This or that. Building on a very small budget.

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ThirdLeft152

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Im building a new computer for my mom, currently she has a 4 to 5 year old dell (p4 skt 478 2ghz i believe, lets just say its REALLY slow) and theres just so much wrong with it. they're are very few drivers out for it now, and has a lot of issues with new products. So im building her a new one, she just needs it for basic e-mail, banking, surfing, and some music and video. she doesn't need anything special. I have two routes i can go with the mobo/cpu that will fit in her weak budget...

1) get a x2 3600+/3800+ and a basic mobo with onboard graphics (she doesn't need a graphics card) which will be about $160-$180 for the both, via newegg.

2) get a pentium d 820 i believe ($95) and a gigabyte s2 (onboard graphics as well) which will cost about $195-$200 together, also via newegg.

however i know the x2 route would be better probably performance wise and definitely price/performance. but i also need to consider that i could give her my e6400 if i go the 2nd route when i look to upgrade. Its pretty tricky, and im not sure if it will really matter, or if she would even notice the difference between an x2 and a pD/e6400 for what she does, lol. Also i have no personal experience with an x2 3600+/3800+, some suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
 
Go the X2 route then your mobo will be Kuma/Agena compatible for when the new AMD's come out in a few months.
 
well that would require buying another processor for the computer. where as i would just put my e6400 in there because it will just be sitting around collecting dust. its something to think about though. i wonder how those new AMD's will compare to c2d?
 
Oh I thought you meant you were going to upgrade that same system with a newer core once they were released. In that case Yea I would go with a cheap um... PD I guess like you said. X2's are quite a lot more powerful than crappy PD's really but in the end after you put in that E6400 it'll be worth it. I doubt in regular surfing/e-mail/MS office use will she notice much of a difference at all from an X2 over a PD. Even the C2D you'll put in eventually will just be overkill for standard apps such as that but yea for now a Pentium D is powerful enough. Are you going to buy 512 of DDR2 ram to run this?
 
yeah that is exactly what i was thinking too so i may just go with the x2 anyway save the $50 and when i upgrade look to sell my e6400. and i was gonna get a 1gb stick of ddr667/800 for like $60.
 
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