Advice for low cost build needed

dazed554 · Feb 2, 2009

I need to do a build for my grandma. She doesn't need anything fancy since she mostly uses it for web browsing and email. It needs to be in the range of $500 - $600. I'm not sure what processor to choose. I was thinking possibly an E5200. How do these compare to AMD's offerings in the same price range? what about a motherboard? I have haven't dealt with Intel too much in the past.

edit: I forgot to mention a cheap monitor(~100$) needs to be included in the price

Homeless · Feb 2, 2009

If it's only for web browsing, I would get an athlon 64 or an e1200. 500-600 for web browsing is about twice the budget you need for a simple computer

dazed554 · Feb 2, 2009

I want to future proof it as much as possible, she was upset when her 5 year old computer started to slow down a bit.

BarbaricSoul · Feb 2, 2009

this will be plenty for Grandma's web browsing, just get her to pick out a case for it all to go into.

https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=14488367

Thrackan · Feb 2, 2009

What OS are you going to run on it? Anything else besides web browsing and email?
Can you post specs of her 5-year-old system?

Binge · Feb 2, 2009

dazed554 said:
I want to future proof it as much as possible, she was upset when her 5 year old computer started to slow down a bit.

Go Phenom II. The mobo can be cheap, the cpu will run cool, and you'll still use DDR2.

Darren · Feb 2, 2009

dazed554 said:
I need to do a build for my grandma. She doesn't need anything fancy since she mostly uses it for web browsing and email. It needs to be in the range of $500 - $600. I'm not sure what processor to choose. I was thinking possibly an E5200. How do these compare to AMD's offerings in the same price range? what about a motherboard? I have haven't dealt with Intel too much in the past.

edit: I forgot to mention a cheap monitor(~100$) needs to be included in the price

The E5200 is about equivalent to the Athlon 5800+ X2

Edit:

Give your grandma your current CPU and motherboard and put together a cheap Phenom II 940 build for yourself

Edit 2:

spearman914 said:
I don’t think it will because the e5200 can beat a X2 7750 at stock

Well its true

The e5200 is only good when overclocked, at stock it isn't that fast, believe me.

The X2 7750 isn't that fast either.

spearman914 · Feb 2, 2009

Darren said:
The E5200 is about equivalent to the Athlon 5800+ X2

Edit:

Give your grandma your current CPU and motherboard and put together a cheap Phenom II 940 build for yourself

I don’t think it will because the e5200 can beat a X2 7750 at stock

Processor	AMD Phenom II x4 945
Motherboard	MSI 790FX-GD70
Cooling	Zalman 9700
Memory	4gb Patriot DDR3 1333
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX 260
Storage	2x WD Caviar 160gb
Display(s)	Sceptre 20''
Case	Cooler Master RC690
Power Supply	Thermaltake Purepower 500

Processor	AMD Phenom II x4 945
Motherboard	MSI 790FX-GD70
Cooling	Zalman 9700
Memory	4gb Patriot DDR3 1333
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX 260
Storage	2x WD Caviar 160gb
Display(s)	Sceptre 20''
Case	Cooler Master RC690
Power Supply	Thermaltake Purepower 500

System Name	Barb's Domain
Processor	i9 10850k 5.1GHz all cores
Motherboard	MSI MPG Z490 GAMING EDGE WIFI
Cooling	Deep Cool Assassin III
Memory	2*16gig Corsair LPX DDR4 3200
Video Card(s)	RTX 4080 FE
Storage	500gb Samsung 980 Pro M2 SSD, 500GB WD Blue SATA SSD, 2TB Seagate Hybrid SSHD
Display(s)	Dell - S3222DGM 32" 2k Curved/ASUS VP28UQG 28" 4K (ran at 2k), Sanyo 75" 4k TV
Case	SilverStone Fortress FT04
Audio Device(s)	Bose Companion II speakers, Corsair - HS70 PRO headphones
Power Supply	Corsair RM850x (2021)
Mouse	Logitech G502
Keyboard	Logitech Orion Spectrum G910
VR HMD	Oculus Quest 2
Software	Windows 10 Pro 64 bit
Benchmark Scores	https://www.3dmark.com/spy/34962882

System Name	Acer Aspire V3-771G-53218G75Maii
Processor	Core i5 3210M (2,5-3,1Ghz)
Memory	8GB DDR3 SODIMM
Video Card(s)	Geforce GT650M
Storage	Samsung 830 256GB - 750GB Toshiba drive
Software	Windows 7 x64 Home Premium (non-acer-bloatware)

System Name	Molly
Processor	i5 3570K
Motherboard	Z77 ASRock
Cooling	CooliT Eco
Memory	2x4GB Mushkin Redline Ridgebacks
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte GTX 680
Case	Coolermaster CM690 II Advanced
Power Supply	Corsair HX-1000

Advice for low cost build needed

dazed554

New Member

Homeless

dazed554

New Member

BarbaricSoul

Thrackan

Binge

Overclocking Surrealism

Darren

New Member

spearman914

New Member

System Name	Cheap yet powerful gaming and entertainment rig!
Processor	AMD Athlon 3800+ X2 Windsor, 1 MB L2 Cache (512k L2 Per Core), 65W Energy efficient, 2GHz @ 2.78 Ghz
Motherboard	Asrock ALiveNF7G-HD720p Rev v5.0
Cooling	Freezer 64, 2x120mm, 1x92mm
Memory	8 GB DDRII PC6400 @ 929 MHz OCZ (2GBx4) timing: 5-5-5-5-16-2T
Video Card(s)	XFX ATI4830
Storage	Seagate 320 GB SATA (16 MB Cache)
Display(s)	19' HannsG (1440x900 @ 75hz)
Case	Coolermaster Elite 330 Black Case
Audio Device(s)	Auzentech X-Meridian, Pioneer VSX-516 Receiver 7.1 with DD/DD EX/Prologic II/DTS/DTS-ES//DTS: Neo
Power Supply	Cool Master eXtreme Power 460W PSU
Software	Vista Ultimate X64 Corporate Edition

System Name	Mine \| Dad + Mom
Processor	E8500 E0 Wolfdale @ 4.6GHz 1.5V \| E2180 M0 Allendale @ 3.0GHz 1.3V
Motherboard	Asus Maximus Formula (X48) w/ Rampage BIOS \| Asus P5Q Pro (P45)
Cooling	Xigmatek Rifle HDT-S1283 w/ SFF21F Fan \| Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
Memory	G.Skill Pi Black 2x2GB 1.02GHz CL5 \| OCZ Reaper 2x2GB 1.05GHz CL5
Video Card(s)	Sapphire 4870X2 2GB 820/1020MHz \| Sapphire 4850 1GB 700/1100MHz
Storage	WD VR 150GB 10K RPM + WD 500GB 7.2K RPM \| WD 200GB 7.2K RPM
Display(s)	Acer P243WAID 24" 1920x1200 LCD \| Acer V193W 19" 1440x900 LCD
Case	Cooler Master HAF 932 Full-Tower \| Antec Twelve Hundred Mid-Tower
Audio Device(s)	Fatal1ty Xtreme Gamer w/ Z-5500 5.1 \| On-Board Audio w/ S-220 2.1
Power Supply	PC Power and Cooling 750W Non-Modular \| Corsair HX-520W Modular
Software	Windows Vista Home Premium X64 \| Windows Vista Home Premium X64
Benchmark Scores	Not Wasting Time!