NOOB Build - Very Basic, advice needed.

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mjkelly

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So basically my mother badly needs a new computer, and for christmas I decided to help her build one. Obviously her needs are somewhat limited, no gaming except small card games etc, so nothing needed on that front. Just some basic usage and browsing. Therefore I decided on just using the onboard graphics, hence no GPU below. Here is what I am looking at:


Intel Media Series - DH55HC, INTEL H55 CHIPSET - SOCKET 1156 - R854
Intel® Boxed Core™ i5 650 Processor - 3.20GHz Dual Core - R1400
2GB x 2 DDRIII-1333 Kingston - R272 x 2
Coolermaster RC-430 Elite 430 Windowed side panel + thermal master 420w PSU black PC Chassis - R620
Seagate® Barracuda™ 7200.11 Series - 1TB - R571
Samsung SH-S223C DVD Writer - R178

My budget is roughly what is mentioned here, so no big deviations. Would still like to look into getting a decent LCD and peripherals, but will do that once I have built this. Any suggestions or advice welcome. Would also like to know what extra cooling you think would be required? I haven't built a computer in years, so no advice is un-welcome. This should be an exciting little project.

The more future proof the better, but that is not saying much for an old ladies needs. :whistle:
 
You definitely have quite a good setup to start with.

You can save about R400 by going for the Core i3 540 instead, which is also a dual core with hyperthreading like that i5 you selected, and it also has a built-in GPU.

Also, that case that you selected is quite big for a non-gaming PC. You can get like the CoolerMaster CMP 350 case (includes thermalmaster 350W PSU), which is both cheaper and smaller.
The Elite 430 is a very good case for its price, but I actually don't like these cheap power supplies though, but I'd guess that they're fine for office use.

Also remember to include like a Windows 7 x64 Home Premium license if you don't already have one. Extra cooling won't be necessary, since the stock cooling would suffice.

You can often find like 22" Full HD LCD screens at like Macro/HiFi Corp/Dion Wired/Incredible Connection for like R1000 - R1300.

My office recently got a few Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 Value Packs, which goes for R250 and includes a decent keyboard and 3-button optical mouse (Microsoft Wheel mouse optical).

If you want to get a PC that is slightly more future proof (includes SATA3, USB3, VGA, HDMI & DVI), then you can also have a look at the AMD X4 640 CPU ~ R1100 and like the MSI 880GMA-EP45 motherboard ~ R1000.
 
ThatOtherGuy said:
isn't this overkill? Won't a celeron 430 cpu with 2 gigs of memory suffice?
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Big time overkill. A p3 could the job. You need to buy the cheapest cpu you can with the cheap cheapest mobo you can find.

Then you can get her a nice big screen. 2gb memory is more than enough.
 
I'd rather keep what he has and go the i3 route.. It's not to overkill and will have some nice grunt for the future..
4GB is so cheap these days, there really is no reason not to get it unless you severely strapped for cash..

I would think about getting a hybrid drive or SSD(will change the whole computer experience) instead of the 1TB... I don't see her using 1TB for documents..
 
hahaha pfft sli 580 man..

No but seriously, I know office use is not that taxing on the CPU, but I'm assuming OP plans on letting mom keep the pc for quite a while.. I was browsing on my friends AMD athlone +4400 which is a dual core (2GB ram), and it was battling to run win7 and open up heavy flash pages. I was shocked It was at full CPU usage and stuttering..

So ya I'd say stay with i3 or the i5 OP has.
The hybrid/ssd recommendation is purley because I don't see mommy using using more than 5GB on office files? So a 60GB SSD would surely suffice. Ok well depends on how many emails of cute kitties she also downloads but still..

It's just something to think about: http://www.wootware.co.za/g-skill-phoenix-pro-60gb-2-5-sata2-internal-solid-state-drive-retail.html
 
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On the note of cheap LCD's, Incredible corruption have the Samsung SyncMaster B2333T LCD on special for R1299.95 from the 16th to 19th
 
mjkelly said:
So basically my mother badly needs a new computer, and for christmas I decided to help her build one. Obviously her needs are somewhat limited, no gaming except small card games etc, so nothing needed on that front. Just some basic usage and browsing. Therefore I decided on just using the onboard graphics, hence no GPU below. Here is what I am looking at:


Intel Media Series - DH55HC, INTEL H55 CHIPSET - SOCKET 1156 - R854
Intel® Boxed Core™ i5 650 Processor - 3.20GHz Dual Core - R1400
2GB x 2 DDRIII-1333 Kingston - R272 x 2
Coolermaster RC-430 Elite 430 Windowed side panel + thermal master 420w PSU black PC Chassis - R620
Seagate® Barracuda™ 7200.11 Series - 1TB - R571
Samsung SH-S223C DVD Writer - R178

My budget is roughly what is mentioned here, so no big deviations. Would still like to look into getting a decent LCD and peripherals, but will do that once I have built this. Any suggestions or advice welcome. Would also like to know what extra cooling you think would be required? I haven't built a computer in years, so no advice is un-welcome. This should be an exciting little project.

The more future proof the better, but that is not saying much for an old ladies needs. :whistle:
Click to expand...

Overkill. I would recommend a socket 775 system with Celeron E3300 dual core and 2GB RAM. I would then spend the rest on a well-sized LCD, nice keyboard/mouse/speakers, etc. as those will really improve her experience.

And rather don't get the Cooler Master bundled case/PSU. Get the case, but get a Corsair CX430 at ±R500.
 
You guys must be joking me.

2GB of RAM and a Celeron CPU simply won't cut it for Windows 7!
Also, going for a SSD is overkill as well.

The only thing that I agree with you, PostmanPot, is that the bundled PSU really sux, but spending R500 on the PSU when you can get the case and PSU for R500?! I would actually have more faith in the Gigabyte Odin 370 that goes for R280, than those bundled PSU's.
Then again, a couple of PC"s in my office are running with bundled PSU's and they are kept on 24/7.
 
Pada said:
2GB of RAM and a Celeron CPU simply won't cut it for Windows 7!
Click to expand...

Yes it will. It's a dual core, and performs close to that of a Pentium E5200 dual.

Why do laptop manufactureres pump out Windows 7 machines with single core Celerons and 1GB RAM? :erm:

2GB is fine for a "home" PC.
 
PostmanPot said:
Why do laptop manufactureres pump out Windows 7 machines with single core Celerons and 1GB RAM? :erm:
Click to expand...
Because they are criminals. I really find it shocking that people can put stuff like that on the market in the first place!

2GB might work, but that would seriously restrict your multitasking. I mean, my Win7 sometimes use 2GB with just Firefox open, since Firefox would use like 700MB with just 1 tab open - LOL.
Spending just that extra R272 would make a considerable performance difference + let you keep the PC for just so much longer.

If you're running Windows XP and Office 2000, then 2GB and a Celeron Dual core would suffice, but definitely not for Win7, an Antivirus and Office 2010.
One of my colleagues worked on a Celeron 1.8GHz single core with 2GB RAM and he was fine with it, purely because he didn't know how much slower his PC was than a C2D with 4GB RAM.
 
To the guy who mentioned Piii, please don't mention that word again. I'm using one now and it's a pain.:(
Same for Celeron - junk is junk ...

It's a good idea to get a PC that can be upgraded, especially one that's bought new. I wouldn't buy new parts for an old socket 775. Either buy an old Core2Quad second hand with all the bits (an old gaming PC maybe) or buy a new i3 with expansion capability. Maybe even look at a laptop or a pre-built desktop from Cafe Viva.

Mom's PC that she uses for Word and browsing soon turns into her daughters hardware for university.
 
Pada i run windows 7 on my netbook bud. 1gb memory and kuk slow cpu. Windows 7 runs better than xp did.

Works like a dream. Windows 7 is damn speedy and a celeron with 2gb would run it like a dream.
 
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Lol. It's for a mom. My mom does the same stuff the OP mentioned and she still uses a Duron 1.2GHz with 768MB RAM and XP and it runs well.

You guys are seriously over-estimating the usage/multi-tasking/performance requirements for such a person.
 
PostmanPot said:
Lol. It's for a mom. My mom does the same stuff the OP mentioned and she still uses a Duron 1.2GHz with 768MB RAM and XP and it runs well.

You guys are seriously over-estimating the usage/multi-tasking/performance requirements for such a person.
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My concern is that they will be spending good money and then limiting what the machine can do. I can go to the shops on a bicycle, but I wouldn't recommend it.
 
Lounger said:
My concern is that they will be spending good money and then limiting what the machine can do. I can go to the shops on a bicycle, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Click to expand...

Well if all you ever do is go to the shops why would you need a turbo charged ferrari?

It is a mom surfing the net and playing some small games, i really doubt they need unlimited potential pc power :D.
 
Thanks for all the input guys. After more chatting with my mom, we actually decided to go up instead of down. All the peripherals will be bought in March when she gets a bit more cash, now is just for the computer. I think the SSD is a bit overkill, and while the 1TB might sound like a lot, she is a horder of all the family photos and tons of mp3's. So think I will just stick with the 1TB 7200 rpm drive, also as I said, future proof.

Also my dad is currently away, but when he gets back he will probably play some first person shooters or similar, nothing too high end though. I like pada's suggestion of the sata3 and usb 3, so I have changed the board I am looking at. Will look at getting a GPU for my dad in March, but for now will use onboard. I have also upped the ram to 1600 MHz, the board can handle more, but it would probably be a waste, and the board won't utilize it if using the onboard graphics. Will try 2gb for now, but will probably add another chip in March again. I don't really want to go down to an i3, or am I being stupid? I actually wouldn't mind the i5 760 quad core.

She has a pretty decent computer at work, a little better than mentioned by some of you, and she definitely doesn't want any slower, pref faster. And once again, future proof. Hopefully it should run Windows 8 and 9, or whatever the hell comes next. And I think there is a fair amount of upgrading that could be done at later stages. And the old lady loves her computer, the better it is, the more she will use it. She has a tv card in her current pc so she can watch tv or listen the radio while she plays games... So I probably gave the wrong impression of her usage in the opening thread.

So here is what I am currently looking at:

P7H55-M/USB3 - R1100
Intel® Boxed Core™ i5 650 Processor - 3.20GHz Dual Core - R1400 or
Intel® Boxed Core™ i5 760 Processor - 2.80GHz Quad Core - R1600
2GB x 2 DDRIII-1600 Kingston - R386 x 2
Coolermaster RC-430 Elite 430 Windowed side panel + thermal master 420w PSU black PC Chassis - R620
Seagate® Barracuda™ 7200.11 Series - 1TB - R571
Samsung SH-S223C DVD Writer - R178

I like this case, my mom does too, which is in important. She especially likes having the plugs in front :wtf:

And I'm guessing you all are going to seriously tell me to change the PSU now...?
 
The i5 760 is very nice and is quite powerful, but you won't be able to use on-board graphics with it. It looks like a potential gaming rig without the GPU + RAM.

Is the Samsung DVD-RW any good though?
 
Lounger said:
The i5 760 is very nice and is quite powerful, but you won't be able to use on-board graphics with it. It looks like a potential gaming rig without the GPU + RAM.

Is the Samsung DVD-RW any good though?
Click to expand...

Why is that? I haven't read that that anywhere.

Not sure on the DVD drive, have seen a few people here use it on their systems, haven't seen any complaints yet? Although I know some here are not big fans of Samsung.

EDIT: Never mind, I see now the i5 7xx range does not have an integrated graphics processor. So scrap that option I guess...
 
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