new build need advice

[surfingerman]

hey guys i have one build under my belt that i made with research from the forum,
http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=111717

now it is time, im hiring my first employee, and i need to build a work computer for him

REQUIREMENTS: here is what it needs to do, run internet fast, (ill get a wireless card for it)
run excel Microsoft word, (newest) needs windows OS 7
i want to hook two monitors to it.. 3 would be even better but i dont want to deal with eyefinity issues, would two video cards do the trick?

POWER CONSUMPTION it should have lower power consumption, ill probably get a 450 watt corsair unless thier is a better choice


also less exp is better, not cheap i want it reliable, but fast..

PSU ? corsair 450
motherboard ?
processor ? cheapest solution that gets it all doen quick, i think 920 is a bit pricey, what about a cheap amd 4 core
( i will oc but not alot just enough to where it doesnt use ridiculous power, ? will i need a custom air cooling solution or will stock work?)
graphics card, run two montiors 1200 x 1920 ish, 3 or 4 better, two
cards?
hard drive? WD 1 GB caviar black, for good speed when transferring saving files, better choice?
sound card: none onboard audio is fine
case?: no idea preferably something less than 50 bucks and small to preserve space in the office, wont be alot of heat in the case form oc so not a big deal i think

location / ordering thanks for all the help im in USA and probably ordering from new egg, or any reputable site that has cheaper item than newegg

BUDGET: ohh yes budget i forget that sometimes lol, not good for business to ignore it, not set in stone by any means but if it can stay under 550 including OS that would be preferable, 500? even better lol 400? ill buy you drinks!

 

[Fourstaff]

Get the Athlon II X4 630 or X3 435, good for money, and pair it up with a 7xx board. If you want fast internet, get wired internet instead, because its usually faster. 2Gb of ram is enough, I would go for a 2gb stick rather than 2x1GB sticks for future upgrades. I think any ol 5xxx cards can support three screens at the same time, so look at the 5450?

 

[currahee440]

Recommend AMD Athlon II X4s at $99 a pop you can't go wrong. They're 90% performance of Phenom IIs I believe.
Mobos- eh anything really will do even if its like $50. Its your call really how much you wanna spend on mobo but it doesn't sound like the machine needs anything too much.
Mem- 2GB of RAM costs about $50-60. DDR2 will be a bit cheaper DDR3 more expensive. Depends on chipset. 7xx series uses DDR2 8xx series uses DDR3.
PSU- Anything is good as long as it's a quality PSU. Recommend you getting an 80PLUS PSU. I would recommend an Antec Earthwatts 380.
HDD- Really depends on what you're going to do. 5400RPM drives use less power than 7200RPM drives and are somewhat slower. Price difference is usually negligible. 7200RPM drives are pretty consistent and unless if you wanna pay an arm and a leg for 10k+ RPM drives then any drive will be fine. 1TB Drives on average cost $80.
Graphics- I recommend any low end video card that can handle dual displays. But make sure that your integrated can drive two displays at once. Most likely it will only have one video output port. Any low end card will do if this is the case (<$50)

You should total around $420. That includes a case that's around $40. All on newegg without shipping included. So final price should be around $430-460 depending on what parts don't get free shipping.
Sorry this is generic I know but you weren't being specific on what the machine needs. It seems like the machine doesn't need a 4 core, and if not just an Athlon II X2 CPU will do the job fine which will reduce system costs a bit to maybe $380.

Add Windows to that and it's around low $500 for an Athlon II X2 or high $500 for Athlon II X4. Since Windows 7 Professional costs $130.

 

[Deleted member 67555]

^+1
If you live close to a Microcenter you can get a 630 and a Mobo for $99
The mobo is a cheapy 760 but you can always sell it on Flee bay

 

[Fourstaff]

7xx series uses DDR2 8xx series uses DDR3.
PSU- Anything is good. Recommend you getting an 80PLUS PSU. I would recommend an Antec Earthwatts 380.

7xx uses DDR3

Don't skimp on psu, the last thing you want is for the psu to fail, potentially taking everything (and a fair bit of your company) with it.

 

[currahee440]

Those Antecs are worth their weight in gold. They've been rated one of the most reliable PSUs by PC France. A lot of first gen Earthwatts got solid reviews. heck I'm using one in my desktop right now!
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article684-page1.html

And ow that hurt I was looking at the older generation 7xx series that had DDR2. Didn't know the newer ones had DDR3. My bad!

 

[Fourstaff]

Sorry, I was thinking about the "anything is good part".

 

[currahee440]

Ahhhh lol. I fixed it to anything is good as long as it's a quality PSU didn't mean to get a cheapo 13$ PSU lol.

http://www.corsair.com/cinema/movie.aspx?id=622747
And I love what Corsair did for their cheapo PSU tests.

 

[NdMk2o1o]

If you want fast internet keep it wired, not a big fan of wireless connections unless its not possible.

As mentioned an Athlon II x4 is plenty enough for an office machine.

Also is 1tb neccesary? though if the price of it isnt far from a 500gb I suppose why not get the tb hdd instead. WD Black or an F3, both plenty fast enough

Motherboard go for any ATI integrated igp chipset and grab a cheap pci GPU so you can drive the 3 monitors, though to be honest I would think 2 would be sufficient unless your doing a lot of real time financial stuff and need 3 monitors, I was going to get 2 on my work pc though opted for a single 1080p widescreen and its fine for having 2 full size docs open side by side.

PSU corsair 400w should be plenty.

Case something like the Antec 300, mid tower, not blingy but still fairly good looking and good to work with.

 

[surfingerman]

thanks everyone for the helpful advice, i did indeed decide on a 4200 integrated graphics with a 4550, i decided to go for the 4 screens because i found a business thats closing on craigslist their selling 12 19" dell flatscreen monitors for $30 a pop so figured i might as well get 4 monitors, total came out over budget of course lol, when hasnt it, but i did splurge on the ram a bit more than i probably should have, but i like ram, lol

total was 561 with combo deals and instant rebates, and 577 shipping, but their is 45 dollars of mail in rebates, so that would bring it down to 515, but mail in rebates are such i chore, i might not even bother

cant wait to see how she overclocks with a stock cooler, and little airflow, im thinking 3.1ghz wont be a problem, maybe more, but not too much due to heat / stability

 

[Dent1]

hmm,

The motherboard you selected isnt anymore cheaper than a DDR3 motherboard, and that DDR2 memory kit is no cheaper than a DDR3 memory kit. Those two things stand out massively!

 

[Deleted member 67555]

Yeah I noticed that too..LOL
It's like it stands out or something

 

[surfingerman]

i can still change the order, does the ddr3 motherboard come with 4200 onboard graphics?

i checked the board you guys recommended it only had ati 3000 and a couple other ddr3 boards i found had no onboard video at all!

 

[Deleted member 67555]

Yes it does come with it as long as it's a 785 it will have 4200..AM3 will be around $5-$10 more though But you can get G.skill ddr3 1600 for $10 less and AMD boards like it a lot

 

[surfingerman]

what if i switch the mother board to this GIGABYTE GA-785GMT-USB3 AM3 AMD 785G HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

it has 4200 and ddr3 but it is more expensive, and get ddr3

CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMX4GX3M2A1600C8

* DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
* Timing 8-8-8-24
* Cas Latency 8

* Cas Latency: 8
* Voltage: 1.65V
* Multi-channel Kit: Dual Channel Kit
* Timing: 8-8-8-24
* Model #: CMX4GX3M2A1600C8
* Item #: N82E16820145263


is ddr2 really that bad? that i should spend 20 more bucks to upgrade? how big of a difference are we talking?

also if i upgrade to that board i loose out anothr 29 bucks on the combo deal so it will end up costing me close to 50 dollars

and iloose a mail in rebate but no like i was going to use it anyway lol

alos i had my heart set on mushkin memory and if i go to ddr3 the muskin costs a bit more, i just prefer it lol

 

[Dent1]

what if i switch the mother board to this GIGABYTE GA-785GMT-USB3 AM3 AMD 785G HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

is ddr2 really that bad? that i should spend 20 more bucks to upgrade? how big of a difference are we talking?

also if i upgrade to that board i loose out anothr 29 bucks on the combo deal so it will end up costing me close to 50 dollars

and iloose a mail in rebate but no like i was going to use it anyway lol

alos i had my heart set on mushkin memory and if i go to ddr3 the muskin costs a bit more, i just prefer it lol

Why do you need the 4200 so badly? you are buying a dedicated video card anyways.

Muskin memory is nothing special and its pretty rubbish compared to similarly priced memory i.e. Crucial Balistix, OCZ GOLD/Plat, Corsair, G.Skils, Kingston HyperX.

Its not that DDR2 memory is bad its jut that only $10 separates DDR2 and DDR3 modules, plus if AMD happen to release a new generation of CPUs without a integrated DDR2 controller on AM3 you're covered for an upgrade.


ASRock M3A785GMH/128M AM3 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard $76

If you are happy with 2 memory slots there are these two:
BIOSTAR A785G3 AM3 AMD 785G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard $59
BIOSTAR TA785G3 AM3 AMD 785G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard $64


BIOSTAR A785G3 AM3 AMD 785G Micro ATX AMD Motherbo...
BIOSTAR TA785G3 AM3 AMD 785G Micro ATX AMD Motherb...
ASRock M3A785GMH/128M AM3 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX ...


@ a 1600Mhz bus the CORSAIR XMS3 4GB is a good choice

 

[Deleted member 67555]

Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, L...
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600...

These 3 options $15 more but then yo don't need the Video Card as the integrated is just about as good
I' still get it tho

 

[NdMk2o1o]

Why do you need the 4200 so badly? you are buying a dedicated video card anyways.

Helps to read the 1st post cause he is looking for a 3 monitor setup hence he needs igp and a gpu unless he goes eyefinity which will be dearer cause of the need for dp monitors

 

[surfingerman]

anyone who says mushkin ram is crap, i have a message for you.. "you're crap!"

ehh i just think there are too many people here used to building gaming rigs and can't appreciate the beauty of a 4 screen spreadsheet monster, one things for sure this thing is going to get over 60 fps in microsoft excel lol,