Yet another build thread, For the Parents

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Blakestr

[H]ard|Gawd
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UPDATED : Any news on special features? We haven't gotten around to getting anything yet and I wondered if there were new specials on prebuilt system. I've checked slickdeals and a dell coupon site. Any others I should keep an eye on?

My dad is very stubborn to getting a new computer...he's been using the same gateway for over seven years! Not to mention, I think the thing has been formatted ONCE in that entire time. He is not aware of how easy such things are and he's worried about losing his data. The computer is slow as shit and everytime I have to help them out I always tell them they need a new one, I mean, look at his spec.

Pentium 2 400 Mhz
omg i think 128 Mb ram
voodoo 2 video card, rock on baby
and so on....

It's running Windows 98 SE. 10 Gig harddrive.

But it seems pressure from myself, mom, and the sister, have convinced him he needs a new one. Here's the thing, he's also very paranoid about this stuff, he feels he needs to be able to take it to someone or have warranties or such, however, since he has seen me build mine and it run for two years fine I think I can convince him to let me build it and save him a lot of money.

In all likelihood, I could buy a new case and format the one he has and he would be, "Oh man this is so fast." I don't need any gaming recommendations at all. All he needs it for is:

WEB - he's on the fishing forums a lot.
Word documents
Printing Photos from Digital Camera.

Considering the technology required to use the previous hasn't changed in years I should be able to buy very cheap components and save him alot of money. Only catch is, I have to get good quality ones, ones that won't burn out on him ever. Even though I'm in town and can easily replace a bad cpu or something, his trust in computers is so fragile it would take years to recover.

I want some that is stable; that will not ever crash ever. EVER ;). Any recommendatiosn would be appreciated.

There's no set budget but If I could get him a system that could do all that for less than 500, I think he'd be satisfied.

EDIT : Also should mention, I don't care if he gets a prebuilt system from Dell or something like that if the difference is negligable.
 
I will assume a nice tight budget? Monitor? Keyboard and mouse?
 
He's got a monitor, my old heavyass Sony CPD-E400, 17inch (but like 50 lbs, I swear). Keyboard and mouse he has.

Dell sparked some of my interest in their free flat panel upgrade packages but he doesn't seem to care and its his computer.
 
I am just guessing a small budget, I was kind of distracted when I did this so don't kill me if I missed a part lol. The case comes with a PSU, just FYI.

Antec Sonata II
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129155
$99.99

Gigabyte GA-K8NF
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128268
$76.00

AMD 3200+ Venice
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103535
$160.00

1GB G.Skill RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231030
$71.00

Sapphire X300 SE
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102539
$48.00

NEC Black DVD Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152058
$38.99

WD Caviar 80GB Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144102
$48.50

$542.48
 
iSkylla said:
I am just guessing a small budget, I was kind of distracted when I did this so don't kill me if I missed a part lol. The case comes with a PSU, just FYI.

Antec Sonata II
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129155
$99.99

Gigabyte GA-K8NF
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128268
$76.00

AMD 3200+ Venice
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103535
$160.00
8
Click to expand...

Lol dude, that processor (and arguably the case) are better than what I'm using (Amd 64 3000+ socket 754) ....

I am a little curious, why did you recommend that one for generic web browsing? I was tempted to get that and just give my dad my old CPU. ;)
 
Over at HP.com, you can get:

Operating System Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Home Edition edit
Processor Intel(R) Celeron(R) D 341 (2.93 GHz, 533MHz FSB) edit
Memory 512MB DDR2-533MHz SDRAM (1x512) edit
Hard Drive 80GB 7200 rpm Ultra DMA Hard Drive edit
Primary CD/DVD Drive 48x max. CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive (48x32x16x48x) edit
Front Productivity Ports 9-in-1 memory card reader, 2 USB 2.0, 1 IEEE 1394 edit
Graphics Card Integrated ATI Radeon Xpress HyperMemory edit
Sound Card Integrated 7.1 Capable Intel(R) High Def. Audio edit
Keyboard and Mouse HP Multimedia Keyboard, HP Optical Mouse edit
Productivity Software Microsoft(R) Works 8.0/Money 2006/MSN Encarta Plus edit

For:
price $519.00 *
instant savings − $100.00
mail-in rebate − $50.00

price after rebate $369.00

Pretty damn good deal if you ask me. And, you don't have to be tech support.
 
That's nice MetAL, this is the contender as of now....btw, I remember the last system we bought, I don't remember an windows install disc...I know it will be preloaded with XP but will it include an actual XP cd that I could use if I reformatted and stuff?


Where is that build on HP btw?
 
Oh, I didnt notice this at first. Go with the a1200e series PC. Third from the right.

It is an AMD Sempron system. Much better than that Intel Celeron one.

Same price:

Operating System Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Home Edition edit
Processor AMD Sempron(TM) 3000+ (1.8GHz / 128KB L2 cache) edit
Memory 512MB DDR-400MHz dual channel SDRAM (2x256) edit
Hard Drive 80GB 7200 rpm SATA Hard Drive edit
Primary CD/DVD Drive 48x max. CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive (48x32x16x48x) edit
Front Productivity Ports 9-in-1 memory card reader, 1 USB 2.0, 1 IEEE 1394 edit
Graphics Card Integrated ATI Radeon Xpress HyperMemory edit
Sound Card Integrated 5.1 Capable Sound w/ front audio ports edit
Keyboard and Mouse HP Multimedia Keyboard, HP Optical Mouse edit
Productivity Software Microsoft(R) Works 8.0/Money 2006/MSN Encarta Plus edit
 
how about a nice sff? a biostar tforce 6100 has decent integrated video and you could always give it a nice sempron. give the system a good amount of ram and a big hard drive and call it a day. and if the computer is going to be used for just web browsing and office apps, a nice lcd and a more comfortable keyboard/mouse setup wouldn't hurt.
 
Wow. Yet again I am amazed by HP's prices. Go for it. It'd probably cost you just as much to build yourself a PC of similar quality, and your dad shouldn't be as paranoid if it's made by an OEM.

(BTW, my dad's a little paranoid as well, and my build I made for him wouldn't boot up the first time I assembled it! LOL, I think he's recovered now though)
 
I found the catch...Standard Shipping is $99. What a load of bullshit; they find everyway they can to manipulate you--you think you are getting such a good deal that when you find out there is another hundred dollars more, you are inclined to think, "Well, it's still a good deal"

I know its shipping an entire computer but come on...I'm not getting a monitor and if I ordered that stuff on newegg it would be half that. I wish there was a law that could prevent companies from making profit off shipping. (Unless they are shipping companies ;) )
 
Antec Aria - $95
Biostar Tforce s754 - $65
Sempron64 2800+ - $75, and still slower than your 3000+ :)
1gb of Corsair Value - $75
80gb SATA Western Digital - $55
Lite-on DVD Burner - $40

Total Price = $405

You could upgrade the processor to a 3100+, but then it would be almost as fast as your 3000+ and I didn't think you'd like that. This way, when you upgrade you can also give him your 3000+. If you do decide to get him a different sempron make sure it has 256kb of L2. That tricked me at first, but I'm retarted.

Sempron 3100+ - $100
 
Blakestr said:
I found the catch...Standard Shipping is $99. What a load of bullshit; they find everyway they can to manipulate you--you think you are getting such a good deal that when you find out there is another hundred dollars more, you are inclined to think, "Well, it's still a good deal"

I know its shipping an entire computer but come on...I'm not getting a monitor and if I ordered that stuff on newegg it would be half that. I wish there was a law that could prevent companies from making profit off shipping. (Unless they are shipping companies ;) )
Click to expand...

OUCH!! 100 bucks does make it lose its sweetness. How about going to wally world for one. They are a HP dealer, and WalMart will take it back no questions asked if you dont like it.
 
As much as it pains me from a custom building point of view. I've actually given up on building pcs for people (unless they're gamers and need the hp). Turns out Dell can destroy any price I can come up with buying from local shops (nothing big name, ncix.com/atic.ca and the like). Plus I get less hass abotu it because I can just tell them to call Dell.

Just wait for a deal to pop up on dell and grab it.
 
gwu168 said:
I would suggest a cheap Celeron D system since duel core will make your father's computer experience more responsive.

Intel Celeron D 326 Prescott - $78.70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819112207

ASUS P5PL2 Intel 945P ATX Intel Motherboard - $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131583

CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) DDR2 533 - $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145526

Video card, PSU, Case, DVD, etc. - $250
Click to expand...

A Celeron D is not duel core. There are no duel core Celerons. Only Pentium D Intel cpu's at the moment are duel core.

I agree though that Celeron D CPU's are a good CPU for the money. They are much better then the Northwood Celerons.
 
I'd go sempron or celeron D with 1 gig of ram. A quality motherboard, an X300/6200 video card, and the cheapest nice looking case you can get. A lot of people are recommending badass cases, but I doubt your dad really cares about aesthetics and rolled edges on the insided. Much less airflow.
 
UPDATED : Any news on special features? We haven't gotten around to getting anything yet and I wondered if there were new specials on prebuilt system. I've checked slickdeals and a dell coupon site. Any others I should keep an eye on?
 
My $0.02... save $40 or so and get him 512mb of ram. It can run non-memory intensive web browsing and word processing. I used 512mb with XP for years, it only slowed down when I had like 7-8 tabs open.

If you want it to be reliable, get a good antivirus (I recommend AVG), and get him a good diskkeeper-like program and set it to defrag the harddrive at regular intervals.
 
Met-AL said:
Over at HP.com, you can get:

Operating System Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Home Edition edit
Processor Intel(R) Celeron(R) D 341 (2.93 GHz, 533MHz FSB) edit
Memory 512MB DDR2-533MHz SDRAM (1x512) edit
Hard Drive 80GB 7200 rpm Ultra DMA Hard Drive edit
Primary CD/DVD Drive 48x max. CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive (48x32x16x48x) edit
Front Productivity Ports 9-in-1 memory card reader, 2 USB 2.0, 1 IEEE 1394 edit
Graphics Card Integrated ATI Radeon Xpress HyperMemory edit
Sound Card Integrated 7.1 Capable Intel(R) High Def. Audio edit
Keyboard and Mouse HP Multimedia Keyboard, HP Optical Mouse edit
Productivity Software Microsoft(R) Works 8.0/Money 2006/MSN Encarta Plus edit

For:
price $519.00 *
instant savings − $100.00
mail-in rebate − $50.00

price after rebate $369.00

Pretty damn good deal if you ask me. And, you don't have to be tech support.
Click to expand...

Dude,
Do not buy the HP. The specs seem OK, but heres the downside. HP sucks. Where should I start
1. Proprietary motherboards. If you ever do need to format/reinstall it is a ball buster unless you get a cd (I don't think they ship them with CD's anymore, you get a recovery partition on the HD)
2. Cheap ass psu's. Sometimes they last, sometimes they don't
3. Who knows what brand of Hard Drive. In the old days cheap HPs came with Quantum Bigfoot drives (the worst ever). I'm sure they ship with the shittiest HD's now as well
4. HP cases absolutely suck. You don't need to go with the Antec Sonata like a previous poster said, but you can get a nice quiet case with good fans and a good layout for 40-60 bucks. I've spent over 45 min trying to figure out how to get an HP case apart.
5. Bloatware. Nuff said
6. Support sucks

Just my 2 cents
ribs
 
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