• A Great friend to the HardForum with a great kid that he is trying to get a scholorship to continue his schooling. Please give hime a vote! Only 24 hours left! Thanks.
    If you have an VOTE FOR KEENAN!

Budget Mom Build

Y

Yossarian22

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Apr 27, 2009
Messages
1,799
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Browsing mainly (youtube, flash games), light/family games on Steam
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$400 or less
3) Where do you live?
New Jersey
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc.
CPU, RAM, HDD, motherboard (integrated gpu), case, PSU.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing?
19" Dell LCD, Logitech G15, Intellimouse, 2.0 5W PC Speakers
6) Will you be overclocking?
Negative.
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
19"
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Build: this week, buy: end of July
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Good integrated graphics, stability, expandability (AM3/AM2+?)
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
No, I was thinking of recycling XP Home license from netbook (but I have no XP Home disc), XP Professional from 9 y/o Alienware (again, I have that CD but not slip streamed to SP3) or doing The Perfect Steal for $30 (W7 Ultimate)


I know I used to make these threads semi-frequently, but this time it's for real. My mother had hijacked my netbook and docked it to a 19" LCD, Logitech G15, and Intellimouse. Now that I'm leaving for RIT I'm going to want the netbook for linux shenanigans.

This is what I had in mind:
$91.89 - combo AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor 2.8GHz AM3 + Antec TWO HUNDRED S case
$74.99 - ASUS M4A785-M AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G
$44.99 - A-DATA 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 PC800
$49.99 - CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W
$47.99 - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD3200AAJS 320GB
$20.99 - Sony Optiarc CD/DVD Burner OEM (mobo comes with 2x SATA wires)
----
Subtotal: $330.93
Tax: $24.47
Shipping: $18.69
***
Total: $374.09

I can't see any way to make this cheaper (Drop in a Sargas? Not worth it I don't think). Dell has a similar system but of course with no name parts. The DIY version is $12 more (not including OS).

I have two XP keys, one is attached to the netbook as XP Home and one is an old XP Professional key. Problem with the XP Home key is that there is no disc or CD. The problem with the XP Professional key is that I don't know that it will work with the newest SP3 slipstreamed releases of XP, nor do I have the disc.

Of course, I could always do The Perfect Steal and have W7 Professional "upgrade" for $30.

What do you guys think about the build and OS situation? I'd appreciate all and any input.
Thanks in advance.
 
I've been seriously trying to come up with a build with similar $ requirements
as a secondary machine and this is what I've managed to come up with so far:

AMD ATHLON II X3 440 3.0Ghz 74.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103843&Tpk=x3 440

BIOSTAR A785G3 AM3 AMD 785G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard 64.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138182

Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 57.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146736

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0 54.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3891137&SID=194r0

COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power Plus RS-500-PCAR-A3 500W 44.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171031&Tpk=coolermaster 500w

SAMSUNG DVD 19.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...1216&cm_re=samsung_dvd-_-27-151-216-_-Product

APEX TX-381-C Black Steel Micro ATX Tower 19.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811154094

TOTAL = 337.93

You can double the ram later for $50 bucks (and in my case, I plan to throw in a 4850 or 5770 a month later etc)
 
Your answer to question 8 does not make any sense: You want to build the PC thise week but buy the PC in July? WTF?

Yossarian22 said:
What do you guys think about the build and OS situation? I'd appreciate all and any input.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Well technically/legally/what have you, you can't move the XP Home licesnse or the XP Professional license from the netbook and Alienware. They're tied to those hardware. Not to mention that major MS support for Windows XP is ending pretty soon. As such, spend the $30 for Windows 7 to avoid any legal and support issues.

Oh and we can definitely do better than that:
$57 - AMD Athlon II X2 240 CPU
$68 - Asus M4A78LT-M LE AM3 AMD 780L mATX Motherboard
$52 - Crucial CT25664BA1339 2GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$46 - Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$24 - LG GH22NS50 DVD Burner
$50 - Corsair 400CX 400W PSU
$40 - Cooler Master Elite 310 RC-310-BWN1-GP ATX Case
$30 - Windows 7
---
Total: $367 shipped.

Amazon.com does not charge tax to NJ residents and has free shipping on all of the parts above. So once those are factored in, my setup will be cheaper than horrorshow's setup. The WD500AAKS drive is significantly faster than the WD 320GB drive you linked to. So for $10 less than your current setup, you can get the fully build with more hard drive space and equal quality.

EDIT:
@ horrorshow
Don't use that Coolermaster PSU. It's of very very low quality. Not to mention that once you factor in shipping, it costs just as much as the significantly higher quality Corsair 400CX that the OP had. And finally, it only has 30A on the +12V rail, just as much amperage as the Corsair 400CX. Yes the Corsair 400CX will be enough to handle the HD 5770 or HD 4850. More than likely that Coolermaster will not for long. So no point in getting that Coolermaster whatsover unless it was for $5.
 
Last edited:
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Crappier case, slightly crappier motherboard (chipset), hard drive that makes sense ($8 more for nearly double the size, why does newegg list HDDs funny?)

But the only thing that has me confused: why only a single RAM module? AM3 motherboards use DDR3 in dual channel modes, yes? :confused:
 
I'd say get a Dell since you don't have a legit OS license. All OEM licenses are tied to the systems they were purchased with. Wait for a Vostro 230 deal w/ dual core and 20"+ then sell whichever monitor she doesnt want. Search for "vostro" at gotapex.com and check slickdeals.com and dell outlet as well.
 
Here is something I came up with.

$21 - Sony DVD Burner
$50 - $10 MIR - SILVERSTONE PS05-B
$100 - AMD Atlhon II X3 435 2.9GHz + MSI 760GM-51 mATX (DDR3 motherboard)
$64 - Antec 380D + 500GB Hitachi
$87 - 2x2GB G.Skill DDR3-133

Shipping: $11.67
Total: $333.61
Total with Windows 7 ($30): $363.61

If you want to shave off some price than grab the $20 Rosewill Case here.

Notes about the build:
I usually prefer Samsung or LG drives but I was too lazy to look up amazon. So add a dollar or two if you do go with Samsung/LG.
The Silverstone looks a bit funky but I would pick that over an Antec 200S or go with Danny's choice on the coolermaster from amazon.
The motherboard is a 760G (with DDR3 strangely) but I doubt your mom will actually need any DX11 features.
Note that the PSU is a green series and does not come with the power cord. This doesn't bother me since I have a ton laying around and I would hope you have at least one around.
The hard-drive is no Western Digital with the best reviews but it should be fine overall.
 
Last edited:
If you don't mind using Bing Cash Back and Refurbish then maybe consider this:

HP Pavilion a4316f Refurbished Desktop PC

(Math from SD)
$459.99
- 55.20 Bing cash back 12%
+ 0.00 Free Shipping
= $404.79

I could be wrong but I see 13.2% on Bing and the price of the computer is now $449.99 so...
$449.99
-58.49
+0.00 Free Shipping
=$391.50 + tax (on certain states like lame NC)

Specs:
-AMD Athlon II X4 620 2.6GHz
-6GB DDR3
-1TB HDD
-DVD burner
-15-in-1 Media card reader
-Keyboard/Mouse combo
-Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
-Nvidia GeForce 9100
-3 month warranty

Hit up squaretrade if you want extended warranty.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top