Computer for basic functionality, w/ parts on hand

J

Just An Average Joe

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Aug 2, 2009
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Answers to the questions in the sticky:
1) What will you be doing with this PC?
This computer is for my Mom, she will be using it mainly for the web and office type programs.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
The budget is flexible, but the idea is for this cost as little as possible and still work well.
3) Where do you live?
West central Virginia. (no Best Buy, or analog for miles around)
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
CPU, Mainboard, Possibly a case, Probably a power supply.
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 three 1 GB sticks of 240-Pin Samsung 1GB DDR2 RAM PC2-4200U (if I can use all three great, if not 2 GB should be fine)
One ATI Sapphire Readion X700 GPU w/ 256 MB on-board RAM
One ~30 GB IDE hard drive, (I know this is a small drive, but it is more than enough for the amount of data she stores on her machine.)
I also have all necessary CD/DVD drives (I have a number of them, I'll probably use a CDrw drive and a DVDr drive)
I also have several used cases, if possible I will adapt one of them to work with the new Mobo, if not no worry.
I have the power supplies from the used cases as well, but I don't know if any of them would work with a newer MoBo.
Also all needed peripherals are already present.
6) Will you be overclocking?
No
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
17”
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
ASAP, no big rush though.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Just the basics, IDE, LAN, USB, PS/2, on-board sound would be good.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
Yes


I'm unsure if it makes the most sense to build something using the parts I have outlined, or just buy something new and maybe use the RAM I have as an upgrade. Your thoughts and advice would be appreciated. I should say that I have built machines in the past and would consider myself fairly capable in that respect. I'm mostly wondering what is going to get the best machine for the least cost.

Thanks
 
I would replace the hard drive as it is probably slow as balls. I'm guessing 300-400$ will build you a fair machine for the needs. Is this fine or is it too much?
 
Jospeh said:
I would replace the hard drive as it is probably slow as balls. I'm guessing 300-400$ will build you a fair machine for the needs. Is this fine or is it too much?
Click to expand...

$400 gets you a Dell with a good LCD monitor. Considering he has some parts we could probably make it it much cheaper. What's the newest/best power supply you have available?
 
A dual core E7400, 3GB of RAM, Integrated Intel graphics, 250GB HDD, DVDRW, PSU/Case, 19-20" LCD, dell kb/optical mouse, and Windows would cost around $400 - $500 w/ a decent dell deal.

If you do it yourself, you'd want something like this...
$131 - COMBO: AMD Athlon II X2 245 2.9GHz Regor + Foxconn A7GM-S 2.0 AM2+ / AM3 Ready AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX
$50 - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD3200AAJS 320GB 7200RPM SATA300
$40 - PC Power & Cooling Silencer PPCS370X 370W ATX12V 80+ Certified APFC PSU
$0 - existing 2GB DDR2 RAM
$0 - existing optical drive
$0 - existing case
$0 - existing OS license
$0 - existing monitor/kb/mouse
==========
$221 + tax and shipping
 
Thanks for the input everyone. Just An Average Joe is my brother and we are sort of working on this project together. I like the idea of getting a Dell because it is less hassle for us, not having to build the computer/troubleshoot any issues with it. The prices you guys mentioned ($400-$500) sound pretty reasonable and are within budget. However, we do not need any peripherals, just the tower. I had the impression that dell offers free tech support also, which would make my life easier, although I am not sure that is the case. I will do some poking around on their wedsite and check back later.
 
Some more dell deals:

http://www.gotapex.com/showthread.php?t=177272&referrerid=0

Dell
Small Business deals on desktops and workstations, expiring 8/5/09:


* $439 after $337 instant discount: Dell
Vostro 220 Slim Tower with 2.8Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo E7400, 2GB DDR2 SDRAM, 160GB
7200RPM HD, 16x DVD+/-RW DL, Windows Vista Home Basic, a 1 year warranty, plus
an 21.5" widescreen Dell E2210H 1080p LCD monitor (upgrade to 23" for $30):


DELL VOSTRO 220 SLIM TOWER DESKTOP DEAL

* $489 after $294 instant discount: Dell
Optiplex 360 Mini Tower desktop with 2.8Ghz Intel Core 2 duo E7400, 2GB DDR2
SDRAM, 250GB HD, 16x DVD-ROM, Windows Vista Home Basic, a 3 year warranty, plus
a 20" Dell E2010H LCD monitor (upgrade to 21.5" 1080p for $30).

DELL OPTIPLEX 360 MINI TOWER DESKTOP DEAL

* Dell also has a Vostro 220 Mini tower for $409, and Vostro 420 tower for
$549 available in their Deals Desktops section:

DELL DEALS DESKTOPS
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for all of your posts. My brother and I have both been out of town, and dealing with starting college for the Fall. We are still working on this project, though the focus had changed toward geting a stock PC of some kind. Our price range is <$500. We would like to avoid Vista because the support of better hardware isn't necessary, and for a modestly spec.ed machine vista would use to much of the system resources. Also, the main user for this machine knows how to use XP and it would be unfair to confuse her. As far as the installation of XP onto the machine, if it comes with it that's fine, if not, we can use that just as easily.
 
Just An Average Joe said:
Thanks for all of your posts. My brother and I have both been out of town, and dealing with starting college for the Fall. We are still working on this project, though the focus had changed toward geting a stock PC of some kind. Our price range is <$500. We would like to avoid Vista because the support of better hardware isn't necessary, and for a modestly spec.ed machine vista would use to much of the system resources. Also, the main user for this machine knows how to use XP and it would be unfair to confuse her. As far as the installation of XP onto the machine, if it comes with it that's fine, if not, we can use that just as easily.
Click to expand...

The main problem is that not that many new desktop PCs comes with XP. The only PCs that comes with XP are those desktops. Even then, once Windows 7 comes out, XP will quickly be phased out of those desktops

Hit up Dell Outlet and see if some of their desktops comes with XP.
 
Dell's business lines come with XP Pro downgrades for an additional $99. Not worth the price increase for the reasons you mentioned, IMO, but hey, thats just my opinion. Computers change... its a fact of life... she'll have to move on from XP someday, and if its not now, then it'll be soon, as Danny pointed out that XP will not only be phased out in the next year or so, but support will also be phased out.

BTW, you can install XP from a dell CD onto any dell and not have to activate, but that's illegal if you don't own the proper license. :p

The current crop of deals on the dell site aren't as good as the ones I posted above... they're significantly priced higher. Oh wellz, snooze you loose... just wait, they'll come around again.
 
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