• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Looking for help picking parts for my dad

R

redrob2

Junior Member
Thanks everyone in advance for your help!

I'm building my Dad a cheap "stop-gap" system right now. He's got hard drives and a new burner he's going to keep. I picked up 4GB of Corsair 6400 RAM for $15 that I'll probably use in the new system as well. What I need help with are recommendations for the following parts (ideally ~$200-$300 for the following):

- Case w/ power supply
- Motherboard
- CPU (Intel or AMD)


He isn't a power user and mainly uses it for Office apps, web browsing, and sometimes he likes to play around with some cheezy video editing software. I'd ideally like to get him something with on-board video and an HDMI out since his computer is next to the TV and it'd be a nice way to play a video from his computer. I was looking at some various 780G motherboards and the Athlon x2 7750 BE, but got a little gunshy that those solutions might be a little underpowered if this is going to last him 2-3 years. He's got a P4 with 512MB RAM right now that is dead slow, so anything would be an improvement. Again, thanks for the help!!!

-Rob
 
Given that we know Windows 7 will run on Vista-capable -- sorry, Vista-ready hardware and probably more smoothly than Vista, it seems difficult to imagine an Athlon X2 system falling too far behind as a general-purpose 'parent's PC'. As long as he doesn't engage in too much video transcoding, an Athlon X2 and 780G board should be fine. Several boards offer HDMI out (and make sure you get one that offers the connexion his primary monitor needs: some offer only VGA or only DVI).

That said, at the $300 end, if you skimp on the case and power supply, it might be possible to afford an nVidia GeForce 9300 / 9400 board and a lesser Core 2 Duo, but it hardly seems worth it unless you plan to upgrade the cpu eventually. And even with an AMD 780G board, there's a good chance it will support the very respectable Phenom IIs for future upgrade, and these are about equivalent to Core 2 Q9400s and Q9550s.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top