building a pc for a blind orphan - help required

bingbong

bingbong

bingbong

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2 Mar 2010
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so this blind orphan's computer is about 6 yrs old and he's sick of it, problem being he's skint because he's BLIND and an ORPHAN.

parts that can be reused: lcd monitor
midi case (think it only takes the smaller boards (utx(?), got an old 'full size' AMD one here that doesn't seem to fit)
mouse, keyboard, speakers.

jst ordered a 12 quid 400watt psu for the current set up (went bang last night). Should probably budget for a better one...

Not sure about operating system, probably buy a cheap version of windows 7.

blind boy likes to fool around with amplitube software for his guitar and some basic recording stuff. occasional use of adobe products and watching films and stuff. downloading torrents - the little scamp! - but no gaming, he has an xbox for that.

onboard sound and graphics would be probably be fine? An element of future proofing would be nice but is it ever possible on a budget, even for the blind??


your recommendations are most welcome.
 
Impressive that he manages to play on an xbox tbh, can you give us an indication on the budget at least? Cheapest you can really buy new for here is the Primo Drone (£260) or for about the same you could do a cheap custom build as he can reuse the case.
 
Impressive that he manages to use a PC at all, although I guess it depends on the level of blindness, but all the same pretty good. I am guessing that he listens to films over watching?

For a tight budget there are two ways I would go. Either second hand and get a nice Intel 775 dual core set up which can be had quite cheaply now, and will be more powerful.

Or by going for a pre built PC like Redmint said above the "Primo Drone" AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 245 2.90GHz DDR2 System, which is £350 with windows 7, and maybe put a nice sound card in it since sound will the primary interaction.
 
yes, he uses a special brail system, that's what he does. and i talk him through bits of gameplay - he's an orphan too don't forget, so he needs me around anyway.

I'll certainly look into this drone business. but the notion of a 2nd hand set up is interesting too... oh he's clapping his little hands (if you can call them that) together with excitement!
 
bingbong said:
yes, he uses a special brail system, that's what he does. and i talk him through bits of gameplay - he's an orphan too don't forget, so he needs me around anyway.

I'll certainly look into this drone business. but the notion of a 2nd hand set up is interesting too... oh he's clapping his little hands (if you can call them that) together with excitement!
Click to expand...

Do you know what software he uses? The reason I ask is that if it is that out of date you'll probably need an upgrade to be compatible with win 7. it's also very expensive, the one i use costs circa £600 for a full license.
 
Hi there, do you have a budget in mind?

Sounds like the case can only take micro ATX (uATX) board (like this one), does that seem about right?

Also, is the case big enough to accept full-height PCI and PCIe cards? (I imagine it will if it is a standard midi case)

Does the case have a DVD drive (most likely IDE) that can be reused?

Modern integrated sound is pretty good these days, but considering the importance of sound I would suggest looking at a dedicated sound card (like one of the ASUS Xonar series) if the budget allows. Also, are the existing speakers good quality and working well?
 
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