New Build Recommendations

[dubchedford]

I'm building a new computer for a friend. Her top priority is low cost, and she is wanting to use the computer mainly for surfing the web and office work. She does no gaming, so onboard graphics and audio should work just fine for her purposes. This is what i have came up with for her build. Do you guys have any suggestions on anything i should change.

Processor: $59.99
AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 Kuma 2.7GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103300

Motherboard: $69.99 (after $10 mail in rebate)
GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-US2H AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128379

Memory: $19.99 (after $25 mail in rebate)
CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145184

Hard Drive: $49.99
Western Digital Caviar SE WD3200AAJS 320GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136098

Case w/ PSU: $39.99
Rosewill R804BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 350W with 20+4Pin&1 SATA Connectors Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147024

Optical Drive: $21.99
LITE-ON Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM SATA 22X DVD Burner - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106287

Operating System: 99.99
Vista Home Premium 64 bit w/ sp1 for system builders

Plus there is a combo deal on the CPU and the Case for $15.00

The grand total is $346.93

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated

 

[hella-d]

I Think That Sounds About Right But If She Does No Gaming Id Save Money By Going With A Little Slower CPU And 2GB Of RAM If It Warrents The Proper Savings

 

[mcnuggetofdeath]

1 to my knowledge, the 7750 is a deactivated quad. note the TDP of 95w, 65nm process, and presence of L3 cache. Therefore i would stay as far away as possible. Countless possible issues. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103289
Same price, lower heat which means higher overclock.

2 the 780g has an older northbridge that inhibits overclocking, although i had success with a phenom 9600 that i got to 2.7GHz. The 790GX will get you higher clocks, with more stability. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138140

3 The HDD is crud. 8mb of cache on what i believe is a multi platter drive is unacceptable in this day and age. I just got a new Seagate 7200.12. Its got a single platter, 16mb of cache, runs really cool, etc. Single platter also means its less likely to break. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148395&Tpk=7200.12

4. Dont get Vista. seriously. Windows 7 comes out in September ( supposedly ) and having messed around with 2 diff builds it works great. The release candidate is about to come out. Install that.

it should net u about a 35 dollar drop in total.

 

[hella-d]

I Would Agree For The Most Part On Everything Except The CPU, I Know To Me A Decent CPU And For The Price Id Hafta Say Thats Ture, And Yes Its A Deactivated Quad, But With Two COMPLETELY Unpowered Cores They Have No Impact Except For Dies Size But That Dosent Matter To Us End Users Anyway, Personally I Myself Am Wating For The Two Core Versions Of The Phenom II Series

 

[mcnuggetofdeath]

lol. true. Ive just heard horror stories of AMD's original tri core processors.

 

[dubchedford]

Good call on the hard drive I swapped it out for one with a 16mb cache.

I'm not really concerned about the CPU it has great reviews on newegg, and the price is right especially with the combo

As far as the motherboard is concerned I think the 780G will be fine, she has absolutely no aspirations of overclocking.

The windows 7 release candidate may be a viable option, I didn't realize they were about to release it in May. Does anybody think there will be any major compatibility issues? Hopefully there is no issues with the onboard audio and video drivers with windows 7.