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[*MAFIA* Wasserfaller]

i'm convincing my parents to get rid of their 2003 Dell and upgrade since my little sister managed to wreak havok on it when she downloaded a shit ton of viruses a few days ago. They wanted a budget computer that would stay useful for as long as possible. I want to throw ubuntu on it so my sister doesn't break it again.

Here's the build I tried to set up for lowest price but modest performance, any tweaks or improvements you guys can suggest?

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/ar/agj/

AMD Phenom 3.2 dual core processor
ASRock M3A770DE ATX AM3 Motherboard
Kingston 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
EVGA GeForce GT 430 1GB Video Card
Broadway Com Corp 939PL-BLACK ATX Mid Tower Case w/550W Power Supply


I was also wondering what sort of experiences any of you have had with linux before. My mom will probably only use it for typing/email/watching movies, so it doesn't need to be super fancy, budget is 350 firm. I was wondering what driver support is like with Ubuntu, if using torrents is any different, etc.

[*MAFIA* Meeester]

If at all possible, buy a tower case from a local store like how I have Frys nearby. It saves a ton on shipping.

Otherwise it looked good for a $350 build. Set some cash aside once in a while as a worst case as I have never trusted power supplies that came with cases.

[*MAFIA* Wasserfaller]

If at all possible, buy a tower case from a local store like how I have Frys nearby. It saves a ton on shipping.

Otherwise it looked good for a $350 build. Set some cash aside once in a while as a worst case as I have never trusted power supplies that came with cases.

shipping for the case is only 1.99$ from newegg, which was one of the reasons i picked it besides the fact that it came with a power supply lol. But other than that, it should last for a while right?

[*MAFIA* Meeester]

Cool on the shipping.

After reading some reviews on the case, it seems many people were disapointed in the psu. One review described booting problems when a video card was added to the mobo. It also ONLY comes with the big fan on the side and its not that impressive of a fan. I reccomend swapping it out for a 230/250mm (cant remember the size) fan from CoolerMaster and adding in 120's where applicable.

Read some reviews on all of your parts so you know what you're getting into.

[offline]

Ubuntu's a pretty cool guy. If you want to game on the desktop, make sure you dual boot with a windows, but only use windows for gaming. As for Ubuntu, you can try it via a USB boot. For what you described for you mum, it should be prefect. For drivers, make sure you are plugged into an ethernet cord if you plan on a wireless network card; It will download a 3rd party driver through the Software manager during the install. Some things I find annoying are the constant updates and asking for Password (really, really good for security, just annoying) and the fact that if you raise the volume via laptops function keys with a fullscreen youtube video it freezes it and you have to close the fullscreen and open it again. Also the fact nothing works on it, but Wine helps.

Would ask Waffleboy for info on Ubuntu as he seems to know a lot on it.

[*MAFIA* Wasserfaller]

I reccomend swapping it out for a 230/250mm (cant remember the size) fan from CoolerMaster and adding in 120's where applicable.

Read some reviews on all of your parts so you know what you're getting into.

thanks, I'll order up some extra fans just in case, and found a 500w PSU for 30 bucks so i'll probably go with that as either a backup or just junk the stocker that it comes with.

For what you described for you mum, it should be prefect. For drivers, make sure you are plugged into an ethernet cord if you plan on a wireless network card; It will download a 3rd party driver through the Software manager during the install.

Would ask Waffleboy for info on Ubuntu as he seems to know a lot on it.

Thanks for the info, yeah this comp will only be for my folks so no gaming will be done on it probably. I've been scouring ubuntu forums to try and get an idea of how to get drivers, but it seems pretty straight forward after you install the OS it seems to auto detect the drivers needed for your GPU and the like.

I'm sticking to wired internet because the router is only a few feet from their comp. For the stuff they will be doing on this comp (typing/email/videos/music) I think Ubuntu will work just fine, and i'll definitely be putting Wine on their just in case there are compatibility issues.

Thanks for the feedback all, unless there are cheaper cards/mobo/processors that would be better bang for my buck, think i'll be ordering this up in the next few days.

[*MAFIA* Dune Surfer]

I wouldn't bother building it yourself Wass. There's so many small business's offering custom built comps for a little over the parts costs now plus you get a warranty and free repair If anything fucks up.

[*MAFIA* Wasserfaller]

since i'm gonna be leaving soon and my folks are lagging on ordering up the parts i decided to get a pre-built one from tigerdirect.co m, it's 350 and has better specs plus a free OS. thanks for the input anyway though!