Building a PC for grandma. 1000$ for everything.

U

USMC2Hard4U

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Apr 4, 2003
Messages
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I dont want to go Dell but I guess I will if I have to.

My ultimate goal is to get her the BEST performance I can. She dosent need a vast feature set or ultimate graphics. I know if she feels that it is "slow" one time, she will give up on it completly. She just wants to get into like email, and news online. As well as a hoyle casio game.

So my advantage is, I dont have to buy XP Pro. I am giving her mine, since i wont use it anymore. I will use XP64bit soon when I come back to the states shortly.

So I guess I really have 970 US dollars because she wants that 30 dollar dammed casino game.

Your thoughts?

I was thinking SFF and what not. I would like a Pentium M but dunno if its in the budget. Also, not really sure whats a good monitor for her... you know.

I can put high end machines all day, but have trouble peicing the less than top of the line computer togeter because I always go over budget.

Thanks
 
Shuttle cause she'll think its cute.
1 gig value ram
Athlon 64 3000
DVD Rom (save money not getting a burner)
TV tuner cause she'll think its awesome
17 Crt or LCD
Cheap DVI video card
Any kind of 80 gig HDD
Wireless MX Duo.
 
ninethreeeleven said:
Athlon 64 3000
Click to expand...
I protest most strongly. Grandma sounds like the type who will get her PC infected with viruses, spyware and the likes. She needs hyperthreading so all the crap can run in the second thread, and she won't experience slowdowns during the casino game that is oh-so-important. Am I correct in saying this?

Barebones
P4 2.8GHz w/ HT
1GB Corsair Value RAM
80GB Hard Drive
DVD-ROM / CD-RW

Total comes out to a little over $600 shipped. Leaves you $370 for software and that 6600GT the grandkid need to play with when he comes down. ;)
 
Well this casino game is like 500Mhz Reccommend and like 64MB of ram. So it should be fine either way.

More like just doing every day things, it has to be fast or it will lose her intrest.

True probably with spyare and vriruses... I wanted to get her a Mac Mini :) but she is used to working with limited computers at work which are windows based. so Apple is out of the question :( <3 my iBook tho.
 
Go with a Shuttle, get a P4 with HT thatll make things not seem slow because itll split the task up. Get her a 1GB of ram and run it in dual channel, maybe even spend the extra money on a raptor since your not going to need to spend that much on a video card maybe 50-$100 bucks. Make sure she gets programs like SpywareBlaster, Spybot, AdAware, FireFox, ThunderBird, Registry Mechanic, etc.... U know what would be a good idea is too set up, so u can send her Remote Assistance Invitations, to fix maybe spyware or a problem in windows.
 
sac_tagg said:
I protest most strongly. Grandma sounds like the type who will get her PC infected with viruses, spyware and the likes. She needs hyperthreading so all the crap can run in the second thread, and she won't experience slowdowns during the casino game that is oh-so-important. Am I correct in saying this?

Barebones
P4 2.8GHz w/ HT
1GB Corsair Value RAM
80GB Hard Drive
DVD-ROM / CD-RW

Total comes out to a little over $600 shipped. Leaves you $370 for software and that 6600GT the grandkid need to play with when he comes down. ;)
Click to expand...

I recant my previous statement on the grounds that I am a AMD guy. I pieced together almost the same system at the egg, but I somehow got it up to $930? I think I had a SATA drive, and a 3.2ghz proc.

I still strongly suggest a TV Tuner, she will love it (oh and I had a $200 LCD in the cart too, maybe that was it).
 
Dell = $500 + S&H/Tax => this way you can pass the buck on problems/service issues
$40 Geforce4 MX for casino game
 
sac_tagg said:
I protest most strongly. Grandma sounds like the type who will get her PC infected with viruses, spyware and the likes. She needs hyperthreading so all the crap can run in the second thread, and she won't experience slowdowns during the casino game that is oh-so-important. Am I correct in saying this?

Barebones
P4 2.8GHz w/ HT
1GB Corsair Value RAM
80GB Hard Drive
DVD-ROM / CD-RW

Total comes out to a little over $600 shipped. Leaves you $370 for software and that 6600GT the grandkid need to play with when he comes down. ;)
Click to expand...


haha i wouldnt mind having that myself. + a video card mm mmm sweetness.

i wish my grandma/pa liked fast computers
:p
 
Two gigs of RAM.

Cheap upgrade, and it'll make the system last much longer for the average user.
 
Wow I wish my grandparents are like this. My dad is trying to get them to buy a new computer from like Dell or someone but maybe I can throw the idea of me building it out there.
 
Talonz said:
Two gigs of RAM.

Cheap upgrade, and it'll make the system last much longer for the average user.
Click to expand...

2GB is a complete waste. Even 1GB for a PC like this is a little overkill, but considering prices for 1GB I would go with it.
 
Free 2nd Day on everything but the case, all from Zipzoomfly

Sony 17in LCD $259
Antec Sonata w/380W PS $84.99
Microsoft Black KB/Optical Mouse $23.99
Asus P4800S-X $68.99
P4 3.0E $183.90
Corsair VS 512 (2x256) $45.00
Seagate 160GB Sata $91.99
Sony DWD26A/B DL DVD±RW $55
Saphire 9600 Pro $82.99
Viewsonic 2.1 Speakers $59.99
HP 1315 Printer/Scanner $79.99 at most local retailers

Total about $985.84+around $12 shipping on the case. You could save some change by going w/a CRT, but Grandma is probably somewhat concerned w/asthetics and space. That's a really well priced Sony model I've used several times. As far as the case is concerened, you simply won't find a better deal. It's sleek and extremely quite, and you'd spend nearly as much on just the powersupply. It's also very easy to work with.

*edit* Oh, don't forget to borg that sucker, and make sure grandma knows it should stay on 24/7 :D */edit*

 
KoolDrew said:
2GB is a complete waste. Even 1GB for a PC like this is a little overkill, but considering prices for 1GB I would go with it.
Click to expand...

QFT.

Good gosh, thank you! I thought I was the only one.
 
Chalk up another vote for a Dell. Get her a service plan with in home service.


I would just get one with a Celeron-D. I feel that lack of memory is what causes most of the slowdowns when running spyware/firewall/antivirus stuff in the backgroud. 512mb as a minimum. Integrated graphics should be good enough for the casino games

You could spend half of that at Dell for a machine with a monitor and have money left over for other goodies that your grandmother would like, a digital camera, printer, for examples.
 
Celeron D is what you want. Forget the extra for a P4. It will not be needed. At 2.4 ghz, I feel my Celly leaves something to be desired. At 3.7, it kicks ass.
 
sac_tagg said:
I protest most strongly. Grandma sounds like the type who will get her PC infected with viruses, spyware and the likes. She needs hyperthreading so all the crap can run in the second thread, and she won't experience slowdowns during the casino game that is oh-so-important. Am I correct in saying this?

Total comes out to a little over $600 shipped. Leaves you $370 for software and that 6600GT the grandkid need to play with when he comes down. ;)
Click to expand...


why would you protest a processer that wont allow you to exe a virus? ive ran SBs&d/ad-aware/hijackthis/regvac/defrag at same time while chatting on yahoo with webcam and playing music............on my XP rig mind you.....didnt lose a frame on cam but once when i kept fliping through songs......let alone we are talking about an athlon64 proc.......

for a grandmother, id get AMDxp 2000, shuttle case/mobo/psu barebones, 9500 non pro, and a gig of ram, dvd burner for sure, so you can send her dvd's of the kids/family and such, and no need for sound card on board.........serriously i dont know many hard core gaming grandma's and thats about the specs of my rig, and i game somewhat, and watch videos/movies and chat/web cam.........serrriously what i sugested will last well over 3-4 years for her no doubt in my mind, mines lasted me and my brother who owned it before, over 3 years between the both of us.......


soulsaver_8229
 
I was thinking like a dell, but want to give her something with hyperthreading. wheather the performace bennifits of HT are there or not is not my concern since she dosent need too much power anyway... but the smoothness when running a AV, Firewall, and all of that might be needed.
 
USMC2Hard4U said:
I was thinking like a dell, but want to give her something with hyperthreading. wheather the performace bennifits of HT are there or not is not my concern since she dosent need too much power anyway... but the smoothness when running a AV, Firewall, and all of that might be needed.
Click to expand...

i use a firewall as well......

like i said in my post i had all those running...........HT'ing is serriously such a cash cow for no reason.....people think its omg so leet......ive messed with my other brohters HT'ed comp, i see no preformence in anything i do/he does........and a grandma isnt gonna be rippin mp3's while fraging on Unreal, and streaming video :p.......she wants to play casino game......show me a casino game that will have such high qualiy video a 9200 pro wouldnt be able to show? :p

dell would be a good route tho, 400 dollar dell with cs/in home support would be good, to teach her to use it.....


soulsaver_8229
 
Like i said, I am not worried about the game performance.


I am worried about if she has 3 or 4 IE windows open, along with everything in the background running like the AV, and Firewall, MS Anti Spyware. I dunno if she will use it to listen to music. She has CDs and Cassettes hahah, but she might who knows.
 
lol sounds like me, i have up to 4-7 mozilla screens open, tabed, but open...../shrug/ to m 1 grand on a system for a family memeber that you know dosent game is over doing it, even if your going for future proof, just teach her about healthy websurfing.....bookmarking, hell teach her all you can, and if she think she messed up make sure she can call you....

to me an XP rig would work just fine.......i have 32 processes......8 or so programs.....firewall/anti virus.......music.....and 3 webpages open atm......cpu useage is at 5-15 pct, mem is at 50pct (wuwu havent restarted in about a week :p


soulsaver_8229
 
Hahaha. I was going to do something like this about half a year ago. I ended up just getting her a dell laptop. Performance wise its great, all she does is surf the web and send emails. And visually its awesome looking, silver, beautiful 17" widescreen display. Now granted, we did spend more than 1000 on it, it was a great buy.
 
Shuttle Case (200-250)
Gig of ram (80)
80GB Hd (60)
2400+ - 3000+ CPU (100)
15" - 17" LCD W built in Speakers (180-250)
KB Mouse (30)
Total High Average $770

These are average prices, I could easily save 200 or more off that bundle.
I went with an Aopen SFF Case(170) Nforce 2mobo with built in Geforce4mx vid card dual vga out, 15" CMS/CMV(cant remember) LCD for 170. And all that and barely toppled 650
 
sac_tagg said:
I protest most strongly. Grandma sounds like the type who will get her PC infected with viruses, spyware and the likes. She needs hyperthreading so all the crap can run in the second thread, and she won't experience slowdowns during the casino game that is oh-so-important. Am I correct in saying this?

Barebones
P4 2.8GHz w/ HT
1GB Corsair Value RAM
80GB Hard Drive
DVD-ROM / CD-RW

Total comes out to a little over $600 shipped. Leaves you $370 for software and that 6600GT the grandkid need to play with when he comes down. ;)
Click to expand...
i whole heartly agree HT is a must for those who are easily tricked into spywear
 
Ballz2TheWallz said:
i whole heartly agree HT is a must for those who are easily tricked into spywear
Click to expand...


HT helps with anti spyware? how? :confused: it run anti spyware process?


soulsaver_8229
 
No, they are trying to claim the virtual core will make spyware processes interfere less with overall system performance. You ever see enormous performance gains from system threads running in the background on another core? I thought not. Same here, it won't make a bit of a difference. If you have so much spyware it's lagging the system, it's probably also suffering from enormous stability problems, Explorer crashing and the whole machine hanging. Build the cheaper, faster, cooler and quieter system, then fix the leak by educating your grandmother about spyware, installing FireFox and hiding IE away, and setting up things like Automatic Updates and Spybot / Antispyware with immunization features ... instead of leaving the hole and bailing out. :rolleyes:

The most worthwhile system will be a Shuttle system on nForce 3, Socket 939 (like the Shuttle XPC SN95G5V3) with an A64 3000+, 512 MB or 1024 MB of DDR400 (2 GB is total, complete overkill. I don't configure that much for GAMING machines.) a 40 GB hard disk from Seagate or Samsung (nice and quiet, cool-running and reliable, also a great warranty). You should spend less than $650 and can pour the rest of the cash into a nice display or something.
 
I know most disagree with me on this one, but if you are building a $1000 budget machine, and you want to make it last, another $90 on ram is really going to make the machine last much longer. IMO, if it were easy to get 2gb of ram into a system with low latencies, everyone would be doing it. Whenever you use an older machine, hard drive thrashing is almost always the culprit to really slow performance. I like to pack non-gaming systems with as much cheap ram from a reliable manufacturer that I can. Once again, all IMO, I don't expect you to take my advice, but your grandmother will thank you in 3-4 years.
 
You're completely full of it. The requirements of the same tasks don't magically rise every year. 1 GB of RAM for these tasks is overkill already-- I only pick this amount for systems doing heavy gaming or video editing! 2 GB for e-mail/photos is complete absurdity.
 
Epicenter said:
You're completely full of it. The requirements of the same tasks don't magically rise every year. 1 GB of RAM for these tasks is overkill already-- I only pick this amount for systems doing heavy gaming or video editing! 2 GB for e-mail/photos is complete absurdity.
Click to expand...


my ram useage is at 490mb/1024 :( i dont even game.....much at all....then again my comp is on basicly 24/7/365 :p

anyhoo......1 grand is way over kill, ill just say anything over 500 bucks for a system (used in the fs/ft forum) would be more than enough.......teach her computer safety, and make sure she knows how to spyware check and virus check stuffs........


just my opinion tho :p


soulsaver_8229
 
I built my grandma a system for just under $1000 a few months ago. She's as happy as ever, it opens AOL in no time! I agree that Hyperthreading and a fast hard drive are the best upgrades for an average user. I had my mom using an old dual p3 scsi workstation, then when it broke she couldn't believe how "slow" my machine was. Remember, grandmas don't play HL2 or edit video.

Grandmas computer:
Prescott 2.4
512mb DDR400
9800SE (my old card, wouldn't softmod :p)
80gb SATA
Some decent Thermaltake power supply
Cheap, but pretty nice beige case. It was like $30 and kept the Prescott surprisingly cool.
DVD-RW
 
soulsaver_8229 said:
my ram useage is at 490mb/1024 :( i dont even game.....much at all....then again my comp is on basicly 24/7/365 :p

anyhoo......1 grand is way over kill, ill just say anything over 500 bucks for a system (used in the fs/ft forum) would be more than enough.......teach her computer safety, and make sure she knows how to spyware check and virus check stuffs........


just my opinion tho :p


soulsaver_8229
Click to expand...
I was thinking 1Grand was too much, but then again. She needs a Monitor. someting small like an LCD, but large enough screen so she can see it. She needs speakers, then everything else. A decent 17 inch or 19 inch LCD can be pricy.
 
Your grandmas lucky, I just fixed up a old 600mhz p3, 64mb ram thats going to my grandmas house this summer :p she only plays solitare tho so yeah. Just need to clean up the case and some pron :eek: offf the old hardrive and its going into her house.


I agree on 1grand being overkill I would suggest a cheap deal from dell, 500 with everything and the montiro and then you could throw another stick of ram in it. She should be fine with a Celeron and 512mb ram.
 
Wow, $1k for grandma's PC is WAYYYY TOO MUCH.

get her a sempron 3000+ cpu (has 512kb cache) $100 on newegg, cheaper elsewhere
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819104217
a 333fsb mobo like asus a7v8x-x for $51 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131451
Kingston/Corsair 512MB ram pc3200/2700 @ Fry's or Outpost.com for like ~$35 after MIR. They are so cheap now
80gb HDD for ~$20 after MIR @ outpost.com
cheap $20 video card ANYWHERE
Viewsonic 17" LCD for $200 @ fry's (i'd say get LCD, NOT CRT for granny, much lighter, and spacesaving, u'll impress her.) The only thing non pc litterate people see in a computer, is 1. The Monitor, and 2. the CASE. period. They don't know what ATI X10000000XL is.
cheap floppy, keyboard, optical mouse should run about $25
get 2.1 speakers for $30
decent nice case $40
Total should be about $500.

Serious, spending 1k on pc for grandma is such a waste. I can't see her fragging on CSS. lol
 
Epicenter said:
You're completely full of it. The requirements of the same tasks don't magically rise every year. 1 GB of RAM for these tasks is overkill already-- I only pick this amount for systems doing heavy gaming or video editing! 2 GB for e-mail/photos is complete absurdity.
Click to expand...

I'm not "full of it".

FWIW, software does get more bloated as time goes on, compare office today to office 5 years ago. Sometimes firefox uses 70.. yes 70 megs of RAM when I have tons of windows open with java and things like that. It's very important to install anti-virus on these machines and that takes a fair chunk of memory, as well as other utilities that we may not use, but the average user may need. Seniors tend to hold onto their systems for a while, going to 2 gb of RAM is a minor cost when you have 1k to spend, and will really extend the useful life of the system. When I had my P3 500mhz, I had 128mb of RAM in that system. It was great, everyone else had 64 and it almost seemed like overkill. Fast forward to today, the machine is used for the internet and has 384mb of RAM, and believe me, it needs it.
 
Go to Hot Deals. Watch for a Dell Deal and get a freaking nice warranty on it. Buy any additional RAM/perphs and install them yourself. Grandma gets a nice looking box that will be warrantied to work for many years and you look like a hero. If it breaks, you call Dell and they come fix it which will make Grandma happy.

Trust me on this...as much has relatives say they trust you....they still view you as a greasy backroom mechanic compared to the "Dealer Mechanic".

You can get a Dell 2.8 GHz, and a 19" panel for $500 if you look around. Drop another $200 on waranty and buy Printer/RAM and you are done.

-tReP
 
yah, i'd say depending on how often u visit grandma, and how much time you got to fix every problem she has, cheap dell deals may be the way to go. I got a roommate, whom i help built a pc for a few months ago. He's already got virus and spyware problems (which of course is HIS fault), but says he regrets not getting one from a store, cuz then he'd get tech support. Although, im not sure how good tech support is....
 
ninethreeeleven said:
Shuttle cause she'll think its cute.
1 gig value ram
Athlon 64 3000
DVD Rom (save money not getting a burner)
TV tuner cause she'll think its awesome
17 Crt or LCD
Cheap DVI video card
Any kind of 80 gig HDD
Wireless MX Duo.
Click to expand...
Hey that's almost as good as my gaming comp!

Dude just get her a Sempron. She won't need anything more. Throw in 512mb stick and a Radeon 9200/Geforce 5200 or something. And a cheap 80gb WD hard drive. Reliable Asus mobo, reliable Enermax/Antec PSU. Nice LCD display, easy on the eyes, some good Logitech input devices and a nice set of Logitech speakers so she can listen to Elvis or whatever she likes.
 
honestly all but 2 or 3 of you are going overkill, yes as systems get older newer software demands more of a machine but if you look at those people with older machines they're usually still running win98 or something. I had to do tech support on a win 95 machine last year at my university, the monitor plugged into the power supply :eek:

my recommendation will be incredibly similar/near identical to one I built for my parents for christmas.

** Asus A7V400-MX Socket A (Micro ATX) <-- integrated video and sound a radeon 9200 is more than overkill
** 512mb of ram <-- ram is cheap get a gig IF YOU MUST (it was pricey when I built this)
** AMD Sempron 2500+ <-- 3000+ though cause you love your granny
** Seagate 80GB IDE hard drive with 8mb cache <-- 80GB only cause they didn't have 8mb cache on smaller hard drives and the difference was like $7
** A 19" monitor <-- she has (or will have) bad eyes, be merciful
** Either in an antec sonata (pretty and quiet) or some SFF case (prettier and not as quiet note: that mobo is micro-ATX)

and if that costs over a grand you're doing somethimg wrong :p

or as other people have said a nice cheap dell with tech support then just buy her a nice BIG monitor. granny will love you forever.

PS: after hiding the IE shortcuts and relabeling "firefox" to "internet" spyware is almost non-existent on my parents computer.

PPS: schedule spyware and virus scans for midnight or something every other night to make sure granny stays safe :)
 
demografik said:
Grandmas computer:
Prescott 2.4
...
Cheap, but pretty nice beige case. It was like $30 and kept the Prescott surprisingly cool.
DVD-RW
Click to expand...

There's no such thing as a Prescott at 2.4 GHz unless you underclock one. The lowest is a 3.2 GHz model. The P4's at 2.4 GHz didn't run THAT hot, so it's understandable.
 
Epicenter said:
There's no such thing as a Prescott at 2.4 GHz unless you underclock one. The lowest is a 3.2 GHz model. The P4's at 2.4 GHz didn't run THAT hot, so it's understandable.
Click to expand...

I guess I'll have to tell some of my boxes they don't exist then :(. Poor boxen.
 
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