Shoestring Budget, ideally under $500.00 please help!

[Ghost]

My Aunt's Emachine is on it's last legs, thank god. She's considering an upgrade. I was trying to assemble a system for her for under $500.00.

Things to consider:
She's NOT a gamer. 2d applications is all she would be interested in.
I want to avoid Celeron/Sempron and those equivalents.
Onboard sound is fine. Onboard video as long as it's not a complete dog in desktop apps is fine too.
I think a decent CPU is important and will provide some longevity.

I have no idea what budget video card to get. BestBuy lists the BFG Geforce 5500 for $79.00. In my own system, I went from a Geforce 4, 4400 to a Geforce 6800 GT, so I didn't keep up with, and I'm unfamiliar with the Geforce 5200, 5500, 5700 etc....and I'm a little unsure about ATI, I remember a few years ago they weren't known for solid drivers.

So far, I have this

AMD Athlon 64 2800+ Socket 754 Retail @ $127

Chaintech VNF3-250 @ $73

Seagate Barracuda 40 Gig, OEM @ $57

512 Megs of Kingston @ $74 (256 megs will save me about 30 bucks) Not sure which to go with.

Lite-on DVD combo drive @ $44 (don't know if she wants to back up data, DVD ROM drive would save $20)

Antec Case w 300 watt ps @ $46

All those are at ZipZoomFly with free shipping.

Best buy has the Geforce 5500 for $79.

Best buy also lists a Creative Labs modem for $39.00

That brings the total to around $543.00 not including tax on the vid card and modem @ Best Buy.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Improvements?

Thanks!

 

[DaveSimmons]

If she's not a gamer, a Celeron is fine for Office, browser, etc. -- consider a Dell from the Hot Deals forum.

Also see system thread

 

[Hikari]

I agree with the Dell poster... I mean, this is your aunt, right? What does she do w/her computer?

On the original list, I'd go 512 though (whatever the cheapest PC3200 is), memory is more important than CPU for a lot of things now. Since she doesn't play games I imagine, I'd perhaps get a Radeon 9600 or something, ATI tends to have better 2D quality (I have both at home though).

 

[PingSpike]

You don't need a geforce 5500 for just windows applications. Pretty much any video card made in the past 5 years will be plenty.

And as has been said, celerons are fine for most office apps. Although I would go sempron instead.

Edit: and yeah...probably stick with the 512. RAM is really more important than CPU speed for most basic stuff.

 

[nick1985]

nforce 2 with onboard video. thats all she needs

 

[islandtechengineers]

in regards to the celeron; avoid it. I had a celeron 2.0 at 400 Mhz running simultaneously with an old P4 1.7 400mhz. Yes the celeron is fine for most apps, but there is a noticeable difference in load times and running multiple apps at the same time. At certains times (with the celeron XP machine) I thought the machine crashed, a couple of secs later the app loaded and the machine resume to normal operating conditions. if you believe your aunt is going to burn a cd while scanning a magazine artical = stay away from the celeron!

 

[kornphlake]

$40 for a modem, boy are you a sucker...

I paid like $12 for mine at fry's, it's the third modem I've had with the lucent chipset and it's been pretty darn reliable and as fast as dial up can be.

 

[Leper Messiah]

Originally posted by: Ghost
My Aunt's Emachine is on it's last legs, thank god. She's considering an upgrade. I was trying to assemble a system for her for under $500.00.

Things to consider:
She's NOT a gamer. 2d applications is all she would be interested in.
I want to avoid Celeron/Sempron and those equivalents.
Onboard sound is fine. Onboard video as long as it's not a complete dog in desktop apps is fine too.
I think a decent CPU is important and will provide some longevity.

I have no idea what budget video card to get. BestBuy lists the BFG Geforce 5500 for $79.00. In my own system, I went from a Geforce 4, 4400 to a Geforce 6800 GT, so I didn't keep up with, and I'm unfamiliar with the Geforce 5200, 5500, 5700 etc....and I'm a little unsure about ATI, I remember a few years ago they weren't known for solid drivers.

So far, I have this

AMD Athlon 64 2800+ Socket 754 Retail @ $127

Chaintech VNF3-250 @ $73

Seagate Barracuda 40 Gig, OEM @ $57

512 Megs of Kingston @ $74 (256 megs will save me about 30 bucks) Not sure which to go with.

Lite-on DVD combo drive @ $44 (don't know if she wants to back up data, DVD ROM drive would save $20)

Antec Case w 300 watt ps @ $46

All those are at ZipZoomFly with free shipping.

Best buy has the Geforce 5500 for $79.

Best buy also lists a Creative Labs modem for $39.00

That brings the total to around $543.00 not including tax on the vid card and modem @ Best Buy.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Improvements?

Thanks!

all a sempr0n is, is an AXP (throughbred) under a different name. I built a low-end gaming machine for a friend of mine, took a 2400 sempron and clocked it a 10x200. Its more than fine. PQI DDR400 is like $65 on newegg, and its better than the KVR i spent $80 on. Hell, if she's not a gamer, a frickin' tnt2 or a GF2MX is fine! on newegg radeon 7000 64MB are maybe $40.

HDD needs to be a bit bigger, an 80GB wd is only $65 or so, and its much better performance.

 

[Malak]

Why bother with a video card at all if you aren't doing any gaming? Simple 2D applications will run fine on onboard video. Go cheap all the way, even cpu. If she doesn't do anything beyond office productivity it's all she needs. Heck, get an e-machine. That's what my uncle and I get for our family, since none of them know much about computers.

 

[Ghost]

Originally posted by: malak
Heck, get an e-machine. That's what my uncle and I get for our family, since none of them know much about computers.

She has an Emachine, that has a celeron processor. And it's a complete pile of sh1t. It's slow in every way shape and form.

So no, I'm not recommending an Emachine for her, and I won't buy a Celery system.

 

[jer0009]

I built this one for one of my friends 2 weeks ago all from New EGG


CASE ROSEWILL|R103A BLACK RET (Qty=1,Price=$28.00)
CPU AMD|2700 /333 ATHLON XP RTL (Qty=1,Price=$101.00)
DDRAM 512M|PC-3200 991093 MUSHKIN R (Qty=1,Price=$69.27)
FD 1.44MB|SAMSUG SFD-321B/LBL1 OEM (Qty=1,Price=$6.75)
HD 80GB|SAMSUNG 7200/ATA133 SP0802N (Qty=1,Price=$54.00)
MODEM ENCORE|INTL ENF656-ESW-INPR R (Qty=1,Price=$5.99)
DVD|SONY 16X DDU1613/B2s BLACK % (Qty=1,Price=$22.99)
MB DFI|KT600-AL SOCKET A RT (Qty=1,Price=$49.99)
VGA SAPPHIRE|9550SE 100576 % (Qty=1,Price=$59.00)
DVD±RW|SAMSUNG TS-H552B/WBCH BLK % (Qty=1,Price=$57.00)

Subtotal:$453.99
TAX:$.00
Shipping and Handling Charge**:$45.32
Total:$499.31

Of course you probally don't need the dvd burner and second dvd drive...could save you more money without those items.
The case seems pretty durable.Hope I could help
Jeremy

 

[FishTankX]

Sempron 2300+ here
This motherboard (VGA, LAN)
Cheapest modem you can buy (Most winmodems are the same, there's a $5 one on newegg, $10 shipped)
PQI512MB of DDR400 ($65)
80GB seagate (Emptier the drive is, faster it runs) 80GB seagate
That's the core of the system
DVD combo, case, keyboard, mouse, etc.. should be able to find locally or online. The keyboard, case, mouse, and combo I would attempt to find locally.
And.. that shoul be under $500. Is she transfering the OS from the E-machines?

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Ghost

Originally posted by: malak
Heck, get an e-machine. That's what my uncle and I get for our family, since none of them know much about computers.

She has an Emachine, that has a celeron processor. And it's a complete pile of sh1t. It's slow in every way shape and form.

So no, I'm not recommending an Emachine for her, and I won't buy a Celery system.

It's probably:

a) infected with spyware like crazy, unless you've been on top of that.
b) bogged down with a million stupid applications that start up at boot for no good reason, and/or
c) equipped with very little RAM and a really slow 4200RPM hard disk (like most cheap OEM systems).

P4 Celeron processors (not the more recent Celeron "D" variants), while painfully slow for gaming, are really more than adequate for office work. It's just that very cheap OEM builds generally cut way back on everything else, which would cripple even the fastest processor.

AMD's AXP/Sempron processors -- heck, even their low-budget Duron chips -- are all WAY faster than a P4 Celeron, have plenty of horsepower, and are a much better bang/buck than an Athlon64 (which is ridiculous overkill here). Get yourself a cheap AthlonXP or Sempron CPU, and an NForce2 Ultra motherboard with integrated graphics (or one without integrated graphics and a cheap 2D card like a RADEON 7000). Add 512MB of RAM and a 7200RPM HD with 8MB cache. Add any other peripherals you need and you should be well under $500.

Take a look at the system buyer's guide.

 

[Ghost]

It's probably:

a) infected with spyware like crazy, unless you've been on top of that.
b) bogged down with a million stupid applications that start up at boot for no good reason, and/or
c) equipped with very little RAM and a really slow 4200RPM hard disk (like most cheap OEM systems).

P4 Celeron processors (not the more recent Celeron "D" variants), while painfully slow for gaming, are really more than adequate for office work. It's just that very cheap OEM builds generally cut way back on everything else, which would cripple even the fastest processor.

AMD's AXP/Sempron processors -- heck, even their low-budget Duron chips -- are all WAY faster than a P4 Celeron, have plenty of horsepower, and are a much better bang/buck than an Athlon64 (which is ridiculous overkill here). Get yourself a cheap AthlonXP or Sempron CPU, and an NForce2 Ultra motherboard with integrated graphics (or one without integrated graphics and a cheap 2D card like a RADEON 7000). Add 512MB of RAM and a 7200RPM HD with 8MB cache. Add any other peripherals you need and you should be well under $500.

Take a look at the system buyer's guide.[/quote]

Probably is infected with spyware and who knows what else. I see her once a year tops, and haven't been asked to do any sort of maintenance on her system.

I'll look into the AthlonXP or Sempron line with the Nforce 2 chipset you mentioned, as did a poster above.

Thanks for the info

 

[Edward Lee]

GRRR

 

[magomago]

I would look for a Frys Deal. And no offense but lol it looks like you are building a bad gaming machine (I mean Geforce 5500FX?) Hontesly i would be saying look for cheap Geforce2MX or maybe the FX5200 if the price is <30 or so.

But yeah...39 dollars...that better NOT be a wintel modem...

But go for an emachine. They are much better these days than before. Hell their latest AXP systems use the KT600 or the Nforce 2! And from what I've heard their A64 systems are not 1/2 bad at all. Emachine has defintily turned around and so has my opinion of them.