Parents PC

[ajbrun]

My parents need a new PC, as they've had their current one for about 7 years, and it's finally decided to die. I'm thinking of keeping everything that's reusable such as the case, drives and PSU, and just find them a CPU, motherboard and memory.

They will be using the PC pretty much just for word and web browing and not much more. Therefore, they obviously don't want a top of the range PC. I'm having trouble deciding what they need without over specing them.

* Will on board graphics do? (I'd have thought so)
* Do they really need 64 bit? (I've seen a 64 bit CPU for not much more than the 32 bit version)
* 512MB RAM should be find shouldn't it?

So far, this is what I'm thinking:
AMD Sempron 64Bit 2600+ OR AMD Sempron 2600+ with heatsink

512Mb DDR2 PC4200 (what's DDR2?)

And a cheap motherboard depending on what processor I get, with onboard graphics.

Does what I've found seem OK? I don't see why they shouldn't get a 64bit CPU as it seems to be exactly the same price as the 32bit version, only without the heatsink. Any help on the questions I'm stuck on would be nice. Thanks .

[DavidM]

Aj - give me a shout on msn .. i'll go through it better with you

[nvening]

what was in the old one?

[Dark Horse]

I'd worry about using bits from the old one if they're 7 years old, they will be seriously under specced and nearing the end of their lifespan if you're unlucky.

[ajbrun]

Even the CD drives?

The old one was/is penium @ 500MHz with 192 MB RAM

[herulach]

The harddrive will almost certainly be too small to be useable, and even if it isnt it will be very slow. CD drives should be ok. My reccomendation would be to see if the dell 190 odd quid server is still on offer. Celeron D 2.4/512mb/80gb IIRC, best deal youll find.

[Zad]

DDR2 is used by Intel / Pentium 4 systems. For various reasons AMD systems don't need DDR2 and indeed wouldn't be able to use it.

Mike

[DavidM]

Yep, I already explained that to him Zad

It is a bit confusing with the standards at the moment ...

[ajbrun]

OK, I've had a bit of help now, and this is what I'm looking at:

AMD Sempron 64Bit 2600+
ASUS K8V-MX S754
512Mb Corsair VS DDR400
Keyboard
Mouse

Just need to decide if we need another HDD or not. Still not certain we'll be getting this though as my mum wants a fully brand new system, but my dad doesn't .

[DavidM]

Not too bad for a basic little machine...

[fredered]

what is the existing hard disk?

[Tobeman]

I'd worry about using bits from the old one if they're 7 years old, they will be seriously under specced and nearing the end of their lifespan if you're unlucky.

I was thinking that about the PSU, how old is it? And what make? I'm in a habit of replacing PSUs recently, an easy job and after I've tried the likes of Tagan and Seasonic I'm never going back A new 330w(ish) one would cost between £30-£40(ish) as far as I can remember, and might even keep the noise down a little

[Lu-tze]

I doubt your PSU is much more than 200W, and probably has a very low 12V line, not to mention the lack of SATA connections. I would look at getting a new one. A 400W Akasa can be had for about £35.

For the hdd, look at an 80gig samsung or similar, for £35ish. Don't forget that smaller drives loose performance, so a 40 or 80gig drive would be a good place to look.

Your old optical drives should be ok, and you can always replace these later, or as you need dvd/recording abilities. Be wary though, that optical drives do wear out eventually.

Have a look at www.komplett.co.uk Its been a while since i last visited their site, but they often offer good value bundles of relatively low-end components.

[ajbrun]

No idea on the hard drive make/model, although I could find out by looking at it I assume. I do know that it's only a 12GB one though. Right now, it looks like we won't be replacing it, although I will suggest that they do replace it again.

As for the PSU, the reason why we're getting a new PC is because they old one just wasn't turning on. I thought this was the PSU, so we got a new one. Turns out this wasn't the case, so I'm not thinking it's either the motherboard or the CPU, therefore, we may as well just get a brand new set of components, and use the PSU we've just brought.

[user1453]

it could be the switches on the case that have worn out, after 7 years of use I would not be supprised, have you tried the mobo with a different case switch?

[ajbrun]

It's not that. It was doing something when we pressed the power switch - fans would work for a second and a light would light up. After that, it just powered down.