Need opinions

[mattest2542]

One of my spare computers just died a couple days ago and I am looking to replace it. Most of my work is done from my main computer, but I use the spare one for other purposes. The main thing I used my spare computer for was alot of video and audio encoding and not much gaming at all. I was looking at buying a decent set up that could achieve that one attribute. I only need the mobo,processor, ram, and the rest of the stuff I already have. So would it be cheaper to go with prebuilt or custom built and do you have any opinions on what would be the best price/ performance as far as parts wise. Thanks for any and all information. Also the cpu in my spare computer was a celeron d and it just barely could handle the task so I was looking for something better then that with a gig of ram at least.

 

[hjo3]

If you only need the CPU, mobo, and RAM, just buy those things and stick them in the case yourself. Since you're using it for encoding, the CPU's probably the most important thing. As far as recommendations, I guess it depends on what you want to spend.

 

[Roguestar]

You want a barebones upgrade, as hjo3 said. New CPU, motherboard and RAM, make sure your graphics card uses the same slot the new motherboard has. If you've a budget of up to about $500 you can get yourself an E4300, 2GB DDR2 and a good motherboard.