# Budget office computer build



## Thou Dog (Apr 14, 2011)

Hi guys, I'm wondering how this would work for an office computer, the kind you'd use for running ordinary office productivity stuff, old-school gaming and wasting time on the internet. I am probably not going to be installing a graphics card in this - the onboard video is good enough for what I want to use it for. I am also aware that serious hardware upgrades will probably require a PSU upgrade.

AMD Athlon II X2 245 Regor 2.9GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W: $60
ASUS AM3/AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA Geforce 7025/nForce 630a Micro ATX AMD Motherboard: $50
PNY Optima 8GB 2 x (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400): $114
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" HDD: $40
ASUS DRW-24B1ST 24x 2MB Cache SATA Optical Drive: $22
SATA connectors 2x: $6
Rosewill Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Case with 350W 20+4 pin PSU: $40
Tools and labor assistance: <$20
Total: [$332 - $352)

Max power consumption, assuming things are running hot:

CPU: 65
Motherboard: 135
HDD: 30
DVDRW: 30
Total: 260W

Does this sound like a reasonable build? I know I could probably halve the cost of RAM, but I really kind of wanted to err on the side of maxing that out, just because... well, just because. :<

On the plus side, this is cheaper than the clearance PC at the local Staples, and that's a Compaq; I've kind of vowed never to buy an HP machine, after I've seen an HP netbook, two or three HP laptops and two HP desktops have critical motherboard failures - two of them were new machines that either broke within a week or two, or were defective out of the box.


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## AshleyAshes (Apr 14, 2011)

For this role, just about any cheap PC will do the task.  I wouldn't even bother building something, instead I'd find a place that sells refurbs from cleared out office buildings and such.  For example, my local PC store sells these things: http://pccyber.com/?v=Category&c=87...f_os=&attr_add=&sort=availability-high-to-low

Because really, just about any functional dualcore machine will do what you want it to do so you might as well go as cheap as possible.


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## ToeClaws (Apr 14, 2011)

As Ashley says, you can get and use just about any machine to your required tasks.  The perk, however, of building it as you are does allow for a bit of expandability.  Some of the pre-built and/or refurb options may offer you this as well, but not always - you have to do your homework on them before buying them.


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## Thou Dog (Apr 14, 2011)

I'm thinking, though, the last brand-name office machine I got cost $800 and has lasted, what... six years now, and can still do everything I want it to, albeit not quite as fast as I would want it to. I wanted to think about how to acquire an equivalent machine, at a lower cost.

(Funny: I've never had a need for System Recovery with that machine, although with my three year old Vista laptop I've had to completely wipe everything once already because of a bad update... XP Pro and good hardware are a superior combo, IMO.)

Honest question, though; how do XP Pro and Win7 Pro compare?


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## Thou Dog (Apr 14, 2011)

AshleyAshes said:


> For this role, just about any cheap PC will do the task.  I wouldn't even bother building something, instead I'd find a place that sells refurbs from cleared out office buildings and such.  For example, my local PC store sells these things: http://pccyber.com/?v=Category&c=87...f_os=&attr_add=&sort=availability-high-to-low
> 
> Because really, just about any functional dualcore machine will do what you want it to do so you might as well go as cheap as possible.


 
That's an interesting resource, although it doesn't let me search specs like maximum memory. Might try a few local stores to compare.


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## AshleyAshes (Apr 14, 2011)

Thou Dog said:


> That's an interesting resource, although it doesn't let me search specs like maximum memory. Might try a few local stores to compare.



This was just a local example, I imagine there are lots of places selling refurbed office building hardware.  That said, if you want the specs, you can Google the models.  They're all Lenovo ThinkCenters so Lenovo lists the specs.  But I'm just saying, for this task, you might as well go as cheap as possible.


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## Bobskunk (Apr 14, 2011)

I say no on that case.  Build quality will be terrible, sure, but even for a cheap computer you don't want to gamble on the power supply like that.

PNY makes terrible stuff.  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231180 Two of these are cheaper/better.
Find another case and http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371033 stuff this in it.  As nice as it is to save money, I can't seriously consider Rosewill outside of really really cheap accessories, not something as important as a power supply.


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## Thou Dog (Apr 15, 2011)

Thanks Bobskunk. I'd seen G.Skill-brand RAM on newegg, but I have never heard of the company so I hesitated to go for it. What's wrong with PNY? How/why and ...

You know, this isn't the thread for a good run-down on who makes what hardware for a good balance of price and quality, is it.


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## darkdoomer (Apr 15, 2011)

throw $100 on some athlon XP or P4 with winXP pro on it. 1gb or 2 will be far enough.


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## AshleyAshes (Apr 15, 2011)

darkdoomer said:


> throw $100 on some athlon XP or P4 with winXP pro on it. 1gb or 2 will be far enough.



The Athlon XP's lack of SSE2 can make it a liability in some cases.  Some Adobe programs and other software have an SSE2 dependancy for example.  So I'd suggest you avoid it to avoid that risk.  Though all P4's have SSE2.


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