new computer recommendations for office

[capnkidd]

I am a dinosaur now, and so is my computer. I need a good upgrade and do not need it for gaming (my searches didn't turn up much for a beefy office computer)

P4 HT 3.4GHz (almost 6 years old)
SATA
2GB DDR 3200
windows 7

I do research and sales with heavy internet use for checking price quotes and, data entry and building my E-commerce website for diesel truck performance. I often have this load:

~50 tabs open between 2+ browsers (lots of opening and closing of tabs searching etc)
excel 5-6 pages
office 5-6 pages
front page 5-6 pages
acrobat 5-6 pages
photoshop (for 1mb or less files... editing for web page)=very light use
would like to upgrade to dual monitor to do less alt-tab to switch programs.


I would like to be around $350-450 for the system but am unsure what is going to get me the best bang for the buck? I am not opposed to going with a box/branded system, or refurb around black friday. Building my own PC with Mild overclocking is not out of the question I have the software I need, but not sure its practical. I built and repaired 500+ systems back in 2002-2005, but I know next to nothing now. I will be sure to use a dedicated video card so I can have dual monitor support (budget one will be fine since no gaming)

Here are some basic questions I would like help with:
Would I benefit significantly from a Quad core over a Dual?
Should I put off my upgrade and wait for DDR3
Is CPU clock speed more important than multiple cores for my usage?
Is 3GB RAM enough or should I look for more?
AMD or Intel? I know that the different CPU's had advantages and score differently in benchmarks for office/ web stuff.

thanks in advance

 

[RavenSEAL]

Very tough if you're looking for prebuilt. If you want to DIY...i'll try and see, but no guarantees under $450. I can guarantee you a good system for $500.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Luck you...i got something very very good for around 487 w/o shipping (I estimated to my ZIP code-33626 and shipping came out to $13, which is very good, yay for UPS). Hopefully you're not in NJ or CA. So truly, as i promised above...i would get you a great system for $500...it all turns out @ 500.88. This thing will BLOW through whatever amount of tabs you throw at it. If i screwed up something, someone feel free to correct me.

COOLER MASTER Elite 330 RC-330
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119115

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136073

AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103871

ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO AM3 AMD 785G
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131398

SAPPHIRE 100253HDMI Radeon HD 4650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102829

Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D Green 380W Continuous power
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371033

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231134

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 64 Pro 92mm Ceramic CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835185125

Arctic Silver AS5-3.5G
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-007-_-Product

I don't know if a DVD/CD drive can wait, but i'll throw one in there:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ..._re=dvd_drive_internal-_-27-106-276-_-Product

With the DVD/CD drive, it'll leave you at 523.69!

Cheers!

 

[Harvey]

I don't know if I could advise you about your specific questions, but, when you figure out which components you want, you'll save money building your own system.

Two places you may want to check for deals:

1. Because I'm a moderator, I can see that you're within a reasonable distance from Fry's Electronics. My favorite links to their ads are in the San Jose Mercury News and the Dallas News. Their ad cycle runs from Friday to Thursday, and they add more items almost every day.

2. A good online shop is Newegg. Click the link on their e-mail specials. You have to register with them to receive their mailer and to use their discount codes, but if you find a good deal, you'll be giving them the same information when you buy.

If you're careful about your selection, with a little luck, you could build a really nice system for under $450.

If you want to run XP, make sure the motherboard maker supports it with drivers. Under the 32 bit version of XP can use up to a little over 3 GB of RAM. The only reason for installing 4 GB would be if you intend to use a board with onboard video.

To support a lot of open pages or large files, more RAM is better, and the 64 bit version of Windows 7 can support a lot more RAM. You can start with 4 GB and allow for expansion.

Currently, DDR3 and DDR2 are pretty close to the same price so your choice will be determined by what your motherboard requires, which, in turn, will be influenced by the overall package you find that fits your budget.

That doesn't answer all of your questions, but I hope it helps.

 

[RavenSEAL]

I don't know know if you can transfer that W7 license, but it would be really good. As a matter of fact, if you do a HDD transfer to the machine i posted above and take out the HDD from the shopping list. It would be at around $470! I'm no expert at that stuff, but i'll google it.

:awe:

 

[capnkidd]

Wow, thanks for the quick responses. I think I can get windows to transfer over, if not its about $100 added the cost to be legit, and I can use my current system as a workstation for an employee doing shipping.

I am about 40 miles from a Fry's. I had some bad luck with Fry's when I was building systems. It seemd for every 4 or 5 components I purchased I had to make a return trip to exchange a faulty part. Is that still a common experience?

I used to buy tons of parts from newegg and googlegear which changed its name to zipzoomfly. I found that wholesale prices were only within a few% of neweggs prices. It was hard to be profitable on hardware and I found I could buy pre-built systems with software for less than the hardware cost.

 

[Harvey]

It was hard to be profitable on hardware and I found I could buy pre-built systems with software for less than the hardware cost.

Possibly, but when you build your own, you get to choose the components. You can buy a decent vid card on sale, instead of a whatever the onboard video or whatever cheap card pre-built maker chooses to give you. The same applies to your burner, which will have a standard form factor, instead of hiding behind some curved faceplate with a flap that just gets in the way and every other component.

That especially applies to the case and power supply. I've never seen a pre-built maker's case that I like, and they always, and I mean ALWAYS, use an undersized power supply. I'm tired of seeing i7 machines with PSU's around 300 watts or less. They'll light up a Windows desktop, but good luck when you need more, and you try to expand their capability with more drives, more RAM, a better vid card, etc.

 

[muskie32]

Ram, CPU, HDD, mobo
Video Card
Case/PSU
Optical Drive


(If you want want to go the intel way?)

 

[RavenSEAL]

Ram, CPU, HDD, mobo
Video Card
Case/PSU
Optical Drive


(If you want want to go the intel way?)

The X4 blows the i3 for what the OP is trying to do.

 

[capnkidd]

I saw in a thread that the i3 can be overclocked very easily. can the Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz be overclocked?

Maybe I was too cheap... If I could budget $50 or $100 more would it be put to better use for a CPU upgrade or more ram? I found this but it seems I am just getting greedy, after all its office work, but time is money.... so just looking for the best bang for the buck.

"MEM11" for an additional 10% off coupon and $20 rebate works on the RAM.
So $228.78 AR if you don't have tax..
​

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.515796&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=361116&SID=FW97ch68

 

[Gunbuster]

Nothing you do is CPU bound. The main things you need in order of importance:

More RAM
Multi Monitor
Fast HDD
Win 7 Aerosnap (you already have this)

 

[RavenSEAL]

Nothing you do is CPU bound. The main things you need in order of importance:

More RAM
Multi Monitor
Fast HDD
Win 7 Aerosnap (you already have this)

Upgrading to multi monitor goes waaaay out of budget. He already has a hard drive that has the W7 license on and more ram can be purchased late on. No city was ever built in one day...

 

[RavenSEAL]

A quad core @ 3Ghz is the best you can get under $100. You don't need a hard drive...i can drop the case and pick a cheaper one and i can get rid of the aftermarket cooler and you can run the stock that comes in the box. I'll get back to ya after seeing that i can find...

 

[RavenSEAL]

Alright....up to 4gb of ram, dropped the other case to a cheaper one with free shipping. Dropped after market cooler, so no OCing beyond maybe 100-200 mhz. Added DVD, same GPU, Picked up an mATX mobo. Dropped your bill to $410~ with shipping NOT TO MENTION!!! $45 dollars on rebates! Weeeee! So that drops your bill to around $360 after rebate! If i screwed something up someone feel free to correct me.




http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129069

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131619

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102829

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106276

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371033

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835100007

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231253

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103871

EDIT!!!!

Added HDMI to DVI to build

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812189056

because, if you want multi-display right away...the GPU i listed is very good, but only has 1x HDMI and 1x DVI. So that should set you up...

 

[dmoney1980]

quick question RavenSeal - I don't have any experience with multi-monitor setups, but would he need a dedicated GPU ? Would on board video not be good enough ? Or is it the fact that the video takes away from system RAM ?

 

[RavenSEAL]

OnBoard takes away from your ram and can be very buggy when it comes to multi-display set ups. Decicated GPUs 128bit/512bm is truly the minimum for an efficient multi-display setup that only demands office work such as the one the OP stated.

 

[dmoney1980]

OnBoard takes away from your ram and can be very buggy when it comes to multi-display set ups. Decicated GPUs 128bit/512bm is truly the minimum for an efficient multi-display setup that only demands office work such as the one the OP stated.

gotcha-thats what I thought. Nice build for the price !

 

[capnkidd]

Checking it out now... thanks

 

[Gunbuster]

OnBoard takes away from your ram and can be very buggy when it comes to multi-display set ups. Decicated GPUs 128bit/512bm is truly the minimum for an efficient multi-display setup that only demands office work such as the one the OP stated.

Thats total BS. I cant believe I'm saying this but the current intel integrated graphics are very mature at this point and more than enough for non gaming multi screen use.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Thats total BS. I cant believe I'm saying this but the current intel integrated graphics are very mature at this point and more than enough for non gaming multi screen use.

Op isn't getting an intel mobo though....

 

[Gunbuster]

Op isn't getting an intel mobo though....

Then seeing as Intel was the absolute worst for integrated graphics he will have no trouble with the AMD/ATI solution. A discrete card is a waste of money for simple browser windows and excel...

 

[RavenSEAL]

Then seeing as Intel was the absolute worst for integrated graphics he will have no trouble with the AMD/ATI solution. A discrete card is a waste of money for simple browser windows and excel...

excel 5-6 pages
office 5-6 pages
front page 5-6 pages
acrobat 5-6 pages
photoshop (for 1mb or less files... editing for web page)=very light use
would like to upgrade to dual monitor to do less alt-tab to switch programs

Not to mention it offloads 512mb of RAM and actually increases the efficiency and performance of the entire system, SPECIALLY! SPECIALLY! running dual monitors. Do your research...

 

[Gunbuster]

Not to mention it offloads 512mb of RAM and actually increases the efficiency and performance of the entire system, SPECIALLY! SPECIALLY! running dual monitors. Do your research...

bits per pixel x number of verticle pixels x number of horizontal pixels = memory in bits.

Now you tell me how much memory that is going to use in 2d? For a 1920X1200 screen that is under 10Megabytes.

"50tabs in two browsers" this guy should be spending money on more than 4 gig of RAM and not dicking around with an add in graphics card when the mainboard already has one.

 

[RavenSEAL]

bits per pixel x number of verticle pixels x number of horizontal pixels = memory in bits.

Now you tell me how much memory that is going to use in 2d? For a 1920X1200 screen that is under 10Megabytes.

"50tabs in two browsers" this guy should be spending money on more than 4 gig of RAM and not dicking around with an add in graphics card when the mainboard already has one.

I laugh at your ignorance...

 

[Gunbuster]

I laugh at your ignorance...

What a great comeback. I don't like to be ignorant so would you care to explain your reasoning on how someone with a tight budget should be buying an add in video card when the mainboard YOU speced out has built in video? How does that offer a value add for someone doing only 2d windows desktop. 50 or 1000 tabs open does not use a different amount of video memory, it does on the other hand suck up system RAM.