Ok guys I have been doing alot of searching lately, and my eyes are hurting, so i figured i would call on afterdawn to help me do some research. I need to build a pc for a lady who has never owned a PC. She is an experienced pc user though. So she has asked me to build a computer for her, but heres the catch, I only have 400$ and it has to be as fast as possible for the money. and the 400$ must include shipping. can anyone here help me out with this? P.s. i also have to buy a monitor, keyboard, and mouse with that money.
Umm.. for that budget a pretty decent pc can be built but shipping+keyboard and monitor makes it kinda difficult. how big of a monitor do you want. and I she going to be gaming or watching HD movies?
thanks for the replys, let me be more specific. i don't need to purchase an OS screen size isn't a huge issue, although I would like to try to get her a 17" she will not be gaming on this pc, she will be basically introducing herself to the internet. like i said she knows how to use a pc, as she is a co-worker of mine and she uses them at work, but she has basically never used the internet. my main concern for this build would be speed. I highly doubt she will need much HDD space. she will basically be, watching videos on youtube, doing e-mail, surfing the web, and playing online flash games. so she isn't even going to need a graphics card as long as one is on board. thanks for the replys! I would like to build this next week after i propose the pricing to her.
i dont know if this will help much.im in australia i dont know where you are but for a pentium 4 with a 3ghz processor its only about $100 now secondhand.you can pick them up with a crt moniter,keyboard,mouse and windows xp for about $Aus200.my mum and sister have pentium 4 computers and they seem to work fine for flash games and youtube videos surfing the net and emails.as long as you have the right internet connection it should work.if you want a dual core you might pick one up for about $400 with out the moniter or mouse and keyboard.Lcd moniters arnt cheap either.crt moniters are about $10 here secondhand.you can search for a dualcore secondhand and you might be lucky and find one for that price but i think for the basics a pentium 4 will work fine.
IMHO, used/refurb/closeout is your only hope with that budget. Since you didn't tell us what country you're in, none of us really knows how applicable your input would be. MicroCenter has refurbed IBM desktops and you can get a decent P4 for about $249.00 with keyboard and mouse. Like this Dell dual core for $259.99. (an example. This unit is in-store pickup) http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0304279 If you shop at buy.com or newegg.com you can definitely get a 17" LCD for about $100.00 USD shipped. Keyboard and mouse should not cost you more than $25.00 total, again, if you shop wisely. For a project like that, you'll have to shop, not be in a hurry, and not expect a "one stop shop" deal.
OK, I would suggest getting on buy.com's mailing list. Things like this come along every once in awhile. http://www.buy.com/prod/hp-pavilion...5-ghz-6gb/q/loc/101/211995471.html?adid=17992 While I realize that this specific unit at $349.99 shipped puts you over budget since there is no monitor included, I have seen comparable deals in the $299.00 shipped range which leaves you $100.00 for a monitor.
$410 including a monitor, a little tricky: X2 240 CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103688 2GB PC2 6400: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820159019 MSI basic Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130243 WD1600AAJS 250GB HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136075 Silverstone 350W PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256019 Liteon 24x DVD burner: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289 AOC 19" monitor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824160034 Rosewill case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147068 Spec'ing this build reminded me how hard it is to spec a low-end AMD system, all the cheap CPUs are AM3, all the cheap boards are AM2 only.... argh! newegg also still don't stock any DVD burners. It's getting to the stage when i'm going to be telling people to build systems from newegg and buy DVD drives from buy.com instead! This is the absolute cheapest PC I will spec without seriously compromising on components, I've already used a very low quality motherboard and RAM just to touch the budget line. You will have to up the budget to $450 to include a keyboard and mouse and have a PC that isn't likely to fall to bits, because any lower just isn't doable with a monitor included.
thank you very muych sam, i scratched the monitor and went to bestbuy.com which had a dell the same size for 99.99 with free shipping, which enabled me to be able to buy my mouse and keyboard and still make budget. well done! i appericate all the help, and after reviewing the components you picked out I am sure she will love this build! thanks again! EDIT: I also realized i had a PSU here at the house, so i didn't order that, i ment to put that in the post as well. Thats where my mouse and keyboard money came from.
might want to post the make/model of that PSU so the higher ups here can determine if it will suffice or fry your PC. thats the last thing you want to go cheap on.
Holy crap, only just spotted that line. Yeah, do not use any old PSU you found lying around, you will probably fry all the components, and you could even start a fire.
thanks for the advice guys, but i am pretty knowledgeable in the aspects of building, but to make you feel safe its a 400w psu for a micro atx.
Clearly you aren't knowledgable, as you're using any old PSU left lying around. Kindly enlighten us with the brand and we can tell you whether to keep it or (most likely) bin it. Most "400W" PSUs will go bang if you draw more than 120-130W out of them, and I'm serious.
it's not just some old psu i have lying around, a guy i know built a new pc and had a bad xbox which i fixed for him in lieu of his "older" parts. it's a corsair, and according to the sticker on it, it was mfg. in january 09'. I understand your concern, but how do you know what knowledge of pc's i have? i just asked for a suggested build, not an insturction list on how to build. I feel that this psu will be fine, and i will be using it. thanks for caring enough to write back though.
Right. Usually 'an old PSU lying around' is some generic OEM PSU or basic 'value' unit they found from an old PC or bought from a shop for very little, and they're always bad news, it's rare that people have PSUs as valuable as corsairs just lying around. I'm sure you can appreciate that this happens often.
agreed, i am not the average user. my basment is a stockroom for spare parts, cables, and wires. most parts are OEM but i do have several aftermarket partgs down there as well.
