Looking for help on a budget work pc

[cruzin08]

I'm looking for some advice on building a few work pc's for my brother's company. These will be running xp and won't be used for any gaming. I'm looking to spend around $300 for the total build which will include: case, psu, cpu, mobo, memory, dvd+rw, hdd, and video card. I'm looking for the build to be based on the Intel processor, and I'm planning on overclocking. All parts will be bought in the US.

Here's some of the basic specs needed..

Case - decent cooling
PSU - somewhat quiet, adequate power for the job
Mobo - needs to overclock
CPU - Intel and overclockable.. basically, best bang for the buck.
Memory - 2gb minimum
VC - just basic graphics. (I figured this since onboard graphic boards are terrible overclockers.

Any help is appreciated. I've been looking through tons of posts, but most aim at building a budget gaming pc.

Thanks in advance

 

[DSF]

What work is your brother's company doing? If they're just word processing and manipulating spreadsheets, there's really no need to overclock, and integrated graphics are probably your best bet. They also wouldn't need more than 2GB of RAM.

Either way, $300 is a very tight budget. At that price, having a CPU built for your brother is probably a better deal than building yourself, and you won't have to be on call for tech support.

 

[MegaVovaN]

Dell.

 

[cruzin08]

Thanks for the reply.

I already am his tech support, so I'd rather kind of work on my own stuff than work on his Dells. He's into selling small engine parts online and basically uses the computers to access Quickbooks and create new pages for his website.

I was thinking about starting a new system based on an Asrock Conroe 1333 and a E2xxx series. The monitor, mouse, and keyboard will be attained after the build so I wasn't including that in the budget, but I could also stretch his budget out a bit to around $400.

 

[Jiggz]

Originally posted by: cruzin08
Thanks for the reply.

I already am his tech support, so I'd rather kind of work on my own stuff than work on his Dells. He's into selling small engine parts online and basically uses the computers to access Quickbooks and create new pages for his website.

I was thinking about starting a new system based on an Asrock Conroe 1333 and a E2xxx series. The monitor, mouse, and keyboard will be attained after the build so I wasn't including that in the budget, but I could also stretch his budget out a bit to around $400.

Mobo with integrated graphics, E2xxx series intel cpu, $50.00 hdd around 200/250Gb, 1Gb (or even 2GB depending on your budget) should be a good starting point. With $400 it will be very doable.

 

[mizzou]

don't forget to include the Operating system in the equation. If you don't have a business copy you will need to purchase a key for each computer which is about $100 bucks each

 

[cruzin08]

Okay, I ended up buying from multiple vendors, but I got the total cost of a complete computer system to $470. We already had a copy of XP pro, but everything else was purchased even including a 19" Monitor and Logitech keyboard/mouse. I based the system off of the Asrock Conroe 1333 and E2160, which when a bsel mod is done can easily be overclockable. The bsel mod alone takes the chip from 1.8 to 2.4. If anyone is interested I can post the places and prices for all the stuff bought. I just don't have the info in front of me at the moment.

 

[robmurphy]

You will need more than a copy of XP. You will a license for each machine. MS strongly disaproves of businesses that buy one copy and then install it on more than one machine.

I would not recomend overclocking on business machines unless they are at the end of their life and overclocking allows a few more months of use.

I would make sure the speed step is turned on as this will save on power (i.e. money). For a business reliability and power consumption are very major factors. I use AMD's cool'n'quiet on all my AMD business machines. It saves a fair bit of money over the course of a year.

Rob

 

[MegaVovaN]

Originally posted by: robmurphy
You will need more than a copy of XP. You will a license for each machine. MS strongly disaproves of businesses that buy one copy and then install it on more than one machine.

Agreed.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: cruzin08
The bsel mod alone takes the chip from 1.8 to 2.4. If anyone is interested I can post the places and prices for all the stuff bought. I just don't have the info in front of me at the moment.

sorry to say this but any mod and o/cing for machines that work in a business arena and just access quickbooks is kind of stupid...

and since this is for a biz, buy a licence for each seat, if not ms will come and nail you.

 

[batuchka]

ECS 770 = $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813135069
4000+ Brisbane = $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819103774
Hitachi 160GB/8MB cache HDD = $49
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822145124
hd 2400 Pro = $30
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814127299
Casing + PSU = $40
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811153092
Kingston ddr2 667 2 X 1gb RAM = $40
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820134046
DVD Burner = $24
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16827118003
Total = USD303
You may want to keep the mobo for phenom use, better memory, better graphics, etc for a future upgrade cycle ^^