Building a PC for the in-laws - Need recommendations

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Gunslinger08

Gunslinger08

Lifer
Nov 18, 2001
13,234
2
81
They're currently running on a 7 year old Dell that's seriously in need of an upgrade. I'm doing this to be nice, and I realize it's going to mean I'm their tech support. It's a family of two teenagers (read: youtube, facebook, sports sites, very light video editing, etc.) and two parents (read: Word documents, email, mindless games). I want to build them a low cost, quiet machine that can give them more power and maybe annoy them a little less due to slowness. What do you suggest? I'm thinking:

- Lower to mid line CPU
- 2 GBs of RAM, unless there's a good deal on 4
- Lower end discrete video card (something with acceleration for video and flash games)
- Cheapo motherboard with modern ports
- Mid size case
- 500 GB hard drive
- DVD burner
 
Last edited:
Gunslinger08

Gunslinger08

Lifer
Nov 18, 2001
13,234
2
81
Here's what I had built out earlier, which may be overkill:
- C2D E7500 - $120
- ASRock G41M-S - $50
- G.SKILL 2GB DDR2 1066 - $53
- HIS H467QS1GH Radeon HD 4670 1GB DDR3 - $80
- WD Blue 7200 RPM 500 GB - $56
- Sony Optiarc 24X DVD Burner - $27
- MASSCOOL 8WA741 92mm Ball CPU Cooler - $30
- HEC 6K28BBOH48D MicroATX Mini Tower w/ 485W PSU - $62

Seems like I probably have a lot of room to move down.
 
L

lenjack

Platinum Member
Oct 10, 1999
2,706
7
81
It appears you are aware that you will be 24/7 tech support for them forever. I don't think it's worth it.
Why not get them an inexpensive, updated new Dell?
 
S

Syran

Golden Member
Dec 4, 2000
1,493
0
76
I essentially built the machine I posted above for a VP @ my work. Running Windows 7 great. Onboard video Athlon II X2, 4GB ram (ddr3), 640GB WD Black.

I think it's pretty capable for what you want, and pretty inexpensive, comes out to $429 including shipping to me.
 
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ther00kie16

Golden Member
Mar 28, 2008
1,573
0
0
Get a dell when it's $400 with a 20" lcd. Perhaps wait a few more days (maybe they and hp will have 20% bing cashback again around or after christmas like they did right after thanksgiving).
 
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ther00kie16

Golden Member
Mar 28, 2008
1,573
0
0
brandonwh64

brandonwh64

Golden Member
Mar 26, 2009
1,543
0
76
ther00kie16 said:
Bad idea.
Poor psu. Poor motherboard and igp. Poor memory and only 1gb. No heatsink.
Much better to get the Dell deal.
Click to expand...

its not gonna be running a marathon of folding@home. They dont need a super computer to look at facebook LOL that would be the best bang for your buck
 
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imported_NoGodForMe

Senior member
May 3, 2004
452
0
0
Pass down your machine to them and you build something new.

My old computers always went to my parents.

Dad and wife are now using HP laptops, that's probably the best idea. It's portable, so they can bring it to you if it crashes.
 
Gunslinger08

Gunslinger08

Lifer
Nov 18, 2001
13,234
2
81
imported_NoGodForMe said:
Pass down your machine to them and you build something new.

My old computers always went to my parents.

Dad and wife are now using HP laptops, that's probably the best idea. It's portable, so they can bring it to you if it crashes.
Click to expand...

My desktop is still pretty decent and plays all of the games I want at high settings. Maybe in a couple of years.
 
P

piasabird

Lifer
Feb 6, 2002
17,168
60
91
I think a Dell might be an excellent choice. They have both Intel and AMD choices. That way they can call Dell for support and it will probably have a warranty.

You could probably try to price out a build similar to this. This has the OS, but no monitor or speakers. If they have an old tube monitor, they probably need a new monitor. One option would be to put a media bar on the bottom of the Monitor. Another option would be to just use the old speakers or get some new ones. If they like music and games speakers might be a good idea. You can go cheaper with a smaller Processor, but I would not recommend it. This is just a basic system with an upgrade to get this processor for $70.00 additional. Just put together an AMD system if you want. I it is my opinion that Intel processors are more dependable.

$469 Win7 + E7500 Integrated System
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E7500 (3MB L2, 2.93GHz, 1066FSB) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English edit
WARRANTY & SERVICE 1 Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis - Important Information edit
On-Site Service after Remote Diagnosis: for issues covered by Limited Hardware Warranty, technician and/or part will be dispatched, if necessary, usually within 1 business day following Remote Diagnosis. During Remote Diagnosis, you may be asked to access the inside of your system (where safe to do so) or to participate in troubleshooting until a cause can be isolated.
PRODUCTIVITY No Productivity software pre-installed edit
SECURITY No Security edit
MEMORY 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz- 2DIMMs edit
HARD DRIVE 500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™ edit
OPTICAL DRIVE 16X DVD+/-RW Drive edit
MONITOR No Monitor edit
VIDEO CARD Integrated Intel® GMA X4500HD Graphics edit
SOUND Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio edit
KEYBOARD & MOUSE Dell Multimedia Keyboard and Premium Optical USB Mouse edit
MODEM No Modem Option edit
My Services & Warranties
My Accessories
SPEAKERS No Speaker Option edit
MOUSE Mouse included with Keyboard purchase edit
FLOPPY & MEDIA READER Integrated 16-in-1 Media Card Reader edit
ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
NETWORKING Integrated 10/1000 Ethernet
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9.0 Multi-Language
 
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ther00kie16

Golden Member
Mar 28, 2008
1,573
0
0
brandonwh64 said:
its not gonna be running a marathon of folding@home. They dont need a super computer to look at facebook LOL that would be the best bang for your buck
Click to expand...

Yea, say that until the crap psu fails, the 6100 igp can't even run the most basic games, the ultra (crappy brand) ram die and most things u do will end up taking more than 1gb of ram.
 
P

piasabird

Lifer
Feb 6, 2002
17,168
60
91
http://www.directron.com/sysbackschool1.html

Motherboard:
http://www.directron.com/p5pqlam.html
Just order the motherboard and add on the parts you want.
This lets you change the RAM/power supply/processor etc.

This is just a basic rock bottom priced system. Uses standard parts.

# System Components: Processor: Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 2.50GHz 800MHz FSB, 2MB Cache.
# Memory: 2GB DDR2 800 (2x1GB) dual channel memory.
# Motherboard: ASUS P5QPL-AM MicroATX motherboard with Intel G41 Chipset.
# Video: Onboard integrated graphics. (With additional Graphics adapter slot)
# Audio: Intel High Definition 6-channel audio.
# Storage: 160GB SATA Hard Drive
# Optical: 22X SATA DVD-RW Drive
# Case: Cooler Master Elite 330 RC-330-KKR1 mid tower case with 350W power supply
# LAN: Gigabit (10/100/1000 Mbits/sec).
 
Winterpool

Winterpool

Senior member
Mar 1, 2008
830
0
0
Going the Dell route is 1.) cheap and 2.) provides a third party you can foist their tech support demands on. That said, I don't know how close you are to your in-laws, but I know with my parents, close friends, parents of girlfriends, etc, I am always first-level tech support, no matter who built the machine. This rather dilutes advantage number 2...

Dell is offering ridiculously cheap deals on quadcore desktop machines, usually with the Intel Q8200 or Athlon II X4. I've a feeling a quadcore will 'futureproof' a system more than raw clockspeed these days, and who knows how long it will be before your in-laws get their next machine. I suspect video editing / transcoding will probably be the most demanding app in their usage, and that would be better served by more cores.

I lean towards the Athlon II because all mainstream AMD chips support virtualisation now, but the cheaper Intel 'Penryns' do not. Virtualisation tech, I suspect, may also prove a good idea for the future (note how Microsoft provides a Windows XP VM instance for high-end Windows 7 SKUs). Also, returning to video tasks, I seem to recall AnandTech's benchmarks found the Athlon II X4 outperforming cheap Core 2 Quads like the Q8200.
 
pcgeek11

pcgeek11

Lifer
Jun 12, 2005
22,019
4,852
136
joshsquall said:
They're currently running on a 7 year old Dell that's seriously in need of an upgrade. I'm doing this to be nice, and I realize it's going to mean I'm their tech support. It's a family of two teenagers (read: youtube, facebook, sports sites, very light video editing, etc.) and two parents (read: Word documents, email, mindless games). I want to build them a low cost, quiet machine that can give them more power and maybe annoy them a little less due to slowness. What do you suggest? I'm thinking:

- Lower to mid line CPU
- 2 GBs of RAM, unless there's a good deal on 4
- Lower end discrete video card (something with acceleration for video and flash games)
- Cheapo motherboard with modern ports
- Mid size case
- 500 GB hard drive
- DVD burner
Click to expand...

You are one brave man! Computer for inlaws and becoming permenent FREE tech support for a PC that has TWO TEEN USERS!

Me ... Not in a million years.

pcgeek11
 
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