Hi,
I'm putting together a new computer for my Dad. The one he has at the moment is noticably slow (256MB RAM, Athlon XP2000). He's happy to spend about $800 AUD. I will be building it pretty much from scratch. Apart from compatibility issues, I also want the one he has back (it was my old computer) to build a NAS box out of. The main thing I would like input on is RAM, but any advice on parts would be helpful.
Even though he pretty much just uses it for looking up things on wiki and the occassional email, I want it to be fairly versatile as I don't want to restrict what he can do with it as he's still learning. A year or so ago when I gave it to him he insisted he would almost never use it. Now he uses it for several hours a day.
For this reason, I feel that a dedicated graphics card is a must, but it needn't be top range. Onboard audio these days is phenomenal, so I don't see any need for an audio card. What I have so far is.
Gigabyte RADEON HD5670 $111
Core i5-760 $219
Acer 23" G235HBMD $187
Corsair CMX4GX3M2A1600C9 (2x2GB/1600) $88
GA-H55M-UD2H $108
Thermaltake V9 $105
PSU ~$50
DVD burner ~$30
The main thing I'm not sure about is the RAM. There much more expensive RAM from the same manufacturer with the same basic specs, and I don't know what the difference is. This RAM isn't on the compatibility list for the motherboard, but that's never been a problem for me before. I won't be overclocking it or anything, so I figure the cheaper one should be fine.
I might change the Case too. Many people claim the V3 is better. I would probably throw out the PSU and get a better one if I got one that comes with a PSU as I've had PSUs die on me in the past and it's a pain in the arse when it happens.
Everything else I'm pretty definite on. I'd be appreciative of any advice or criticism on any aspect of this system though. Oh, and I'd expect he'd be running windows on it. At the moment he's used to xp and I think ubuntu would be too much of a jump and he's a bit of a slow learner with computers. I will probably convince him to fork out for windows 7 though, as it's an improvement on XP IMO if you have the specs to run it properly.
Thanks
I'm putting together a new computer for my Dad. The one he has at the moment is noticably slow (256MB RAM, Athlon XP2000). He's happy to spend about $800 AUD. I will be building it pretty much from scratch. Apart from compatibility issues, I also want the one he has back (it was my old computer) to build a NAS box out of. The main thing I would like input on is RAM, but any advice on parts would be helpful.
Even though he pretty much just uses it for looking up things on wiki and the occassional email, I want it to be fairly versatile as I don't want to restrict what he can do with it as he's still learning. A year or so ago when I gave it to him he insisted he would almost never use it. Now he uses it for several hours a day.
For this reason, I feel that a dedicated graphics card is a must, but it needn't be top range. Onboard audio these days is phenomenal, so I don't see any need for an audio card. What I have so far is.
Gigabyte RADEON HD5670 $111
Core i5-760 $219
Acer 23" G235HBMD $187
Corsair CMX4GX3M2A1600C9 (2x2GB/1600) $88
GA-H55M-UD2H $108
Thermaltake V9 $105
PSU ~$50
DVD burner ~$30
The main thing I'm not sure about is the RAM. There much more expensive RAM from the same manufacturer with the same basic specs, and I don't know what the difference is. This RAM isn't on the compatibility list for the motherboard, but that's never been a problem for me before. I won't be overclocking it or anything, so I figure the cheaper one should be fine.
I might change the Case too. Many people claim the V3 is better. I would probably throw out the PSU and get a better one if I got one that comes with a PSU as I've had PSUs die on me in the past and it's a pain in the arse when it happens.
Everything else I'm pretty definite on. I'd be appreciative of any advice or criticism on any aspect of this system though. Oh, and I'd expect he'd be running windows on it. At the moment he's used to xp and I think ubuntu would be too much of a jump and he's a bit of a slow learner with computers. I will probably convince him to fork out for windows 7 though, as it's an improvement on XP IMO if you have the specs to run it properly.
Thanks
