Best Upgrade Path To Take?

[parsley007]

hi,

i've just got a couple of questions, want to make sure i'm not missing anything. my situation is my parents need a faster computer. they currently have a 1 ghz celeron with 256 mb ram and are complaining about it's slow speed. all they do is surf the internet and light ms office use. i currently have a socket 939 3500+ with 1gb ddr.

i have a spare case, ps, and dvdrw. they can use their old hd as they don't need much space. i figured the cheapest option would be for them just to get a mobo + proc combo. however, seeing as they don't need the speed, i figured i could upgrade, and let them use my hardware rather than them spending $400+ on a new pc, they could get by with ~$250.

pricing things out, it seems like my best bet would be a 775 intel system. just looking at newegg, i can get:


Intel Pentium D 805 Smithfield 2.66GHz LGA 775 65.00
GIGABYTE GA-8I865GME-775-RH 49.99
SUPER TALENT 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 667 (PC2 5400) 98.99
COOLER MASTER RR-LIE-L9E1-GP 95mm CPU Cooler 14.99
total 227.98

any other suggestions as a better route to take?

also, what is the difference between the pentium d dual core and the core 2 duo?

thanks for any input.

 

[Zardnok]

I would go for one of the Core2Duo e4300 bundles that are starting to show up in the $125ish range. You would likely come out with twice the performance for the same money. Check out outpost, mwave, and newegg to see what bundles they are running currently.