New Computer for Dad

I'm probably going to be building my dad a computer, and was wondering what you guys thought of the specs. Keep in mind that he isn't a heavy gamer or anything although my brother likes to play games. It'll be mostly for surfing, some gaming(my little brother), work stuff, mp3's, etc.

Priced at Newegg except for a couple of things.

80gb Western Digital "Special Edition".............99.99

48x Cendyne CD-RW.........................................19.99

512 mb Kingston pc2100...................................149.99

Sony Floppy drive...............................................8.00

Pentium 4 2.4b...................................................193.00

Asus P4PE/L.......................................................127.00

Thermaltake Silent PurePower 360watt.............53.00

Aopen GeForce 4 mx440se w/tv out...................53.00

Ahanix Platinum XP atx case...............................65.00


I think that's everything. Any conflicts you guys see, or bad ideas? I know he probably doesn't need 2.4ghz, but it seems like the bang for the buck, and hey, i'm not paying for it. Any good/bad info on the motherboard? I haven't heard anything bad about it, but you never know.

-CPFitz-

I'm struck by the disparity of the equipment on the list. Its like half the box would be at home in a top-end system and the other half belongs in what I'd show to someone considering an eMachine. I'm not saying this is a bad list, I'm sure everything would work all right. It just seems like there are two personalities at work here.

The video card really sticks out. If your brother or dad is going to play any DX8 game (UT2K3, Commanche 4) that MX440 is not going to cut it. Go down to a sixty gig standard WD drive, cut the processor to a 1.6 Northwood or 2.0 Celeron...do whatever you need to get a Ti4200 or 8500 card.

I like the Asus PE boards, but I noticed in your sig you are a digital photography fan. If your dad or brother is, too, you might want to consider the P4PE or P4PE/R/L/SATA because it has onboard Firewire. (The P4PE/L only has onboard support for USB2.0)

If you want, you can save $26 bucks on the PSU. The Sparkle 300 has better performance specs than the Thermaltake and costs $27 at Newegg.

Hope this doesn't come off as excessive criticism. I've just never seen a list like this before.


BHD

I going with BaldHeadedDork on this. Special Edition is a overkill. If the 60GB is not enough the regular 80GB would be good. Do you really need the floppy, really? I don't have one and never miss it. My other computer has one and I used it like once 4 years ago. When was the last time you used yours? 1.8a processor would run all the games your brother wants, mine does. Definitely go with the GeForce 4 4200-64 really great card for the money. I just picked one up a Ti 4200-128 for $89.00 on black friday.

I agree with the comments above, change the video card, get a radeon 8500 or a geforce 4200. If you are short for cash, get a 1.6 or 1.8 northwood which will easily overclock to at least 2.4ghz no problem.
sparkle psu? are you sure they support Intel, i don't believe so. Also change the cd-writer to Lite-on, they are the best and around same price.

Cen-Dynes are either Rebadged Lite-On's or Rebadged AOpen's,

everything seems perfect to me though, minus the 80GB SE Drive

WHat if you went with a Athlon XP instead of the P4, the price cut will allow you to get a better video card, XP 2000+ or 2200+ they are cheap, efficiant, and will provide more than enough processing power for you.

kay, here's the deal. I agree with most of your comments. We already have the special edition, and I've explained to my dad that he probably doesn't need 80gb. He understands that, but we got it on sale anyway. About the video card, I know that GF4mx isn't the best. I'm just looking for something cheap, with enough power to allow my little brother to play some games, and keep my dad happy surfing, watching dvds, etc. .
I also suggested pricing an AMD system, but he said that he isn't so sure about AMD. That they might not be as good, etc. I told him that they were just as good as intel. My feeling is that, hey, if he's paying for it, he can have whatever the hell he wants

I appreciate all of the help you guys, I can take a little constructive criticism. And about the video card, my brother can play UT2k3 on our 900mhz P3, with onboard TNT video The mx would be a pretty big improvement from that, wouldn't it?

-CPFitz-

CPFitz14 said:

And about the video card, my brother can play UT2k3 on our 900mhz P3, with onboard TNT video

-CPFitz-

Click to expand...

If you ever need proof that absolutely nothing is impossible, here you go.


BHD

BaldHeadedDork said:

If you ever need proof that absolutely nothing is impossible, here you go.


BHD

Click to expand...

Yeah, my brother can play UT2003 (demo) online with his pIII 700mhz and Geforce 256 bit. In addition to that, he has a total of 128mb ram He can play in 1024x768 and the graphics don't look all that great plus there is a little lag. It's playable though.

I can play it on my comp, but... it blows

Back on track now, anyway, so will an MX440 se be enough for light gaming and mostly surfing etc., remember, he's getting along fine with a tnt.

-CPFitz-

*bump* I'm kinda anxious, hoping he'll buy it today

Yeah, I can play UT2003 on my GeForce 2 MX, so the 440 should be alright for your bro. I do agree with the others, that it is mostly overkill(the system). But I agree with you, that it's his money.

Good luck,
Scott