Grandma's budget PC (need suggestions)

[Ant001]

OOoooh, get this!!!

CHIEFTEC Server Chasis Black $76
PIONEER DVD-Recordable (Black Bezel) DVD-R DVD-RW DVD+R DVD+RW $131
2x Seagate 160GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive Barracuda 7200.7 ST3160023AS - OEM $287
2x Mushkin 1GB PC3200 Level II Dual Pack (2x512MB) Black CAS2-2-2, Part# 991032 - Retail $650
Samsung 19" LCD Monitor 192T-Silver $699
ABIT IC7-Max3, Intel 875P chipset for Socket 478 800MHz Canterwood ATX motherboard RETAIL $204.99
Antec 430W Power Supply TRUE430 $70
Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz 512k 800MHz FSB | socket 478 w/ Hyper Threading Technology - RETAIL $394
SAPPHIRE OEM RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB DVI/TV 8X AGP Video Card $305

Total: $ 2,816.99

Seriously, that would r0xx0rz at email!! Just hook it up to her 56k modem, and she'd fly! It would even be future proof! For...3 years!

</sarcasm>

Get a cheap AMD setup like someone above mentioned. My bro has a P3 500MHz, some no-name mobo, 256mb of PC133 ram, a 12gig HDD, and some 16mb AGP video card. It does word processing, email, browsing, plays songs, and most games from last year (Empire Earth, War Craft, etc.) It'll probably keep on doing that for 3 or 4 more years.

 

[JohnBennett]

My biggest concern is matching everything up. I'm ignorant of which RAM speeds go with which processors go with which motherboards.

I screwed up when I built a celeron system a couple of years ago because the MB and processor voltages didn't match even though I got the socket type and bus speeds correct. I fear doing that again.

Currently I've assembled this shopping list...

MUSHKIN DDR 256MB PC-2700 - $56.35
ABIT NF7-S, SPP chipset Support AMD Socket A - $104.99
AMD ATHLON XP 2400+ /266 FSB PROCESSOR CPU - RETAIL + Thoroughbred - $81.00

...plus a case, mouse, speakers, keyboad, CD-drive, etc.

I want onboard lan, video, and sound. I prefer Abit or Asus motherboards. I'm looking for stability, not overclocking ability.

Will that stuff work together?

Are they mis-matched in some way, meaning, is the processor overkill for that memory or vise-versa?

BTW, here's a couple of pictures of my lethal Texas girls.

http://lufkinscrc.org/storage/arbrenda.jpg
http://lufkinscrc.org/storage/archristine.jpg

(yes, I'm proud of them )

 

[UpGrD]

Pick up a Gateway Profile system off E Bay. The Profile 1.5 line at about 466mhz is a pretty nice little system.
I got a few off E bay not long ago for $325 ea. Nice display small foot print and quick for its rated speed.
Perfect in IMO for internet/office. And will be for some time.....

Just my opinion!!!

 

[Ionizer86]

JohnBennett, the setup stuff above works well, but I'd say spend $9 more and get a 2500+ since the extra cache makes it better. If you don't want to overclock, you could spend $9 more on top to get a 2600+ Barton.

Mushkin makes good ram. If you want to overclock some, you could buy PC3200 for roughly the same price, but yea, these are good parts.