Low End Build

[colonydata]

looking at putting together a cheap but quality build for an older gentlemen thats in my dad's american legion post. i dont normally build computers for other people, so i was wondering if anyone had some ideas on cutting some more costs out of this pc.

i already swapped down from an I3 to a Pentium, i could go down to a Celeron but not sure the 10-15 dollars saved is worth the trade off? I am really not sure what the real world performance gap between the current Pentiums and Celeron are.

 

[Parkwaytech]

Looking at you items, I think you pretty much hit the lowest price while still keeping performance good. The only thing I could suggest is going with another brand for power supply. We usually pay around $20 for a power supply, and I'll tell you that we have never had an issue with quality. In four years, I haven't had a single failure or motherboard problem unless there was an external source (lightning, etc.). Other than that, you did excellent.

 

[OfficeTechs]

you could probably go AMD and save a bit more, also would he use the DVD burner, or any optical drive at all come to that?

 

[16k_zx81]

It seems like an eminently sensible build for the intended purpose.

The only observation I would make is that there is no USB 3.0 ports on the board.

Something like:
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8H61M_LEUSB3/#specifications

Will give you USB 3.0 for an additional $10

I dont know that this really matters too much. Just a thought.

 

[compnet]

The only thing I could suggest is going with another brand for power supply. We usually pay around $20 for a power supply, and I'll tell you that we have never had an issue with quality. In four years, I haven't had a single failure or motherboard problem unless there was an external source (lightning, etc.). Other than that, you did excellent.

You either aren't using them enough or are extremely lucky... $20 bucks for a power supply will be garbage, no doubt about it.

 

[angry_geek]

I'm just throwing this out there, but why not a prefab machine? You've got $400 in parts there plus your time. You could order a new Vostro for less money and less time.

 

[FoolishTech]

Agreed on the pre-fab. See how he feels about scratch and dent, and if that's ok hit up outlet.lenovo.com!

Otherwise, you can save on the PSU a little. I personally use Sparkle/FSP brand and never had any issue. I'd probably drop a Sparkle 350 in there and call it done. *getting my flame retardant gear on*

 

[angry_geek]

Agreed on the pre-fab. See how he feels about scratch and dent, and if that's ok hit up outlet.lenovo.com!

Otherwise, you can save on the PSU a little. I personally use Sparkle/FSP brand and never had any issue. I'd probably drop a Sparkle 350 in there and call it done. *getting my flame retardant gear on*

I especially enjoy when the Sparkle units start smoking. I keep waiting for the "sparkles", but I usually don't have the stomach to keep it plugged in long enough for the fire to start.

Seriously, though, I've used the cheap psu's a bit and never had any issues.

 

[PCX]

I also agree with checking into refurbs or scratch and dent items. You can usually get a lot more bang for your buck and save a lot of time in the process.

 

[angry_geek]

On Dell's business site is a vostro with an i5, 4 GB of ram for $449. If you're a partner or reseller, you'll get another 3% off of that. Granted, that's a bit of overkill.

Also, check the Dell outlet site. I got an optiplex 790 there for $400 last week.

 

[colonydata]

Looking at you items, I think you pretty much hit the lowest price while still keeping performance good. The only thing I could suggest is going with another brand for power supply. We usually pay around $20 for a power supply, and I'll tell you that we have never had an issue with quality. In four years, I haven't had a single failure or motherboard problem unless there was an external source (lightning, etc.). Other than that, you did excellent.

After rebate that is a roughly 20 dollar power supply, and it's a name I've actually heard of. Unlike a lot of the 20 buck PSUs

you could probably go AMD and save a bit more, also would he use the DVD burner, or any optical drive at all come to that?

He burns CDs for his church, I didn't even look at cd-r only drives figure not much difference on price.

It seems like an eminently sensible build for the intended purpose.

The only observation I would make is that there is no USB 3.0 ports on the board.

Something like:
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8H61M_LEUSB3/#specifications

Will give you USB 3.0 for an additional $10

I dont know that this really matters too much. Just a thought.

Yeah I don't know

I'm just throwing this out there, but why not a prefab machine? You've got $400 in parts there plus your time. You could order a new Vostro for less money and less time.

I had the same thought, but the prices. I looked at the specs were not as good to have the pentium and 4gb of ram was another 100 dollars. It was about 500 dollars for the same specs and something better than basic support (dells idea of basic support is hardware only and if the computer boots to windows it is a software problem.

I'm not charging for labor on this one. (I know, I know)

That and I just feel like building one. Although I am going to give him a buy and a build option.

 

[angry_geek]

I'm not charging for labor on this one. (I know, I know)

That and I just feel like building one. Although I am going to give him a buy and a build option.

That was the response I was fishing for. Sometimes, it's just fun to get out the screwdrivers and play. I would definitely go with the Pentium, if not a cheap i3.

 

[dogskool]

For the cost of buying the parts, these guys build it as well:

http://www.superbiiz.com/system_index.php

I used them several times with very good results.

 

[PCX]

For the cost of buying the parts, these guys build it as well:

http://www.superbiiz.com/system_index.php

I used them several times with very good results.

I have not used this for this purpose, but I know I have bought parts from them in the past and they were good.

 

[16k_zx81]

You either aren't using them enough or are extremely lucky... $20 bucks for a power supply will be garbage, no doubt about it.

Yep. Put me down for a vote for brand-name only PSUs. The Corsairs are really nice in two respects: 1, they have a 3 year warranty, and 2, they are 80plus certified, meaning they are built with decent quality components. To my mind its not about getting a callback in the warranty period. Of course I want to avoid that, but its also about customers seeing their computers working for years after they have been built, and recognising/recommending my services as a quality supplier because of it.

Not interested in saving a few bucks to risk that.

No offence intended to anyone, just voicing an opinion

 

[Tekguy]

Another vote for superbiiz.com. I've ordered parts from them several times without issue & their prices are hard to beat. You can save about $10 on the cpu if you get it at superbiiz.com.

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=G630

The Celeron G530 is actually pretty fast, it's not like the Celeron's of olden days where you sighed every few minutes waiting for that 128k of L2 cache to do something. The G530 actually benchmarks similar to a Core 2 Duo E 8400 which was a pretty fast cpu a few years ago.

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=G530BOX

 

[codegreen]

I like your part selection; good quality for the budget. With the mail-in rebate, you can beat that power supply.

Are you aware that your motherboard doesn't have onboard video? You don't have a video card listed.

 

[Parkwaytech]

You either aren't using them enough or are extremely lucky... $20 bucks for a power supply will be garbage, no doubt about it.

Really? We have been in business four years, and have put in over 250. I stand by my statement. I'm not saying you don't get what you pay for, but an inexpensive power supply is like memory - it will still work fine.

 

[Parkwaytech]

After rebate that is a roughly 20 dollar power supply, and it's a name I've actually heard of. Unlike a lot of the 20 buck PSUs.

Missed that on the price. Very good deal then.

 

[Tekguy]

You can get another $10 off that version of Win 7 at Newegg with promo code EMCNENF88.