Very basic system for wife

[usafguy99]

My wife has a ancient E-Machine's that barely works so a new computer is needed. I've put the following
pieces together. All she does is surf and email and a little photo editing. Will this system hold her over for
a while?


LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model GH22NS30 - OEM
Item #: N82E16827136152
$24.99


Rosewill R103A Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with 350W 20+4 pin connector Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16811147010
$36.99


Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822136074
$54.99


ECS A780GM-A AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813135075
$69.99


G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ - Retail
Item #: N82E16820231098
$33.99


AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200 Brisbane 2.7GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADO5200DOBOX - Retail
Item #: N82E16819103210
$59.99

Thanks for any input.

 

[shortstuff_mt]

That build should work fine for the intended use. The only thing I'd be worried about is the Rosewill PSU. If the budget can stretch a little, you might want to step up to a little better case PSU. The Corsair 400cx is an excellent budget PSU.

CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139008 $59.99 - $20 MIR

You also might want to spend an extra $11 and get 4GB of RAM since prices are so low right now.

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122 $44.99

 

[WR2]

Save $5 on the CPU with Athlon X2 4850e 2.5GHz 45W CPU. It's a great match to the 780G motherboard, more power efficient than the X2 5200 and nearly as powerful.

Sticking with WinXP? 2GB of RAM would be enough.
The case and power supply you chose is the weak link in overall quality. And its $52 with shipping to my zip code.
If you look at case/PSU combos with "free shipping" you might be able to find something better that's nearly the same in over all cost. Example

 

[batuchka]

Hmm what about getting her a portable/light mATX rig with about the same hardware

 

[Onus]

+1 @shortstuff & @batuchka. I did a similar AMD build for my wife, but the X2 5400 was on special at the time. I put it on a Gigabyte 790G mobo, in an Antec Sonata III case, which comes with an Earthwatts PSU.

 

[topper743]

I'm a big fan of DIY, it's more fun and you know what your getting for your dollar. You didn't include a OS with your build so you need to figure that in the cost of a home built system and remember that a retail system has a OS preinstalled. That said you might consider an off the shelf system from a retailer or etailer. With the economy the way it is many are advertizing systems that might fit your needs at some pretty good prices. If you go the home built route rather than down buying the CPU consider this one the AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 Kuma 2.7GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache 2MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 95W Dual-Core black edition Processor.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103300

It's only about $17 more and will overclock nicely since it is a black edition. You mentioned photo editing, will that require much if any 3D video from the system? The onboard video is probably good enough but you might consider slapping in the best card $40-50 will buy. Not pushing one brand or another but, this one is $22.99 after MIR.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121240

I like shorty's idea for the PSU and ram. I think that you'll like having the extra ram and gskill is a good brand that has very reasonable prices for it's products.