Hello all,
I am currently converting my old desktop PC (ABS AMD Athlon 3000+, 1GB RAM, FX 5200 card) into an HTPC. Basically, removing everything from the old and placing it into a new box.
This process leaves me with a perfectly good ATX case to use (like this Welcome to Apevia.com   APEVIA X-Pider Aluminum Case w/ Side Window-Black).
I also have a plain DVD player, case fans, and 2-20 GB hard drives. I would like to build a PC for my very young daughters to surf nickjr, disney.com, etc as well as play games (very low graphic content stuff). I plan to "lock it down" so they can only do those limited things I allow. Basically so they stay off my computers. I would also like it to be capable for me to use for internet stuff, simple software, pay bills, etc. in the event my laptop or HTPC goes down.
I was thinking that a very low end video card or even onboard video would be fine. Onboard sound is fine. I guess I would need a power supply, a motherboard, a processor, RAM, an OS (could I do linux for this? XP home would be fine too), and then a video card if cannot be had onboard. I want to do this extremely cheap and am looking for guidance what to get and where. Is there a place that sells chips and MB's that were up to date from say 3-4 years ago (ie: AMD 2600+ or celeron's?). That would be fine for my purpose.
I am new to this and appreciate any comments. I do know a bit about PC's, but have never built one from scratch. This PC is to replace an old corporate reject we got for free from work. It is intollerably slow even for my 4 and 6 year olds.
Thanks much,
Pat
I am currently converting my old desktop PC (ABS AMD Athlon 3000+, 1GB RAM, FX 5200 card) into an HTPC. Basically, removing everything from the old and placing it into a new box.
This process leaves me with a perfectly good ATX case to use (like this Welcome to Apevia.com   APEVIA X-Pider Aluminum Case w/ Side Window-Black).
I also have a plain DVD player, case fans, and 2-20 GB hard drives. I would like to build a PC for my very young daughters to surf nickjr, disney.com, etc as well as play games (very low graphic content stuff). I plan to "lock it down" so they can only do those limited things I allow. Basically so they stay off my computers. I would also like it to be capable for me to use for internet stuff, simple software, pay bills, etc. in the event my laptop or HTPC goes down.
I was thinking that a very low end video card or even onboard video would be fine. Onboard sound is fine. I guess I would need a power supply, a motherboard, a processor, RAM, an OS (could I do linux for this? XP home would be fine too), and then a video card if cannot be had onboard. I want to do this extremely cheap and am looking for guidance what to get and where. Is there a place that sells chips and MB's that were up to date from say 3-4 years ago (ie: AMD 2600+ or celeron's?). That would be fine for my purpose.
I am new to this and appreciate any comments. I do know a bit about PC's, but have never built one from scratch. This PC is to replace an old corporate reject we got for free from work. It is intollerably slow even for my 4 and 6 year olds.
Thanks much,
Pat