Suggestions for daughter's computer

[Sovnade]

Hi guys,

I haven't really kept up with the lower end segment in a while and I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction for this. I'm building a computer for our 6 year old who basically just plays flash games. Here is the obligatory list:

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
- Light web browsing, flash games, minor 3d use
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
- Under 300 would be nice
3) Where do you live?
Midwest
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc
- Case, PSU, CPU, Ram, dvd drive, hd, maybe graphics card down the road if she ends up needing it (so i'd need a mobo with integrated graphics for now and a pci-x16 slot for expansion)
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
- n/a
6) Will you be overclocking?
- no
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
- 17" lcd, vga input for now
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
- now
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
- Integrated graphics for now, pcix16 slot for video later
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
win7 x64 already, yes

This really doesn't need to be a powerful system. I'm thinking 2gb ram, ~320gb hd, at least dual core cpu, and preferably a case with a window so I can put gawdy pink/purple LED fans in it for her. I would like it to be usable for her for at least 3-4 years though, hence adding a graphics card later on.

Any direction would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[tiraides]

Are you sure about the "usable for 3-4 years" part? Unless you're willing to look for used parts during that time, that leaves you with you either buying Intel's Sandy Bridge, which could easily bust your $300 budget, or waiting for AMD's Bulldozer, which may or may not be compatible with what AMD has right now.

Here's something for right now:

$45 - Cooler Master Elite 341 microATX case
$119 - AMD Athlon II X3 450 & Biostar A880G+ combo
$35 - Patriot Signature 4GB DDR3 1333 DIMM
$45 - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB HDD
$19 - LG GH22NS50 SATA DVD burner
$45 - Corsair CX430 V2 430W PSU
=====
$308 - Subtotal (not including shipping, taxes, or rebates)

I believe that the third (usable) CPU core, the additional 2GB in memory, and 180GB more in storage capacity are worth going $8 over budget for. It only costs $2 more to go with a 500GB hard drive than a 320GB drive, and 4GB of RAM guarantees no hiccups with Windows 7.

You're not going to find a much better deal on an AMD processor and motherboard separately, but that combo deal expires on Tuesday.

 

[Sovnade]

Thanks for the reply

When I say 3-4 years, I mean for a 6-10 year old who won't be hitting up battlefield 3 or anything else really graphics intensive. Hell, my own computer is still a Q6600 that I built back in early 2007 with a 4870 and it still runs everything I throw at it (added a vertex 2 recently, which is the single best upgrade I've ever made), so 4 years isn't really unreasonable.

I also think I need to add a discrete vid card to it, maybe a 5370 or something along those lines for around $60ish. Resolution will probably be 1600x900 and graphics won't be set to max (thinking games like lego star wars, oblivion, etc..).

I was also looking at barebones kits like this one:
http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=432485&CatId=332

Which seems quite decent..quad core, 8gb ram, 1tb hd, and then $50-60 for a vid card. Over budget but possibly much more future proof.

 

[Dangman]

I was also looking at barebones kits like this one:
http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=432485&CatId=332

Which seems quite decent..quad core, 8gb ram, 1tb hd, and then $50-60 for a vid card. Over budget but possibly much more future proof.

Really not that good actually:
- Really crappy PSU that has a high chance of taking out your system
- Motherboard uses an Nvidia chipset which means that's gonna be slower, less reliable, less stable, and will be unsupported driver wise since Nvidia has stopped chipset development.
- The Seagate green drive will impact performance greatly.