Proposed build for my Dad, $300 budget.

[Matt_Smi]

My dad has been using this awful super small form factor Gateway that is 8 years old for some time now. It has pitiful specs, a 900 Mhz CPU, 64 Gb of RAM! And a 10 Gb HDD (at least it’s a western digital), it is very propriety but about a year ago I was able to add 128 Mb of RAM to it to bring it up to 192 Mb and I wiped out Windows ME and installed 2k, this helped a lot but the machine still has stability and speed issues, since it is so small everything minus the power supply is all passively cooled, but I have already had to replace the PSU twice due to a fan failure and I of course had to pay an overpriced fee from Gateway to get it! For Christmas I got my Dad a 19” LCD display as he was still using a 17” CRT and of course the crappy integrated graphics make it look poor at its max res of 1280x1024, I heard my dad mentioning buying a new machine at Best Buy for $400, so I offered to build him something that would cost less and be much better than a store bought machine.

Note my Dad is far from a power user, he literally uses this machine for nothing more than web browsing, email and word processing although he has mentioned that if “the computer could handle it” and it had more storage space he would like to be able to do some light media tasks on it, such as storing pictures and playing videos. My goal here is to build something that has snappy performance for light tasks, has some room for small upgrades (although this is not too big of a deal) and offers a better value than a store bought machine. That said I think this machine is honestly overkill for what he needs, but it is pretty much the cheapest one I could spec out while still using quality components, many of which I got from recommendations here.


Case and PSU: Foxconn TS001-V-D350A Black/ Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case Delta ATX 2.2 350W Power Supply - $45

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811153089

I like this case, and even though I have seen it recommended here I'm honestly not sure how much I trust this PSU and I really don't want to skip in that area, so I may go with an Antec Basicq for $20 and some super cheap $20 case, thoughts?


Motherboard: ASUS P5KPL-CM LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - $55

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131288

Seen it recommended here for budget builds and is the cheapest board I can find from a manufacturer that I trust.


CPU: Intel Pentium E5200 Wolfdale 2.5GHz 2MB L2 Cache - $82

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116072


RAM: CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) - $20

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145590

Yes I could go with 2x 512 and give it a gig which I am sure would be plenty but this only costs $5 more and is cheaper than their value ram believe it or not.


Video Card: ASUS EAH3450/DI/256M Radeon HD 3450 256MB 64-bit GDDR2 - $20

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121259

This seems to be a very popular and nice low end video card for people who don't care about gaming at all, I love how it has VGA/DVI/HDMI outs.


Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s - $55

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148262


Optical Drive: LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R SATA - $24

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106263


I plan to use windows XP which I already have a license for. The total for these parts after rebates is $301 which is really good I think, considering an equal system from Dell costs close to $500. Two places that I thought about cutting cost are the Hard Drive and Graphics Card. I could go down to an 80 Gb drive and save $20, but I don't think it is really worth it, plus I know that Seagate is a single platter design and is very fast. The video card I can see cutting out, the MB has integrated graphics and honestly all my Dad will ever be running is a single 19" VGA display so as long as it supports a 1280x1024 res which I imagine it must then it should be fine. With both of these "budget cuts" I would drop the overall cost down to $260 which is insanely cheap. But honestly I think having a decent sized hard drive and not using integrated graphics separate this build from being strictly budget to something that is actually pretty nice and again my Dad was planning to spent $400 so I am still saving $100. Let me know what you think.

[David M]

I hate to spoil the fun, but I think a used Dell would be the better thing. Its really hard to build a low end computer for less than the factory machines. Look on Craig's list as well.

[Panama Red]

If he's used to that GW dinosaur and hasn't had need for more hdd storage, I'd save the extra cash. Go with the 80Gb hdd and on board video. That's the typical combo I use for low budget builds. Use the extra cash and get him a good kbd/mouse combo instead. I'm only saying this if you INSIST on building one. You might want to check out Dell.com/outlet and see what they have in the refurbished area. I buy from there all the time.

[shadowpr]

I like that build.

I agree with PR about just getting the smaller hard drive, and using onboard video. It will still work good.

If you happen to see something from the dell outlet, then great, but if not, then you have a great build listed there and your dad will probably be really happy with it.

[jdeb]

nice build, i would go with it.

[mattaggie]

In Win makes good Case/PSU combos for budget builds. I could see going with the larger HDD if he is going to store media. Dont really see the need for a video card.

[not important]

Looks like a great build for your Father but I would also suggest trying the onborad graphics. You can always get a graphics card if the onboard is not satisfactory. Your Father should be very happy with the build and you.

[glc]

The power supply in that particular Foxconn case is a very good one. It's made by Delta, a quality manufacturer. Go with the onboard video, but the price difference between a 80gb drive and a 250 or 320 is so low, go for the bigger drive. For his use, don't sweat cache, 8mb is fine.

InWin does not use good power supplies, sorry.

[mattaggie]

All the InWins I have used in the past few years have been PowerMan, which is on the "good" list. As I understand it, they are rebranded FSP/Fortron Source, which is considered a top quality PSU on the list. So if PowerMan is in fact a bad PSU, someone should change the list. I personally havent had an issue with one yet, though I realize experiences may vary.

[glc]

You are correct about Powerman. However, I've seen older Inwins that used garbage.

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by glc You are correct about Powerman. However, I've seen older Inwins that used garbage.

I'm pretty sure all the new InWin power supplies are now Powerman, the oldest InWin case I have used is over two years old and came with a Powerman power supply.

Regarding the proposed build, I think it will work great, if the computer will be used at all for videos the video card will help a lot, if it is just for general purpose, the integrated should work fine. You'll find that a build using properly researched off the shelf parts will always be of higher quality than Dell computers, margins on computer hardware is very slim, so any company that sells computers will have to cut corners if they want to have low prices.