Build for a Friend

[Doc7]

Edit 3 PM EST 2/15/2010 - Changed Graphics Card and Hard Drive

Hello all,

A friend of mine talked to me last night about how she is interested in a new computer (not a laptop). She plays no games but she would certainly be interested in using it to watch hi-def movies on a TV screen and beyond that just playing music, surfing the internet, youtube, etc. I'm sure she's not interested in spending more than several hundred dollars though I do not have an exact budget.


Here is a build I came up with. It comes to $871 (including speakers and necessary peripherals) with shipping. There are Dell minis for that price or less; i'm not sure at this kind of price point that it is worth it to build your own? If it would be a break-even in terms of money I'd rather build it, that's much more fun, but I don't want to jack her over if it would be more economical to buy her own.

I just realized I don't have a network adapter in this....I guess this actually brings us up to around $700 depending on whether or not she needs to buy a wireless router in addition to the card. Edit: She has no peripherals (mouse monitor etc), just her laptop.

Thanks for your input, I am also concerned about the power supply size, NewEgg calculated something like 261W but I think that seems awfully low, the disclaimer on the gfx card seems to indicate that 350W is for TWO cards not one. I've only built one PC before (thanks in large part to advice from this site) and have not worked with the small case design that I list below.

Thanks again!


LIAN LI PC-A05NB Black Aluminum ATX Mini Tower Computer Case - Retail
$99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811112218


ASUS P5KPL-AM EPU LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
$55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131615


Intel Pentium E5200 Wolfdale 2.5GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor - Retail
$67
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116072


Western Digital Caviar Blue WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
$40
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136075


GIGABYTE GV-R545SC-1GI Radeon HD 5450 (Cedar) 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Retail
$65
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125313




G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ - Retail
$50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231098


CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail
$50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139008


LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW SATA CD/DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
$27
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106289


Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
$105
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116752

[Khalil]

Only things I don't like in your list are the Seagate hard drive, they have had issues with firmware in the last 18 months so a WD will be a better choice.
The 7300GT video card is beyond obsolete, for windows 7 it is a DX9 and windows 7 is a DX11, this said a 5000 series ATI card would be your friend's best bet like this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-313-_-Product
I realize she won't be gaming but DX11 cards will give her the richest playback for multimedia and won't have issues later as DX11 upgrades come along.
That Corsair power supply is more than plenty for this rig!

[Doc7]

Originally Posted by Khalil Only things I don't like in your list are the Seagate hard drive, they have had issues with firmware in the last 18 months so a WD will be a better choice. The 7300GT video card is beyond obsolete, for windows 7 it is a DX9 and windows 7 is a DX11, this said a 5000 series ATI card would be your friend's best bet like this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-313-_-Product I realize she won't be gaming but DX11 cards will give her the richest playback for multimedia and won't have issues later as DX11 upgrades come along. That Corsair power supply is more than plenty for this rig!

I have made the changes you suggested.

Do you see any issues fitting this stuff in that small case? When I built my first PC I went with a full tower and didn't even have to think about that.

Also the card is a PCI Express 2.1 whereas the mobo doesn't say anything about 2.1, it says:
PCI Express x16 1
PCI Express x1 1

Will this hold back the performance of the card and render getting a 2.1 card useless? I assume the answer is no otherwise you wouldn't have recommended it but just don't want to overlook anything. I plan on getting the parts list solidified (including peripherals, speakers/monitor/etc) and then giving her a comparison to a Dell that will do what she wants too.

[Doc7]

After adding mouse, keyboard, speakers that will suit her alright (lives in a multi-family so no blasting music but definitely a big music lover, so got very inexpensive but not absolute bottom of the line speakers for 50 bucks)

Creative Inspire T3130 2.1 Speakers - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16836116048


and a monitor over at Amazon:

19" Black LCD - AOC Brand
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...X0DER&v=glance

and of course Artic Silver,

it comes to about $871. I think she might get sticker-shocked because she has other expenses to deal with right now but we'll see.

[Doc7]

This Dell would cost between $780-840 after taxes/shipping depending upon speakers. I'm not nearly savvy enough to know if there is a big drop in quality of meeting those earlier mentioned goals. FWIW, at the bottom of this post I have also included said goals when I articulate them fully.

PROCESSOR Intel® Pentium® dual-core E5300 (2MB L2, 2.6GHz, 800FSB) edit OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English edit WARRANTY & SERVICE 1 Year Basic Service Plan edit MEMORY 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz- 2DIMMs edit MONITOR 18.5" Dell IN1910N HD Monitor with VGA cable edit VIDEO CARD ATI Radeon HD 4350 512MB edit OPTICAL DRIVE 16X DVD+/-RW Drive edit SPEAKERS No Speaker Option edit HARD DRIVE 500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™ edit WIRELESS Dell 1525 WLAN PCIe card with11n mini-Card & external antenna edit KEYBOARD Studio Consumer USB Keyboard and Optical Mouse edit OFFICE SOFTWARE Microsoft® Works 9 edit SECURITY SOFTWARE McAfee SecurityCenter, 30-Day Trial edit DATASAFE ONLINE BACKUP Dell Online Backup 2GB for 1 year edit MOUSE Mouse included with Keyboard purchase SOUND Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio MODEM No Modem Option Network Card Integrated 10/1000 Ethernet Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9.0 Multi-Language

1) You wanted a desktop computer, not a laptop. 2) You mentioned how my computer's tower was pretty big looking so I figured you wanted smaller. The one i spec'ed out to build ourselves is called a "Mini" and is 20 inches front to back, 8 inches wide, and 15 inches tall. 3) You'll be listening to some music on it though I suspect you probably already have some sort of standalone stereo system being the music lover that you are. Went with better than basic bottom of the line speakers but not super high quality expensive ones either. For 60 more dollars, Amazon has a pair of speakers that I bought for someone else a couple of years ago and they are good enough to use as your only source of music and you wouldn't be disappointed. 4) At some point in the next several years you'll be plugging this into a hi-def TV and watching movies that you have downloaded or whatever. 5) You have wireless internet in your house and want the computer to be on the wireless. 6) You don't have hundreds of gigabytes of downloaded music/movies, so a huge hard drive isn't a concern. 7) You want to be able to play and burn CDs as well as DVDs. 8) You aren't using the monitor as your only source to watch movies so it doesn't need to be huge and top of the line (19" diagonal, to put it in perspective mine is a 22" monitor) 9) A black computer is fine (lol believe it or not you can pay $20 more at dell for Plum, Blue, or Red) 10) I have only included Windows in terms of software, I did not include Microsoft Office which includes Word, Excel, Outlook, etc...I can't imagine not having Office on my computer but it doesn't sound like you do much on yours when it comes to designing and printing documents. 11) you already have a surge protector to plug into.

[glc]

What exact model is that Dell?

[Doc7]

They call it a Studio Slim Desktop.

[glc]

Then you had better order it the exact way you want, and do not plan on doing any future upgrades - EVER.