Need a build check for new PC, PC DONE, TY

[Narvs]

Building my girlfriend a new computer because her 4yr old laptop died last week and she wants to switch to a desktop. Computer will be mainly used for web browsing, picture viewing, listening to music, etc. I know all the arguments about looking at a prebuilt desktop from Dell or ones on sale from the front page. However she wants one made for her and I feel I can make a comparable price.

Budget: $700
This includes all the basics not just internal hardware components.

Case & Power Supply: $66.99
HEC 6K28BBX585 Steel MicroATX Mini Tower Computer Case & 585W Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6811121004

MB: $68.99
GIGABYTE GA-73PVM-S2H NVIDIA GeForce 7100 HDMI Micro ATX Intel
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6813128072

Processor: $69.99
Intel Pentium E5300 2.6GHz 2MB L2 Cache
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6819116074

RAM: $57.99
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6820231122

HDD: $59.99
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6822148395

or

$49.99
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD3200AAJS 320GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6822136098

Optic Drive: $28.99
LITE-ON Black SATA CD/DVD Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6827106289

Monitor: $119.99
Acer X193W+BD Black 19" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6824009127

Keyboard: $12.99
Logitech Deluxe 250 Black 104 Normal Keys USB Wired Standard Keyboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6823126013

OS: $109.99
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit – OEM (free Windows 7 upgrade coupon)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6832116677

USB SD Card Reader: $5.99
Rosewill RSD-CR106 Black USB 2.0 External Single slot SD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6820223087

Mouse & Speakers: Already have

Total: $601.90 (not including shipping)

Just checking compatibility and seeing if I missed anything. Any help would be appreciated.

[anticommon]

Get the bigger HDD, shop around a bit more for the ram (even on newegg) as I paid $50 for 4gb of DDR 8000.

You may want to look into getting a bit more powerful CPU, as if this is a mini PC you will have a hard time ever getting more juice OCing.

[In_Like_Tim]

What happened to the price of DVD burners? Newegg used to have a bunch under $25.

[slapshot136]

the cheaper ones were either only cd and not dvd ones and got discontinued, or were just plain crap, and were discontinued

also go for a 640 gb hard drive as opposed to a 500gb one, since they upgraded the technology inside them, so even though the price and capacity are similar, the 640 ones perform better

also, have you looked at any of the newegg combos? i think you could save by going for some of those instead of what you have, since most have a combo of motherboard + vista or something (your particular one dosent tho)

also your missing a graphics card, the onboard NVIDIA GeForce 7100 isnt really going to cut it for much.. i dunno if it can even do aero

[eli2k]

Pay a little more for this 640gb - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6822136218

[2cheap4retail]

don't limit yourself to one seller.. shopping around can and does save money. example: just buying the processor and (comparable) memory and keyboard from tiger direct can net you $30 in savings after bing cash back, compared to what you've picked out at newegg..

don't buy all at once, either.. a little patience can pay off huge with a slick deal.

at newegg.. look first at 'free shipping' items... i hardly ever buy something with a shipping charge from newegg... only when there's no alternative, either there or elsewhere, that competes with their price + shipping. 'free shipping' items are easy to filter for along the left side under guided or advanced search...

as far as your parts go.. the only things i would reconsider are:

your case + psu. get a lower-wattage (your build doesn't need much power) 80PLUS power supply from a reputable, name brand, even if that means buying case and psu separately

and memory.. there is lower cost, name brand memory available.. and slick deals are not uncommon.

Quote from In_Like_Tim : What happened to the price of DVD burners? Newegg used to have a bunch under $25.

Quote from eli2k : Pay a little more for this 640gb - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6822136218

Quote from slapshot136 : the cheaper ones were either only cd and not dvd ones and got discontinued, or were just plain crap, and were discontinued also go for a 640 gb hard drive as opposed to a 500gb one, since they upgraded the technology inside them, so even though the price and capacity are similar, the 640 ones perform better also, have you looked at any of the newegg combos? i think you could save by going for some of those instead of what you have, since most have a combo of motherboard + vista or something (your particular one dosent tho) also your missing a graphics card, the onboard NVIDIA GeForce 7100 isnt really going to cut it for much.. i dunno if it can even do aero

dvd burners have gone up a bit due to production shifting to BD..

no-go on the 640 HDD... the 7200.12 seagate is their latest model, and is a single-platter drive. the 640 blue is nice (have three), but that model is starting to age...

newegg combos can save money, but a lot of people miss it when some items don't have free shipping..

i run aero on less.. integrated 6150LE... that also plays all the games i want it to play...

[jkee]

DVD burners also increased in price a little when the popular shift from IDE to SATA occurred.

[saiyan]

Do you by chance have a frys nearby?

[Narvs]

Quote from anticommon : Get the bigger HDD, shop around a bit more for the ram (even on newegg) as I paid $50 for 4gb of DDR 8000. You may want to look into getting a bit more powerful CPU, as if this is a mini PC you will have a hard time ever getting more juice OCing.

HDD is plenty big, for the last 4 yrs she only had 80GB and she never filled it.
I agree there is plenty of cheaper RAM out there.
I updated CPU, see next post.

Quote from slapshot136 : also, have you looked at any of the newegg combos? i think you could save by going for some of those instead of what you have, since most have a combo of motherboard + vista or something (your particular one dosent tho)

I agree and found a combo, MB & CPU.

Quote from 2cheap4retail : don't limit yourself to one seller.. shopping around can and does save money.

Agreed

Quote from sayian : Do you by chance have a frys nearby?

No

New PC after some price hunting.

Case: $39.99
COOLER MASTER ELITE 335 RC-335-KKN1-GP Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6811119161

Power Supply: $49.99 ($20 MIR) = $29.99
CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6817139008

MB: $79.99
GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6813128394

Processor: $66.00
AMD Athlon II X2 245 Regor 2.9GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6819103687

MB & CPU combo -$20

RAM: $0
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT12864AA80A
Unused RAM I acquired, doesn't have best rating for quality but for now they are still working. So far this my biggest money saver from before. I have 4x1GB sticks.

HDD: $53.99
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?na...d5a6ede7a1

Optic Drive: $28.99 $6.98 (S&H) = $35.97
LITE-ON Black SATA CD/DVD Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6827106289
Only thing I couldn't find a good replacement for.

Monitor: $125.99
Acer X193W+BD Black 19" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor
http://www.buy.com/prod/asus-vh19...21476.html

Keyboard: $18.57
Logitech Deluxe 250 Black 104 Normal Keys USB Wired Standard Keyboard
http://www.urlhasbeenblocked.com/...googleProd

OS: $109.99
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit – OEM (free Windows 7 upgrade coupon)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6832116677

USB SD Card Reader: $5.99
Rosewill RSD-CR106 Blue USB 2.0 External Single slot SD / MMC Card Reader
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6820223088

Mouse & Speakers: Already have

Total: $545.47

[saiyan]

Are you a student?
Can get Cheap License to many flavors of Windows.
Eg. XP,Vista,7, Server

http://forums.slickdeals.net/show...&t=1505729

$32.00 for IEEE students.
$19.00 for ACM

cut down your OS cost by $70.0 or so.

[KFisher]

Get Ubuntu linux(free), and save $110. Since she is only doing simple daily tasks.

http://www.ubuntu.com/GetUbuntu/download

[mrbobhcrhs]

what about something like tigerdirects barebones kits like this one [tigerdirect.com] I find there barebones kits a good starting point and from there swap stuff as needed.


LOOK AT THIS VALUE! Our Price: $489.99
EVGA nForce 750i SLI Motherboard - Qty: 1 $119.99

Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 Processor BX80580Q8400 - Qty: 1 $169.99

Patriot 4GB DDR2 RAM 2GB USB Drive 3DMark Bundle - Qty: 1 $64.99

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 750GB HD - Qty: 1 $69.99

Ultra X-Blaster Mid-T Case - Qty: 1 $59.98

Ultra LSP550 550-Watt Power Supply - Qty: 1 $49.99

[mrbobhcrhs]

look at this deal [tigerdirect.com]it might usefull for you

Edit: oops ment to edit my other post not make a new one...

[Narvs]

Quote from sayian : Are you a student? Can get Cheap License to many flavors of Windows. Eg. XP,Vista,7, Server http://forums.slickdeals.net/show...&t=1505729 $32.00 for IEEE students. $19.00 for ACM cut down your OS cost by $70.0 or so.

I'm not a student, I'm sure I could get around the system cause I still have a student email, but I think were going to to do this more legit. But thank you for letting me know about this, I have younger sisters that I can use to take advantage of this deal later.

Quote from KFisher : Get Ubuntu linux(free), and save $110. Since she is only doing simple daily tasks. http://www.ubuntu.com/GetUbuntu/download

I have been thinking of trying out linux, mainly ubuntu, however my gf would be completely lost and I don't know it well enough yet to help her. But I'll use it on a future build or a dual boot. But for now I'll pass.

Quote from mrbobhcrhs : what about something like tigerdirects barebones kits like this one [tigerdirect.com] I find there barebones kits a good starting point and from there swap stuff as needed.

Quote from mrbobhcrhs : look at this deal [tigerdirect.com]it might usefull for you

First deal I'm not a big fan of cause its to advanced (don't need such high specs) so to expensive. However I wish I had seen that second deal before I made the purchases, but I'm not going to number crunch it to see what it would have or won't have saved me.

I just bought all the parts when newegg had that 24 hour sale yesterday because it saved me about 40 bucks. Final price $539.43 - $20(MIR) = $519.43. Main parts were 19' ASUS monitor, Cooler Master ATX mid case, ASUS M4A785-M MB, OCZ 400w 80plus power, AMD 2.8 Dual-Core, Seagate 500GB HD, 4x1GB 800 RAM, Vista Home with upgrade to Windows 7. (not all parts from newegg)

Thank you for all the help!