Build list for dad's new PC

[Jeff1125]

Hi all,

I am about to start ordering parts for a PC I am building for my dad. I am pretty confident that I have selected some good parts. But the last time I built a PC, I enjoyed getting input from others as to their thoughts and opinions with what I selected, as well as suggestions for other parts. I already have the OS, speakers, KB, mouse and monitor. Thanks for any thoughts and suggestions!

CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115030

Motherboard - ASUS P5KPL-VM : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131197

RAM - CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145568

Video - PNY GeForce 8400GS 256MB : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133203

Optical - LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106078

Case - Antec Sonata III : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129024

HD - Western Digital Caviar SE 80GB : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822135106

Floppy - NEC Black 1.44MB 3.5" : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16821152005

[The Village Idiot]

Unless he's gaming on Vista you could pop down to a DirectX9 graphics card

XFX 7300GS - Lifetime Warranty - Could be usefull
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150128


I mean i suppose whole heartedly it depends on what his price range is and what he wants to do with it, obviously if hes going to be playing games you'll want a better graphics card, i'm just making assumptions that he doesn't.

The case looks good, originally I was looking at that one, as it has a Power Supply in built, and something that doesn't appear to need much power (like the system above) looks like it shouldn't need too much, enough for a 500 Watt to cope with.

[Cricket]

Since that motherboard already has on-board video I would try that first before I installed a video card...unless your Dad really needs a video card for something.

You'll also want to get a SATA DVD burner instead of a IDE one (to help keep cable clutter to a minimum).

And I'd stay away from the Western Digital JE HDDs...been hearing about a lot of failures with those. I'd look at a Seagate HDD instead.

Do you really need a floppy drive?

Cricket

[Katreat]

Build looks good and I agree with Cricket on tryiing on-bard video first, it is probably on par with that card for performance.

You know your father better than me, but I would personally get a little more volume on the HD. The 320 can be had for another $30 or so, so much better value G/$, but if he will never fill it up then I guess it would be $30 wasted $ so your choice. But with digital photos and video downloads becomming common an 80 will fill up fast.

Kat

[Jeff1125]

Thanks for pointing out that the optical drive is IDE. I picked it out so quickly I missed that entirely! I will check out the Seagate drives too. I picked the 80GB since he doesn't do a lot with photos, videos, etc. 80 GB will be more than enough for him.

Regarding the video, the only graphics-intensive thing he would do on the PC would be to maybe play the occassional flight simulator game. I am no expert of the onboard video on this board, would it be enough to handle the latest sim game?

I decided on a floppy drive as I still see the occassional BIOS flash floppy. Although I believe a lot of that is now down through native MB utilities or CDs. It's certainly not a requirement!

[perkster]

latest sim game is microsoft flight sim X, very high intensive youd need top of the line system to run it. but should rom MSFS 2004, or 2002 no probs

[Jeff1125]

Originally Posted by perkster latest sim game is microsoft flight sim X, very high intensive youd need top of the line system to run it. but should rom MSFS 2004, or 2002 no probs

Yep, Sim 2004 was the one I specifically had in mind. I have heard some bad things about Sim X!

[blue60007]

The MS Flight Simulators hit very heavily on the CPU...

I can adjust the graphical settings (resolution, AA, etc.) and it won't make a big difference in performance...adjust something like the amount of traffiic and there's a big difference.

[The Village Idiot]

Originally Posted by Cricket Since that motherboard already has on-board video I would try that first before I installed a video card...unless your Dad really needs a video card for something. You'll also want to get a SATA DVD burner instead of a IDE one (to help keep cable clutter to a minimum). And I'd stay away from the Western Digital JE HDDs...been hearing about a lot of failures with those. I'd look at a Seagate HDD instead. Do you really need a floppy drive? Cricket

I've got a Western Digital, they're faster and i never found anything particulary incriminating about them. We'll see how time tells.