• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

building PC for friend, need suggestions

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

damarble

Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2005
Location
Spokane, WA
Today a friend of mine asked me what I thought about Dells. I snickered and then asked why. She needs a new PC, she's going back to school. She got a grant for it, $800 for a complete system, with a printer. So I told her I could put together something that fits her need, with more power for a better price. No gaming, but a lot office type programs.

She's not sure if she wants a laptop or desktop tho, but she's leaning towards the laptop. But most of her classes will be online, only 2x a week on campus. If she goes with a desktop she wants a LCD. If she goes with the laptop we'll try the a Dell with the 40% coupon, if it shows up in time.

So what would you reccomend? I havent put a lot of thought into it yet, but here's a rough idea of what I'm thinking:

Celly 2.4, OC'd to about 3.0-3.4 ~$65
Asus P4P800 ~$65 (there are so many versions of this mobo I'm confused, but this seems OK)
ATi 9600 ~$60 (refurb)
1GB value ram ~$80
120GB WD HDD ~$50
450w Fortron ~$50
Any case on sale localy ~$30-50

So right there I'm at about $400, leaving another $400 for LCD, keyboard, mouse, speakers, and 5-in-1 printer. And of course anything I'm missing. Maybe bump the CPU to 2.8 with HT? I also have to consider an AMD, maybe I might see a better price/performance ratio. That 3000+ Venice for ~$120 is tempting.
 
Last edited:
I think in this case you might want to spec a P4, a Celly, a Sempron and an A64. Just to see what sort of price differences you are looking at.

As regards the 9600, that might be a little overkill if she isn't gaming, no? I would say the best bet would be a board with integrated video but with an AGP slot so she can add a graphics card later if she needs to, but saves money at the current time.
 
Back