Building a casual computer

[VP :3]

Hey you awesome tech people! So, I recently made a deal with my grandpa where I'd build them a new computer and he'd pay the price, and I'd get money back for building it. What he needs is a casual, everyday computer, nothing gaming-serious like. What it DOES need though are following:

*HD Video Card
*~500GB hard-drive (Even 250GB will be fine)
*Disc drive (Blu-Ray would be nice, but not necessary)

I'm looking to keep this under a nice $500 for their sake. Thanks guys!

 

[pillar]

Here ya go bro. Just so ya know, I couldnt really decide on an ATI/AMD video card, esp since ive mainly been using GeForce cards most of my gaming life (no offense). I know that there are some really big gurus in our forums who know their AMD video card stuff, so if any of you guys see this post, please feel free to inform VP about some good possible video cards thatll help his father out. With that out there, this is what ive compiled:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811144042
$39
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186205
$54
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103995
$124
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277
^ive even considered these for myself because of the price $29
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136770
$84
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151222
^i must say, im really impressed with this deal. i personally thought that blu-ray players were still over the $100 range, so this totally blew my mind!
$59
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986
$99 ^i almost forgot this guy. every system over 3.5gb of memory needs a 64-bit operating system (unless theyve recently changed the rules on that).

Now once you get all these parts, just get yourself a decent 20" lcd monitor (they always seem to be on sale for $100), not to mention a keyboard & mouse & ur set! I hope this helps.

 

[VP :3]

Thanks so far for the list! All that's needed now is the GPU.

 

[Ph?bus]

What's the most intensive thing your grandpa does on his computer? You'll get bonus points if you make it look nice and is nearly silent.

 

[VP :3]

The most intensive thing he does it play those little games like Mojang, Solitare, etc. And youtube. He uses the Microsoft Office stuff A LOT though for like hospital records and stuff.

 

[Soul_of_a_Sinner]

the motherboard that pillar has picked out has a built in 4250, should be fine for playing little games like that and watching videos.

 

[runo]

The most intensive thing he does it play those little games like Mojang, Solitare, etc. And youtube. He uses the Microsoft Office stuff A LOT though for like hospital records and stuff.

Sinner raises an excellent point. Onboard graphics are more than enough to handle these things, so the built-in GPU that the motherboard Pillar recommended totes is perfect.

 

[VP :3]

Makes sense. But if he wanted to watch a movie in HD, the onboard GPU it has would run it in HD, correct?

 

[Ph?bus]

Yeah, the onboard is plenty for that. Let me whip up a small little ITX build.

Here you go. Use this promo for the hard drive. EMCNHJD22

 

[Soul_of_a_Sinner]

should work just fine, and the board has an DVI port. If the monitor supports 1080p and DVI then you should be good to go.

 

[a pet rock]

It might be worth looking for a smaller case that comes bundled with a PSU. Might be cheaper.

 

[pillar]

Hey phobus, the parts i pointed out included the win7 os. I guess for his father, it wouldnt really matter much since its still along the price range. Overall its up to VP.

 

[VP :3]

It might be worth looking for a smaller case that comes bundled with a PSU. Might be cheaper.

The case Pillar threw in comes with a 420W PSU, but I'm not sure how well that would work, so I chipped it up to a Rosewill Green Series RG530-S12 530W. But if I removed the PSU if the 420W would work just fine, I could double the ram to 8GB and save $25 more. Or take out the 530W and leave the RAM and 4GB, saving $50.

 

[a pet rock]

If you're using Phobus's build with the i3 and HD2000, I can guarantee you won't touch 200W. As for an onboard 4250, I don't know enough there.