.. i'd suggest a $50 typewriter

 

[PornoSatan]

It is needed only for very basic things, like web browsing, music listening, and watching high-res (1080p) video. No gaming or video rendering or anything heavy like that.

Get him a toaster.

Seriously though, if he's not doing anything intensive then almost anything from within the last 8 years will be fine. I do think going with an APU is a fun idea though. It seems the A6-6400k has roughly the same overall power as a Core 2 Duo E6600, but since it has newer instructions, you could get away with using it in a more modern environment like your dad's with no intense rendering or gaming. It'll run on much faster memory and have an SSD to back it up so i'm sure he wouldn't know the difference.

It still somehow doesn't feel right though, i'd probably go with an A8 personally since they are quads.

 

[pcjunkie]

Drop the SSD for a cheaper 500GB 7200rpm hard drive and get a better processor.

 

[trick0502]

Are you near a microcenter? I see your psu is from there.

 

[Excalibur55]

Personally, I would replace the case with this one :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147166

2 x 120 mm fans, better airflow and 2 x USB 3.0 ports on the front panel for only 20$ more (+ shipping unfortunately). Worth it.