Building a computer for my college-bound sister. Please Critique.

[Piano Man]

I've been kinda out of the computer loop for a while. I usually stick to the OT and Political Forums, so my computer IQ has diminished as of late. My sister, who is going to be a Theatre major, needs a computer. She really isn't a gamer, and wants a system to do research, type papers, surf the internet, and listen to music. She really emphasizes the music part, and mentioned she wants to watch some movies as well on it. So with that in mind, here is the system I have come up with. There will be no OC'ing. Please critique it for me.

AMD Barton 2500+ 333 Bus Retail

Epox 8RDA+ Nforce2 MotherBoard

Corsair XMS TwinPack 2*256MB PC3200 (for Dual DDR)

Sapphire Atlantis ATI Radeon 9600 Pro

Dell FP1800 LCD monitor

Audigy 2 OEM

Creative Labs MegaWorks 550D THX Speakers

WD 120JB 8MB 7200 RPM HD

Lite On 16x DVD Rom (Black)

Lite On 52*32*52 Burner (Black)

Sony Floppy (Black)

Microsoft Natural Keyboard (Black and White)

Microsoft Optical Explorer Mouse (Silverish)

AHANIX dboX (Black) Mid-Tower PC Case link (This is a gamble, but I like the look.)

Antec 430watt True Power PS

Round Cables and all that stuff.


Total comes to $1700 after its all said and done. What do you think?

 

[Jeff7181]

If she's not playing games, that's overkill... and that power supply is DEFINATELY overkill... even the True Power 380 is overkill.

 

[Siddhartha]

If listening to music is important to her: Do you have a spare receiver and speakers laying around? Or instead of getting the Creative system, get an used home audio system? A decent home audio system delivers a higher quality sound, lower distortion and wider frequency range, than any computer speakers I have heard.

 

[MDE]

That would be a killer gaming setup with a little OC action. That's overkill unless she plays games. You could get a 350 watt PSU, regular IDE cables should be fine, lower end speakers (does she really need 5.1 THX sound? she'd probably get kicked out of her dorm for those speakers ) A GeForce4 Ti something should be fine (could even get away with an MX).

Most of all you should be concerned with keeping this thing quiet as it will be in a dorm and will annoy the hell out of her if there's the slightest whirr of fans. That said, look for a efficient heatsink and some quiet case fans with the cash saved by cutting down on the overkill components.

 

[gsaldivar]

Why the overkill? Your premium PSU, CPU, NForce MB, and Video Card are going way beyond what she really needs:

A cheapo $70 Fry's Combo (ECS K7S5A & AMD 2000+) will be PLENTY fast for what she's doing - even with all the music, videos and DVDs. I wouldn't even bother with rounded cables - she's going to be looking at what's on the screen, not inside of the case.

Do your sis a favor and build her a fast, lean machine and use all money you saved to get her a nice "all-in-one" Printer/Scanner or Laser Printer, and maybe an iPod for her music collection. She'll get much more use out of these than costly "top-shelf" parts in her computer.

Good luck!

 

[magomago]

Originally posted by: Piano Man
She really isn't a gamer, and wants a system to do research, type papers, surf the internet, and listen to music.

Your system that you would build is some uber lee7 gaming machine....


Assuming there isn't a Fry's where you live (man it sucks to have one not by you...hehe I don't have to worry about that any more since San Marcos is just a 30-40 minute drive )

Go with this...BTW I'm going for the COST factor...so if someone is goint to start bitch that I didn't put a nforce2...suck it :evil:




65.99 - Asus A7N266-VM AA (AMD Assured Version) NVIDIA nFORCE 220 Chipset 266/200MHz FSB Mo...+ - She isn't going to need some uber leet mobo that can crunch SETI, Encode Divx, and play Doom3 at the highest settings. In fact I would've even said go for the K7s5a PRO but the problem is she cares about audio and ECS has crappy onboard sound whereas the nforce benefits from soundstorm greatly providing we are talking about using the digital out [and the analog ain't 1/2 bad either]. You also get decent onboard video which will do the job. If you really don't like the video or are going to get a moniter with a DVI connection I'm sure you can get a cheap radeon or something for better 2d

56$- AMD Athlon XP 1800+/266 FSB Processor CPU 1800+/ 1.53GHz -0.13 micro Thoroughbred Core Retail - Would've said get a 1700+ but they don't have a retail version. Didn't want to pick Duron just because the price is so low on these anyway...retail version because it comes with a heatsink that'll do just fine on stock settings

29.99 - Enermax 300 watt PSU - Should do well for what she demands for...

70 -All components 512megs pc2100 ram. Is it just me or are pricing rising???WHY? Or if you look at that picture up there it seems at crucial.com you can get a stick of 256 for 25.99 - Either way 512 should EASILY be enough...I was just thinking perhaps she might have some documents open along with IE windows and playing music might push 256 to the limit...so 512


As for DVD get what ou had...but as for the CDRW go for one of those deals where you get a 52x burner for 14.99 AR (My friend got in on the Verbatim Burners that were Asuses and he enjoys paying so little for it)

As for the HDD...get a 80 or 120 giger...No doubt she'll get MP3s but that is going to be a HELL of a lotta MP3s if she ever fills up that HDD...Check the hotdeals and pick whatever is cheaper...


And the case...why don't you garner up a couple and let her have the final say

It seems you are really well intentioned for your sister which is why you jumped foir the most HQ stuff but you slightly overdid it probably because you are used to building high end PCS....either way what i just listed there cost 221.98 which is a far cry from your psu/mobo/ram/cpu/videocard - and you can even take out the audigy2 since soundstorm is very good(obviously no audigy 2 but who knows check out www.3dsoundsurge.com for a review)


Oh yeah - no need for round cables unless she is one of us

 

[Nebor]

Damn, those Windows Media Player visualizations will get like 450fps on that system, so it'll be a good juke box for your sister.

 

[HiTek21]

wow thats a nice rig for your sister, hell thats probably better than my rig.. Can I be in your family? Thats over kill if your sister isn't a gamer. You should hit up frys for one of those AMD / Mobo bundles for 90 dollars. Usually its an ECS K7S5A Pro w/ XP2400+. The PSU is too much, i'd go for a Sparkle 350w PSU probably save you 50 bucks maybe a ATi 9000 All In Wonder instead of the 9600 pro get an added bonus of a TV.

Edit: what about getting one of those CDRW/DVD Rom combo drives, wouldn't that save you a few extra bucks

 

[Sideswipe001]

I don't understand all the cries of "overkill" personally.

Just because it's powerful enough to play a game, doesn't mean that's a bad thing. I look at "overkill" as "how much longer will this last before they need an upgrade". I'd get the system that you have, and tell your sister she won't need any upgrades until she graduates.

Better to get her something that's "too fast" than something that will bug her in 2 years because it's slow.

 

[Nebor]

Oh please, a college aged girl could bog down a dual xenon beast in 2 years with all the kazaa + spyware + aim + viruses + the cool program my roomate showed me = slow ace computer. It will need maintenance. Why not get a laptop? Seems much more practical for college.

 

[MDE]

Laptop=gone in a heartbeat at most colleges.

 

[sugajay]

Yeah that's definately more than needed for what she plans to do...downgrade the cpu, mb, ram, and videocard. I would keep in mind noise and heat also, you might want to look into a lower clocked p4 setup to help with those issues. The Antec Sonata is a nice quiet oriented case that already comes with a 380watt truepower, it goes for $110.00 at newegg. You might want to get a quieter seagate hd also. Your choice of sound card, monitor, and speakers seem good. I would throw in a cordless mx duo which would be nice for movies and music from a distance.

 

[Piano Man]

I understand that it's a good gaming system. But I'm trying to make it work for the next 3-4 years for her. Right now, my family has a P-133 with 32MB Ram, a slow ass vid card, and only 1 speaker that works, not to mention the modem. The reason she isn't a gamer, to me, is because she hasn't had a system that can play games. She's a smart girl, and will definately know how to work her way around a new computer in no time at all. I went with the LCD because its better for her eyes and I want something that looks better since she has good tastes. Hell I wasn't a gamer when I went to college back in '98, but when I got my PII 400 with a Voodoo2, it seemed like the games found me.

 

[Bonesdad]

I just built a system for a friend of my daughters:

Athlon 2500+ Barton
Shuttle MN31N (using onboard sound, video and ethernet)
Win XP Home
512 MB Crucial PC2700 (2x256)
80MB Special Edition Drive
Samsung 1760NX LCD Monitor
Samsung CDRW/DVD Combo Drive

She is using similar apps that your sister is using. This machine came in just over $1000...it will be plenty for her for a few years I bet. She can add a "real" video card later if she desires...

Good luck.

 

[salvorhardin]

I'm building the following setup for my sister also, The system you are thinking of building is ok. I would consider if you would rather spend the money now and not upgrade any components for a couple of years or do more of a budget system that she can use until the system is too slow for her and then you can upgrade individual components. Also what you might want to consider is that if she is moving away for college then that system would be fine since she won't need to upgrade anything for a couple of years. Also you might want to look at an Intel system since you might have a better chance of upgrading to a better processor later on. Not sure about this since I've read that there is a chance that some of todays motherboards won't be able to support presscott cores. The peripherals are good but the only thing I would do is show her the different available cases and let her choose which style she likes and then buy a good power supply to with it.

Athlon 2500+
Epox 8RDA+
512MB Crucial PC2700
Radeon 9100 128MB
WD 80 GB SE
NEC 1560 NX-BK LCD
Liteon 48X cdrw
Antec LanBoy

 

[Playmaker]

You could easily follow the advice so far in this thread and cut that price down to ~$1000 even with monitor. Make sure you have digital outs and toss the $700 difference plus the cost of those speakers into a nice home audio set up and tell her to make sure she locks her dorm room door...

 

[newbiepcuser]

How about this one Dell

Since she isn't a gamer, this might be easier for you.

Add the toys: video card, bigger drive, Audigy 2, etc. It should still come under your total.

Plus she can get tech support, hardware mainteance if you're not around.