Building PC for my dad

[fschris]

The only thing I am looking for is a smooth Web experience. he does not game. He may watch some streaming Netflix. He does not want a laptop I even tried to talk him into it. Going to build him a solid PC with solid parts. Rather than buy a POS dell.

What do you think of this:

"Intel Core i3-3220 Ivy Bridge 3.3GHz LGA 1155 55W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2500 " 119 at new egg.

I will pair this with a ASUS z77 Mobo
ASUS P8Z77-M LGA 1155 Intel Z77

Thoughts?

 

[owensdj]

That looks like a good start. Remember to use a quality power supply. Maybe something like a SeaSonic S12II 430B 430W. 430W is probably more than the system really needs, but it's good to have the extra headroom for capacitor aging over time.

I wouldn't go any lower than an 8GB(2x4GB) dual channel memory kit, given today's prices.

 

[fschris]

cool... thanks for tip on PS. I know the ones in off the shelf pc are complete garbage

 

[lehtv]

Asrock H77M $70
Pentium G850 $70
2x4GB 1333 $33
Samsung 830 128GB $94 + bracket $5
DVD-RW $18
Antec Neo Eco 400C $30 AR
Rosewill R101 $30

= $350 AR, free shipping, assuming you have an OS already. If not

No need for an i3 or even less a Z77 board. The smooth web experience comes mainly from fast performance per core and fast disk operations.

 

[Cerb]

That mobo is expensive. What kind of video connections do you need or want?

Here are several boards that don't cost too much, to consider. Note that I did not take the time to check their CPU lists, in case you find that any don't support IB, and stick with your IB i3 CPU .
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157326
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157236
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157303 <- lehtv's selected board
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138357
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130655
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131842

And, here are some nice cases for not too much...but not cheap, either.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811352011
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811112354
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811163186
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129018

On the off chance you want something big and roomy, Corsair's 300R is nice, but I'm not sure that's remotely justified for run of the mill web box.

Edit: were I doing it, I would get the stubby Silverstone, a board with USB 3.0 mobo headers (such as the ASRock H77M), and then install a 3.5" card reader in the top 5.25" slot (the case includes a 3.5" adapter and plate).

Finally, whether even an i3 is worth it should, IMO, depend on what you think will be done when the PC is retired. If you commonly re-purpose old PCs, an i3 now might be worth it in several years. If not, nobody will notice the difference with a Pentium.

 

[mfenn]

Asrock H77M $70
Pentium G850 $70
2x4GB 1333 $33
Samsung 830 128GB $94 + bracket $5
DVD-RW $18
Antec Neo Eco 400C $30 AR
Rosewill R101 $30

= $350 AR, free shipping, assuming you have an OS already. If not

No need for an i3 or even less a Z77 board. The smooth web experience comes mainly from fast performance per core and fast disk operations.

:thumbsup: Nice build.

 

[Zap]

Here is my attempt at a pure web browsing machine.

Pentium G2120 Ivy Bridge dual core CPU $100
Low power draw with decent performance. What more does a web browsing machine need? Alternately go for older lower end Sandy Bridge chips starting around $64

stock cooler $FREE
Enable a silent fan profile in BIOS.

H77 chipset ITX mobo $100
USB 3.0 and SATA 6G for a fully modern experience. Alternately go for lower end motherboards starting around $57 but without USB 3.0 or SATA 6G.

8GB RAM $33
I don't think web browsing would get any better with faster or more RAM. Heck, can probably even drop down to 4GB for around $19.

Plextor M5S 128GB SSD $100
SSD deals change on a daily basis, so whatever is good and at a good price. Can even drop down to 64GB for $60 or less since that should be more than enough for web browsing. My mom's system uses an Intel/Kingston 40GB for Windows 7 and pure web browsing, and it still has a lot of free space even with an email client and a bunch of photos.

Antec ISK 110 VESA with power supply $74
Ah yes. My recent favorite recommendation. If you don't need to install a graphics card (or any other card), don't need much storage space and don't need to use an optical drive on a regular basis, then why not such a case?

$407 + OS for specified list

Alternately, with Pentium G620 CPU, cheap H61 ITX motherboard, 4GB RAM and 64GB SSD.

$274 + OS

Even that $274 setup will browse web pages like a champ.