Is this the fastest, best custom PC for web browsing/dling....?

[lektrix]

My friend finds his Athlon XP 1600+/1GB SDRAM/80GB PC too slow...tried convincing him to buy a used XP 2500+ plus more SDRAM but it appears that no one's selling them anymore...he asked me to build a PC for him....so with that said, would these be the cheapest, fastest specs for our current generation of computing?

Mobo - Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L $88 (or P31-DS3L $70)
CPU - Intel E7200 2.53GHz 3MB $125 (or E2180 2.2GHz 1MB $72)
RAM - OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 800MHz Platinum XTC Revision 2 2GB $21 after MIR
HDD - Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 640GB SATA2 7200RPM 32MB NCQ Hard Drive $76
VIDEO - 9600GT for $110 or ATI 3870 for $125 (a bit overkill but what other "best bang for the buck" options are there? maybe 8500/8600 series)
PSU - OCZ StealthXStream OCZ500SXS 500W $40 (or Seasonic SS-400ET 400W EPS12V $48, Antec EA-380 380W $47)

All prices in Canadian $.

So in total we are looking at a pretty decent PC for $400-$475 for 90% web browsing, dling, movies, maybe 10% games.....way better than those prebuilt garbage ones...I think my friend has a nice HDTV in his room too so a video card with dual-DVI and HDMI should be good......what do you guys think?

 

[DarkRogue]

To do only web browsing and downloading, it's his internet that's slow, not that PC.
Any cheap parts would do really, but I'm betting his PC just feels slow because if he only has one hard drive, chances are it's fragmented to high hell depending on his downloads.
A couple good defrags, clean out the cookies/spyware/adware and it should run like new.

 

[lektrix]

Originally posted by: DarkRogue
To do only web browsing and downloading, it's his internet that's slow, not that PC.
Any cheap parts would do really, but I'm betting his PC just feels slow because if he only has one hard drive, chances are it's fragmented to high hell depending on his downloads.
A couple good defrags, clean out the cookies/spyware/adware and it should run like new.

well also movies and stuff, he has a nice HDTV in his room but it can't be hooked up to the current card which is AGP......

 

[lektrix]

?

 

[Roguestar]

E2180 and overclock, save yourself some cash. Don't forget a heatsink.

 

[frostedflakes]

Parts look like overkill, but for $500 that seems like a pretty killer setup. If he can afford it I'd say go for it, should be able to handle anything he'd need to do for many years to come.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Originally posted by: DarkRogue
To do only web browsing and downloading, it's his internet that's slow, not that PC.
Any cheap parts would do really, but I'm betting his PC just feels slow because if he only has one hard drive, chances are it's fragmented to high hell depending on his downloads.
A couple good defrags, clean out the cookies/spyware/adware and it should run like new.

Not completely true. Sites heavy with flash and other plugins, as well as lots of pictures or crazy background .gifs, will eat up an Athlon XP 1600+. Even loading web pages like Newegg can spike CPU usage as the pages are rendered, making Internet browing a chore.

lektrix, most of that is a tad overkill. Any Athlon X2 or Pentium Dual core would be fast enough, so you should save the $50+ by grabbing one of them over an E7200.

See if these video cards are cheaper: or 8800GS, HD3850, 9600GS.

If you can find these for at or under $50, then they would be able to do some gaming and save you some money: 8600GT, 8600GTS, 9500GT, HD2600 Pro, HD2600 XT, HD3650.

I would stay away from the 8500 series unless it's like $20 (or less).

 

[MarcVenice]

I'd lose the e7200 for a e2180. If not overclocking you could pick up a cheaper g31 chipset. Or you could lose the videocard alltogether and go with a 780g mobo and a amd 4850e X2. If not, get a 8800s, for the minimal gaming you plan on doing it should easily do. I think the WD 640gb is better then the seagate.

 

[boomhower]

Does he really game at all? It doesn't seem like and with that being the case the 780G/X2 combo mentioned by marc would be a great value.