help build computer.

[bromide]

my sister is about to go off to college and needs a computer. i have been away from hardware for a while so dont really know all the 'best for your buck' parts. she will basically be using it for school stuff(word processing, internet, ...maybe watching movies)

anyway, 600 shipped is pretty much the limit for everything including shipping. is this a reasonable amount for those requirements? we may or may not have a monitor, i am not sure yet so if you could err on the side of not having one, it would be better. thanks for all help!

also, i showed her a picture of the shuttle cases and she seemed to like those. is it possible to build a shuttle for the price given?

 

[AMD T-type]

is it really so hard to go to newegg and add a bunch of stuff to your cart? if its too much back down on something?

just wondering

 

[Mike2002]

Here is something that I threw together really quick.

MSI KM266Pro Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU, Model "KM3M-V" -RETAIL $50.00

Mushkin Basic Green 184 Pin 256MB DDR PC-2700 - Retail x2 $84.00

AMD Athlon XP 2500+ "Barton", 333 FSB, 512K Cache Processor - Retail $81.00

Western Digital 80GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model WD800BB, OEM Drive only $64.50

Samsung 52X32X52 CD-RW Drive, Model SW-252FEN, OEM Bulk $29.00

ASPIRE Black Turbo Case with 350W Power Supply, Model "ATXB2KL/350" -RETAIL $47.00

Windows XP Professional $140

Total Cost: $495.50

The case if obviously not a shuttle case so if you want that just change around the cost of the case to fit what the Shuttle costs. This system that I put together was just done from going to newegg and pretty much getting the cheapest items that I could find. You might have to add a few more dollars to that for shipping and possibly for some cables if they are needed. Don't expect to do any gaming on this machine but it will be able to run what she is going to need it for just fine. Hope this helps some.

P.S. Keyboard and mouse and speakers were not added nor was a floppy so if you need those then just add them to the price.

 

[bromide]

is it really so hard to go to newegg and add a bunch of stuff to your cart? if its too much back down on something?

just wondering

yeah, kinda. when you dont know what hardware to look for.

thanks mike2002! that will help alot!

 

[scottatwittenberg]

my shuttle cost me right about $600 to build... you could buy a smaller hard drive, and cheaper memory and get it down to $500 easily..

newegg also has a wishlist feature.. you can make multiple \wish lists too...

anyways.. get a mobile amd... overclock it, but not a lot.. casue you don't want to have to deal with it if it dies.. also intel's prices are coming down on aug 22nd, or somewhere around tehre.. if you could hold out till then, you could probably get a prescott celeron cheap.. i will probably get one of those to play with a few months down the road.

i think a shuttle would be a good idea.. you can save money if you buy a refurb one..
look at shuttle sn45g and sn41g2v2 they are $245 and $255.. the sn45g doesnt look as good, but will support 200 fsb officially.. the sn41g2v2 will look better (in my opinion) have built in video (which is fine for your sis) but won't offically supprt 200 fsb..

add a mobile amd.. the 2400+ 45watt is $77, the 2200+ 35watt is $77... either one would safely overclock to 2 ghz, probably 2.2 ghz.. and if you are using for yourself i would try for 2.4 or 2.5.. but anyways...

then get mushkin basic pc3200 it is $80.. don't get pc 2700 or 2100. 3200 might cost $3-$5 more and help in the long run.

add a hard drive, and a $30 cd burner and that shoudl be it.. or make it a dvd/cd-burner combo for about $40.. she will like the ability to play dvds..

and look at the newegg refurb section... you can get a shuttle cheaper.. but look at the sn41 and sn45

if she is doing the university thing.. have her see if she can get windows xp for $5.. casue i have friends that did.. but my school was too small...