My Dad asked me if I could build a new PC for Grandpa and I could use a little help selecting parts.  He would like to keep it under $500 if possible. Keep in mind it is for my Grandpa and he don't game mainly e-mails, pictures, skype. Here's what I selected and its a little over budget.
 
Intel Core i3 2105 3.1GHz  134.99
ASrock H61/U3S3  69.99
GSkill Ripjaw 8GB 41.99
MS Windows 7 HP  99.99
Corsair 430W Builder Series 44.99
Thermaltake V3 Black Case 49.99
LG 22x DVD Burner 16.99
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 79.99<---****
 Total =  538.92
 
I just though that together going off newegg reviews. I don't know a lot about AMD but maybe it would be a better route? Thanks for any help and suggestions you guys can offer.

4GB of ram will be fine, I wouldn't get GSkill for that purpose. Stick with standard Corsair, Kingston or Crucial RAM. Can pick up a dual channel DDR3 for around $20.
PSU is fine, I would just get a plane jane case like this NZXT one, he won't need the blue LED at the back like that Thermatake one. Will save yourself the money.
Otherwise, all looks fine.

If your looking for an everyday computer no gaming or anything like that AMD would be good for budget PC's. I use AMD all the time for just normal stuff like internet searching and stuff like that. 

Thanks for the reply Macros I like that case a lot more for the purpose darn newegg always charging shipping on the cheaper cases though.
@killerjas any suggestions on good a good AMD motherboard and processor? Thanks again
 
Daniel

This is for the new fm1 socket type
Here is a motherboard
Here
 
Here is a processer.
Here
 
Here is for AM3 socket type.
Here is motherboard
Here
 
Here is the Processer
Here
 
Any questions just ask 

Here ya go. save time
http://www.newegg.com/Pro...x?Item=N82E16883103422

Alacran72


Here ya go. save time
http://www.newegg.com/Pro...x?Item=N82E16883103422

 
Acer :( 
They are crap compared to a good custom built computers. 
Wait what am I saying acers are crap. I have nothing but issues with thim and i hade to fix a-bunch of acers for friends and families.

I almost hate to say it, but after doing some similar price-outs for low-budget builds, an OEM is nearly always cheaper.  Either that, or I suck at pricing out cheap builds...
Maybe not an Acer, but you may need to snag an OEM.
 
~Fus
 
EDIT: I should mention this is for right now and the recent past.  IIRC, this is one of the few times that OEMs are cheaper than prebuilts.

For his purposes, a $300 Dell would fit the bill...Granted it's not custom, but they do have warantees and OK support. And you can save a couple hundred in the process, maybe get a nice Dell monitor in the deal. If you had a Microcenter nearby, you could just go get one...

DIY only makes sense for more expensive builds, just get your grandpa a pre-built otherwise you should ask him to raise the budget.  OEMs win by shifting some of the costs to premium models and compensate the affordable systems with high volume sales.
 
From a $500 budget, $100 is OS which OEMs tend to shift away, display costs can be another $100 for something decent, so a complete tower must be done with $300.  That is going to be difficult unless you find a $75 APU, $50 board, $25 RAM, $25 optical, $50 drive, $25 chassis and $50 PSU.

My father liked a Lenovo laptop, small and could fit anywhere or take it to his easy chair. With age, screen resolution and DPI get to be more important,
I wish they had the high-res iPad in a laptop screen. 
With Intel coming out with new mobile processors May-June no matter what you do might be a good time to shop. 
And yes there are some nice Lenovo @ Newegg for $519 that would be fine. 
Maybe not as much fun building but do they want a desktop? find out. 
 

I remember reading a budget PC build article awhile back and i thought the build would be great for just basic computing needs.
 
check it.
http://www.maximumpc.com/...t_340_ultra-budget_box
 
Things have changed a bit since that article was written so here is how i would do that build now with a $500 budget.
 
Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Pro...x?Item=N82E16811147131
Here are a couple of builds in that case:
http://www.youtube.com/wa...ko&feature=related


USB3 version of the MOBO/CPU/GPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Pro...x?Item=N82E16813157247
http://www.tomshardware.c...ard-brazos,2958-2.html

Bump up the RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Pro...x?Item=N82E16820220537

Gramps may not need much storage so i would go with this 128GB SSD and go with an external for storage if needed later on, there is room in the budget for a smaller SSD and a larger mechanical drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Pro...x?Item=N82E16820147163

Optical drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Pro...x?Item=N82E16827151244
OS:
http://www.newegg.com/Pro...x?Item=N82E16832116986
That list comes to $467+shipping
 
 

Dude, its for internet and e-mails.  

killerjas

Alacran72


Here ya go. save time
http://www.newegg.com/Pro...x?Item=N82E16883103422

Acer :( 
They are crap compared to a good custom built computers. 
Wait what am I saying acers are crap. I have nothing but issues with thim and i hade to fix a-bunch of acers for friends and families.

Acer is still crap.
Nothing but issues with them.

I'd just get him a tablet. That would fit his needs far better.

killerjas


Acer is still crap.
Nothing but issues with them.

 
I've owned a few Acer products. Their laptops were not very quality... But a 24" Acer monitor I bought a while back has been one of the most quality monitors I've ever owned. Never given me a problem for the 3 years i've had it, it's still bright enough to hurt your eyes in the dark and it does 1920x1200 resolution. Just because your experiance with one or two products didn't go well with this company does not mean they are absolute crap across the board on every product they put out. When it comes to their more affordable laptop line-up... Corner's had to be cut to be able to offer the consumer a mid-high end gaming video card in their laptops. Which is why they are the only ones under a certain price point that offers a decent video card on their laptops. You get what you pay for...

Also have to say, their tablets are not too bad either. My father in law just got one for xmas and I kinda wanted one when I messed around with it for a bit. 

And you are recommending AMD. 

killerjas


Acer is still crap.
Nothing but issues with them.

Thanks to all for the suggestions. I have looked at pre builts and have noticed they are pretty hard to beat price wise however that would be no fun for me ha ha.
He already ha a PC  so he shouldn't need any accesories keyboard mouse etc. He has a monitor however I can't remember what it was (LCD or CRT) but I have a Dell LCD monitor I could throw in if I needed to. Thanks again to all. I'm gonna check out some more options and see what my Dad thinks I'll post back when I have a clue ha ha.
 
Daniel