New computer for $400

[joepa99]

Hey guys,

A friend is trying to surprise her husband with a new comp, but she only has $400 to spend. He is not a power user by any means; just something to surf the net and use Excel.

Any suggestions on the proper components would be great, as I will probably build it for her.

Thanks!

 

[boyz]

buy a the following, it may cost around 400.

AMD Athlon? XP 2000+ @ 266Mhz FSB
ABIT® KV7, Socket A, Via KT600 / VT8237 Chipsets, Ultra/133, 8X AGP (ATX)
256Mb DDR SDRAM Ram Module, PC2100
40 GB Samsung ATA-100 7200RPM 2048k 8.9ms
Sony 52X Max CD-ROM Drive (7.8Mb/Sec)
USR / 3Com 56K Fax/Modem (PCI) v.90
ATI® Radeon? 7000 64Mb AGP TVO SDR Video Card

total cost = $475.44 cdn - less in usd

 

[Ionizer86]

Abit NF7-M $75
XP-M 2400+ Barton $75
Case/PSU $50
512 PC3200 $80
V.92 Modem $0
80GB Drive $40
Keyboard $0
Mouse $0
Cheap 17" Tube $60

Total $380
Just keep a lookout on the free kbrd/mouse/modem. And check Hot Deals on a monitor if they need one. And yes, Staples had a 17" tube for $60 last week. I couponed it down to $45

 

[OverVolt]

GigaByte KM266.....$50

AXP 2000+.......$58

Crucial DDR266 2.5CL...$37

Maxtor 40Gb 7.2K rpm....$58

Lite-On 52x32x52 CD-RW..$35

<a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.new
egg.com/app/ViewProductD
esc.asp?description=37-102-141&catalog=368&manufactory=BROWSE&depa=0&section=3">Win XP Home OEM...$94</a>

Antec Beige Case+300W Antec PSU $60

Total: $392

Those are some decent quality parts (not sure about the mobo, might wanna change that). I think this should probably get the job done. If your talking Monitor, KB, Mouse, Speakers, PC for under $400 then This is where you need to go, even thought a P4 Celeron and 5400RPM HD is probably torture.

Feel free to use whatever ram, case ect you would like better, the board i picked has intg. LAN, Vid, Sound, but im not sure how much you trust a VIA chipset.

Good Luck!

EDIT: Ionizer86, and boyz. What about OS?

 

[klah]

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=40&threadid=1252789&FTVAR_MSGDBTABLE=

Dimension 2400 Desktop for $399 after a $150 mail in rebate with free shipping

Pentium® 4 Processor at 2.66GHz with 533MHz front side bus, Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition, FREE UPGRADE to 256MB Shared DDR SDRAM at 333MHz (Performs at 266MHz for 400FSB systems), FREE UPGRADE to 80GB ATA/100 Value Hard Drive, FREE upgrade to CDRW Drive

Don't forget that if you are building your own, WinXP is $100.....

 

[AFB]

Originally posted by: klah
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=40&threadid=1252789&FTVAR_MSGDBTABLE=

Dimension 2400 Desktop for $399 after a $150 mail in rebate with free shipping

Pentium® 4 Processor at 2.66GHz with 533MHz front side bus, Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition, FREE UPGRADE to 256MB Shared DDR SDRAM at 333MHz (Performs at 266MHz for 400FSB systems), FREE UPGRADE to 80GB ATA/100 Value Hard Drive, FREE upgrade to CDRW Drive

Don't forget that if you are building your own, WinXP is $100.....

I vote for this one. As much as I like AMD, You cant beat this deal.