Parents Build Advice

JohnnyHundo

New member
Hey all - my parents 10 year old mini-itx HP POC (piece-o-cr*p) is on its last legs. I think its riddled with malware and viruses to the point where its a lost cause. I've volunteered to put together a computer for them - just for the fun of it; so I've spec'd out the following;

What do you all think? Any suggestions?

ParentsBuild

$29.99 - Rosewill FBM-01 Dual Fans MicroATX Mini Tower Computer Case

$54.99 - GIGABYTE GA-H61M-DS2 LGA 1155 Intel H61 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

$16.99 - Diablotek PHD Series PHD350 350W ATX12V V2.2 Power Supply

$49.99 - Intel Celeron G530 Sandy Bridge 2.4GHz LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics BX80623G530

$23.99 - G.SKILL NS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-4GBNS

$74.99 - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

$14.99 - SAMSUNG 22X DVD Burner SATA Model SH-222BB/BEBE - OEM

$99.99 - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM

$365.92 Subtotal

All through newegg so it'd be about $380 with shipping costs.

I think everything is compatible and I think it should be a nice little web browsin' machine!

-JHundo
 
never heard of that psu compant so id change it to something else but other than that it looks all good mate
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havn't either problem though, most PSU companies don't make 350W PSUs anymore.

i guess he could go for something along the lines of a corsair cx-430 if he could find one some where.
 
The Ivybridge i3s are announced on the 24th. The low end ones probably wont be that much more than the Celeron you have in, so I'd say go with one of them if you/they can afford it.

Just an idea, but considering you're using integrated graphics, i think the performance gains of Ivybridge would go a long way. Not sure if you agree
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Other than that, to me it looks fine
 
... iffy on the psu. On the one hand I'm thinking $17 - I wouldn't care if it went bust within a year - then again, what could it bring down with it. Rare, but can happen. A very specific 79.6 efficiency rating, which tells me it couldn't get cerified for 80+ so.. they make a point of the value.

Although I don't do Antec, there are 125 reasons to get this one instead:

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817371029

$13 more, 80+ efficiency - about the cheapest 'name' psu I can see there after a quick look. I'd like to go for the Silverpower, but that'll stretch you to $45 - that's up to you really.

Shame you can't wangle an SSD into the mix, any speed. It'd be like using a faster cpu in the minds of your parents.
 
Thanks for the thoughts everyone; As for the PSU - this was the least expensive one that had a 4-pin motherboard connector - along with the 24 pin connector;

I did look at the Corsair CX-430 (I like Corsair a lot - have a lot of their parts in my rig) - but was mistakenly under the impression that it did not have a 4-pin EPS motherboard connector; But once I actually looked at the manual I see it has:

• The EPS12V power connector has a detachable 4-pin mechanism in order to

support either an 8-pin socket or a 4-pin “P4/12V” socket on the motherboard

So I will modify the power supply to that one;

As for changing the processor - they really just don't need anything more than that one with the integrated graphics; They can afford whatever they want really - but once my spec build starts getting above $400 - I'm going to start getting questions like "Why don't we just go to Best Buy and get a Dell?"; Gross.

The one upgrade option I am going to try to get them to go for is a 120GB SSD; (I have the Force GT now and like it a lot); But that will be after they agree to the build ;-)
 
I dunno, you say this current rig has lasted them 10 years, I'd personally convince them to go with an i3 so it may stretch the life as long as possible. Not really gunna make a big difference, but I just wouldnt put anything lower than an i3 in a build these days
 
The one upgrade option I am going to try to get them to go for is a 120GB SSD; (I have the Force GT now and like it a lot); But that will be after they agree to the build ;-)

To be honest, it doesn't have to be the best of SSDs, any of the cheapest ones will make the computer 'feel' that much quicker.
 
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