My friend needs a cheap home computer

[rhcp]

he basically does no gaming, does like HTML programming....
so
cheap as possible, amd, intel, nvidia, ati, he doesn't care
at least 2 GB RAM
at least a 2GHz dual core.
he likes a 400+GB HDD.
doesnt need to be flashy.

 

[baron5]

I don't have time for a complete build i'm about to go out but essentially you could be looking at:

amd x3 710 cpu
a 790gx motherboard
4gb Gskill Pq ddr800
seagate 7200.12rpm hdd 500gb (going for $59) cheap!
onboard grapahics of 790gx or low profile card 4670 or the like.

HTML programming isn't too intensive as far as i now so if he wants to really decrease the price, maybe go for a cheap e5400/p45 system, might save you a little but for the price i'd say this is a much better option.

 

[TheOtis]

Well going by what your friend wants I came up with this. I'm sure some of these parts could be debated on here. But the price is real low, should do real good on power, and it will do all that your friend wants it to do. I didn't include an OS, add $100 if you want XP or Vista.

Newegg.com - HP Black 20X DVD+R SATA CD/DVD Burner - Bulk Package - CD / DVD Burners
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Elite 330 RC-330-KKN1-GP Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar GP WD5000AACS 500GB 5400 to 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives
Newegg.com - MSI N94GT-MD512 GeForce 9400 GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EP43-DS3LR LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards
Newegg.com - Intel Pentium E5200 Wolfdale 2.5GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
Newegg.com - Antec earthwatts EA380 380W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.0 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies

Total comes to $400.92 not shipped.

 

[rhcp]

Well going by what your friend wants I came up with this. I'm sure some of these parts could be debated on here. But the price is real low, should do real good on power, and it will do all that your friend wants it to do. I didn't include an OS, add $100 if you want XP or Vista.

Newegg.com - HP Black 20X DVD+R SATA CD/DVD Burner - Bulk Package - CD / DVD Burners
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Elite 330 RC-330-KKN1-GP Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar GP WD5000AACS 500GB 5400 to 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives
Newegg.com - MSI N94GT-MD512 GeForce 9400 GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EP43-DS3LR LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards
Newegg.com - Intel Pentium E5200 Wolfdale 2.5GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
Newegg.com - Antec earthwatts EA380 380W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.0 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies

Total comes to $400.92 not shipped.

Would an onboard be ok if he never uses anything that even gets close to 3d grphix?

 

[TheOtis]

Of course dude, onboard is just fine. I only added the low profile card if he did want to do some real light gaming.

Here is the build revised-

Newegg.com - HP Black 20X DVD+R SATA CD/DVD Burner - Bulk Package - CD / DVD Burners
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Elite 330 RC-330-KKN1-GP Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar GP WD5000AACS 500GB 5400 to 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory
Newegg.com - Intel Pentium E5200 Wolfdale 2.5GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
Newegg.com - Antec earthwatts EA380 380W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.0 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies
Newegg.com - ASUS P5N7A-VM LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 9300/nForce 730i HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

Total comes to $375.93 not shipped.

That power supply is going to be a bit much for the computer, but it's an excellent PSU, I've used it in a few builds for the fam. Plus if he ever wants to add a video card he'll have the option and a PSU for it, as long as it's not a medium higher end one.

 

[baron5]

Yeah good build. except i don't suggest getting a nforce chipset. Get this p35, much better for less.
Newegg.com - MSI P35 Neo-F LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards there have been complaints about this board, but having used one once, and it worked fine just as any other board would when not overclocking I could rec. it to you for that price.

And maybe this ram since its couple dollars more with headspreaders, I'm not sure why but everytime i see ram without spreaders i just feel like they are going to burn.
Newegg.com - OCZ Vista Upgrade 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

 

[TheOtis]

I suggested that board because he requested onboard video. Otherwise, I would have stuck with that one I posted or yours would be great too.

Heatspreaders aren't going to matter for him and they are not going to burn, he also wants this computer to be as cheap as possible. This computer is just going to be used for average daily tasks, not gaming or overclocking, the RAM I recommended is just fine for him.

 

[Evolv]

P43 doesn't have onboard video.

Edit: Oh snap, missed the revised build.