Hows this for an El cheapo build?

[DREDIOCK]

Thinking of building my wife a new system.
she doesnt need much.

Her activities are primarily

Email
Facebook,
Youtube
Occasional surfing
And messing around with the photos she takes.

We already have a case,SATA Hard Drive,DVD burning drive etc so there will be no need for those
I plan on using onboard video and either the onboard sound or slapping in one of the old souns cards I have laying around

We MIGHT get her a video capture card just to transfer over to DVD our old Home videos (sorry guys theyre all G" rated)

Anyway. Hows this sound

Motherboard
ASRock M3A785GXH/128M AM3 AMD 785G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard   Item #: N82E16813157167
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157167

CPU
AMD Athlon II X2 260 Regor 3.2GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor ADX260OCGMBOX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103873

Memory X2
Kingston 1GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Desktop Memory Model KVR1066D3/1GR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134784

Power Supply
COOLER MASTER Elite 460 RS-460-PSAR-J3 460W ATX12V V2.31 Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171046

Total After Shipping and taxes

$238.37

Only thing left is the OS which will be Win 7
Which version is better?

[guncrasher]

You  might need more ram for win7, think 4 would be a good start.

Semp

[1701E]

You can run W7 with 2Gb just fine, I run W7 Ultimate Ultimate with 2GB and I game (anything from AH to Crysis) fine with it.

The PSU is a bit iffy (don't tend to trust PSUs I see in desktops sold at Best-Buy), I'd personally try for a low wattage (4-500W) SeaSonic or Corsair or OCZ. Something like:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151080

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139018

Not real sure on Corsair, heard it recommended here recently as good, and SeaSonic is very reliable (Think Skuzzy was the on "suggesting" it).


Only other thing that may be another consideration is the Motherboard, I've personally heard nothing about ASRock but when I was looking a while back they seemed to get a lot of bad reviews.  Since you say cheap I'll leave out Gigabyte, ASUS, or EVGA.  Biostar has been working great for me for 3 years though with no troubles and they're cheap (my AM3 was ~70).
CPU looks good and I haven't heard anything bad about Kingston but I don't keep up with DDR3 yet.

As for Win7 versions it depends what you need, anything other than the basic should be fine though (Home Premium and up).

Just my take though.

[columbus]

asrock is part of asus by the way.  asustek makes both the asrock and asus boards

[Tigger29]

I like the ASRock boards.  I built a system awhile back with the Dual-VSTA board which was nice because it accommodated old DDR ram and new (at the time) DDR2 ram.  Also supported both AGP and PCI-e video cards.

Worked great as a stopgap to upgrade to a C2D cheap.  Later I upgraded to DDR2 ram (2GB) and then went from a NV5200 AGP to a NV6200 AGP to a 7900GT PCI-e card.  Got a couple of years out of it, then I gave it to my brother as a gift when I got the upgrade bug yet again.  He still plays WOW several hours a day on it with no issues!

I now use the ASRock G43Twins-FullHD board (got it on sale cheap).  It came with a 'displayport' PCI card for the video (which I'm sure shares resources with the onboard video), but I never even installed that in the first place, using a NV9800GTX and shortly after an ATI5830 card instead.  It also supports DDR2 or DDR3 ram... and even claims to use solid capacitors.

I even overclock a little with no issues and never experience any crashes.  I'm sure it's probably not the best performer out there, but the reliability and compatibility seems to be worth it.

As for what your wife needs, you can literally pick out the cheapest case, motherboard, processor, and ram (that is all compatible) from newegg and it would likely be more than what she needs, but whatever you do, don't skimp on the power supply.

[SectorNine50]

DDR3 is completely unnecessary for that build, if you ask me.  DDR2-800 will serve you just fine, while being much cheaper.  The only issue is now days it's getting more difficult to find DDR2 motherboards.  I got a Foxconn P45A-S off Newegg a couple weeks ago (Did the ASRock Dual-VSTA route as well  ) and only 2 days later it was sold out.

Also, see if your board allows core unlocking.  If it does, you may consider a Phenom II X2 as it potentially could turn into a X3 or X4 simply by changing a few BIOS settings.  However from what I understand, it is very hit-and-miss if the core unlock will work.  Completely based on if you get a X2 that was a X4 bumped down to meet demand, or if it was an X4 with two bad cores.

My $0.02, the set-up otherwise looks very decent to me.

[Spikes]

DDR3 is completely unnecessary for that build, if you ask me.  DDR2-800 will serve you just fine, while being much cheaper.  The only issue is now days it's getting more difficult to find DDR2 motherboards.  I got a Foxconn P45A-S off Newegg a couple weeks ago (Did the ASRock Dual-VSTA route as well  ) and only 2 days later it was sold out.

Also, see if your board allows core unlocking.  If it does, you may consider a Phenom II X2 as it potentially could turn into a X3 or X4 simply by changing a few BIOS settings.  However from what I understand, it is very hit-and-miss if the core unlock will work.  Completely based on if you get a X2 that was a X4 bumped down to meet demand, or if it was an X4 with two bad cores.

My $0.02, the set-up otherwise looks very decent to me.

DDR2 and DDR3 are pretty much the same now price wise and in not too much time DDR3 will be cheaper, with better performance. I do suggest upping to a 2GB module though.

Also you may find some cheaper mATX mobo's...they usually run cheaper...I've found some and used them for as little as 50 or 60 bucks.

If anything I'd look at the cheaper Athlon II X2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103687
you can save yourself 10 bucks...it is a great processor.

[Ghosth]

I've had 3 Asrock Mboards and have loved all 3 of them. Solid, easy to work with, dependable performers.

If your going to go Win 7 then yes I'd step the ram up to 4gig.
I worry about an under 500 Power supply. But for light duty you'll probably get away with it.

[Fulmar]

My wife's comp I built months ago is very similar to that, I looked at the Regor's, I think the 240 at the time, but opted for the the Rana 435.  Her board is the ASRock A785GMH/128M which is the same thing except running DDR2.  Solid board and processors for the budget.  I have her on some older ram I had, 4gb DDR2 667mhz on XP Pro.  Her desk is somewhat near our Plasma and works good if I hook them up.

She doesn't use it for a whole lot other than hours of Facebook games....

[DREDIOCK]

I've had 3 Asrock Mboards and have loved all 3 of them. Solid, easy to work with, dependable performers.

If your going to go Win 7 then yes I'd step the ram up to 4gig.
I worry about an under 500 Power supply. But for light duty you'll probably get away with it.

I havent heard too much bad about Asrock. That why Im considering it. Well that and because I havent worked with them yet.

Newegg has a handy little utility that helps you compute how much power you will need for a  given setup.
According to it. And I even tried adding some things to the list that I wont be adding. Theyre have me at a need of less then 350. The way I see it. I do a new build for to replace aging machines every 4-5 years. By then. Everything is outdated including the power supply and I have to buy all new anyway.

This wont be used even remotely for any kind of heavy duty gaming And unless they come out with a version of "Bejeweled" that requires a high end machine. I wont be needing to overclock it. LOL

And by the time Im ready for any major upgrades. Her machine will get my handmedowns at which point i will probobly need a new PSU and then she can have my 600W when I upgrade

[Spikes]

I recently build a computer with the Regor 2.9ghz (OC'ed to 3.0 to make it even) with a 600w ocz modular and 2gb of mushkin DDR3 ram...windows 7 ran great and it works like a charm for everything my grandfather does. I also added in a cheap video card so the system wouldn't eat up ram space for it's video stuff.

2GB will do you well for this build.

Edit: I just noticed the memory X2 in your OP...I feel like an idiot now in my first post.

[SectorNine50]

I like my socket 775 C2D E4300... Stock: 1.8Ghz.  Now: 3.0Ghz without so much as breaking a sweat.  The mobo isn't really even overclocked since it supports 1333Mhz FSB natively!

You can get some VERY sweet deals with just a little overclocking.

[DREDIOCK]

I have a simple rule about over clocking.

I only do it out of need and never just because I can. If everything runs fine without the over clock. I leave it the hell alone.

[SectorNine50]

I have a simple rule about over clocking.

I only do it out of need and never just because I can. If everything runs fine without the over clock. I leave it the hell alone.

I work the same way, actually.  I've found that my games and applications worked much, much better on my E4300 when overclocked.  However, I find that my new ATI HD5770 satisfies all of my needs at stock clocks, so it's not overclock.

A lot of the lower end C2D's are actually the exact same chip as the higher end C2D's, just downclocked and some cache disabled (depending on the chip).  This is one of the reasons the Core processors have been such outstanding overclockers.  Hell, a LOT of people have actually gotten a 100% overclock on my same chip.

That and my E4300 has a multiplier of 9 with a stock FSB of 800...  LOTS of headroom!

As long as your temps are in order, you shouldn't be hurting your hardware.  Where you can really get into trouble is with volt modding.