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Building for Grandma

R

Rydawg5143

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Apr 22, 2008
Messages
6,781
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Web, Ancestry software, email

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Unsure, I'm building and mom is buying. 300ish

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible
US
.
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.
cpu, mobo, ram, hd (possible)

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Antec Sonato case, Antec 430w PSU, SOny dvd drive, Windows Vista ( she wont do well with 8)

6) Will you be overclocking?
No

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
19" lcd

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
This week/ weekend

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.
none

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Vista and 7 (64bit)
 
The four components you need can easily be accomodated with $300 thanks to a minimal load use scenario.

Celeron G1820 - $50
G.Skill 2x2GB 1333 MHz CL8 1.5V - $45
MSI H81M-E33 - $55
Samsung 840 Evo 120 GB - $83

I held back on the CPU and RAM because frankly, I doubt your grandma will need any more than that, so it's perfectly fine to cut every penny there, imo. I'm guessing your Sonata is an older version so it's okay that the mobo lacks USB 3.0. The hard drive will be the biggest contributor to perceived speed so a small SSD is a good value, considering it's not much more expensive than a 1TB drive. It will also be a bit more reliable than a spinner.

Someone is bound to chime in with "4GB is not enough RAM," so if you feel compelled to step it up:
Team 2x4GB 1600 MHz CL9 1.5V - $65 (will downclock because mobo is limited to 1333 MHz, but this is the cheapest well-specced kit anyways)

Total is $233 or $253.
 
Last edited:
rastaban said:
The four components you need can easily be accomodated with $300 thanks to a minimal load use scenario.

Celeron G1820 - $50
G.Skill 2x2GB 1333 MHz CL8 1.5V - $45
MSI H81M-E33 - $55
Samsung 840 Evo 120 GB - $83

I held back on the CPU and RAM because frankly, I doubt your grandma will need any more than that, so it's perfectly fine to cut every penny there, imo. I'm guessing your Sonata is an older version so it's okay that the mobo lacks USB 3.0. The hard drive will be the biggest contributor to perceived speed so a small SSD is a good value, considering it's not much more expensive than a 1TB drive. It will also be a bit more reliable than a spinner.

Someone is bound to chime in with "4GB is not enough RAM," so if you feel compelled to step it up:
Team 2x4GB 1600 MHz CL9 1.5V - $65 (will downclock because mobo is limited to 1333 MHz, but this is the cheapest well-specced kit anyways)

Total is $233 or $253.
Click to expand...
It's a solitaire and FB machine. 2GB of ram and a 160GB hard drive is overkill.
 
hahaha, I was making use of a generous budget :p
But really, I think anyone can appreciate the speed of an SSD.

edit:
May as well drop the SSD to an even cheaper model:
Corsair Force LS 60GB - $55 (uses a Phison controller, but guru3D seems to like it)
 
The NUC is far from cost efficient since it doesn't even come with RAM or storage and waste's the OP's existing parts.
 
Imagine Grandma's surprise when he hooks the NUC to the back of the computer and she no longer has to clean, dust, or look at that big box anymore. She would be amazed at that magical little box. I know mine would love it.

I never claimed it was in budget or used any existing parts, just an idea to ponder. The case and PSU could pay for at least the RAM or SSD.
 
or...imagine Grandma's surprise when she sees the big box because for those out of the loop, bigger must mean better must mean faster. Selling low end parts is hardly worth anyone's time.
 
Rydawg5143 said:
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Antec Sonato case, Antec 430w PSU, SOny dvd drive, Windows Vista ( she wont do well with 8)
Click to expand...

We need to know exactly the city and state that you live in.

In addition, we need to know the exact model of that Antec 430W PSU that you have. You see, Antec sold both good and crappy 430W PSUs in its history.
 
E4g1e said:
We need to know exactly the city and state that you live in.

In addition, we need to know the exact model of that Antec 430W PSU that you have. You see, Antec sold both good and crappy 430W PSUs in its history.
Click to expand...

Denver,CO area

Earthwatts, been running strong for many years, i see no reason to ditch it.
 
Appreciate the speed of an SSD?
I sold both my ssd's, just to go back to to a harddrive. Speed
is not worth losing space by no means. Pick her up a 920 and
a board and start from there. She will have more power than
she will need, plus still upgradable later.
 
bigdogchris said:
It's a solitaire and FB machine. 2GB of ram and a 160GB hard drive is overkill.
Click to expand...

Have you actually ever tried to run Vista or 7 with only 2GB of RAM? It is painfully slow. Stuff is always swapping to the hard drive/ssd.

As for the HDD/SSD size, I would not do less that 120/128GB.
 
cyclone3d said:
Have you actually ever tried to run Vista or 7 with only 2GB of RAM? It is painfully slow. Stuff is always swapping to the hard drive/ssd.
Click to expand...
I've seen Vista and 7 run very well on many 2GB workstations. You must install a lot of software bloat if it doesn't work for you because the OS idles around 600-800MB.

Now, with only 1GB, I've seen they are definitely slow.
 
4gb min ram. I likely already have everything else. Looking for decent mobo/ram/cpu combo. 150 or less.
 
Rydawg5143 said:
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Web, Ancestry software, email

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Unsure, I'm building and mom is buying. 300ish

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible
US
.
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.
cpu, mobo, ram, hd (possible)

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Antec Sonato case, Antec 430w PSU, SOny dvd drive, Windows Vista ( she wont do well with 8)

6) Will you be overclocking?
No

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
19" lcd

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
This week/ weekend

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.
none

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Vista and 7 (64bit)
Click to expand...

build my grandma a core 2 Celeron build which i recnetly added a 90gb ssd to with win 7.

it's full specs are an E5xxx celeron (wolfdale 2mb cache)
2gb of ddr2
90gb ssd
1xx gb seagate HDD
win 7 x64
stock intel cooler
low end asus mobo with integrated intel gfx
crapy raidmax case with crappy raidmax psu

it's snappy and fast for basic web/office use.

it was DIY kit form newegg back in the day that cost around 300 bucks back around 2006-2008. i bet you could buy this stuff used including an ssd.
 
Thoughts on this:

Intel i3-4130 $90
GIGABYTE GA-B85M-DS3H
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600

Combo price mobo+ ram = 121 ( includes MIR)
 
Rydawg5143 said:
Thoughts on this:

Intel i3-4130 $90
GIGABYTE GA-B85M-DS3H
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600

Combo price mobo+ ram = 121 ( includes MIR)
Click to expand...

And without the MIR?
 
For $131 I don't factor MIR before they're received) for the CPU + mobo + RAM, not a bad deal. Though it's either a unpopular mobo or recently released as there's not much info about that mobo's reliability. Still for the price, worth the gamble IMO.
 
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