Can I get a check to see if this computer will work?

[Singletap]

Hello Escapist Forum, I have been working on a cart for my grandma, she seems to always have problems with her 6 year old Dell computer and she wanted to upgrade.

She doesn't want to spend much so I went for the cheap but up to date material. I already have Windows 7, a spare disk drive, and a spare hard drive that I will use instead of buying them.

Here is my current cart, any changes you'd see fit, let me know. Thanks.

 

[uc.asc]

Unless your grandma is a gamer or does professional video or image editing, she probably can get by with integrated graphics instead of a video card, and a mid-range dual-core instead of a 3.2 ghz quad core. 8 gigs of ram might be a little surplus to requirements as well.

(edited to make less sarcastic)

 

[Cowabungaa]

What sort of gaming or professional video or image editing does your grandma do that she needs a graphics card instead of integrated graphics, a 3.2 GHZ quad core instead of a mid-range dual-core, and eight gigs of ram?

Pretty much. If your grandma isn't a gamer that PC is massive overkill. Just get her one of the newer Core2Duo or Athlon 64X dual core's, 4 GB's of RAM (because Windows 7 uses plenty) and intergrated graphics or some cheap Radeon 4XXX or 5XXX model.

If she is a gamer though, then your grandmother is awesome.

 

[Singletap]

What sort of gaming or professional video or image editing does your grandma do that she needs a graphics card instead of integrated graphics, a 3.2 GHZ quad core instead of a mid-range dual-core, and eight gigs of ram?

Here's the deal, a big reason she wants to upgrade is because her younger grandchildren want to play some pc games but the computer can't handle them and I don't want to get personal but the only way they could play the game or two they've bought would be on her computer. I also visit her two or three times a week for dinner and I'd like to have something to play some of my games with.

This is the email that started it all -- Jesse,

I got this message from Computer game people

Any suggestions? Computer Whiz??

It could be worth money to you.

Unfortunately the graphics chip in your computer is not compatible with this game. It requires an Nvidia or ATI video card, or similar, with the capability to run some of the features used in the game. Your current graphics chip is an Intel graphics chip, and is not supported. You can find the system requirements on the game box prior to purchase. Please consult your local PC sales/repair shop or computer manufacturer for assistance or inquiries regarding any hardware upgrades.

To learn more about video card upgrades, go to www.google.com and type in key words such as "how to upgrade video card" or "upgrading video card". Only desktop computers can be upgraded; laptop hardware is soldered together and certain devices such as the graphics chip cannot be removed --

Anyways, the card is off to around $50 with the rebate that she will go through with.

The ram is 4 gigs not 8. And if a suggestion for a different CPU let me know.

 

[Singletap]

What sort of gaming or professional video or image editing does your grandma do that she needs a graphics card instead of integrated graphics, a 3.2 GHZ quad core instead of a mid-range dual-core, and eight gigs of ram?

Pretty much. If your grandma isn't a gamer that PC is massive overkill. Just get her one of the newer Core2Duo or Athlon 64X dual core's, 4 GB's of RAM (because Windows 7 uses plenty) and intergrated graphics or some cheap Radeon 4XXX or 5XXX model.

If she is a gamer though, then your grandmother is awesome.

Read the post underneath yours. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Anti Nudist Cupcake]

You must have a bad ass grandma if you think she's gonna need a computer like that one.

 

[Singletap]

You must have a bad ass grandma if you think she's gonna need a computer like that one.

Can you confirm that all those items will work together?

 

[Kriptonite]

Unless your grandma is a gamer or does professional video or image editing, she probably can get by with integrated graphics instead of a video card, and a mid-range dual-core instead of a 3.2 ghz quad core. 8 gigs of ram might be a little surplus to requirements as well.

(edited to make less sarcastic)

Yes, I don't see why she needs 8GB of RAM or the 3.2 Ghz quad core. Are you planning on using this machine sometimes as well? I could certainly understand that as I have the same situation.

 

[uc.asc]

What sort of gaming or professional video or image editing does your grandma do that she needs a graphics card instead of integrated graphics, a 3.2 GHZ quad core instead of a mid-range dual-core, and eight gigs of ram?

Here's the deal, a big reason she wants to upgrade is because her younger grandchildren want to play some pc games but the computer can't handle them and I don't want to get personal but the only way they could play the game or two they've bought would be on her computer. I also visit her two or three times a week for dinner and I'd like to have something to play some of my games with.

This is the email that started it all -- Jesse,

I got this message from Computer game people

Any suggestions? Computer Whiz??

It could be worth money to you.

Unfortunately the graphics chip in your computer is not compatible with this game. It requires an Nvidia or ATI video card, or similar, with the capability to run some of the features used in the game. Your current graphics chip is an Intel graphics chip, and is not supported. You can find the system requirements on the game box prior to purchase. Please consult your local PC sales/repair shop or computer manufacturer for assistance or inquiries regarding any hardware upgrades.

To learn more about video card upgrades, go to www.google.com and type in key words such as "how to upgrade video card" or "upgrading video card". Only desktop computers can be upgraded; laptop hardware is soldered together and certain devices such as the graphics chip cannot be removed --

Anyways, the card is off to around $50 with the rebate that she will go through with.

The ram is 4 gigs not 8. And if a suggestion for a different CPU let me know.

In that case it's a lot more reasonable. As far as I can tell the 250 is about equivalent to a 9800, which should be fine for anything other than high end games. You'd have to turn the graphics down if you wanted to play crysis, for example, or probably even mass effect.

As for the rest, I'll take a look. There's a way to publish lists so other people can see the page, which would make it easier for me, but it's sort of tricky to do.

 

[Singletap]

What sort of gaming or professional video or image editing does your grandma do that she needs a graphics card instead of integrated graphics, a 3.2 GHZ quad core instead of a mid-range dual-core, and eight gigs of ram?

Here's the deal, a big reason she wants to upgrade is because her younger grandchildren want to play some pc games but the computer can't handle them and I don't want to get personal but the only way they could play the game or two they've bought would be on her computer. I also visit her two or three times a week for dinner and I'd like to have something to play some of my games with.

This is the email that started it all -- Jesse,

I got this message from Computer game people

Any suggestions? Computer Whiz??

It could be worth money to you.

Unfortunately the graphics chip in your computer is not compatible with this game. It requires an Nvidia or ATI video card, or similar, with the capability to run some of the features used in the game. Your current graphics chip is an Intel graphics chip, and is not supported. You can find the system requirements on the game box prior to purchase. Please consult your local PC sales/repair shop or computer manufacturer for assistance or inquiries regarding any hardware upgrades.

To learn more about video card upgrades, go to www.google.com and type in key words such as "how to upgrade video card" or "upgrading video card". Only desktop computers can be upgraded; laptop hardware is soldered together and certain devices such as the graphics chip cannot be removed --

Anyways, the card is off to around $50 with the rebate that she will go through with.

The ram is 4 gigs not 8. And if a suggestion for a different CPU let me know.

In that case it's a lot more reasonable. As far as I can tell the 250 is about equivalent to a 9800, which should be fine for anything other than high end games. You'd have to turn the graphics down if you wanted to play crysis, for example, or probably even mass effect.

As for the rest, I'll take a look. There's a way to publish lists so other people can see the page, which would make it easier for me, but it's sort of tricky to do.

I'm not sure how to post it but I'll wait for your check before I send her the list.

 

[EternalFacepalm]

Woah, gamer gandma. Cool.

EDIT: Oh, read some later posts. Yeah, I assume it'll work.

 

[uc.asc]

I'm not sure how to post it but I'll wait for your check before I send her the list.

Okay, I think I've checked everything.

Case is compatible with motherboard
Motherboard is compatible with power supply - 20+4 pin and 4-pin power connectors
Motherboard is compatible with RAM - 240-pin DDR3 1600
Motherboard is compatible with processor - AM3 socket
Motherboard is compatible with video card - PCI express 2.0 x16 slot
Video card is compatible with power supply - 6-pin power connector

The parts look good, but I may have found a critical problem:

The motherboard has only 1 PATA connector, which is used by both internal optical drives (not sure about blu-ray) and older hard drives. If both the optical drive and the hard drive you are planning to reuse are PATA, you won't be able to plug both of them in; so unless one of them is external, or you can confirm that one uses SATA, you will probably need a new hard drive. I would recommend http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136770 - 320 gigs, $40 and it's made by WD, who I like. You can check http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=14&name=Internal-Hard-Drives for comparisons; there are some which are slightly cheaper and significantly smaller, and one which is 500 GB for the same price, but made by seagate, who I avoid. Also, a new hard drive will probably be faster and less error-prone than an older one. Especially if the old one uses PATA.

Another thing you might want to consider is downgrading the processor. You could save about $40 by downgrading to http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103873 which is a dual-core with the same clock speed and total L2 cache (2 x 1 MB instead of 4 x 512 kb), though please note that I am not an expert on AMD processors. The cheapest dual-core they sell is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103933 , which is 2.9 GHZ and still has 2 x 1 MB L2. This would save you $55.

EDIT: Slight revision because I thought it ate my post and revised it in the text editor before reposting.

 

[uc.asc]

EDIT: doublepost magic!

 

[Singletap]

I'm not sure how to post it but I'll wait for your check before I send her the list.

Okay, I think I've checked everything.

Case is compatible with motherboard
Motherboard is compatible with power supply - 20+4 pin and 4-pin power connectors
Motherboard is compatible with RAM - 240-pin DDR3 1600
Motherboard is compatible with processor - AM3 socket
Motherboard is compatible with video card - PCI express 2.0 x16 slot
Video card is compatible with power supply - 6-pin power connector

The parts look good, but I may have found a critical problem:

The motherboard has only 1 PATA connector, which is used by both internal optical drives (not sure about blu-ray) and older hard drives. If both the optical drive and the hard drive you are planning to reuse are PATA, you won't be able to plug both of them in; so unless one of them is external, or you can confirm that one uses SATA, you will probably need a new hard drive. I would recommend http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136770 - 320 gigs, $40 and it's made by WD, who I like. You can check http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=14&name=Internal-Hard-Drives for comparisons; there are some which are slightly cheaper and significantly smaller, and one which is 500 GB for the same price, but made by seagate, who I avoid. Also, a new hard drive will probably be faster and less error-prone than an older one. Especially if the old one uses PATA.

Another thing you might want to consider is downgrading the processor. You could save about $40 by downgrading to http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103873 which is a dual-core with the same clock speed and total L2 cache (2 x 1 MB instead of 4 x 512 kb), though please note that I am not an expert on AMD processors. The cheapest dual-core they sell is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103933 , which is 2.9 GHZ and still has 2 x 1 MB L2. This would save you $55.

EDIT: Slight revision because I thought it ate my post and revised it in the text editor before reposting.

The hard drive was only purchased 3 months ago and it has a TB on it so I am sure it will be fine, if there is a problem we will just order a new one.

Thanks for the check, she doesn't seem to worry about the price because after I sent her the cart she asked me to include a new monitor hah. Thanks again.

 

[uc.asc]

The hard drive was only purchased 3 months ago and it has a TB on it so I am sure it will be fine, if there is a problem we will just order a new one.

Thanks for the check, she doesn't seem to worry about the price because after I sent her the cart she asked me to include a new monitor hah. Thanks again.

That'll almost certainly work fine -- I'm fairly confident nobody makes 1 TB PATA drives.

You're welcome, and I sure hope I didn't make any mistakes

 

[Anti Nudist Cupcake]

You must have a bad ass grandma if you think she's gonna need a computer like that one.

Can you confirm that all those items will work together?

Why yes, yes I can.
Here goes..
They will work together.

There you go, anything else, just ask.

 

[SuperNova221]

You shuold probably get a new HDD (or two) and Windows 7. If you use the old HDD (on a 7 year old comuter) the OS might not be 64bit and likely not that much storage left on it.

Better cooler wouldn't go amiss either. I'm using a zalman CNPS10x Performa on my almost identical CPU. Would recommend it heavily.

Otehr than that, looks overall decent, shouldn't have any problems setting it up unless something is faulty. But it should work together.