$500 compact build

[evilmeister13]

Im trying to build a small computer for my mom, i was thinking about one maybe roughly the size of an xbox or slightly larger. It will be used mostly for web browsing, but my mom is a HEAVY user. Ive seen her open as many as 700 tabs spread across 16 different open google chromes. Its rather ridiculous. I also want it to be able to do light gaming, since my brothers will play games on it occassionally and im getting them to convert from console to pc. Because of its small size, i was thinking about using an apu, and probably from last generation to save a few $. If the motherboard you choose has 2 ram slots then i want one 8 gb stick, and if it has 4 then cut it down to one 4 gb stick. I plan on upgrading her to 16 gb later. I live in the u.s., and i prefer to order online rather than go to stores.

[MegaDave91]

Is your Mom really a heavy user? Or does she keep opening a new window every time she uses the internet?

[evilmeister13]

She opens a crapton of tabs, and when they get so small she can barely click them, she opens a new window.

[MegaDave91]

She opens a crapton of tabs, and when they get so small she can barely click them, she opens a new window.

She's just forgetting to close them. You should show her how to better manage the tabs. Are 699 of them Facebook and the other her email?

[dizmo]

If she opens that many Chrome tabs, get as much RAM as you can..

In all honesty though you need at least 8gb, if she opens that many, 16gb or perhaps a different browser.

 

What kind of budget are you looking at and what games does it need to play?

[evilmeister13]

No no no you guys dont understand. Shes not one of those idiot moms who has no clue what the "googlewebs" are. She knows how to use it. Its just her personal preference to leave them open. Most of the time she starts with one tab, then sees something on facebook, then opens it, then sees something else, opens it, then leaves something open so she can remember it, so on and so forth. She knows all about bookmarks and stuff, but she just prefers her way.

[evilmeister13]

$500-$600 and prob games like battlefield, titanfall, and elder scrolls. Big name games. My bros are too lame to realize that there are games that arent first person.

[nsyedhasan]

Maybe this for just chorme?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU:  Intel Core i5-4430 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($180.49 @ Amazon)
Motherboard:  MSI B85I Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($83.68 @ Newegg)
Memory:  A-Data XPG V1.0 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($129.99 @ TigerDirect)
Storage:  Crucial M500 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk  ($73.48 @ SuperBiiz)
Case:  Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower Case  ($42.99 @ Mwave)
Power Supply:  Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $545.62
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-21 00:28 EDT-0400)

[evilmeister13]

Thats good for chrome, but what about the gaming side? I was looking at apus from last gen, i wasnt sure if they would keep up so i was looking at newer ones too

Also, i plan on upgrading her ram at a later date so 8 gb should be fine for now

[CoolBeans]

Thats good for chrome, but what about the gaming side? I was looking at apus from last gen, i wasnt sure if they would keep up so i was looking at newer ones too

Also, i plan on upgrading her ram at a later date so 8 gb should be fine for now

What games will they be playing

[evilmeister13]

What games will they be playing

Mostly fps like titanfall and battlefield, maybe some elder scrolls and assassains creed

[evilmeister13]

What games will they be playing

Mostly fps like titanfall and battlefield, maybe some elder scrolls and assassains creed

[mkessler9]

No no no you guys dont understand. Shes not one of those idiot moms who has no clue what the "googlewebs" are. She knows how to use it. Its just her personal preference to leave them open. Most of the time she starts with one tab, then sees something on facebook, then opens it, then sees something else, opens it, then leaves something open so she can remember it, so on and so forth. She knows all about bookmarks and stuff, but she just prefers her way.

If she leaves tabs open she needs to use Google Keep so that she can just set a reminder or keep "Google Keep" open with the link to that reminder. Also from what your asking for you won't be able to do it all with just $600 increase the budget some and you could switch the apu out for a more powerful cpu and get a discrete gpu such as a 750 or 760

[mkessler9]

Mostly fps like titanfall and battlefield, maybe some elder scrolls and assassains creed

You can not honestly expect a apu to play these games at any reasonable settings. Just to let you know.

[evilmeister13]

I was looking around on youtube at all the big name tech shows and a lot of them have 450$ "console killer" pcs, theyre all just atx sized. I was hoping to go smaller.

[dizmo]

No no no you guys dont understand. Shes not one of those idiot moms who has no clue what the "googlewebs" are. She knows how to use it. Its just her personal preference to leave them open. Most of the time she starts with one tab, then sees something on facebook, then opens it, then sees something else, opens it, then leaves something open so she can remember it, so on and so forth. She knows all about bookmarks and stuff, but she just prefers her way.

I'm the same way so I completely get where you're coming from. I like to keep them open as I often reference different things for research and such.

I have 4gb. When I use Chrome, my computer constantly freezes because it's out of RAM. I'd really recommend getting her to switch browsers to something less memory intensive.

I don't know why people think parents don't know about computers. They've been around more than long enough, most likely work with them at work, and let's face it a lot of the people on this forum are young enough to have mothers that really aren't that old

 

$500-$600 and prob games like battlefield, titanfall, and elder scrolls. Big name games. My bros are too lame to realize that there are games that arent first person.

You'll likely want a dedicated card to get any kind of satisfaction out of newer games, especially if you're going big title. 

If you can squeeze a little more budget wise you can get a decent rig with a 750Ti or R7 265.

 

Also you might want to either tag people or quote them. Otherwise we won't know you've replied. I don't follow entire threads, and I don't think most other people do either.

[evilmeister13]

You can not and will not expect a apu to play these games at any reasonable settings. Just to let you know.

I know, minimum settings is just fine. I just want it to be able to run them.

[evilmeister13]

I'm the same way so I completely get where you're coming from. I like to keep them open as I often reference different things for research and such.

I have 4gb. When I use Chrome, my computer constantly freezes because it's out of RAM. I'd really recommend getting her to switch browsers to something less memory intensive.

I don't know why people think parents don't know about computers. They've been around more than long enough, most likely work with them at work, and let's face it a lot of the people on this forum are young enough to have mothers that really aren't that old

You'll likely want a dedicated card to get any kind of satisfaction out of newer games, especially if you're going big title.

If you can squeeze a little more budget wise you can get a decent rig with a 750Ti or R7 265.

Also you might want to either tag people or quote them. Otherwise we won't know you've replied. I don't follow entire threads, and I don't think most other people do either.

My mom has 3.5 gb and she fills that up, then fill up her virtual memory. She needs way more ram than what she has.

[mkessler9]

I know, minimum settings is just fine. I just want it to be able to run them.

No I mean you will literally see a blob and run at 3frames per second. Not kidding. Actually Battlefield 4 would probably just crash before it even finishes loading.

 

I'm the same way so I completely get where you're coming from. I like to keep them open as I often reference different things for research and such.

I have 4gb. When I use Chrome, my computer constantly freezes because it's out of RAM. I'd really recommend getting her to switch browsers to something less memory intensive.

I don't know why people think parents don't know about computers. They've been around more than long enough, most likely work with them at work, and let's face it a lot of the people on this forum are young enough to have mothers that really aren't that old

Just because someones job is on the computer doesn't mean they know much more then how to use the software that their work requires. Also my laptop has 3gb's of ram and it runs chrome just fine, so I don't know whats wrong with your laptop.

[evilmeister13]

Alrighty then, i guess ill have to go and make an atx build.

[dizmo]

No I mean you will literally see a blob and run at 3frames per second. Not kidding. Actually Battlefield 4 would probably just crash before it even finishes loading.

 

Just because someones job is on the computer doesn't mean they know much more then how to use the software that their work requires. Also my laptop has 3gb's of ram and it runs chrome just fine, so I don't know whats wrong with your laptop.

You're wrong about the APU. They're not that weak. You will be able to play the games, just not at max settings.

 

They likely know how to use the internet for more than Facebook. That is an incredibly short minded take on people these days.

Do you have more than 50 tabs open at once?

[WoodenMarker]

Alrighty then, i guess ill have to go and make an atx build.

Matx is generally cheaper.. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3vyEr

[TheSLSAMG]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

 

CPU:  AMD Athlon X4 750K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($79.19 @ Amazon) 

Motherboard:  Gigabyte GA-F2A55M-HD2 Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard  ($44.99 @ Micro Center) 

Memory:  A-Data XPG V1.0 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($129.99 @ TigerDirect) 

Storage:  Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($54.98 @ OutletPC) 

Video Card:  MSI Radeon R7 265 2GB Video Card  ($149.99 @ Newegg) 

Case:  Rosewill RANGER-M MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($34.99 @ Amazon) 

Power Supply:  Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($19.99 @ Micro Center) 

Total: $514.12

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-21 01:05 EDT-0400)

[mkessler9]

You're wrong about the APU. They're not that weak. You will be able to play the games, just not at max settings.

 

They likely know how to use the internet for more than Facebook. That is an incredibly short minded take on people these days.

Do you have more than 50 tabs open at once?

Do I have 50 tabs open on my laptop open at once? No. That would absolutly kill it. Now on my desktop yes. And as far as people knowing how to do things. I literally know only 8 people that actually know more besides how to browse the web and use the software that's required for their job(and some other things such as Microsoft word and powerpoint). And these are people that are on the computer all day(Not IT guys or anything like that but people who work in offices). So my take is not short minded at all. At least from my point of view for where I live.

 

As far as the apu goes yes I know the blob thing was a exaggeration but it was mainly used as emphasis for him to go with a discrete gpu because spending $200-300 on a apu is not worth it at all. 

[dizmo]

Do I have 50 tabs open on my laptop open at once? No. That would absolutly kill it. Now on my desktop yes. And as far as people knowing how to do things. I literally know only 8 people that actually know more besides how to browse the web and use the software that's required for their job(and some other things such as Microsoft word and powerpoint). And these are people that are on the computer all day(Not IT guys or anything like that but people who work in offices). So my take is not short minded at all. At least from my point of view for where I live.

 

As far as the apu goes yes I know the blob thing was a exaggeration but it was mainly used as emphasis for him to go with a discrete gpu because spending $200-300 on a apu is not worth it at all. 

Exactly. That's why in his use scenario he needs more RAM or a different browser. It's also why my laptop struggles with Chrome while it flies by with ease with any other browser.

 

The APU isn't that weak. I can play SC2, BF, and such on my laptop. It has Intel HD4000 graphics. So you're telling me a computer with a much stronger igpu is going to be a poor experience?

No. You're mistaken there.

In his stated usage, an APU makes perfect sense. APU's also are not that expensive.