Budget build for Dad, Asus M2A-VM a good choice or go Intel?

[sprtfan]

I need to build a new computer for my dad and wanted some feedback on a budget build that would only be used for email and printing pictures. I do not want to overclock since stability is the most important thing for the system along with price. He is what I came up with.

AMD 4000 x2 and an Asus M2A-VM for about $133

I could get a E2140 pretty chead but most of the motherboards are pretty expensive. I checked out the Anandtech budget build and their recommended mobo (Gigabyte GA-73UM-S2H) was about $105 shipped from newegg.
The recommended a Foxconn A690GM2MA-8KRS2H AMD 690G mATX for the AMD build but I have had bad luck with Foxconn in the past and the Asus board had a few more options that could be useful. Thanks for any input.

I should also mention that I will be using Windows XP Pro but might upgrade to Vista in a year or so. The system will have 2 GB of ram.

 

[NoelS]

sprtfan,

I just built a new computer using this motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131014 The advantage I see over the board you've selected is that you'd have access to 2 PCI slots even if your video card is wide enough to bury one slot... It does cost $90, but you can probably find it cheaper. I also found the X2 4000+ at Newegg for $60 OEM, for a total of about $150...

I either case you'd have a pretty decent system for what you want at a decent price. Of course you still need a video card...

If you want to go with Intel, you could get an Abit IP35-E for about $70-80 after a $20MIR. Check http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/...&prodlist=pricegrabber Also check SerpentRoyal's thread on the Abit IP35-E on this forum.

Noel

 

[NoelS]

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