Need advice on parts for E4300 system for work

[davidos]

I want to build a Vista box for work and wonder if anyone has recently built a box based around the e4300... I want it to be as cheap as possible but still good... i.e., 2gigs ram and a decent, cheap video card...

Please chime in.
Thanks,
David

 

[sdsdv10]

Just wondering what type of work you are doing?

Do you really need even a "cheap graphics card"? All my work boxes have used integrated graphics and they have preformed perfectly well for Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc. Could save a couple extra bucks with a G965 chipset. However, if you plan to OC forgot the IG.

 

[PCTC2]

Well, for generalities:
Asus P5B P965 Motherboard
DDR2-800 RAM
eVGA 7100GS Video Card

 

[davidos]

Will the integrated graphics let you use aero?

I work for a communications company... word processing, internet, burning cds, some audio editing.

 

[Ridesy]

Davidos

I have just built an E4300 basic rig for our offices using an Asus P5B-VM board with integrated graphics.

It has 2Gb Corsair Value PC2 6400 RAM, with 256Mb shared for the X3000 on board graphics.

It's running Vista business and gets graphics scores of 4.8/4.7 so yes, it's fine for aero with onboard graphics.

We also built five others with A64 4200+ CPU's and M2NPV-VM motherboards and again these have onboard Nvidia GeForce 6150 again using 256Mb system memory and these all run Vista business fine.

My honest impression so far is the A64's are faster than the E4300 and they were a few bucks cheaper as the MB and CPU were slightly less.

Also if you decide to go the E4300 route do watch out as some MB's BIOS won't recognise the E4300 unless it is first updated! This doesn't sound like an issue, but it IS, as we didn't have another 775 socket CPU to bung in to flash the BIOS and until our supplier "leant" us one we sat there with a dead system that wouldn't POST, enter BIOS or let us update BIOS.

So beware.

Ridesy

 

[davidos]

DO you 'need' Vista BUSINESS for a small network of 5 - 7 computers or is the Home Premium version fine... I work at a radio station and I just want to upgrade the computers...

Also, will an Athlon 64 x2 3800+ be fine compared to an e4300 for office tasks and some audio editing?