Recommendations for wife's computer

[Budmantom]

Nothing like a little friendly debate about Dell, as far as my system it's not new it's refurbished.

As long as you like your system it's all good as far as my crappy Dell I'm happy with it.

Good talking at ya,

Tom

BTW $3k is too much to pay for any computer, even a Dell

 

[MrX8503]

If this computer build is for your wife and she barely does anything work intensive from the sounds of it i would go with a Sempron. That is what its made for.

Sempron64 2600+:$70

 

[Jhhnn]

I'd approach it differently. If 3D gaming isn't an issue, but speed is, then a separate graphics card is completely unnecessary. Onboard graphics have come a long way, and the 6100-6150 nvidia graphics are as good as highend cards of 3 years ago, particularly for 2D work. They'll even support twin monitors, right out of the box.

The idea that a separate graphics card is necessary is very old school, as is the belief in high current psu's, with disdain for a case/psu combo, which saves a decent amount of money. Standard size atx boards fall into a similar vein- it has six slots, and five of them will be empty for the life of the machine... maybe all of them.

I'd start with any one of the V or Z series matx Inwin cases and included 300-350W psu. The cases are stout, easy to use, and breathe well, and the psu's are good quality and quiet, with 120mm fans.

Add your choice of 6100 or 6150 matx motherboard, gig of ram, floppy, optical, software, etc... check with the manufacturer on the ram, as modern boards can be picky... avoid the Gigabyte models, as they apparently have problems....

One of these-

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144200

You said fast, right? and that capacity isn't an issue.... The boot and load times from that drive are pretty remarkable.

Add something like this, to keep it quiet-

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835186126

And upgrade the exhaust fan, same reason, plus reliability-

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/pa92ulqu.html

Or even like this-

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/nmb92lowsp36.html

Them get the fastest processor that the budget allows- probably squeeze a 3500 or 3700 in on the deal...

Smaller, faster, quieter, and every bit as reliable, if not moreso...