question? what would you get?

[sweeper2]

Okay, my brother in law may be on the look out for a new pc twr.
Ok, i can maybe put something together for him since i live across the street and wouldn't be hard to trble shoot if i did it.
Or, do i say "Hey, let's goto comp usa or circuit city, Gateway etc. and pick something out for ya?

Second:
If he doesn't use it much for gaming or anything high pwred, just internet bill paying , microsoft office work, just plain old playing around on the web... what would you reccommend?

I want it to be something that will be up to date and will at least last for 3-5 years being somewhat up to date at that time if possible (knowing that pc parts become extinct about 1 year later....LOL)

Thanks all, also if i was to build, AMD or Pentium, price also matters, can't be a 1000$ rig!!! I plan on doing local buying also, so if it comes from Newegg, i will probably try and find here if i put together myself.

Keith

[maxiderm]

lol, definatly build!!!!!

if youre smart, buying the components will be:

processor= $100
mobo= $100
case w/ good power supply= $120
cd burner= $50
cheap video card= $40
fans, extra cards ect= $40-60

final price= $450-470. thats what i did. look at my sig. i built mine myself and it cost me about $800

[sweeper2]

thats what i was thinking, I talked with him and looks like in the next few weeks going to go for a build.
So, go with AMD if I do, since i know alot about AMD, but what processor?
Should I go with ddr400?
Should dual channel mode matter?
How can I build a nice cheap AMD system without alot of noise and still keep cool? I know Pentiums are easier to keep cool but i am not very familiar with them.?

[maxiderm]

i built a comp for my friend like the one you described (not any gaming, just for internet and office work). i built his for $420. i build computers for a living! If you want, ill build one for you (err, i mean your friend) for the same price. (btw, his stuff is all new not used crapola from a junkyard). it was a:

AMD Athlon XP 2000+
AOPEN MK77MII Motherboard
Midtower Case
Generic PC2100 256Mb (1 stick)
VioPower 420 Watt Power supply
Seagate 80Gb Hard Drive
24X10X48 Lite-On CD-RW
1.44Mb Floppy Drive

how about it? I'll build it for a flat rate of $450 (not including shipping). Anyone else who wants a computer built for an awesome price like this...... just e-mail me and ill be glad to see what i can do for your specific needs. thanks,
-Max-

[maxiderm]

lol, i mean, something close to this. i wont build an alienware for you but it will be close to that...

[sweeper2]

thanks, but i usually build my own pc's also, I looked around and i can pick up these retail parts for my build at a local pc store for around 505$ w/tax

athlon xp 2500 w/HSF
K7N2 Delta L nForce2 chipset 400 edition
256 mg ddr400 X2=512 mg for dual channel
MSI 9200 128mg X8 vid card(ATI)
mid-tower case with top air fan/rear fan and front fan with 350 watt PSU
52Xcd-rw/16X DVD Lite On
(he already has)30 gig Maxter HD
(he already has) monitor/keyboard/mouse/1.44 floppy

think I will go this route, Does this sound like a fair system?
should do fine for him + last him a while also and able to upgrade if needed.

thanks maxiderm for the suggestions...and the build , but I think i will stick with building it myself. It will give my brother in law a good piece of mind knowing that i built it and he knows what is going in it.
anybody else have any suggestions, please feel free to keep them comming as this is not set in stone yet.

[maxiderm]

alright sounds good! nice price btw especially w/ the Athlon XP 2500. great processor. i guess your going for a nice video card too. good job.

[bombledmonk]

Personally, for that budget I would go with Dell. That way you would have a bigger HD, an equvalent P4 processor, WinXP Home(the sticking point for me), new monitor, keyboard,etc, a quiet case and a factory warranty for the same price(~$500). All you would have to do is pick up a little memory to stick in there. For an internet browsing computer you cant really beat a Dell. But that is only one suggestion as you said you wanted to stay local.

Option 2. Some people may laugh at this but I would also suggest an Emachine. They were rated by Consumer Reports(i'll have to double check the resource) as the second most reliable major manufacturer last year. They sell them with AMD processors at Best Buy in the price range also. Emachines also usually come with more memory and a printer as well as the other items stated above with the dell. This is what I did for my grandparents who just wanted an email machine. It has an Athlon XP 2300+ CPU(i didn't know they made those either lol), 256MB Ram, CD burner, 60GB HD, and an AGP slot (which they don't need but is nice to have). All that was less than $500 after taxes and after the rebates.

If he was a power user or did any gaming I would say go for the Homebuilt machine(I build my own), but under the circumstances a store/website bought computer would be in his best interests. In the end he could also sell his HD and old monitor for a little extra cash to help pay off the computer a little more.

[sweeper2]

bombledmonk, thanks for the suggestion. That was another thought I had. The only thing i don't like about store bought, is the fact they put in the pc what they want to put in it..for example i would have to get what ever cpu i might find in it, ram, vid card, or no vid card, etc...+ all the software they include on the pc which (my brother in law) says he doesn't want. Then you still have to update the pc with windows xp update (as my Mother in law just got a celeron 2.4 e-machine and her windows still needs updating, but she uses AOL so it would take her forever to download the updates etc. which she has no clue of doing in the first place.

The Dell, if you can call them and order specificlly what you want might be my main choice if we decide as not to build one. I do believe you can call them and tell them what you want and don't want + have the warrenty and the quietness (what he wants) of the pc.

As far as win xp pro , i have 2 cd's he could use, 1 of them is actually the one that we used 2 months ago when re doing the Pavilion HP that he has. And we could put on their only what we wanted to put on there and I also have Office 2000 etc. He said he doesn't want his HD cluttered up with unnessacery things he would never use.

so we are still trying to conjur up some things as to what we want to do, he said last night he likes the idea of me building it as he knows what he would want to put in it, but DELL might also be a good way to go.

[jhardin80]

i just posted a thread to sell my computer, it has a amd xp 1800, 512mb ram, 40gb hd, gforce4 ti 4200 128mb video, sb! audigy xgamer sound card, cdrw, cd-rom, 19" monitor wireless keyboard and mouse, speakers all for $800 complete system i am trying to build a new one myself but there is nothing wrong with this one it will run any program you want and do it quick.