Cheapest Office PC Build

[wolf2009]

a new PC may soon be needed at the place I work.

since it will be doing office work mostly what can I make cheaply by using parts from previous PC.

Previous PC is a Dell Gx280 with Pentium 4 processor.

I'm thinking an AMD build is warranted, just out of notion to support AMD for thinking of us customers like they do not change sockets while bringing new CPU's to the market.

So basically i need a processor , motherboard and a case. Maybe can use parts from older PC. So what am I looking at ?

 

[mpilchfamily]

Depends on what your budget is.

 

[jae]

If its just office work (Word, Excel, etc) and ofcourse MySpace/Facebook ;-), a AM2 dual-core would work just fine and cheap. 2GB of ram and board with integrated graphics. You really dont need much.

 

[imported_wired247]

heh... is it bad that I'm still using a Pentium 4 3.0Ghz / 2GB of DDR2-533 / winXP for my office computer?? seems to serve my needs pretty well.

If you want to upgrade, you can go with any old P43 motherboard, 4GB of DDR2-800, and an intel E5200 or E7400. get a cheapo video card to handle pictures and windows graphics with 512mb of video ram. I got one of these for a build that won't be playing any games but has to handle some low level of graphics

It's fanless
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814127411

top it all off with a good quality 350 - 400W PSU (way more power than you need, gives a little room for upgrades), and whatever case you like.
I recently got one of these
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...008&Tpk=corsair%20400w


These HDDs are quite fast, a good price, and rock solid. I've purchased about a dozen of them and they're all doing fine. If you need more storage go for WD 640gb caviar black edition
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822148261

I'm not the man when it comes to AMD builds so if you don't like the intel CPUs you'll have to hope someone else comes in with advice

 

[somethingsketchy]

Giving your uses for your office desktop it would be overkill to have something like an E7400 for a processor, unless your goal is for longevity, then a nice C2D chip will last quite a long time for office use.

Otherwise I would recommended a pre-built (especially an AMD build) for office use. I've bought a nice Dell 531s for my parents to use for their needs. It handles CS4 quite nicely actually for an x2 4400. For the price of one of those, you can get a decent warranty as well.

EDIT: a typo error

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: wolf2009
a new PC may soon be needed at the place I work.

since it will be doing office work mostly what can I make cheaply by using parts from previous PC.

Previous PC is a Dell Gx280 with Pentium 4 processor.

I'm thinking an AMD build is warranted, just out of notion to support AMD for thinking of us customers like they do not change sockets while bringing new CPU's to the market.

So basically i need a processor , motherboard and a case. Maybe can use parts from older PC. So what am I looking at ?

Get a refurbed Dell with a 2.8GHz or faster Pentium4...
You're running office apps for cryin' out loud. You don't need a dual core processor.

 

[jackschmittusa]

Don't know if it is still on, but the other day TigerDirect had a combo for $150: case, psu, mb, 3gb ram, and X2-4200. Use the drives from the old rig.

 

[wolf2009]

Originally posted by: Blain

Get a refurbed Dell with a 2.8GHz or faster Pentium4...
You're running office apps for cryin' out loud. You don't need a dual core processor.

already have that, the PC is crapping out.

 

[Blain]

1. Ebay
2. Buy It Now
3. Dell refurb less than $150 shipped
4. PayPal
5. Happy

 

[jae]

Have you reimaged it...? Fresh install of XP should bring it back to life.

 

[oynaz]

Asus Eee Desktop.

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: oynaz
Asus Eee Desktop.

I was thinking that also. It's definitely not the cheapest option, but it sure makes for a clean desktop(physical).

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: oynaz
Asus Eee Desktop.

"cheaply"

Oops, no optical drive either. :roll:

 

[nerp]

780g mobo, 2gb ram, amd 45w dual core cpu. Done.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

$350

 

[krnmastersgt]

Just wait for a Dell refurb with an E5200 in it and swipe the monitor when it comes around since you already have one for work