PC for my Grandma

Requisition

Solid State Member
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Hey guys,

My grandpa wants to replace my grandma's PC, so instead of paying too much for lackluster hardware, I convinced him to let me build it. I wanted to see if you guys had any suggestions yourself. I'm merely looking for a most bang for your buck system, that can handle generally web browsing and emailing. After many revisions, here is the build I'm currently looking at:

AMD

PCPartPicker part list

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 750K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($79.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A85XM-D3H Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($62.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($30.83 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cougar Spike MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($37.99 @ Microcenter)
Total: $311.77

Intel

PCPartPicker part list

CPU: Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor ($69.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($52.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($34.45 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 5450 1GB Video Card ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cougar Spike MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($37.99 @ Microcenter)
Total: $315.38

I welcome all of your thoughts on the matter and am open to changing anything. I can't seem to get people to agree whether it's best to go Haswell or APU. After much reading I decided a dedicated graphics card would be necessary in the Intel build, but I'm still leaning towards it. Also, my grandpa is footing the bill and isn't concerned about cost, but I'd like to keep it on the cheap side. Above all else though, I want this to be the last system she ever has to buy. Let me know your thoughts, not use to building in the low end like this. 8)
 
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Your AMD build has an Intel processor? And is the same as the Intel build?

To be honest though, anything like that sounds fine. I'd perhaps whack 8GB of RAM in there - personally I'd consider that the minimum these days - but in all honesty I'm probably being overkill!
 
If she'll only be using for general tasks such as web browsing and emails then 4GB is plenty, I'd go with your intel build.
 
Bleh, sorry, up too late reseaching. My AMD build is:

PCPartPicker part list

CPU: AMD A8-5600K 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Biostar Hi-Fi A85S3 Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($58.38 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($103.84 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cougar Spike MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($37.99 @ Microcenter)
Total: $390.18

Others were getting me down about my RAM and the video card not being good enough, so here is my revised Intel build:

PCPartPicker part list

CPU: Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor ($69.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($52.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($73.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GT 610 1GB Video Card ($34.98 @ Outlet PC)
Case: Cougar Spike MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($37.99 @ Microcenter)
Total: $369.91
 
I would go with the Intel.

Stick with 4Gb RAM, 8GB is NOT standard for browsing the web and sending email.

Also drop the SSD for a bigger HDD
 
I think I'm in camp AMD now, people online have convinced me that APU is the way to go for this build.

PCPartPicker part list

CPU: AMD A8-5600K 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A75M-D3H Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($74.98 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: Kingston 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cougar Spike MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($37.99 @ Microcenter)
Total: $392.93
 
Between those 2 PCs, I would probably go with the AMD quad-core over the Intel dual-core. 4G of RAM is actually overkill for email and surfing the web but RAM is sufficiently cheap so it's a nit.

Personally, I would drop the ssd and stick with a 7200 rpm spinner simply because an ssd requires a little more "management" an on ongoing basis. I doubt grandma would be unhappy with a slightly longer boot time. I agree that 120G is probably sufficient size.

What OS do you plan to install?
 
Longer boot times? I wanted to get her the SSD to avoid exactly that. I'd really prefer to not have a mechanical drive in if possible.

Current Build

PCPartPicker part list

CPU: AMD A8-5600K 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A75M-D3H Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($74.98 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cougar Spike MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($37.99 @ Microcenter)
Total: $382.93
 
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