Need advice on purchasing components for Non-gaming Computer

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egm

New Member
Budget: $350-$450...$500 maximum!! (excluding monitor, keyboard, mouse, OS)

Purpose: I'm an undergrad business major. Need computer for MS office, internet, and a few multimedia porgrams. Looking for something that'll allow me to run Word, AIM, mp3 player, and a couple MSN windows, all simultaneously and smoothly.

I know the budget is low, just looking for something that compares to a Dell 4700, but with hopes of more ram, hard drive, and overall better performance, a bit cheaper too. A quiet machine would be preferred, but not a priority. Won't be used for games or movie watching.

Thanks
 
I'd try and go with some higher Athlon XP with at least 256M RAM. Onboard video, sound, networking, etc should be fine... If you want movies, maybe a DVD/CD-RW, not a full blown DVD-RW(though they aren't but about $60 now...)

My laptop is close to these specs, and I can do most everything you want to. I've even played some games on it and it works pretty well with the onboard video...

As for noise...get larger fans. The bigger they are, the more air they push at lower speeds. There are also some fanless heatsinks, but I'm not sure how they'd work. Though you could probably underclock a processor...that would certainlly cool it down.

(oops, just saw you said WON'T be used for movies...on well, DVD might still be a good option because some programs are comming on DVDs now, like office(or I know my copy could of been...))
 
argh! i was thinking of getting a P4, I hear they're better for non-gaming applications, although I don't know much about computers.

Let me raise my budget a bit...

Anything in the $400-$600 will be ok.

Thanks
 
i'll sell you my athlon xp if you want it. it can game if you want it to, and multitasks very well as long as you're not running adobe premiere and photoshop cs at the same time. a lot of love has been put into my machine and it doesn't look like ass. i built it a month ago. if you want to build your own computer this is the route i would go with.

AMD Barton core 2500+ w/ aftermarket hsf (not all are loud mine is quiet and i oc to 3200+ w/400fsb)
Gigabyte GA-7N400L motherboard
1gb matched pair Corsair value select PC3200
Seagate Barracuda 160gb hd
Antec Case w/ps (quiet)
NEC 3520a 16 DVD-RW
ATi 9200SE
 
mobo/p4 combo
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1288940&CatId=0 $180

video card
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-121-525&depa=0 $50

corsial value select 1 gb ram (2x512)
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=20-145-440&DEPA=0 $86

NEC DVD-rw drive (the one everyone seems to get lol) $50

200 GB hard drive
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=22-144-129&DEPA=1 $100

PSU
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-103-908&depa=0 $70

Nice case - $50 shipped



how will this set up perform? Is it good for it's price? Comes out to $600
 
egm said:
Purpose: I'm an undergrad business major. Need computer for MS office, internet, and a few multimedia porgrams. Looking for something that'll allow me to run Word, AIM, mp3 player, and a couple MSN windows, all simultaneously and smoothly.
Click to expand...
My old P2 laptop could do that. :P You'll probably be fine with the configuration you suggested.
 
Here's what I would build for ya...

MSI Barebone Socket A - $80
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=56-101-231&depa=1

AMD Athlon XP 2800 Retail - $105
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-377&depa=1

Seagate 80GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive - $62
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-148-015&depa=1

Corsair Value Select 512MB RAM - $50
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-145-407&depa=1

Sony Black 52x32x52x16 Combo Drive - $32
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-106-819&depa=1

Total is around $330 with pleanty of room for improvment if you wish... I know you mentioned something about a Pent. but I'm just rather stuck on AMD as they tend to be cheaper and faster at the same speed...
 
I'm with The Other One on this.........Abit/ECS are not MoBos I would use.......ever. if you want to save $$ do not scrimp on MoBo, Pro or Ram. JMO though
 
- The PSU is a bit on the expensive side. Have a look at the PSU101 for some cheaper but good suggestions
- You can shave $20 off the videocard
- This Gigabyte board is an affordable motherboard with onboard video and a superior chipset. For a few more dollars, an ASUS one.
- The Pentium4E-3.0 might be a bit overkill but a drastic change from the NorthwoodB you've got there

Abit/ECS are not MoBos I would use.......ever
Click to expand...
ECS cant hold a light to Abit. Period.
 
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