Recommend a computer... or two

[Skiz]

Skizo for your pops 32bit would be the way to go so there would be no compatibility issues.

What kind of budget are we working with here as that is usually the best place to start?

On the other side if you want a better computer for him here is something I put together a few months back for a friend for just under $700. See why we need a price point homie

I did talk about price, in the first post.

COOLER MASTER Centurion 5

GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3L

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600

EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800 GT

CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX

G.SKILL 4GB 1066

You could always play around with the pieces to drop the price a bit, like the PSU or even the video card without much harm IMO.

I'm going to let the fellow who is building the thing worry about the specific parts. It isn't like my Dad is going to be ordering the stuff and building a computer. I'm just looking for ideas on what he should be aiming for.

Reading through this a bit, I'm thinking the following:

Vista x64 - Sounds like software has finally caught up and compatibility shouldn't be an issue.
RAM - 4GB
Processor - I dunno. I think this is the one thing he should go all out on. QuadCore? Thoughts?
HDD - 500GB. He probably won't ever use 200 of it, but the price is essentially the same as 250GB so why not? Also, how about 10K RPM? I hear they are worth it.
DVD burner - I told him any brand name burner is probably fine. Recommended NEC which have worked well for me.
Network card - No idea. Never used one. Never needed one.
Audio - Get a $10 cheapo. He won't ever listen to anything but his mouse clicks anyhow and will probably keep his old, crummy, 2-bit speakers.
GPU - 6 series nVidia? That 8800 will be overkill for him. I play modern games and don't even have one of those. He just needs something basic. Again, 99% of the computers usage will be Internet and email. The only other operations will be camera related, loading maps on GPS device, etc...
USB ports - Says he needs 4 of them. I told him to let the builder know that so he can choose an appropriate mobo..

Thoughts?

[clocker]

Almost any motherboard will have onboard network and sound capabilities.
The only 10k rpm HDDs are WD Raptors and they are total overkill for the PC you're considering.

It's unlikely that any software you father uses (or will be using) is multicore aware, so I'd just pick a pricepoint for the CPU and buy the fastest CPU available, regardless of the number of cores.

Most modern chipsets support way more than 4 USB ports so I don't think that's an issue either.

Any PCI express vid card should work- get the cheapest and upgrade if necessary.
It doesn't take much GPU horsepower to put Firefox on the screen.

The only splurge I'd recommend- especially if you install 64 bit Vista- would be 8GB of RAM. DDR2 is cheap and that amount completely removes memory as a bottleneck issue.

[Skiz]

Sounds great. I'll pass it on.

Thanks.

[Detale]

Let us know what you go with bro k?