building a computer for my girlfriend

[PuNkY]

As said in the title, I am building a new computer for my girlfriend. She only uses it for word processing, downloading movies/music, internet. She also like to leave it on for days on end.

So far I'm giving her a BIOSTAR mobo (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138049) and a Pentium-D(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116249).

Its also going to have 2GB RAM with NO video card. She would like to run vista in the future. I have 2 questions.

Do you think this be good for her?
And I need a little help finding a nice CPU fan that can fit a mini ATX case (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811108025) thats quiet.

 

[Starr]

That looks pretty good, especially if she is just going to do some word processing. 2GB of RAM is especially excessive, especially (I say that a lot...) if she is still on XP and isn't doing grahping editing or gaming. I would just get 1GB now and if she decides to move to Vista then just upgrade to two, although I have 1GB and it runs fine, I even game.

You might even consider getting her a Dell for about $400, you might find that it will save you some money.

 

[kchi55]

That all looks fine.. though 2GB with no dedicated video card sounds a bit odd, but if she plans or you plan to upgrade for her in the future then it should all work out fine. As for the case, it looks alright, not too flashy, which I think would be best. As for a fan, for a miniATX, do you have a desired price range for that? since the rest of the system seems to be on a tight budget I can't imagine you wanting to buy a 50 dollar Zalman heatsink.

You also need to consider a quiet hdd/psu, which might be more difficult based off the budget assumption I made regarding the heatsink.

 

[bullzi]

the oem intel heatsinks are pretty quiet, i had one for a while on my 478 and i couldnt hear it at all even with all my other fans unplugged, and they are cheap and would work fine for that system

 

[PuNkY]

That all looks fine.. though 2GB with no dedicated video card sounds a bit odd, but if she plans or you plan to upgrade for her in the future then it should all work out fine. As for the case, it looks alright, not too flashy, which I think would be best. As for a fan, for a miniATX, do you have a desired price range for that? since the rest of the system seems to be on a tight budget I can't imagine you wanting to buy a 50 dollar Zalman heatsink.

You also need to consider a quiet hdd/psu, which might be more difficult based off the budget assumption I made regarding the heatsink.

She okay spending 50-60$ on a CPU fan. She likes to leave the computer on, I don't feel like having to replaced an overheated CPU. lol

And I personally don't like to put a budget on my CPU fans.

 

[Comp_Pro]

dont purchase windows vista, a waste of money because it isnt as good as XP and i personnaly think it is bad because programs such as Nero Burning room is not compatible with windows vista and many other programs are not. so you might aswell save your money because anti-virus doesnt work on it, it has its own "Windows Firewall" and "Windows Defender" which i think is not that good.

 

[Comp_Pro]

opps sorry for double post

 

[Rudster8161]

MAY i suggest amd, i know it sounds ODD saying amd now adays JK, heres what i got that i would STRONLY reccomond
athlon 64 x2 3600+ brisbane
1gb A-Data<<JUST TRUST ME!!!!!
Biostar 6100 i got a different one but biostar is awesome
get her a big HD 320gb so she can store her Mp3's in high quality
a simple geforce card will do i guess


that cpu is amazing with by erm flat out CRAPPY Ati Radeon 9250 and 1gb a data RAM i can get 30FPS outta COD2 on max settings and for some reason it stays the same on lower settings. i KNOW my video card is only handling about a quarter of all video and physics requests but that 65$ cpu picks up the slack. i could probaly run prime95 in the background without a hickup i doubt it really b

 

[Rudster8161]

arctic cooler 64 pro is only 30$ and they are very reliable and quiet BTW they are 4 pin with PWM control now if you have any issues

 

[Comp_Pro]

if you want to save money on your GF's computer i reccomend about 512 ram, (she wont need THAT much) about 16-32mb nvidia card, processor at around 2ghz and yeah i think thats about it.