Modest budget box spec for new pensioner.

My buddy just recently retired after 35 years paramedicing. He's money conscious atm, but realises you get what you pay for and he wants decent performance, stability and longevity from any box and bits he buys. He also wants to overclock - use it for email, surfing, messing about on Corel draw and everyday stuff - no gaming as such. He'd prefer to get it all from under one roof, so that would be Scan.

I've got the following bits listed for him.

Case: Akasa zen £27.95
PSU: 380w Seasonic S12II-380 £46.99
Mobo: Abit IP 35 £84.00
CPU: C2D E4300 £75.66
HS&F: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro £15.85
2GB RAM: Corsair TwinX XMS2 DDR2 PC5400 £52.33 Or CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 £66.55
GPU: 256MB Leadtek 8500GT £53.95
HDD: he already has.
DVD-RW: Samsung SH-S203/BEBN £18.79

If you can do better please feel free to add and subtract from that lot. The odd item can be sourced from elsewhere if needed.

Thanks.

maybe an 8600 card instead? What OS is he going to be using?

Sorry, yeh. XP Home Ed.

I was toying with the idea of an 8600 but can't decide if he needs it all, I think I saw one for 70 odd quid, so it's not too much more for him. I just don't know the real world difference between a 8500 and 8600 for him.

Wouldn't you be better off getting some kind of passively cooled variant, as he doesn't do much gaming?

I'd ask for his opinion on the Akasa Zen before you buy, the look is a bit.... love/hate..

I've shown him the pretty pictures and he seems ok with the akasa zen. Passive cooling would be a good option, but I'm really flying blind in that case and cooling.

Revamp...

Case: Akasa Zen £27.95
PSU: Seasonic S12 II 430W £50.51
Mobo: ASUS P5K £75.48
CPU: C2D E4300 £75.66
HS&F: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro £15.85
RAM: PC2-5300 or PC2-6400 ?
GPU: 256MB MSI 8600GT Overclocked £67.32
DVD-RW: Samsung SH-S203/BEBN £18.79

mixture of scan and ebuyer.

Why does he want to OC? Based on his usage I can't see the need.

Because no matter what i tell him about a modern C2D being superior to what he's had before, all he sees is 1.80 GHz and that just doesn't cut it for him - it's firmly wedged in his head that it doesn't sound like much. And i just can't be arsed going through it again. So if I just give him the components to do it, he can play without breaking it. :D

...plus it'll give him something to mess with with all his new found time.