[GunnerMan]

Well me dads Gayway Essential 500 is failing, and he just reformated and now its stuck on 16 colors and all that BS and hes had me lookin for drivers for hours and I can not find them so ima gonna build him a new computer for Xmas cus as you see he needs it, this E500 crashes about every 10 mins or everytime he checks his email, ts only a 500Mhz Celeron with 256Mb SDRAM , I want to go with Intel CPU and a mobo with integrated video and sound for now as the budget is about 500 dollars, so what would be the best bang for my buck in this range. He dosen't play any games whatsoever he reads the news, checks his email.

[Sucka]

Originally Posted by GunnerMan

Well me dads Gayway Essential 500 is failing, and he just reformated and now its stuck on 16 colors and all that BS and hes had me lookin for drivers for hours and I can not find them so ima gonna build him a new computer for Xmas cus as you see he needs it, this E500 crashes about every 10 mins or everytime he checks his email, ts only a 500Mhz Celeron with 256Mb SDRAM , I want to go with Intel CPU and a mobo with integrated video and sound for now as the budget is about 500 dollars, so what would be the best bang for my buck in this range. He dosen't play any games whatsoever he reads the news, checks his email.

You have any good local computer shops in your area? Most shops around here have bargin computers that they build using the cheapest stuff, and sell them at a very fair price. You could get a nice P4 system for around 300-500 bucks from a good computer shop. Heck, even Dell offers *decent* computers in the 500$ range, and he'll have a warranty to boot. Once you throw XP, and any other software in there, you're already paying more than you should. Those types of deals always seem to be good for the low end though. Otherwise what exactly are you looking for, just price it out on Newegg.com

[GunnerMan]

Well I was on new egg and came up with about 550 including MS Office and thats with a P4 3 Ghz, and I looked in Dells mag and tyhey dont have anything that compares to that in that prcerange, as for computer shops no not any except oens that custom build etc and best Buy dosent have any 500 dollar comps...

[Mortis03]

Be sure to keep an eye on spoofeedeals.com and slickdeals.net

Dell small business has a computer right now (well, a couple days about, not sure if now still) for like 310, I think it would be everything you need excpet a monitor and an operating system. You can pick up oem xp home for less then 100 I'm pretty sure.

[Sucka]

Originally Posted by GunnerMan

Well I was on new egg and came up with about 550 including MS Office and thats with a P4 3 Ghz, and I looked in Dells mag and tyhey dont have anything that compares to that in that prcerange, as for computer shops no not any except oens that custom build etc and best Buy dosent have any 500 dollar comps...

I guess it fully depends on where you live. I'm in a large city (San Diego) and we have mom and pop computer stores out the you know what. Looking through the "Computer Edge" (weekly San Diego computer magazine with mainly adds) there are some nice P4/AMD systems from 200$-600$, worthy of any serious webmail browser such as your dad

And as i said, you could probably build one for around the same price, maybe a tad more from newegg, but i think your father might like the peice of mind that comes along with a warranty, i know my dad would

[hundel]

Is this post a good fit for the overclocking forum?

I think Dell would be a good place to start. Buddy just purchased this Dell 4700 P4 3Ghz Intel 800 mhz FSB for around $500 after rebate (though that deal might be over?) Lot's of adds for it going around.

I think his will be able to compete with my custom build, we're going to compete on benchmarks this week.

[GunnerMan]

Well I guess its not fit for an over clcoking forum but I didnt really see this forum as a stricks OC forum, if so it would be pretty ltte help to me, any ways,...

I just bought him a system from newegg, parts here on friday or monday. It is an intel P4 3.0EGhz Presscott on a Gigabyte board with onboard audio and video, also got im a 40 Gb Seagate and 512 mbs Corsair VS pc3200 SO I think he will be a happy camper, totall with shipping 670...give or take