- Mar 4, 2011
- 11,395
- 1,176
- 126
System ordered!
I was close to getting that super mini system (ITX whatever), but ended up sticking with the conventional microATX this time.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/BNqP99
I took your advice and went with MX100 SSD instead (also voted best SSD @ price range by Tom's).
I'll update again once parts arrive and assembly done.
---------------------------
My mom's 10 year old Dell is falling apart. It's time I build her a nice machine.
She IS very active with her PC with 3-4 hours of daily use- she watches lots of youtube, constantly does social things with Google video chat/Kakaotalk/FB with her friends and family.
1. The goal is to build her a nice lag-free machine for daily 1080p youtube and things above at cheapest cost.
2. I don't know the budget, that's why I'm asking the experts. Can you achieve this with $300? $200? $150? SHE ONLY NEEDS A TOWER I'm also open to refurb brand PCs.
3. USA
4. USA
5. Ofc no brand preference
6. The good news is that she'll use good portion of current parts- 1080p monitor, speakers, keyboard, mouse, and wireless adapter. She does need a nice new HD (probably get away with half TB). So basically she just needs a tower.
7. No OCing.
8. Again, she already has a nice 22" 1920x1080 monitor
9. I can build it between now and Christmas.
X. No software needed, I have plenty of Win7 keys from my work.
My side thoughts/Qs:
A. I assume integrated video is more than sufficient these days for 1080p videos/multi tab browsing? Do integrated vids come in mobos now or CPU? I'm totally out of the PC market.
B. I THINK I do want 4 gigs of ram for her though. IMO, RAM is cheap enough not to skimp on it. 2 gig would be laggy I feel in the near future (unless you strongly convince me otherwise).
C. Should I build NOW or wait til Blackfriday? Is there a big price break coming before X-mas? This will be her X-mas gift.
Again, cheap but not too cheap where it'll be laggy
I was close to getting that super mini system (ITX whatever), but ended up sticking with the conventional microATX this time.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/BNqP99
I took your advice and went with MX100 SSD instead (also voted best SSD @ price range by Tom's).
I'll update again once parts arrive and assembly done.
---------------------------
My mom's 10 year old Dell is falling apart. It's time I build her a nice machine.
She IS very active with her PC with 3-4 hours of daily use- she watches lots of youtube, constantly does social things with Google video chat/Kakaotalk/FB with her friends and family.
1. The goal is to build her a nice lag-free machine for daily 1080p youtube and things above at cheapest cost.
2. I don't know the budget, that's why I'm asking the experts. Can you achieve this with $300? $200? $150? SHE ONLY NEEDS A TOWER I'm also open to refurb brand PCs.
3. USA
4. USA
5. Ofc no brand preference
6. The good news is that she'll use good portion of current parts- 1080p monitor, speakers, keyboard, mouse, and wireless adapter. She does need a nice new HD (probably get away with half TB). So basically she just needs a tower.
7. No OCing.
8. Again, she already has a nice 22" 1920x1080 monitor
9. I can build it between now and Christmas.
X. No software needed, I have plenty of Win7 keys from my work.
My side thoughts/Qs:
A. I assume integrated video is more than sufficient these days for 1080p videos/multi tab browsing? Do integrated vids come in mobos now or CPU? I'm totally out of the PC market.
B. I THINK I do want 4 gigs of ram for her though. IMO, RAM is cheap enough not to skimp on it. 2 gig would be laggy I feel in the near future (unless you strongly convince me otherwise).
C. Should I build NOW or wait til Blackfriday? Is there a big price break coming before X-mas? This will be her X-mas gift.
Again, cheap but not too cheap where it'll be laggy
Last edited: