New Office Computer

R

.:RoKsTaR:.

New Member
I need to upgrade my 7 year old single core piece-o-crap. I put lots of money into my recording computer, but don't want to break the bank on this one.

I'll only use it for the following things:

Quickbooks
MS Office
Photoshop - on occasion
Sibelius - I transcribe music everyday
Youtube - i use it a lot while I'm teaching guitar lessons
Medi playback
Other apps - Guitar Pro, Powertabs, Zune, IDM, Band in a Box

I already have Windows 7 HP,, so I don't need an OS. I also don't need a keyboard, monitor, or mouse since my 2 computers share theirs through a KVM switch. Lastly, I already have a d-link wireless card that I can transfer over, if it's a desktop.

I want to try and keep it under $500 CAD since it's really only for office work.

Can any of you computer savvy dudes suggest something that would work?

I tried to piece something together, but it always ends up being around $800, so do any of these work or can you suggest something else? (doesn't have to be from tiger)

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4942669&Sku=H25-35110%20CA

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6017033&CatId=6

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5363331&Sku=S445-150043&cm_re=Homepage-_-Spot%2001-_-CatId_17_S445-150043
 
Thanks for your input, I saw that one as well and wasn't sure myself if it was worth the extra $ :)

I just thought pre-build would be easier, but I'm totally open to a kit or building my own. Originally I picked out a case, gigabyte board, i3 cpu, 4gb OCZ platinum DDR3, WD 1tb Caviar Black, lightscribe DVD, etc. But it ended up being more than I wanted to spend, so I wasn't sure I could piece together something cheaper but still decent. I've been reading a lot but still don't know enough about this stuff to do it without help.

So as I said I'm open :) My Father in law just bought one of these and was pretty pleased. http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=570_7_124&item_id=028297&sid=ql8f25n9qsrq2evmdh3ji01b80 Even thought it's got peripherals that I don't need, it's good deal with a 1yr warranty.

Any thoughts, comparing it to the others? or would you normally recommend building from scratch.
 
.:RoKsTaR:. said:
Thanks for your input, I saw that one as well and wasn't sure myself if it was worth the extra $ :)

I just thought pre-build would be easier, but I'm totally open to a kit or building my own. Originally I picked out a case, gigabyte board, i3 cpu, 4gb OCZ platinum DDR3, WD 1tb Caviar Black, lightscribe DVD, etc. But it ended up being more than I wanted to spend, so I wasn't sure I could piece together something cheaper but still decent. I've been reading a lot but still don't know enough about this stuff to do it without help.

So as I said I'm open :) My Father in law just bought one of these and was pretty pleased. http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=570_7_124&item_id=028297&sid=ql8f25n9qsrq2evmdh3ji01b80 Even thought it's got peripherals that I don't need, it's good deal with a 1yr warranty.

Any thoughts, comparing it to the others? or would you normally recommend building from scratch.
Click to expand...

If I am building a computer for the use you mentioned, I probably go with AMD Athlon II x4, 785G Mobo, 4 GB RAM, cheap ATI 4550.

Any Athlon IIx 2 with faster than AMD Athlon X2 dual core.
 
daisymtc said:
If I am building a computer for the use you mentioned, I probably go with AMD Athlon II x4, 785G Mobo, 4 GB RAM, cheap ATI 4550.

Any Athlon IIx 2 with faster than AMD Athlon X2 dual core.
Click to expand...

cool ok, can you specify which 785g you would use? It looks like there's a lot of different ones and I'm not sure which one is sufficient ;)
 
For tight budget build, go for Asrock. But I always recommend Gigabyte or Asus.

I have a look at NCIX.com, and they have these.
http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=50152&vpn=Entre-Q620&manufacture=NCIXPC
http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=49431&vpn=Entre-i530&manufacture=NCIXPC
http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=45209&vpn=NY540AA#ABL&manufacture=HP Consumer

With those ncix pc, I think they are good option, except I have no idea what psu they are using. Appearantly, you can call them and ask for upgrade. With looking at the psu section, I recommend you get something like OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W or Corsair CMPSU-400CX
 
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ok how's this then:

http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=568_26_339&item_id=028333
or
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=568_26_340&item_id=024872
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=568_4_64&item_id=026003
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=568_6_112&item_id=023781
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=568_3_61&item_id=029356
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=568_24_311_313&item_id=021224

I'm still open to suggestions on any of it, especially RAM since there seems to bee a variety of it for different prices. I just picked this because I have OCZ in my computers right now ;) As for a HD, I'd probably get 1TB but I don't know what kind yet. I've heard that seagate has faster read times than WD, but WD has faster seek times and then there's the whole 3 colour thing with WD...so many choices :P It works out to about $435 including a Seagate Barracuda 1TB, which sounds ok to me..?
 
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I can't see any of those links...wtf?

Typically, The WD Caviar Black and Samsung Spinpoint F3 models run the fastest in benchmarks.
 
Sorry, their website all of a sudden changed. It was this brand new design this morning when I went on and then it reverted back to the old version. What sucks is I have no idea what parts I picked out because i bookmarked them :( and the new site has disappeared :(
 
That should be just fine. Normally I'd say get a better PSU, but an office computer will be fine with that. Ultra isn't the best but it's better than the crap in OEM machines. You'll want a disk drive though.

You won't need a GPU, I don't think...the HD4200 in the motherboard can handle anything you'll be doing on it. It can even use ATI Stream.
 
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