Hello, everyone. I’ve recently convinced my parents to let me build a new desktop for them over buying a prebuilt system at a store. I return here after you guys graciously helped me build my own, gaming oriented, system around 2-3 years ago.
Firstly, I want to thank Tomshardware and their forums for all the great info and helpful informed posters who make up the community here. My first build for around 1,200 bucks went off beautifully and is still chugging along today, and will hopefully be ready for Diablo 3, Soon™.
The only hiccup was an improperly mounted heatsink, but that was quickly fixed. Just wanted to say thanks and post a couple of pics to show my appreciation, since I didn’t post when I actually finished it years ago.
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Anyways, I now have the opportunity to build a general use/family desktop for the whole fam. It’s specifically for my sister and schoolwork, but will be used by my parents to store photos, and surf the web.
The budget is around $350-$400. I think I'm forced have the monitor, keyboard, mouse, and OS as part of budget. My dad keeps seeing the low priced builds in the ads and wants it to be around that price, and they usually come with the monitor. I don’t know how realistic this is because its seems kind of low. However, this is just a computer needed for reliability, word processing, web surfing, and storage. I could probably convince him to go a little higher.
My thinking is skimp hard on the HD capacity to reduce price(even with a lot of pictures, they won’t come close to using any meaningful amount), and hopefully find some bundle deals on newegg, or some rebated items.
Basically have to prove to my parents that you can make a great build that is cheaper and better than the store prebuilt machines.
Do the on-line retailers have any special Labor day deals?
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Approximate Purchase Date: Sooner the better. Sister needs it for school papers, but still have old desktop to use in meantime. Labor day special deals perhaps?
Budget Range: Around $400. Still need to buy peripherals, monitor, and Windows 7.
System Usage from Most to Least Important: General family computer needs. Word processing, web surfing, movie watching, and picture storage.
Parts Not Required: Need everything new.
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg.com
Country of Origin: United States
Parts Preferences: Intel
Overclocking: No
SLI or Crossfire: No
Monitor Resolution: Whatever monitor fits best with the build, at a reasonable price.
Additional Comments: I would like to have a SSD for the OS, but don’t know if it can fit in the budget. I feel that insane boot time would be a more noticeable thing to them than anything else I could add for extra-feature goodness.
Thanks everyone. Look forward to hearing your replies!
Firstly, I want to thank Tomshardware and their forums for all the great info and helpful informed posters who make up the community here. My first build for around 1,200 bucks went off beautifully and is still chugging along today, and will hopefully be ready for Diablo 3, Soon™.
The only hiccup was an improperly mounted heatsink, but that was quickly fixed. Just wanted to say thanks and post a couple of pics to show my appreciation, since I didn’t post when I actually finished it years ago.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anyways, I now have the opportunity to build a general use/family desktop for the whole fam. It’s specifically for my sister and schoolwork, but will be used by my parents to store photos, and surf the web.
The budget is around $350-$400. I think I'm forced have the monitor, keyboard, mouse, and OS as part of budget. My dad keeps seeing the low priced builds in the ads and wants it to be around that price, and they usually come with the monitor. I don’t know how realistic this is because its seems kind of low. However, this is just a computer needed for reliability, word processing, web surfing, and storage. I could probably convince him to go a little higher.
My thinking is skimp hard on the HD capacity to reduce price(even with a lot of pictures, they won’t come close to using any meaningful amount), and hopefully find some bundle deals on newegg, or some rebated items.
Basically have to prove to my parents that you can make a great build that is cheaper and better than the store prebuilt machines.
Do the on-line retailers have any special Labor day deals?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Approximate Purchase Date: Sooner the better. Sister needs it for school papers, but still have old desktop to use in meantime. Labor day special deals perhaps?
Budget Range: Around $400. Still need to buy peripherals, monitor, and Windows 7.
System Usage from Most to Least Important: General family computer needs. Word processing, web surfing, movie watching, and picture storage.
Parts Not Required: Need everything new.
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg.com
Country of Origin: United States
Parts Preferences: Intel
Overclocking: No
SLI or Crossfire: No
Monitor Resolution: Whatever monitor fits best with the build, at a reasonable price.
Additional Comments: I would like to have a SSD for the OS, but don’t know if it can fit in the budget. I feel that insane boot time would be a more noticeable thing to them than anything else I could add for extra-feature goodness.
Thanks everyone. Look forward to hearing your replies!
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