Need recommendations for budget system... Help...

[shan1784]

My sister's computer fried in a electrical storm that passed through. Insurance company gave her $1000 to spend but she doesn't want to spend all of that on a computer. She told me that $600 or a touch over would be good.

She will mainly use it for internet surfing and for pictures from her camera. She is a big scrap booker so she downloads alot of pics and prints them off. Other than that I don't believe there is much of a need for a gaming type setup. She already has WinXP Pro so that will not be needed either...

She went to Best Buy and Circuit City where they told her not to consider anything less than a quad core for what she will be using it for. LOL... I told her to give me a couple of days and I would find a good build for her. I built my past few machines but have always built for gaming but never a scaled down machine like she would need.

The whole system would need to include everything from monitor (LCD), keyboard, mouse (optical), speakers, and tower... Below is what I have.. Looking for advice... Thanks...


Total $543.16

CPU
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADO5000DOBOX - Retail 66.00

MotherBoard / Video
GIGABYTE GA-MA78GPM-DS2H AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail 104.99

Memory
G.SKILL 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5S-2GBPQ - Retail 40.99

Hard Drive
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3160815AS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM 45.99

DVD Burner
LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black SATA Model LH-20A1S - Retail 28.99

Media Card Reader
Rosewill RCR-102 52-in-1 USB 2.0 Card Reader - Retail 14.99

Monitor
Hanns·G HB-175APB Black 17" 8ms Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail 149.99

Media Card Reader
Logitech S-220 2.1 Multimedia Speaker System - OEM 20.99

Case
COOLER MASTER Elite RC-330-KKR1 Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 350W Power Supply - Retail 54.99

Keyboard
LITE-ON SK-1688U/B Black USB Wired Standard Keyboard - Retail 6.99

Mouse
Logitech SBF-96 Black 3 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Wired Optical Mouse - OEM 8.25

 

[NightSurge]

Your system looks good, although I would change one thing. Get the Biostar or other 780G motherboard and don't get a video card. The 780G has built in graphics that are the highest available for onboard video motherboards and will support anything she needs, even light gaming so since that isn't needed, you should be covered.

I think the 780G is about $10-15 more expensive, but then you would save $70 by not buying that low grade EVGA video card.

 

[shan1784]

Your system looks good, although I would change one thing. Get the Biostar or other 780G motherboard and don't get a video card. The 780G has built in graphics that are the highest available for onboard video motherboards and will support anything she needs, even light gaming so since that isn't needed, you should be covered.

I think the 780G is about $10-15 more expensive, but then you would save $70 by not buying that low grade EVGA video card.

Thats great advice.. Thank you, I will definately be making that change...

 

[veg1992]

Yes 780g's are ownage... no Intel or VIA Chipset touches it honestly, plus throw in a cheap HD 3450 or something for Hybrid Crossfire

You need Vista for that though... and they overclock quite nicely as well

 

[shan1784]

Someone suggested the following,

CPU
Intel Pentium E2180 Allendale 2.0GHz 1MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail 69.99

MotherBoard
GIGABYTE GA-EG43M-S2H LGA 775 Intel G43 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail 102.99

Would there be an advantage to going the Intel route over the current AMD setup? I do like the idea of upgrades to quads in the future but not sure if she would really need that or not... It would come out to about the same price...

Experts???