Help Building A Computer For My Girlfriend

[Funboy]

Hey all,

I'm going to build a computer for my girlfriend and I'm looking for some input on what to get. She has a budget of $800 and needs a computer to burn CD's, watch movies, and play games. She'd like to have a CD-RW, DVD, probably 17 inch monitor, and somewhat decent video. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Dru

 

[Leokor]

My advice: Keep an eye on the nForce motherboards, which are soon to start selling. For around $150, you get a decent video, awesome audio, and network, all in one package. Memory is so cheap, it is not worth mentioning. You'd only have to throw in a CPU (Duron, looking at your budget), a cheap IDE drive, and the opticals.

Leo

 

[PsychoAndy]

i would not even think about building a rig for a gf with a 10 foot pole........

reason: if something goes wrong, wether it be at 2 in the afternoon or 2 in the morning, she knows the direct line for tech support...... my .02

 

[VBboy]

$800 ?!

Play games, 17", CDRW, DVD? Keep dreaming. You will need at least $1200 to build a decent gaming machine with your specs. Unless of course you call a Duron 1 Ghz with 128 MB RAM and 30 GB HD a good PC

Go to www.MWave.com or www.TCcomputers.com and use their configurator utility for rough pricing info. Take off approx. $50, and that's pretty much how much you'll end up paying.

 

[VBboy]

PsychoAndy,

Dude, it's great if she gets tech support from him, because he will get something else in return

 

[ST4RCUTTER]

Funboy,

Hmmm...with an $800 budget, that will be close. I would try the following:

SHUTTLE AK31A........................................................$85
AMD T-Bird 1.0Ghz OEM............................................$69
Crucial 256 DDR.........................................................$30
ENLIGHT EN-72370X3C4.........................................$47
Teac 1.44MB 3.5 Inch.................................................$10
MAXTOR 4D040H2 40Gig HDD................................$75
LITE-ON LTD-163 (16X DVD 48X CDROM)............$51
LITE-ON LTR-1210B 12x10x32 CD-RW..................$67
VIEWSONIC E95 19" Monitor.....................................$229
CardExpert GeForce2 MX 400 64MB.......................$69
CREATIVE LABS SOUND BLASTER LIVE! 5.1.......$32
Cooler Master DP5-6H11 CPU FAN.........................$7
KBTEK KEYBOARD 104 KEY PS2 with Wrist Pad..$8
24-Inch. IDE ATA 66/100 x 2.......................................$8
SUNON 80x80x25mm x 2...........................................$10
________________________________________
. TOTAL:$797


Everything but the RAM (Crucial) was at Newegg.com. You're on your own for shipping and software. Seventeen more bucks will get you a 1.2Ghz Athlon as well. You'll need a mouse too...doh! That'll cost you extra.

 

[Funboy]

I don't think it's gonna be too hard to get her a nice computer for around $800.

Just put me together a good setup for as cheap as you can make it and I'll take off whatever i need to get it under her budget. And when I say games, I don't mean anything ubercrazysuper high tech.

 

[Yvo]

ST4RCUTTER's system recommendation is nice. Just make the monitor a 17incher and add a nice mouse/keyboard instead of a $7 basic keyboard get something with buttons across the top with fast access to email, the web and her favorite media app. Makes the job a lot easier on her and him .

 

[VBboy]

ST4RCUTTER,

Wow, you must have nothing better to do than going to NewEgg and picking all the components... might as well build that PC for him!

I don't think that GeForce2 MX 400 qualifies as a gaming card. GeForce2 Pros are already becoming obsolete.. And he wants something he can "game" on.. Also, a non-flat monitor is not very good for watching DVDs on... I would get a true-flat one. Of course, add 256 MB to the 256 MB you already listed, and you have what I said around $1200

 

[Fjive]

no one has though of asking yet ?

PICS !?

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

chill VBboy you dont need a 8Ghz machine with a Geforce 7 to play games, a gf2mx would be fine, and a geforce 2 would be even better, definitely not obsolete!

i'd say get a duron w/ a k7s5a.

radeon VE??

i find myself seeing less and less reasons to buy new pc parts. my duron 750 is fine for anything i want to do. i don't do any rendering stuff or constantly compile huge programs, or DV or any stuff like that.

and why would she need 512MB of ram?

 

[AA0]

Crucial DDR 256 megs $30
Maxtor 7200 rpm, 30 gig HD $90 (I didn't take a 5400 slow thing like above)
Generic Case and 320W PSU - $30 (no need for a luxury case for someone that won't use it, I use these all the time, not one problem)
Logitech optical mouse - $25
logitech keyboard - $15
17inch monitor - HITACHI CM615 $160 (lower dot pitch then the Viewsonic newegg monitors.)
motherboard - shuttle ak31 KT266a $85 (I wouldn't recommend, but your price makes me)
cpu - 1Ghz 266 FSB Tbird $69
video card - Not much left over for the video, I'll suggest a Radeon LE (anything but a MX, they are awful) it'll give you great DVD, and 2d, and when overclocked far better 3d then a MX will $65
CD-RW - LITE-ON LTR-16102B $72 16x10x40
DVD - pioneer 16x $58
Sound - Santa Cruz $65
HSF - Thermaltake Volcano 6cu+ $14 Artic Silver $6
floppy - generic $10
56k/NIC - comstar modem or Aopen ethernet $20

many prices were from newegg, some were from a place I buy locally and shouldn't really be much different from what you can get (keyboard, mouse,modem, ethernet, case)


total is $814 Not sure if you need a modem and ethernet, floppy etc. So its easy to chop the price down, I wouldn't recommend going lower than what I put up

 

[chuckieland]

yo VBboy
check my sig
some people still using voodoo cards

 

[SinNisTeR]

listen to starcutter, thats as good as its gonna get. if you get a 19" you may want to get the samsung 955df from dell when they have some sort of discount, otherwise go with a 17"

 

[MrHelpful]

You know, VBboy, not everybody survives by putting others down. If picking components for a system makes people happy, why rock the boat?

 

[MrHelpful]

And yeah, I would call a 1GHz computer good. Cause mine is a 600MHz one and runs fine for games. Suck it long and hard, bitch.

 

[VBboy]

MrHelpful,

"Death List"? Are you feeling OK?

 

[MrHelpful]

It's not my fault you and NOS are one of the most annoying people on the forums.

 

[Yvo]

Hey lets not call each other names and insult each other. Everyone has their own point of view on this.

VBboy obviously likes the latest technologies... which is fine. Funboy did mention

<< And when I say games, I don't mean anything ubercrazysuper high tech. >>

So a Radeon or Geforce2MX 400 is a good start. I mean you can always replace the video card later on (lets say next year) A Geforce2MX is still good enough for todays games. Also a lot of "high end" computers from Dell, Comcrap, HP still come loaded with a TNT2 Vanta or now a days a Geforce2 MX.

Everyone has their own tastes on what to build but starcutter has come up with a good starter machine.

Yvo

 

[VBboy]

Yvo,

Yes, thank you!
All I did was suggest that the original posted may want to invest more to get a faster machine, and that ST4RCUTTER had a lot of free time on his hands

I think MrHelpful took it personally because his PC is a 286 and he has no free time on his hands, that's all

 

[dingdongdingdong]

would not even think about building a rig for a gf with a 10 foot pole........

reason: if something goes wrong, wether it be at 2 in the afternoon or 2 in the morning, she knows the direct line for tech support...... my .02

i agree with you this point
lol

 

[Odoacer]

When does she need the computer by? If you can wait for nForce (super integration), it'll shave A LOT off your costs.

 

[ST4RCUTTER]

I don't think that GeForce2 MX 400 qualifies as a gaming card. GeForce2 Pros are already becoming obsolete.. And he wants something he can "game" on.

I disagree, the GF2 MX is a fine card for gaming. Especially with 64MB of RAM. I have a GF2 MX 400 with 32MB of RAM, and I get close to 90 frames/sec on it playing CS. I seriously doubt she would be playing games that would require the high frame rates of a GF3 Ti.



Also, a non-flat monitor is not very good for watching DVDs on... I would get a true-flat one

Hey man, I had to work with an $800 budget. The flat-screens are nice but much more expensive.

 

[skibird]

Like ST4RCUTTER was saying it is can be done here i use most of his price and give a option of the nforce which is also pretty good.


nforce mobo........................................................$150
athlonXP 1600.....................................................$128
Crucial 256 DDR.........................................................$30
ENLIGHT EN-72370X3C4.........................................$47
Teac 1.44MB 3.5 Inch.................................................$10
MAXTOR 4D040H2 40Gig HDD................................$75
LITE-ON LTD-163 (16X DVD 48X CDROM)............$51
LITE-ON LTR-1210B 12x10x32 CD-RW..................$67
Cooler Master DP5-6H11 CPU FAN.........................$7
KBTEK KEYBOARD 104 KEY PS2 with Wrist Pad..$8
24-Inch. IDE ATA 66/100 x 2.......................................$8
SUNON 80x80x25mm x 2...........................................$10
cornerstone 20' dot.22 .........................................$250

total= 840
a little over bugget but you got a 20' monitor, editor's choice from cnet. you can find it at
http://www.electrified.com/

That is if you want to give her a little more like VBboy was saying she is your girlfriend so get her something nice. From the way you put the effort i am sure she is worthy it. So you know what to do.

be cool men

 

[CTho9305]

<< Funboy,

Hmmm...with an $800 budget, that will be close. I would try the following:

SHUTTLE AK31A........................................................$85
AMD T-Bird 1.0Ghz OEM............................................$69
Crucial 256 DDR.........................................................$30
ENLIGHT EN-72370X3C4.........................................$47
Teac 1.44MB 3.5 Inch.................................................$10
MAXTOR 4D040H2 40Gig HDD................................$75
LITE-ON LTD-163 (16X DVD 48X CDROM)............$51
LITE-ON LTR-1210B 12x10x32 CD-RW..................$67
VIEWSONIC E95 19" Monitor.....................................$229
CardExpert GeForce2 MX 400 64MB.......................$69
CREATIVE LABS SOUND BLASTER LIVE! 5.1.......$32
Cooler Master DP5-6H11 CPU FAN.........................$7
KBTEK KEYBOARD 104 KEY PS2 with Wrist Pad..$8
24-Inch. IDE ATA 66/100 x 2.......................................$8
SUNON 80x80x25mm x 2...........................................$10
________________________________________
. TOTAL:$797


Everything but the RAM (Crucial) was at Newegg.com. You're on your own for shipping and software. Seventeen more bucks will get you a 1.2Ghz Athlon as well. You'll need a mouse too...doh! That'll cost you extra. >>



i'd actuallry recommend the ECS k7s5a with integrated sound and NIC to cut prices. I helped a kid on my floor put together a $450 box. no monitor (he has one), no cdrom (he has a variety of drives). but you can cut prices really low if you do your research. tbird 1.2 also. here is the vendor he's using.