Building Mom's Budget Baby

[WarmMachineME]

So Mom's computer gave up the ghost recently. It was old and cranky, and it was just a matter of time. She's been overdue for a little upgrade. So I'm putting together what I hope will be a good little computer to suit her needs, nothing heavy duty.

I'm at a little bit of a loss starting out, because in my own computer I always build for performance, buying the best I can afford. So, matching good components at cheaper prices is a skill I'm still developing. Mainly, I just don't want to buy any components that are going out of date, like PATA hard drives seem to be.

She has input devices and a monitor she can still use, so I'm just building the PC itself. Here's what I've got so far. Prices approximate, links Newegg.

Chieftec steel mid-tower case - $80
Right off the bat I guess I'm spending more than I have to, but I hate working with a cheap case. Chieftec is what I use for myself, and in the past have been strong, well-made cases. Hopefully this 1 case will last her through an indefinite number of upgrades.
I've glanced at other cases. Raidmax has plenty of cases for <$40, but I don't have any experience with them, and the Newegg reviews don't leave me feeling too confident.

Asus mATX Intel motherboard - $55
Might be lowballing it here, but it seems like this would be all the mobo this PC would need right now. SATA support, and unless I'm mistaken, would still allow me to use the IDE optical drives she already has. I'm no fan of using onboard graphics, but this is no gaming PC.

Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 Wolfdale 2.53GHz - $120

Seagate 250GB SATA hard drive - $55
There were 2 hard drives slightly cheaper, but for just a little more she may as well have about twice the space.

Kingston 2GB DDR2 800 ram - $30

OCZ 500W Power Supply - $70 / $45 after MIR
I used to use Antec, but word was that their quality was going down. So I switched to OCZ and haven't had any problems. Hopefully will see the same quality in hers.

Total = $385 (after PSU rebate)

Doesn't seem like a bad deal. What do you folks think? Any suggestions, or substitutions you might make?

[Panama Red]

Building pc's is fun but unless you want to leave options for future upgrades, it's cheaper today to just buy a prebuilt unit from Dell. I just looked at the offerings in the Dell outlet store and you can buy a comparable unit for under $400 with an operating system and a 1 year warranty. And you only have to deal with one vendor if you do need warranty service. I don't even try to build for anyone else any more. Just something to think about since you still need an operating system and CD/DVD drives for your unit.

[chuck4456]

Originally Posted by Panama Red Building pc's is fun but unless you want to leave options for future upgrades, it's cheaper today to just buy a prebuilt unit from Dell. I just looked at the offerings in the Dell outlet store and you can buy a comparable unit for under $400 with an operating system and a 1 year warranty. And you only have to deal with one vendor if you do need warranty service. I don't even try to build for anyone else any more. Just something to think about since you still need an operating system and CD/DVD drives for your unit.

The only downside to that is that you will have to buy your replacement parts (if ever needed) from DELL, and they will get a premium price for those.
Seeing as it's your Mom and basing this on how my Mom uses hers however, I'd go with PR's suggestion. It will probably last her a long time.

[shadowpr]

If you still decide to build, I would look at this case/psu combo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811153089

And I would get either corsair ram, or g.skill.

To save money, you only need ddr2-667, and you can even lower the processor more if you want.

Don't forget the dvd drive. Get a sata. And the OS. Get oem.

[Cricket]

I just built a real basic box for someone and the cost for the parts was less than $305 but this was because they already had a good case and the OS from a previous build.

Intel E5200 CPU - $84.49
ASUS P5KPL-CM - $52.99
Corsair VS DDR2 667 2GB Kit - $30.99
Seasonic SS-400ES 400W PSU - $59.99
Seagate 7200.10 160GB HDD - $44.99
Lite-On DVD Burner - $29.99
Total (without shipping) $303.44

Re-using a Antec mid-tower case and WinXP Home SP2.

This little computer is much faster than my P4 2.8GHz Northwood computer with 3GB of RAM that I put together for around $1100 4 years ago. Man, I need to build an up-to-date computer for myself soon.

Cricket

[WarmMachineME]

Thanks for all the comments.

I'm aware that building yourself doesn't have the price advantage that it used to. However, we have been burned in one way or another with just about every retail computer we've ever bought. It's the biggest reason why I build all mine myself, not only because it's fun for me. This way I have a much better idea of the quality of parts that went into the machine, and if/when I do need to repair or upgrade, I don't have to deal with proprietary b.s. and fasteners designed to be taken off only by an "official" repair tech.
This is all on top of the fact that I end up doing quite a lot of "tech support" for my family - even though I know a fraction of what I wish I did - so I figure it's to my benefit to have put the darn thing together myself in the first place.

Also, I didn't make it clear in my first post, but I plan on using an optical drive and a copy of XP that we already have.

Corsair or G.Skill ram, check. I'll pick out something else.

That case/PSU combo does seem like a good deal, shadow, but I've always heard that PSUs in combos are generally not to be trusted. Is that a case you've used yourself?

As far as the processor goes, that one is already one of the cheaper Core 2 Duos. I didn't see a lot of point in buying a Pentium, and the mobo I've picked out doesn't support Celerons according to its specs. I could look for a different motherboard I suppose if the price difference was going to be pretty big.

I wish we had a case we could re-use like you did, Cricket, but this old computer was a pre-E-machines Gateway that she got from her mom. It would be a nightmare trying to put a built computer inside it.
So would you say you'd vouch for Seasonic, Cricket? I could potentially save a little on the PSU, rebate or no, but I'm so paranoid about who I buy power supplies from.

Mom isn't an enthusiast by any means, but she uses a computer a lot more I think than a typical baby boomer. We're talking about a budget machine, but I still want to set her up well for the money.

[jet101]

Well, I have to applaud your enthusiasm and think your custom build is really the way to go. Your right about the case selection from Newegg being fair, so try this site I use: http://www.xoxide.com/moneual-lab-m550f25-case.html
This happens to be a case that really surprised me in the quality, looks, and functionality for the money. I have now built three of them for other customers with zero problems! What I like is the upper ventilation and the hideaway drive doors giving this case a super clean and professional look. I was totally impressed with this case from day one. If this doesn't turn any wheels for you I have other suggestions as well. I have built over 40 PC's in the last two years so PM me for a one on one. PC Mech has been a great sorce for information so ask away.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by WarmMachineME So would you say you'd vouch for Seasonic, Cricket?

I think Seasonic PSUs are some of the best on the market right now. I used to use Fortron Source/Sparkle Power and Antec PSUs but have had a bunch of Antec's die on me or in the computers I built and recently I've had a few Fortron Source/Sparkle Power PSUs either fail or cause system instabilities and other weird symptoms because of dirty power.

A lot of people like Corsair power supplies and they're are made by Seasonic. Those are the only two PSU brands I'll build with now.

Cricket

[shadowpr]

You could use the cpu that Cricket mentioned: E5200 Save over $30 there.

And I learned about that case/psu combo from others on this board that have done builds with them. I trust their word. It comes with a Delta psu, which is supposed to be good quality. Good for a basic build like you have planned.

[Khalil]

Build your own or find a local reputable shop to build it for you!
I see more than 20 Dell PCs and laptops in my shop every week that are still under warranty and Dell won't support them, the poor customers have to pay other repair shops to have their machines repaired when Dell should have taken care of them in the first place.
When the class law suit Dell lost goes into collections I doubt Dell will be able to survive the loss. http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news0...5/ny_dell.html

They are facing major law suits from their own employees http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-9992637-92.html

I would stay away from Dell, thats for sure.

[ceh4702]

I suppose that will do. I used a motherboard with a little bit better integrated video:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813121336

Overall I like this motherboard. I have had it for 6 months and it has been working good. I was surprised how fast the integrated video is. I have played a few older video games on it and I watched streaming video on it from the NBC Heroes Show and it looks really good. It has HD Audio and HD Video. It might cost just a little more but I used the E72000 processor and I liked it a lot. I also used 2 GB of Crucial Ram. I think the quality of the motherboard to be worth the price. Everything is kind of relevent to your situation and how much you want to spend. I just wanted something that was not already too far out of date and would last a few years.

I bought my parts from www.directron.com/
I think they often have deals equal to New Egg. Sometimes they have good deals that do not show up on New Egg and sometimes New Egg has better deals.

I added a SATA Lite-On DVD recordable drive and a SATA Seagate 160GB Hard Drive and Vista Home Premium. I put this in a fairly tight MATX case because I wanted it to look like a basic black business computer with class and style. There is a simplicity of functionality and cooling. It had front USB but not front Audio. I have an audio jack on my existing speakers so that did not seem important.

This is a fairly tight fitting case with 350 watt Antec power supply:
Case: Antec NSK4480B
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129032

The case has a top that comes off so you can see what you are doing during assembly. However, it is not designed to be constantly taken apart and reassembled. I like to put the computer together and leave it alone. I have not had any trouble with my Antec Power supply. I think there is a problem with the Asus Motherboards destroying the Antec power supplies or vice versa. So I decided to try the Intel Motherboard.

I think a 500 Watt power supply is a little overkill for an MATX Motherboard. These newer processors have 3 Meg of Cache and use the thinner die process and they run really cool and can run Vista with no problem.

Vista seems to run fast to me on an E7200. Maybe that is because I have never seen it run on a faster processor. Vista is still running fast after 6 months.