New inexpensive build for parents

[metaxas]

Approximate Purchase Date: This week
Budget Range: 700-900 After Rebates
System Usage from Most to Least Important: surfing internet, recording and storing videos, watching movies, MS word / excel, youtube, no real gaming
Parts Not Required: None
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg
Country of Origin: USA
Parts Preferences: by brand or type Coolermaster Case
Overclocking: No
SLI or Crossfire: No

Additional Comments: Building PC for parents. Need:
- Stability, stability stability (long term)
- Price
- Performance (for day to day surfing, documentation etc)
- Easy to create and store audio / video

Hi,
Im trying to get this build going for my parents. They are not very tech savvy and if something breaks down they will find it tough to get it fixed for themselves. That being said, as is probably obvious, Im not looking for a high end gaming rig, just an inexpensive but solid and up-to-date build.

LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA CD/DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289

COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-WW Black/Silver Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119077

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181

ASUS VH232H Glossy Black 23" 5ms Widescreen Full HD 1080p LCD Monitor w/Speakers & HDMI
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236079

GIGABYTE GA-MA74GM-S2 AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 740G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128342

SAPPHIRE 100253HDMI Radeon HD 4650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Low Profile Ready Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102829

Thermaltake TR2 W0070RUC 430W ATX12V V2.2 Intel Core i7 Compliant Dual 80mm Fans Full Cable Sleevings Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153023

G.SKILL PI Black 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL4D-4GBPI-B
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231209

Logitech C310 USB 2.0 HD WebCam
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104368

AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor ADX640WFGMBOX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103871

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754

Also... do I really need these?

ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118003

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated..
thx!

 

[CopaMundial]

You're spending about $200 between processor, motherboard, and video card.
If you went Intel you could drop the video card entirely and use the integrated graphics in the new CPU's.

I would go like this:

Intel Core i3-2100 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz 2 x 256KB L2 Cache 3MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I32100
$120 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115078

BIOSTAR H61MH LGA 1155 Intel H61 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
$70 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138312

Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model 996770
$82 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226095

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
$50 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181
(heads up, there's an 'open box' one of these drives available for $29 if you grab it fast)

LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA CD/DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
$19 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289

Logitech C310 USB 2.0 HD WebCam
$32 (after rebate) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104368&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3463938&SID=

That's basically the system. A 65w CPU, a hard drive, some RAM and a DVD drive. Not going to take very much power to drive that, so I would get a small PSU and a little case so that it they can put it where ever they want without worrying about noise or taking up too much room.

SeaSonic S12II 380B 380W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
$54 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151072

That's $528 so far.

So then I would get a nice micro-ATX case.. something that would be quiet and look decent on a desk if they wanted to do that. And a wireless card so that they can put it where they want without worrying about cables.

 

[JamesAllen]

Approximate Purchase Date: This week
System Usage from Most to Least Important: surfing internet, recording and storing videos, watching movies, MS word / excel, youtube, no real gaming

Additional Comments: Building PC for parents. Need:
- Easy to create and store audio / video

They are not very tech savvy and if something breaks down they will find it tough to get it fixed for themselves.

Have you considered going pre-built with their PC? If your parents will find it tough to get it fixed themselves, a pre-built PC will come with a system warranty allowing them to send the entire system in for repair should anything go wrong. With a custom build, you are looking at having to deal with each individual manufacturer or distributor if anything should go wrong.

Also, by recording and storing videos, do you mean recording off of the webcam you mentioned or recording from another source like a DVR? Using a webcam for much more than a service like skype will be limiting as the megapixel count is only 5.0. If it is just for video chatting, or you do not care about the video/audio quality, then the provided webcam should be fine. If you are trying to sue it like a DVR or to capture video from another source, then you will need at least a video capture card/tuner in addition to what you have mentioned.

 

[metaxas]

Have you considered going pre-built with their PC? If your parents will find it tough to get it fixed themselves, a pre-built PC will come with a system warranty allowing them to send the entire system in for repair should anything go wrong. With a custom build, you are looking at having to deal with each individual manufacturer or distributor if anything should go wrong.

Also, by recording and storing videos, do you mean recording off of the webcam you mentioned or recording from another source like a DVR? Using a webcam for much more than a service like skype will be limiting as the megapixel count is only 5.0. If it is just for video chatting, or you do not care about the video/audio quality, then the provided webcam should be fine. If you are trying to sue it like a DVR or to capture video from another source, then you will need at least a video capture card/tuner in addition to what you have mentioned.

Hmm thats not a bad idea either, ill check out Dell desktops. I was hoping to get some experience building desktops (I've built one, my own). Thanks for the TV tuner card idea.
Any opinions on the build itself?

 

[metaxas]

Best answer selected by metaxas.