Need some opinions

blade_146 · Post by **blade_146** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 8:40 pm

A good friend of mine had me look at his dell and its completely toasted so I told him I could probably build him a barebones for pretty damn cheap. Gonna use the hard drive, cd rom and dial up modem(dear lord) from his old one. I found these parts at newegg and wanted you guys to give me your opinions.

Case and board
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856167022

CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819112205

Ram
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134487

All this for around $185 shipped. Need honest opinions on this. He's not a powers user but i thought this would be a nice upgrade from his 5yr old dell. If you guys can find better or comparable for cheaper please let me know. Hes even willing to buy a used box if its in good shape. I just figured new parts would be nice. Thanks for any input guys

Justlookin · Post by **Justlookin** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 9:00 pm

You can darn near buy a good puter for less than you can build one for now days with a good warranty. If your buddies not a high end user, I would steer him that way. You can get some pretty good units these days for real cheap. If you build it, guess who your buddy will call for warranty.....YOU? That's OK if you have alot of time, but most of us don't. Let him call the manufacturer when he has a problem. Tell him to call you when the warranty runs out and then show him which one to buy next. If he gets into the gaming highend stuff then maybe you can help him there, but get ready for alot of phone calls. Don't get me wrong here. If you really like doing this stuff, then I say go for it. Just get ready for the phone calls for help at all hours of the day.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 9:17 pm

First of all, did you check to see if his PC is under warranty? Many people have 2 or 3 year warranties on their Dells and don't know it. Go to the Dell web site, Support section, Warranty Status and enter his service tag number to find out.

Otherwise I agree with JustLookin. You're going to kill yourself and suffer a lot, and in the end he may not be happy with what you build him, and it won't be much cheaper than buying a new rig. Building your own is not worth it anymore unless you're a power user or a gamer.

Your time is also valuable. Plus you're ignoring the fact that you have to buy him a copy of Windows unless you have a legit copy of XP/Vista lying around (his Dell CD key won't work) unless you want to stick him with a Warez copy which isn't fair to him.

If he's a casual user, a low-end Dell is all he needs. Something like this:
http://shrunklink.com/afuj

That's an awful lot of computer for $450 bundled with a 19" LCD and a 1 year ON SITE warranty (they come to his house and replace any bad parts). Can't beat it. Take the good parts from his old rig as payment to copy his data to the new PC and set it up for him.

Notice that link is for the small business division. NEVER send a friend to Dell's Home Division. You get treated like crap by tech support. He can just use his first and last name as the business name. My clients do it all the time.

My 2 cents...

blade_146 · Post by **blade_146** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 9:30 pm

I agree that buying a new one is cheaper with all u get nowadays but he doesnt have alot of money and when i gave him the bad news about his he was really down and out worrying about that and xmas buying too so thats why i offered to do it for hime. I dont mind him calling if he needs me. Hes a long time friend so im fine with that. I just want to help him out and make sure the parts im getting are decent parts.

Justlookin · Post by **Justlookin** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 9:32 pm

I just checked Best Buys web Site and you can get some really good units with 17" CRT Flat screens and 320 gig HD's and alot more that will be more than he can handle for some time to come for under $500 for the whole package. If you can get him to spend $700 on a package, he will be in Hog Heaven for years to come. Gaming units are more, but you might have a hard time building one of them too for price they are asking. Xmas sales, so now is the time to start looking. For once you can get the deals before xmas instead of after.

blade_146 · Post by **blade_146** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 9:42 pm

Well thats my dilemma..hes only got about a $200 budget to work with so im having to really dig and scratch my head to do this for him.

And i was only gonna charge him about $25 to help him out. Cheap i know but Im tryin to do a good deed.

Justlookin · Post by **Justlookin** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 9:47 pm

I here ya and know where your coming from as a friend. Too bad he can't muster up another $150 and get a really good unit for himself that will keep him modern for awhile. Life sucks, been there done that for sure.
Gotta do what ya gotta do.

mile

blade_146 · Post by **blade_146** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 10:06 pm

Just checked the dell site. Warranty expired early last year. So back to the original question..are those some decent low budget parts? I can take corrective criticism so if im headed the wrong route just be point blank and tell me. I trust u guys

eGoCeNTRoNiX · Post by **eGoCeNTRoNiX** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 11:33 pm

I think they're fairly decent parts

Just my opinion though.

Key Keeper · Post by **Key Keeper** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 11:42 pm

Is that mem the right speed? DDR2 800 for a mobo that supports DDR2 533/667?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820134045

Maybe Im missing something here. Im new to the whole ddr2 thing.

eGoCeNTRoNiX · Post by **eGoCeNTRoNiX** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 11:52 pm

It will still work.. As long as it's as fast or faster

Key Keeper · Post by **Key Keeper** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 11:53 pm

Yeah, guess that could be good thing for proc upgrade n some OC'n hehehe

wvjohn · Post by **wvjohn** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 12:57 pm

the other thing you might want to check is for any local computer store that "recycles" comps for the gov't. There is one here and he usually has dell desktops with a 1 yr warranty for ~$175 or so. might also want to check the dell off-lease stuff. It can be very cheap sometimes.

Justlookin · Post by **Justlookin** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 1:00 pm

wvjohn wrote:the other thing you might want to check is for any local computer store that "recycles" comps for the gov't. There is one here and he usually has dell desktops with a 1 yr warranty for ~$175 or so. might also want to check the dell off-lease stuff. It can be very cheap sometimes.

Good suggestion. May be able to find a pretty modern unit for cheap.

Executioner · Post by **Executioner** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 2:42 pm

About the only other option is to check the For Sale and Trade forums. That is were I've bought all my pc's I'm currently using in my house (total of 5). Lot's of geeks like to have the latest hardware, and they sell their old stuff cheap.