Please look at these PC specs

[VVarewolf]

A friend of mine was looking at buying a computer from Gateway but I've been trying to deter her from making that mistake. I took the specs from the PC she was looking at and started putting together my own version of it with a few essential upgrades. She also doesn't know anything about AMD, which I feel would be the better system. She's basically wanting to have a computer that will play current and future games for her kids while allowing her to make use of multimedia functions (ie. DVD backup) and other basic uses. If you could look at the specs I put together along with the alternate AMD components and make sure everything is compatible, worth the price, etc...I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thank you!

CPU ? P4 650 w/ Hyper-Threading (3.4 GHz, 800MHz, 2MB L2 Cache) 271.00
Mobo ? Gigabyte GA-81945GMF (LGA 775) Intel 945G 100.00
RAM ? OCZ Dual-Channel 533Mhz (PC2 4200) 2x512MB 66.00
Hard Drive ? Maxtor DiamondMax 10 200GB 16MB Cache SATA 150 88.50
Video ? Aopen GeForce 6800GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI-E x16 SLI 235.00
DVD Drive ? NEC ND-3550A 40.00
Sound ? Creative SoundBlaster Live! 24Bit PCI 32.00
Case ? Cooler Master Centurion 540 RC-540-SKN1 49.00
Power ? Thermaltake TR2 430W 30.00
Floppy ? Sony 3.5? 1.44MB 10.00
Network ? Onboard 10/100
______
922.00

Alternative
CPU ? AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 1000MHz FSB 939 Hyper-Transport 201.00
Mobo ? Gigabyte GA-K8N Pro-SLI Socket 939 nForce4 106.00
RAM ? Corsair ValueSelect Dual-Channel DDR400 (PC 3200) 2x512MB 76.00
______
868.00

 

[Malladine]

I'd go the AMD route. Setup looks fine, good price on the 6800GT.

I noticed that the amd setup is $50 less. You might want to put that $50 and another 10-20 into the vid card and suggest a 7800gt.

My personal experience with Gigabyte hasn't been all that good. One motherboard that died prematurely due to bust capacitors. I can vouch for MSI, Asus, Shuttle and ECS though.

 

[NYTRIDR]

its not always a good idea to change the computer illiterates mind on something. even though gateway isnt the best, she (and you for not taking her phone calls) will be better off with gateways phone support. i would get her a dell though...

 

[poisonthewell]

Originally posted by: NYTRIDR
its not always a good idea to change the computer illiterates mind on something. even though gateway isnt the best, she (and you for not taking her phone calls) will be better off with gateways phone support. i would get her a dell though...

Agreed. People on here will swear up and down that you should build one, but they don't have to provide tech support for the computer you're building. You will. Just determine how involved you want to be with this computer over the next 3 years. Then decide which Dell/Compaq/etc you'll be configuring for them.

edit: If you end up bulding one I like the AMD (surprise) one better.