Integrated vs not integrated video for "office" computer

[Sophia]

I'm looking into the possibility of building a computer for a company I consult for and the computer would be extensively an office machine (email, word processing, etc.). In that light integrated video would be more than sufficient. However, this computer likely will also be used at times to display digital photos (of furniture) to clients. The monitor would be 17" max (quite possibly 15" LCD for space) and unlikely to run anything higher than perhaps 1024 x 768. This makes me wonder if it would be worth it to invest a little more for a good 2d card or if integrated video would do fine for showing photos. I know you guys cringe at the thought of integrated video, but what do you think in this case in terms of price/performance?

 

[sohcrates]

Integrated video on most new mobo's is more than adequate at that resolution and can attain good refresh rates.

I think you would be more than happy with it's 2D capability.

Do you have any specific mobo's in mind?

If you DO end up not liking it, it only takes a few minutes to throw in a new video card anyway....but i don't think that would be the case.

 

[Sophia]

<<

Do you have any specific mobo's in mind?
>>



Still looking around a bit. Any suggestions?



<<
If you DO end up not liking it, it only takes a few minutes to throw in a new video card anyway....but i don't think that would be the case. >>



Very good point...

 

[arynn]

You may want to explore the nForce motherboards. They have really good integrated video (likely overkill for an office machine) and audio (there have been some issues, but I think they are mainly with the surround sound speaker set ups) as well as an integrated ethernet card. As long as you only get one or two sticks of RAM and put them in the right slots, the performance is very similar to comparable Via KT266A set ups.

I have read reviews of the MSI board that praise its stability.

 

[oldfart]

Integrated video is fine for normal office apps. An Intel i810 or i815 based system would work very well.

 

[Homie]

I'd advise purchasing a name brand PC that comes with a three year warrantee for your customer.
While building your own PC is far more fun, in the long run you and your customer are better off with a name brand PC.
I don't know if you have made the sale yet, but most large companies rely on name brands.
My company uses Dell. Almost every PC, laptop, and monitor owned by the company are Dell products.
A standardized hardware platform is much easier to support. In an emergency parts can be swapped.

A decent PC with monitor that meets your requirements can be purchased for $1000 or less. This price includes software and a warrantee.
If you need cheaper check Dell refurbs, usually canceled orders with the same warrantee.

I would also assume that you don't want to be supporting that PC in the future.
If there are problems, are you prepared to replace any failed hardware within 24 hours?

I'm not pushing Dell. I have been buying and supporting Dell's for the last two years and have been very happy with their sales and service.

Just my 2 cents worth!

 

[The_Lurker]

Might not be a bad idea to get Dell like Homie said. Since most of the time enthusiasts don't you them because of integration, or lack of good parts, but since it's mailny an office machine, wouldn't really matter. Check out Dell, Gateway, Compaq, IBM, HP, although i recommend Dell more since i've used their tech support and fiddled around with a few of their laptops. Last time they messed up my Employers order and didn't send a CD-RW, and sent them a DVD. They phoned Dell up, and they verfied they messed up the order, and sent a CD-RW right over, didn't even bother taking the DVD back. Well, just an idea to get a prebuilt machine.

 

[Workin']

Integrated video would be more than adequate. Make sure you and the company you build the PC for are on the same page regarding support - that can be a bigger problem than anything else.

I've used Biostar mobos with VIA KL/KM 133 chipsets (integrated Savage 4 graphics) and AMD Duron CPU's for lots of inexpensive computers. Haven't had a single one go bad or had a single dissatisfied customer.

 

[Spikesoldier]

Why dont you try the Shuttle SV24? Since you said you're running tight on space.

 

[Sophia]

Depth of the monitor is really the only issue of space. A midtower or matx would have plenty of space. Prebuilt is certainly a possiblity as well (this is the exploratory stage) just looking around for the best all-around deal for something stable and fairly inexpensive (between $600-800ish for computer, os, and monitor).

Any thoughts on i810s vs integrated amd mobos (stability and price being the main considerations)?