blibbax

__________________

Veridian3

Looks pretty good. 2 comments... are you sure you want a case with a bright orange section? Thats going to be a real love/hate thing for a lot of people.

As someone else said, that PSU seems a little more than would be needed, you could save some on that and go for a less controversial case (or include memory if you need it).

Tipstaff

Wow... can't believe that Newegg had stock on 500GB (and apparently 640GB) Cavier Black drives. Nice find there. That should be plenty enough for them, and you saved yourself $30.

And yeah.. it's been mentioned a number of times now, and once more for good measure: ix nay on the case, eh. Go with the SWN1, the silver version as it's more neutral.

__________________

Takaharu

Yes, you are. I see 4GB DDR3 listed, bundled with the PSU.

I still say this PC is mass-overkill; a 6-core CPU for Office & web browsing... Snap that in half to give you a 3-core and get a lightweight graphics card so the Office apps render quickly on that resolution.
550W is overkill but it gives room for expansion. The difference in cost between 400W and 550W is minimal so you might as well. The 80+ should help with wattage usage.
Crank up the monitor to Full HD. You can save money from the downgrading excessive components so make good use of it.
As for the hard drive, I know someone that has thousands of pictures on a 120GB hard drive. 500GB doesn't sound like a lot by today's standards but if it's pictures, a few videos and not a lot else, it'll last for years.

The less said about the case the better. You're going for personal preference here. If you don't know what they like in the way of cases, go for a minimalistic design coloured in black.

__________________

blibbax

My bad, thanks for pointing it out :P

__________________

A Desire to Game

RAM was bundled with the PSU. I was just thinking about the future for them. Not sure how much upgrading they plan to do besides a potential SSD down the road. The PSU is overkill but after the combo deal and $8 promo code it becomes the same price as the system builder entry level.

Ya, I was thinking the silver version of the CM case but I will check with them before I make the order.

I really had my eyes set on a Gigabyte board with SATA III and USB III but the combo deal for the ASRock is a pretty good deal.

What cases do you guys prefer for a family home computer?

__________________
Three is my new favorite number. (SATA III, USB 3.0, and triple channel memory)

A Desire to Game

ViewSonic VX2450wm-LED Black 24" (23.6" Vis) LED Backlight LCD monitor

CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 CMPSU-430CX 430W ATX12V Active PFC Power Supply

Do you think the monitor speakers would suffice? Probably not. Comments?

__________________
Three is my new favorite number. (SATA III, USB 3.0, and triple channel memory)

mcdragon2

I know my parents are happy with the built-in speakers of their monitor but they also don't listen to music or watch videos on the computer so I would imagine that if your in-laws want to do that then they would greatly prefer some nice speakers

blibbax

Built in speakers are rarely good enough for music and movies (if ever). Also, having them and not using them is paying for what you aren't going to use, so buy a monitor without speakers

For a family computer, I don't have any specific case reccomendations, but some considerations when browsing:
-Still good to buy from a good brand - build quality, well thought out designs.
-You don't want something that will fill with dust if the users aren't going to clean it.
-Plain colours, no window.

__________________

A Desire to Game

I thought the Cooler Master case was a decent build, had decent looks (everyone likes glossy black right?), and was cheap on the budget. Didn't want the case window but the only version that comes without comes with a junk PSU I wouldn't dare trust.

Sony Optiarc CD/DVD Burner Black SATA Model AD-7261S-0B LightScribe Support - OEM

COOLER MASTER Elite RC-310-SWN1-GP Black SECC / ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Viewsonic VX2450wm-LED 23.6" HD LED Backlight LCD Monitor w/Speakers

CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 CMPSU-430CX 430W ATX12V Active PFC Power Supply

Logitech MK120 Black USB Wired Slim Desktop

CORSAIR 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 Desktop Memory Model CMV4GX3M1A1333C9

COOLER MASTER RR-H101-22FK-RA 80mm Long life sleeve bearing CPU Cooler

OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTXE60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

ASRock 880GXH/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G USB 3.0 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD Phenom II X3 740 Black Edition Heka 3.0GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Desktop Processor

$706.90 - $3.50 Promo + $19.66 shipping = $723.06

__________________
Three is my new favorite number. (SATA III, USB 3.0, and triple channel memory)

blibbax

Awesome

Make sure you unlock that fourth core!

__________________

Takaharu

Are your in-laws well-versed in computing? Would they know not to install software to the C drive or do you think the SSD is actually not worthwhile, like everyone has been trying to say?
Why the sudden addition of an aftermarket CPU HSF?

I'd still recommend the low-end graphics card...

__________________

Judas

Intel i3 530/540/550 or i5 with HT
Asus P7H55-M PRO
2x2gb DDR3 Patriot PC10666 1333mhz
WD Caviar Black 640gb 64mb Cache SATA
LG DVD-RW-DL SATA
Coolermaster 500watt Extreme Power
Coolermaster 690 II Advanced
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit

Stick with the stock cooling the comes with everything

Done...

It'll be nearly silent if not completely silent...

Highly upgradeable, expandable, cool running and will blow the doors of most anything any prebuilt machine will manage.

Seriously cheap too.

Never go for less then 4gb today...

And the intergrated I3/i5 gpu's are powerful little suckers

__________________

A Desire to Game

Yeah, you guys are right. They would install it all to the C drive, fill it up too much, and the ssd would crap out and need secure erased all the time. Maybe when the $/GB hoopla clears I will throw in a 120+ for them when space won't be an issue. The OEM x3 740 doesn't come with a HSF. It was the cheapest one that would still do the job.

Judging by the Raven 2 in your system specs its obvious you have good taste Judas...he he.

I think you are the first to quote an i3/i5 system. Gonna do some pricing tonight and see where that leaves me.

The 23.6" Viewsonic sold out, bummer. I was getting ready to order it so I could test out the built-in speakers and order the rest later.

__________________
Three is my new favorite number. (SATA III, USB 3.0, and triple channel memory)

Tipstaff

I see all this hardware, and the budget used up for that only, but no mention of an OS.

__________________

Takaharu

Page 1, Tipstaff.

__________________

Judas

I've been building the i3 530 machines for dozens of people now for nearly a full year..

They are for all intents and purposes... a very kick ass machine, more potent then most customer generally need, but flexible for anything they might need/want down the road as well.

Top that off with the fast hardrive, the intergrated iGPU that does an amazing job for what it's size is, a blazing fast hardrive which still isn't any form of SSD, but has not only an excessive amount of capacity the majority of users will never use, but is a decent price for it's overall speed. Really i've built a few of the competeing AMD solution in the same price range and without purchasing a top of the line video card, the i3 is still whooping ass.

I picked the motherboard because frankly, i still think ADI and Via's Onboard sound solutions are totally unreliable and garbage. The Onboard realtek controller on this board has NEVER given me a hint of problems unless the board or chip was clearly faulty...

And it's a snap to setup, comes with HDMI/VGA/DVI out and Fiber Optic out for audio too. All the USB ports anyone could ever want, plenty of sata ports, no raid though but how many people need that anyways

It's quiet, simple, VERY low power consumption, according to my ups it averages on typical use anywhere from 40-75watt draw..... into hardcore games (that the i3 can manage very well with) i think it barely breaks 100watt mark.

4gb of ram will make it last.. and the possibily of upgrading it to 16gb is possible too.

Need a fast cpu.. i'm sure we'll have access to the 1156 socket cpus for a few years yet, so you could potentially make the jump to an i7 1156 socket cpu no problemo.

Heat is pretty much non-excistant..... seriously one of the major comments i get from customers is the lack of audioable sound from this machine.

And a 500watt psu basically guarantees good solid reliable power, with the great EASE of installing a very power video card if the need arises....

just take a gander at them when i was first building the i3 machines 10 months ago..

Coolermaster 690 II vs Coolermaster 690 Cases

__________________

OldBuzzard

I wanted to put the CM 690II in my recommendation, but it would have busted the budget.

I used the basic version (without the HDD dock) for the system I built for #2 son.

Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN3 CM690 II Basic Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

A REALLY nice case, with much better cable routing options than my original 690.

One thing that I really liked was the little "socket' that they put in the hardware pack for screwing down the MB stand offs. Just a little thing, but it made getting them tightened down SO easy.

__________________
When looking for a reason as to why things go wrong, never rule out sheer STUPIDITY

Tipstaff

Oops.. my bad. Thanks, Tak.

__________________

A Desire to Game

The CM 690 II is definitely my choice of case, still haven't checked with them to see if its theirs' too. I think the i3 sounds like a pretty wicked setup. Low power and noise are VERY important. Not too crazy about the lack of SATA III support though.

Newegg just posted a few good deals. $125 for the AMD Phenom II 945 3.0 GHz x4. $39.99 for 500GB caviar blue. $126 - $20 MIR for Corsair F60 SSD.

I was looking at the i3 benchmarks on anandtech...fairly impressive for the price. My only concern is that they are still dual core. I can't shake the feeling that dual core is not the way to go for something I want to last. But the intel quads are too high for their budget.

__________________
Three is my new favorite number. (SATA III, USB 3.0, and triple channel memory)

blibbax

Even in quad threaded applications, the i3 doesn't get blown away by low end AMD quads.

Sata 3 support surely doesn't matter... nothing that's ever going in that rig is going to saturate Sata 2 or be significantly effected by this.

And... I know this has come up before, but are you sure they are computer literate enough to manage their storage usage between a 60GB fast drive and a 500GB slower (but still quite fast) driver?

Also, power and noise... on a setup this simply, power consumption is going to be in low power lightbulb territory during typical usage whatever you go for :P

__________________

Tipstaff

Even though I'm an Intel boy through and through I'll be honest here: when you look at the pricing of the system A Desire to Game put together in post #40, for me to put together an i3-530 comparible system would cost at least $100 extra (I'm talking retail pricing here, not what it would cost me as a dealer). That would bump the price above the $700 budget which is why I haven't posted an Intel lineup. As it is the system in that post seems like a winner, so why confuse things?

However, just to be the spoilsport here, does anyone know of any issues that might creep up with that particular SSD, or any SSD based on the Sandforce controller running on an AMD 880G chipset?

__________________

OldBuzzard

You've been all over the map with the CPU

For the applications that you say they are going to be using, any of these three would do the job.

Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDX945FBGIBOX
Newegg.com - AMD Athlon II X4 645 Propus 3.1GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor ADX645WFGMBOX
Newegg.com - AMD Athlon II X3 450 Rana 3.2GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Desktop Processor ADX450WFGMBOX

Not only that, but you could build 3 systems identical, except for the CPU. and in real world use, I doubt that there is anyone on the planet that could tell you which system had which CPU.

Personally, I'd go for the AII X3 because I'm a cheap SOB and that would leave a few more $$ in the budget to spend on a nicer/bigger monitor.

__________________
When looking for a reason as to why things go wrong, never rule out sheer STUPIDITY

slvrback

For 10 bucks more get the Western Digital Caviar Black 750 GB for lots of pic storage!
for $99 the Athlon II X4 635 cpu for what the inlaws could possibly need more?
Ya know I just realized;;;;;;
Really is it only me or could this build be had for less than $700????????
Come on older folks have issues with seeing; ease off on the snappy cous there moving a little slower these days.
Agree with OLDBUZZARD Bigger monitor is the ticket.
They will be able to sit infront of it longer with less eye strain.
My friend just purchased this for his folks :Hanns·G HZ251HPB Black 25" 2ms X-Celerate OD 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor .
And they luv it and you can drop the speakers off the build.
Think entry level rig$500 max, then that gives cash for bigger monitor if there is a need to spend $700 total.
I think Liqourice may on to something!!!!!!!!

blibbax

I'm guessing this build is well under way by now, given the last post date, so your advise may be too late

I'd like to see some pics of the finished product though...

__________________